Debt Camel

Answers to questions about debts and credit ratings - in plain English!

Refunds of interest from large, high cost loans & logbook loans

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.

Like payday loan refunds – with some extra twists

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.

Many people have successfully adapted the payday loan refund template letters to get money back on large loans.

That letter emphasises the problems that repeat borrowing caused. It’s a strong point in favour of payday loan complaints and why I always say that it’s hard to get a refund if you only had one or two loans from a payday lender.

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!

unaffordable high cost large loans from bad credit lenders such as 118 Money, Likely Loans, Everyday Loans, Avant Credit

Making a complaint and asking for a refund

There is a four stage complaints process for these large, bad credit loans:

  1. Get a copy of your personal information from the lender.
  2. Put in a detailed complaint.
  3. Consider lender’s response.
  4. Send the complaint to the Finanical Ombudsman.

Complain by email

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 lenders. If the email address doesnty include the word complaint in it, always put COMPLAINT in as the title of an email to them:

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
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
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

You can also use the template letters here if you have taken out 1-3 large loans from payday lenders such as Myjar and Satsuma. But if you borrowed a lot from them just use the normal payday loan templates, not this page.

Stage 1 – ask for personal information

This first stage lodges an affordability complaint and starts the clock going on the 8 weeks a lender has to respond to you. Put AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT as the title 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.

Sample email:

I am making a complaint to you about irresponsible lending. You should never have given me this unaffordable loan/these unaffordable loans.

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.

[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.

To help me explain the details, I am 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, so if you have moved, make sure the lender has your new address.

NB The template says you are asking for an affordable payments arrangement at the end of your complaint. If you cannot afford the repayments right now, you can ask for an affordable payments arrangement immediately unless you have a logbook loan, where you have to keep up the payments or you may lose the car.

While you are waiting for this, assemble some other information that may help your case. Get copies of your bank statements from 3 months before the first loan.

Download a copy of your Noddle free credit report. Use this to do two things for each loan or top-up you took:

  • make a list of all your outstanding credit when you applied – all the credit cards, loans, payday loans, overdraft. You want to the details of how much you owed in total and what your monthly payments should have been;
  • make a list of credit report problems in the 6 months before your application – new defaults, missed payments, arrangements to pay, DMPs, insolvency.

Also read Payday lender says I lied. That looks at the various reasons why you may not have given an accurate account of your income or expenses. 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 – give complaint details

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.

Change this template so it reflects what happened to you, both why the loan was unaffordable and why the lender should have realised this. Where I have given some options, 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 pointing out real problems than send pages telling the lender general stuff they already know.

I would like to add the following information to the affordability complaint which I sent you on dd/mm/yy. I attach copies of my bank statements and credit report from the time I applied for this loan/these loans/these loans and top-ups.

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.

FCA’s CONC 5.3 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 information on an application, and that you should not accept information which is inconsistent with what you know. This was a larger 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 implausibly 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.
  • 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.

You may think that’s a lot of work or you don’t want to mention a lot of these things to a lender. It’s up to you, you can just put in a brief complaint and give the Ombudsman fuller information later. But going into details has worked for some readers.

Stage 3 – consider lender’s response

You should get a response from the lender within 8 weeks.

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 the lender saying it was your fault because of your loan application. As the complaint letter says, 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. If they didn’t, send your case to the Ombudsman.

If you think there is something very wrong with what the lender said, perhaps some information they have completely ignored, you could go back and point this out. Say you would like them to look again at this and you will send it to the Ombudsman in a week if they haven’t come back with an improved offer.

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. You should attach  the following:

  • the reply from the lender
  • Noddle 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.

And here is a decision from the Ombudsman about one of these sorts of cases – Loans2Go ignored some of the details their credit showed when decided to give Mr W two large loans.

“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 that way 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, you can 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. A good claim involves telling your own story, not sending a standard letter!

