The repayments on many loans from bad credit lenders are too high to be manageable so people get deeper into debt trying to repay them.
If you have an unaffordable loan, you can complain and ask for interest to be removed from your balance. If the loan has been settled, you can ask for a refund of the interest you paid.
This article describes how to complain, with templates. It is a variation on the standard approach for payday loan refunds – this works better where the loans are very large, longer term and you only had 1 or 2 loans, possibly with top ups.
NB the complaints here are for “normal” unsecured loans and HP/PCP car finance. You can also use this approach for logbook loans. If you have a guarantor loan, read Refunds from guarantor loans as it’s very different, and the guarantor may be able to complain as well.
Contents
Like payday loan refunds – but you can get a refund for just one loan
A lender should have checked when you applied that a loan is affordable for you. The regulator says “affordable” means:
you can make the repayments without hardship or having to borrow elsewhere.
This is the same test as for payday loan refunds. It applies to most forms of credit, including large, long term loans and logbook loans.
The payday loan refund template letter has got tens of thousands of people refunds. That letter emphasises the problems that repeat borrowing caused. Because payday loans are usually small, it’s hard to get a refund if you only had one or two payday loans.
That sounds like bad news for these complaints about large loans, where you normally only have one loan plus possibly a top up or two…
But the good news is that because these loans are larger and longer-term, the lender should have made better checks before giving you the first loan!
So the letter here is for large loans.
Making a complaint and asking for a refund
This is what you need to do:
- Get a copy of your personal information from the lender and a copy of your credit record.
- Put in a detailed complaint.
- Consider lender’s response.
- Send the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.
Send your complaint by email – here are the addresses
It’s easiest if all communications are by email – free, instant and you have a copy with a date stamp to show the ombudsman. So here are the email addresses to use for the main bad credit, large loan and lenders:
Avant Credit emailcomplaints@avantcredit.co.uk
Bamboo Loans complaints@bambooloans.com
CarCashPoint complaints@carcashpoint.com
Everyday Loans complaints@everyday-loans.co.uk
Likely Loans loans@likelyloans.com
LoanOnYourCar customerservice@loanonyourcar.com
Loans 2 Go (and their logbookloans.co.uk brand) ps@loans2go.co.uk
Mobile Money complaints@mobilemoney.co.uk
Moneybarn complaints@moneybarn.com
Moolr admin@moolr.co.uk
Motor Kitty customercare@motorkitty.co.uk
MyJar (including Myjar Plus) generalcomplaints@myjar.com
On Stride support@onstride.co.uk
Progressive Money complaints@progressivemoney.co.uk
Quick Loans customerscare@quickloans.co.uk
Ramsdens (logbook loans) customerservices@ramsdensforcash.co.uk
Satsuma onlinecustomercare@satsuma-loans.co.uk
Savvy info@savvy.co.uk
Vanquis customer.relations@vanquisbank.co.uk
Varooma complaints@varooma.com
1st Stop customerservices@1ststop.co.uk
118 118 Money complaints@118118money.com
I have included a couple of payday lenders there – Myjar and Satsuma – because they often give very large loans. If you borrowed a lot from those lenders, use the main payday loan refund letter. But if you just had a few very big loans, use the letters on this page.
For guarantor loans, there is a different approach – see guarantor loan complaints by the borrower and guarantor loan complaints by the guarantor for details
Stage 1 – start the complaint – ask for personal information & get your credit record.
Get a copy of your current credit report saved immediately. You can get one from Credit Karma. Do this first thing as lenders may later change the information on there, so you want a full one saved to show the Ombudsman later if necessary.
Then email the lender and begin your complaint. The clock is then going and the lender has 8 weeks to respond to you. Put AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT as the subject of your email.
You probably already know when you took out the loan and any top-ups. But it’s good to ask the lender to send you a copy of all the personal information they have about you. This will give you a lot of information that can be useful later if you have to send the complaint to the ombudsman, so ask for it right at the beginning.
Sample email:
I am asking you to refund the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record.
[add extra information if you want from the stage 2 email – you don’t have to do this]
[delete if you have repaid the loan] I would also like an affordable repayment plan to be put in place if I still owe a balance after this refund.
I am also making a Subject Access Request (SAR) for all the personal information you hold about me including, but not limited to, my applications, all credit and other affordability checks, a statement of account for my borrowing, and a record of all phone calls. I understand you are not allowed to charge me for sending this information.