More Debt Camel articles:

Getting a payday loan refund if you owe money

How much detail to put in an affordability complaint

What to put in an affordability complaint

Examples of gambling & payday loan refunds

Examples of gambling & payday loan refunds

Author: Sara Williams Tagged With:

Comments

  1. Got my 2 email’s from avant credit today with calculations of my redress -one of the emails is below. Anyone been refunded by avant as my emails say the money will be in my account within 30 days… im grateful for the money but 30 days…. (ive claimed to HMRC online for refund of tax on the 8%)

    Dear Mr *************

    Loan ID ******

    Further to the outcome from your recent complaint I can confirm that AvantCredit have now;

    Refunded all interest and fees charged on your loan resulting in an overpayment
    Awarded 8% flat rate per annum interest to the overpayment. This has been calculated on a daily basis for each element of the overpayment.
    As a result of the above a refund has been processed for £2314.46

    This payment should be received in your bank account ending **** within the next 30 days.

    This balance is made up from £2005.36 over payment and £309.10 interest payable on the over payment.

    The interest awarded was £386.37 but in accordance with the FOS guidance (below), 20% tax on this interest has been deducted at source and will be forwarded to HMRC.

    If you have any questions regarding this please contact your local tax office. http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/guidance/comp_tax.htm

    Kind regards

    AvantCredit

    Reply

  2. That is my email through calculating my refunds from Avant credit..

    £3200, complained on 13-4-2019, complaint upheld, payment calculated on 29-4-2019

    I’ve applied online to HMRC to get a refund on the tax on the interest payments.

    Now just have to wait for the money to hit my bank account

    very happy and all down to this site

    many thanks

    Reply

        • Yeah I spoke to them in the phone and just been getting the usual it can take up to 30days but could be sooner rubbish, couldn’t even advise me if finance had even processed the payment. Which is weird. Never mind, will be good to see it when it finally hits the bank.

          Reply

        • Monies in mark.. so a week it’s taken from calculation and funds into bank.. that’s including a bank holiday weekend.

          Reply

          • My £3200 arrived this afternoon in my account..

            cant really complain, all done within 3 weeks of my initial complaint.

  3. Morning Sara,
    Just after a spot of advice please. I, currently, have a loan with Avant Credit. This was for £3000. I have checked my Noddle report and, at the time (and prior to this) I can see a lot of payday loans taken out, and settled, along with juggling many credit cards and a gambling addiction. At the moment, I have nearly repaid all of the capital. I believe there’s about £130 of capital, left to pay. If I submit a complaint, asking for the interest to be removed as an acceptable outcome, what would you think? I know you can’t look in to crystal ball, but I strongly believe that this loan should never have been issued?

    Reply

    • A lot of people are having cases settled quickly with Avant at the moment. They should have seen all the payday loans… This is well worth a try, but my crystal ball is in bad need of a service and cannot be relied on.

      Reply

  4. Hi Sara,

    118118 have come back to me today with their email stating it is their final response and they take no responsibility for irresponsible lending;

    ‘With the above in mind I am satisfied that we acted correctly in approving your loan application and as such I will not be upholding your complaint. For the avoidance of doubt, this means you remain fully liable for the loan, interest and repayments. ‘

    Should I now take up with the financial ombudsman? 118118 email to me seemed very abrupt and to the point in it’s language and isn’t filling me with any confidence that a claim would be considered.

    Thanks,
    Marianne

    Reply

    • “isn’t filling me with any confidence that a claim would be considered” well that’s what they want you to think, isn’t it…

      Did you find the income & expenditure assessment in that pile of SAR paper they sent? Do you think that was an accurate summary of your situation – was anything obvious missing or clearly too low? If you aren’t sure, send the case to the Ombudsman and ask them to look at it.

      If you are struggling with the repayments, you can ask for a payment arrangement now, even if you don’t take the complaint further.

      Reply

  5. Hi Sara,

    I got a car finance loan from Moneybarn last year, I couldn’t afford payments when got it, but was desperate for a car and very surprised they offered me loan. I have now fell into arrears. Has anyone had any experience in dealing with Moneybarn for affordability complaint. Also I got put through to Moneybarn by CarFinance247, who would have done credit checks.

    Thanks in advance

    Reply

  6. Hi Sarah,

    Your website is a great resource and incredibly useful.

    I am submitting a complaint to the ombudsman for 2 large loans from avant, I have my bank statements and the reply from the lender. I’m a bit unclear what I should be providing from my noddle account though, do i just use this to show what other loans I had at the time of the application?

    Kind regards,
    Dan

    Reply

  7. Hi Sara

    Received my SAR from Bamboo today iro 1 loan last year which I’m repaying through Dmp.

    A few interesting things noticed. Initially applied to Zopa, was rejected and I recall Zopa directing me to Bamboo and forwarded my details on. Zopa are named as the broker in SAR.

    All Bamboo have re income and expenditure is 2500 net income and 200 rent. They hold no details of any other expenses nor do I recall them asking me.
    The 2500 income figure should actually be the gross figure, ie 1800 net.
    The credit report they obtained showed 11 accounts opened in previous 6 months and other things such as 98% balance to limit ratio for revolving credit.
    I feel these are the types of things to mention in my response?

    Loan was 1500 which they added almost 1k interest at start.

    Reply

    • Yes those are the sort of things to mention. A loan of £1500 is not small – Bamboo should have made careful checks you could afford it.

      Reply

  8. My son has a loan with Avant now. It’s not been going that long, under a year. He took it out to try to pay some debt but the repayments are so high and he’s hardly even put a dent in the actual balance as most seems to be going to interest. Is there anything at all he can do to try get help or since it was quite recent does he just have to keep going as he is? Thank you.

    Reply

    • If he is struggling to make the repayments, perhaps having to take out more debt to stay afloat, then he should put in an affordability complaint as the article above suggests.

      Reply

  9. Can i ask what is the situation with interest on these types of loans.
    I recently ran into a bit of trouble financially, and had to avail of Loans2Go for the past few months.
    I had paid of the balance towards the end of the end of the month, sometimes rolling over into the following month. But reapplying again.
    But fortunately this month I was in a better position so i was able to pay off the newest loan within 21 days of it being taken.
    But the figure they quoted me to pay of the outstanding loan was at 600% interest with a APR of 6000% for 21days.
    I argued with them that on their website and on the contract its states that it was an interest rate of 209% and a APR of 1029%.
    So why could they charge £112 for £300 for 21days, even when it states the daily interest which would be compounded. Before i never noticed had taken into consideration the actual cost only until now.
    They sent me out a statement of break down. Settlement date Current Balance £1234.26 Less Rateable Allowance £822.18 Amount to be paid £412.08

    Reply

    • “But the figure they quoted me to pay of the outstanding loan was at 600% interest with a APR of 6000% for 21days.”
      was this in writing? Does it give those 600 & 6000 figures or have you worked those out from some numbers?

      Reply

      • The contract states
        Interest is charged at a simple fixed interest rate of 207.6 % per annum on the
        amount of credit for the term and is applied to the account, in full at the
        commencement of the agreement.
        Annual Percentage Rate of Charge (APR). This is the total 1,013.3 %
        cost expressed as an annual percentage of the total amount
        of credit.
        The APR is there to help you compare different offers.

        The figure they had asked me to pay was £412.08 for £300 for 21 days so when i work that out it comes in at 600% Interest with a APR of 6000%, i worked it out but also used http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/24746198 for confirmation.
        The only thing that It could be is that when you work it to their settlement date of the 23/05/2018 it does come in at what they sort of advertise. But mo where on the contract does it state you have to give 30 days notice that you are looking to withdraw from the contract nor does it explain on their website that this is the case. It states The interest we charge is directly related to the length of time you have your loan it states on their website.

        Reply

        • look at the contact – are there any provisions relating to early settlement? typically firms are allowed to charge another few weeks interest…

          Reply

  10. In other information in the the very small print towards the end it states:-
    To repay part of the credit early you must pay some amount to us which is not yet due under the
    agreement within 28 days of your notice of intention to make early repayment. We shall reduce the amount payable by you as prescribed by
    law and by reducing the amount of each repayment still to be repaid. We will not seek to recover compensation under s95A of Consumer
    Credit Act 1974 should you make early repayment(s).

    Reply

    • So it sounds as though they are charging you an extra 28 days interest to settle early. You can ask them for a detailed explanation of how the settlement amount was calculated.

      Reply

  12. Has anyone had any joy with logbook loans? My husband had 3 with Varooma over a 4 year period, various missed payments through all of them but once paid off was allowed to take another until family had to pay the final one off.

    Reply

    • Yes a few cases – not many, these are simply much rarer than payday loans. An affordability complaint is definitely worth trying , especially with having had 3 loans. Expect the lender to reject and for this to have to go to the Financial Ombudsman – it doesn’t mean you have a weak case.

      Reply

  13. I had a large £1500 loan with My Jar in May 2018

    At that time I also had £2,000 in pay day loans with 2 creditors. Both my credit cards were over the limit and I had a £15,000 bank loan (from when my credit was good).

    I sent a complaint to My jar which was rejected. I had income of £2400 which they verified, however, they listed my expenses as £1,520, leaving me £880 a month – of which 37% of that – £325 was the monthly payment. Obviously my expenses of £1,520 does not include the two large pay day lenders, I was actually paying out more than I was taking in every month – a cycle I didn’t break out of for a full year.

    MyJar has been repaid but I want to know if you think I’m likely to be successful as I only had 2 pay day loans at the time of the loan? Specifically I had £1.1K of Pay Day loan payments which would be made in the 1st month of this My Jar Loan – so I’d be in a deficit of about £300, with £325 to pay. Never missed a payment as I cycled through loads of pay day loans to facilitate.

    Just thought I’d ask your thoughts Sara?

    Reply

      • I don’t remember and having looked at my resolver response from MyJar – it doesn’t state. I could have provided my bank statements but would rather have FOS look at it I think – I just don’t want to waste FOS time by having them look at a case I cannot win!

        I’d wager that if asked – I’d have stated it was for debt consolidation – I’d say 99% chance.

        What are your thoughts?

        Reply

        • Ah I thought you had used the template letter on this page, so you would already have sent Myjar a request for a copy of all your personal information. I suggest you do this now, as well as sending the complaint to FOS.

          It was a large loan so Myjar should have checked carefully. But If you had said you were going to use it to consolidate the two outstanding payments loans, then you wouldn’t have had to make the monthly payments to them, would you?

          Reply

          • I did use the template here and they have sent me info – but not what specific reason I gave for the loan.

            The money was not used for the intended purposes as I had borrowed money from a friend I had to pay back – hence the pay day loans remained. I had 2 big ones as well as 2 maxed credit cards.

            MyJar have basically turned around and said they checked my file etc and all was good but I can’t see how that would be right.

            I think it’s a decent case but I don’t want to clog up the FOS with a complaint that can’t/won’t win!

          • They should have sent details of your application – if there is nothing there then you may not have been asked what the loan was for. I think it is worth sending to FOS, one loan cases aren’t easy but this is worth a go!

          • If I go back and ask them to clarify what I listed the loans use for – I’ll be able to provide an answer there.

            Out of interest though – why does that matter? Does my reasoning affect its chances of being successful?

  14. Hi,
    Can you help please.
    I asked Avant credit to refund my interest and received an email today. They said I put down on the application that I earned £3541 net pay per month and they confirmed it using Call credit Tac report, i earn less than that. They also said they checked my debt obligations. At the time I had credit cards and payday loans. They have refused my claim.
    What should I do now.
    Please advise me on this.
    Thanks
    Paul

    Reply

    • Hi Paul, any idea where they would’ve got that income figure from? Could that be in your gross pay not your net pay how far out is it? Do you remember what you would’ve put on the application? Have you followed the template letters in the post above, they ask for a copy of your personal information. If you have that, Does it include a copy of your application?

      Reply

      • Hi,
        Thanks for the reply, the figure is about £1200 out, I asked for the details but nothing yet.
        I replied stating the figure was way out, requested my details again and if no response within 1 week I would go to the Ombudsman.

        Reply

      • Hi,
        I received my DSAR from Avant credit and there is no mention of me earning £3500 after tax per month and no copies of evidence supporting this. Is it time to go to the Ombudsman.
        Thanks
        Paul

        Reply

        • Yes. Include in your complaint that you do not beleive you ever told them you earned that much, you have sent them a Subject Access request and what you have been sent doesn’t contain this figure.

          Reply

  15. hi all,
    Just a quick question. Is it 4 weeks for the company to sort out the refund and pay it out? The adjudicator said 4 weeks from the date of the letter but the date is up today and I haven’t heard anything. When I sent an email Avant sent one back saying it would be sorted within the week but haven’t heard anything else.

    Reply

    • Go back to your adjudicator and say you haven’t been paid and go back to Avant as well.

      Reply

  16. Hello,

    I have submitted an affordability complaint to On Stride Financial today and received a standard response directly into my Junk Mail folder. It concerns me as they have asked for a copy of my credit report (which they should already have a copy of surely?) to help investigate and the email address is very unusual? It’s owner_quickquid@bounces.quickquid.co.uk

    I’m pretty sure this is a scam that has somehow intercepted my previous email to them and responded looking for financial details, but I could be wrong. Has anyone else had this before?

    Thanks
    Emily

    Reply

    • If you Followed the template latter in the article above, you will have asked for a copy of your personal infomration. That should show you what credit checks they have done.

      They can do a credit check now on you if they want – I have no idea why they want t=you to send them your report – they could simply be trying to make this all sound difficult. You could phone them up if you are concerned it’s a scam and tell them to access the data themselves.

      Reply

  17. Just had a response, from Avant Credit, and like others, they have claimed that I have given a salary figure much higher than I actually earned, when applying, and that they cross checked this with a Call Credit Tac Report. They say I stated I earned £3150, monthly, when the figure was actually only £2500. They also state that they checked my other commitments, but should’ve seen other payday loans, credit cards and other loans on my report, as well as a large overdraft. It doesn’t actually indicate, anywhere, that this is a final response. I would assume that it is though.

    Reply

  18. A quick question and advice please as I am worried. The ombudsman agreed with the adjudicator about avant and irresponsible lending. I sent my acceptance back and the higher management of avant are looking at my complaint. What else can they do about it? I thought the ombudsman decision was final?

    Reply

    • Hi Lou7,

      Was the Ombudsman decision at Adjudicator or Ombudsman level?

      If Adjudicator level, the Company can go back to them.

      If Ombudsman level, then the decision is legally binding once you accept Ombudsman ruling.

      Scott

      Reply

      • Sorry Lou7,

        Just re read your comment.

        The Ombudsman ruling will be legally binding and the Company will need to pay up.

        Scott

        Reply

        • Thanks Scott for that valuable info. They are being very awkward about it all though. It’s been 4 weeks now so I will contact my adjudicator via email.

          Reply

          • No probs Lou7.

            Going back to your Adjudicator will probably be the best bet for you.

            I would say leave a bad review on Trustpilot but their score is already bad.

            There is a review on the 2nd May about a refund, says something about receiving an email and 30 days for payment.

            Call Adjudicator tomorrow and ask him to contact Avant about an urgent payment as they are over the 28 days.

            Hopefully you get it sorted this week.

            Scott

          • Hi all,
            A breakdown of the refund was finally sent tonight after my adjudicator contacted them. I have now got to wait up to 30 days for it to go into my bank account. I thought they had 4 weeks to sort it all out and issue a refund!!

  19. Recieved a cheque in the post today from HMRC for 130 pounds, that being the refund of the tax paid on the 8% statutory interest.

    5 weeks all in from putting in my complaint to Avant Credit to getting back £3400

    many thanks to the site.

    Reply

  20. Hi,
    If I want to claim Tax back that I paid from successful PPI claims I fill out a R40 form but I don’t have the breakdown letters of how much I paid from the companies it was over 3 years ago. I ask do I need to get them and if so how.
    Thanks
    Paul

    Reply

    • Yes, you need to know how much 8% interest was added and how much tax was deducted. You should have been sent these details with the PPI refund and now need to ask for a copy of them.

      Reply

  21. So my husband has put in a complaint to Varooma for 3 loans that are all paid off and they have not even knowledged the email feels like it’s going to be a longtime before this can be cascaded to the ombudsman and I know they will put up a fight.

    Payday UK have also refused so this has gone to the ombudsman to investigate as it was over 6 years ago

    Reply

  22. I have just started a complaint for unaffordable loans from Welcome Finance – not sure how i will get on as they are old (even though i am still paying it off) plus it has been sold to Prime Credit. I actually didnt realise that it was a secured loan until now so that will be interesting when i come to remortgage! I am assuming i need to direct my complaint with Welcome and not Prime Credit, i have no idea… but they are the ones that bullied me into taking out another loan to clear my old one even though i was very young and swamped in debt. I wont hold my breath on this one as i know welcome are notoriously awkward but its certainly worth a try because the interest is enormous and like i said i am still paying it off.

    Reply

  23. Hi Sara, I have our in a complaint to Moneybarn for irresponsible lending due to affordability. On 1st May. Today I received my SAR with all personal data. In there there is no application form with income and expenditure and no credit report. I have sent away step 2 letter now saying about situation I was in when loan was offered. As I went through a broker service (CarFinance247) who then put me through too Moneybarn, should Moneybarn have credit search and income and expenditure information? Thanks Rob

    Reply

  24. Has anyone had any dealings with OnStride they sent a generic response the same as what i received from Quick Quid. I have escalated my complaint with QQ and P2P with the ombudsman, however this is a separate matter.

    I want to know if anyone has received any correspondence or made a complaint as I’m sure they will reject as i have a complaint with the other 2!

    Thanks
    Sian

    Reply

    • Hi Sian,
      I have made complaints with onstride , quick quid and P2P. The last two were resolved via an adjudicator but onstride were quick to send a rejection letter. Also, I didn’t agree with the adjudicator either when I sent it in May 2018 so the ombudsman has got to have the finally say but I am still waiting. Apparently it’s in a queue.

      Reply

  25. Hi Sara

    I’ve finally got my SAR from MyJar…. I borrowed £1,500 whilst having 2 large pay day loans on my account. What they have sent me doesn’t seem to show they did any due diligence. It says it conducted a credit check but actually what they sent me was a document which states ‘call credit – 8th May 2018’ – that’s literally it. My application doesn’t state what I wanted the loan for – just the amounts I put in for expenses.

    Is there anything else I need to look out for specifically? Likewise, how can they turn around and claim it was affordable with the weight of so much evidence to the contrary – it doesn’t look like they performed any checks at all….

    Reply

    • go back to them and say you would like to see the details of what the callcredit check showed.

      Reply

      • Hi Sara

        Got a wordy reply this morning but contained this sentence. ‘however, we are unable to provide the details of the credit report as this does not constitute part of your personal data’ – so they are refusing to give me the details of my own credit report.

        Reply

        • That isn’t right. I suggest you reply to Myjar saying that under GDPR they are the data controller for this data and so they have to supply you with a complete copy of all your personal information. Say you will be reporting them to the ICO if they do not comply and asking for additional compensation if your case has to go to the Financial Ombudsman.

          Reply

          • Hi Sara I got sent this now;

            The internal criteria we use to determine eligibility, credit worthiness and available borrowing options is also not considered part of your personal data and is not subject to the General Data Protection Regulations data request as this is an internal calculation performed by our service and is protected as intellectual property.

            Thoughts?

  26. Hi trying to complain about onstride the interest is way to high can’t afford it I’ve sent the 1st template you have on here to them is that right ?
    I don’t even work so don’t no how they thought I could repay this

    Reply

    • Yes sending that email starts your affordability complaint.

      It sounds as though you still owe a balance – if that’s right, it’s good to say you would like an affordable repayment arrangement, some amount you can afford without having to borrow again. This doesharm your complaint. If your complaint is upheld, you will gain from having made some more payments, and if you aren’t successful you will be in a better place than before you started the complaint as you will have paid some more off and should be able to continue with the payment arrangement.

      Reply

        • good luck!

          By the way you are the person who knows what is “affordable” – don’t be pushed by the lender to repay more than you can.

          Reply

          • I just think there gonna say no ? Do I stop my direct debit now ? At the higher price ? Till it’s solved and what do I do next if they say no ?

          • You stop the DD (or CPA). And offer an affordable amount. If they don’t agree, they don’t get anything.

        • I’ve tried cancel direct debit but my bank wouldn’t let me ? Says to call up , and they never replied to any emails either

          Reply

          • Then you need to talk to your bank. They have to let you cancel a DD or a CPA.

          • They can’t do that if you have a complaint outstanding about affordability. With on stride themself or with the Financial Ombudsman. This isn’t something to worry about at the moment. You can offer what is an affordable monthly payment – I know this feels scary but this is normnal and lenders are used to this, it happens every day.

          • Can I suggest you talk to StepChange about this loan and about your whole financial situation? For people that are nervous abou dealing with creditors, a debt management plan with StepChange can be great, as they do all the talking to your creditors about payments and ask for interest to be frozen and you just pay SC one amount per month. See https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx.

            You can still carry on with an affordability complaint in a DMP. And if you win that can really speed up the DMP! The DMP can just make your life less stressful while the complaint is going through which can take many months if it has to go to an ombudsman, which often happens.

          • Hi I’ve had them reply and said they have sent me what is requested Wich doesn’t show much and I’ve replied asking for an affordable amount to be set up and I’ve cancelled direct debit so shall I just wait for another reply ?

  27. Another point to add about my complaint against Moneybarn in comments above, is when I’ve gone through SAR info I was sent I found 2 pages of someone else’s info, with personal info and agreement number and transcript of conversation about there money issues, what should I do? Contact Moneybarn and explain this is unacceptable? I know I wouldn’t be happy if my info was sent to someone else. Rob

    Reply

  28. Has anyone had any dealings with carcashpoint as have a current log book loan with them for £500 ongoing. Have already had success with various other payday loans and another large loan with loans 2 go. But can expect car cash point being difficult. Any advice greatly appreciated

    Reply

      • Was fearing that but was hoping to settle it early (with projected payday wins) to avoid fees, but would that go against me when came to the ombudsman?

        Reply

        • Who knows how long it will take to get any payday wins – this can take longer than you think.

          You don’t have to pay any fees to take a case to FOS. If you are having difficulty repaying the logbook loan, I suggest you complain now. If you aren’t having difficulty – well you may not win an affordability case.

          Reply

          • To settle the log book loan early would it go against me in an affordability case. I was in deep pay day loan cycle when I took out log book loan and had a lot of gambling activity on bank statements which they all had clearly. Thankfully now I’m very much on top of it all after various payday loans clearing balances and few interest returns. Thanks for your help as u have turned my finances around with this brilliant website.

          • No it won’t. You can show your situation has only improved because of the refunds you have received – not because actually you could afford the logbook loan when it was taken out.

  29. Another result from 118118! Upheld my complaint for two loans and settled my £2.5k outstanding balance! So happy and the relief of not trying to find the monthly payments.

    I’ll never be able to thank this page enough! 3 complaints settled out of 4!

    Reply

  30. That’s brill Emma, don’t mind me asking could you digress bit more info please on how it came about as am in similar situation with 118,
    Thanks, bill

    Reply

    • Of course Bill. I argued that I told them I would pay off the payday loans with the first loan and by the fourth top up they should of realised that I was deeper in debt. They upheld loan 3 and 4. I also told them I had underestimated my outgoing. Also when I received my SAR they have put on it that if I applied again for them they should do a full credit check so this backed up my claim that they didn’t do this to begin with. Good luck, it’s a lot of worth but it will pay off.

      Reply

  31. Hi Emma,
    Mines bit different, I had 3 months to pay the first loan off, applied for second loan to consildate it, although the intrest was extortionate on the second loan I struggled to pay it off, hence the affordability complaint, once again well done on your success
    Bill

    Reply

  32. Today I submitted an affordability complaint to Bamboo. It was only one loan but it was for a large amount (£3,500) and this was on top of having taken out a £2k loan from 118 118 two months prior + already having three outstanding payday loans + four maxed out credit cards.
    I took the loan out as I stupidly thought I would be able to use it to clear all my other debts but it actually just got me in more of a pickle and I’m now at the stage where my outgoings exceed my incomings.
    As it’s only one loan, I’m not holding out massive hope of a refund but I’ve got nothing to lose by trying.
    I’ll keep you updated on how I get on.

    Reply

  33. Is it acceptable for me to ask that no payments are taken relating to my loans/payday loans, while my compliant is outstanding?

    Thanks

    Reply

  34. Hi Sara I submitted an unaffordable payday loan complaint against Myjar. They didn’t agree, an adjudicator at the FO, upheld my complaint as only one payday loan but for 2.5K when I already had 20K plus unsecured loans. It went to an ombudsman who did not agree Myjar had to repay the interest although they agreed they did not do sufficient affordability checks??? I challenged this but the ombudsman wouldn’t budge. Saying I did have disposable income left, as I was permanently 5K overdrawn I pointed out I had zero disposable income each month. Can I submit a new claim due to the size of the loan or would the ombudsman consider I had one shot at claiming? Have you any idea? Thanks

    Reply

    • Sorry you have lost this complaint, but no, you can’t put in another affordability complaint.

      Just being in your overdraft by itself isn’t normally taken as showing a loan is unaffordable.

      Do you still have a huge amount of debt and a large overdraft? Have you had other payday loans? Are you buying or renting?

      Reply

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