SARs are often sent out by post, make sure the lender has your new address if you have moved!
NB The template says you are asking for an affordable payment arrangement at the end of your complaint. If you want, you can ask for an affordable payment arrangement immediately unless you have a logbook loan, where you have to keep up the payments or you may lose your car.
While you are waiting for the lender’s reply, assemble some other information that may help your case:
- copies of your bank statements from 3 months before the first loan.
- your free Transunion Statutory Credit Report
Also read Payday lender says I lied. That looks at the various reasons why your application may not have been accurate. People have won complaints where they lied because they were desperate but there are other reasons too, so think what (if any) may have applied to you.
Stage 2 (OPTIONAL) – add more details
This step is optional because your complaint has already started. Many lenders don’t seem to think about what you write, they just do some internal check on your borrowing before sending you a response. So you may decide it’s not worth spending time to send them more detailed information which they will ignore…
But here is what to do if you want to write more. It helps you to understand how good your case is and this is the sort of information it is useful to send to the Ombudsman.
When you have the SAR back from the lender, you can look for things that the lender knew but chose to ignore or didn’t ask about. See How Subject Access Request information can help an affordability complaint which has details about what to look for.
Change the template below so it reflects what happened to you. Where I have given some options, you can delete them all and put in another one if that is more accurate.
No-one will include all these points!
It is better to write a short complaint summarising your problems than send pages telling the lender stuff they already know eg the lender doesn’t need a list of your loans.
You can see from my bank statements and credit record that I was unable to afford the loan repayments. [Delete if not relevant] [For example, I had to borrow from X payday lender and I defaulted on my Y debt.]
When I completed the loan application, I understated some of my expenses. This was because: [put what actually happened! this could be something like] I wasn’t very aware of the amounts I was spending and completed the application hastily. OR I wanted to hide the fact I was spending a lot of money on gambling/cigarettes/alcohol. OR I was desperate and wanted to make my expenses sound low so you would give me the loan.
The FCA says that you should not accept an application where you ought reasonably to know the figures are not truthful, you can’t rely solely on the information on an application, and that you should not accept information which is inconsistent with what you know.
This was a large loan, you knew I had poor credit and may have been in a difficult position so you should have tried to verify details. If you had done this, you would have rejected my application.
For example [delete or add to these as appropriate]:
- You should have noticed that some figures were too low, for example: x,y,z
- I didn’t include amounts such as [delete/add as appropriate]: car insurance, TV licence, opticians and dental costs, presents]
- My bank statement would have shown that I was spending more than the application said. Either you saw my bank statement and ignored this or you never asked for my bank statement to verify this.
- During a telephone call, your agent talked me into agreeing that some figures should be lower in order to get my application accepted.
- Your application didn’t ask me for details of my other credit commitments and I didn’t realise I had to include them.
- I didn’t include payday loans as credit commitments on my application as I thought that was for long term credit, but you could see I had several from my credit record.
- You should have seen that the figures I put in for other credit commitments were inconsistent with my credit record.
When I applied for a second loan/a top-up [delete/add as appropriate]:
- you ignored the evidence on the credit check that my position had got more difficult OR you didn’t do a new credit check. If you had done this you would have seen the new credit I had taken out and the new problems showing on my credit record.
- you didn’t ask if my income or expenses had changed, and they had.
- you didn’t ask for bank statements so you could check if the new repayments were affordable.
- I had said the first loan was to consolidate debt, but you should have seen that this hadn’t happened.
- you increased my interest rate, showing you realised I was in a more difficult position but you did not check whether I could actually afford the new repayments.
Stage 3 – consider lender’s response
You should get a response from the lender within 8 weeks. If you don’t, phone them up and ask when you will get it – a couple of days is worth waiting for but many responses are rejections, so don’t wait weeks for one, go to the Ombudsman straight away.
Normally you can tell straight away if a response is acceptable or not good enough. If you aren’t sure, ask what other people think in the Comments below this article.
Don’t be put off by a rejection. Or if the lender saying it was your fault because your loan application wasn’t accurate.
Lenders are obliged to do checks. For one small payday loan, these checks could have been brief. But for your large loan, the lender should have made sure they knew enough to be confident you could afford it, even if was your first loan from them. If they didn’t, send your case to the Ombudsman.
It isn’t usually worth trying to negotiate with these lenders, you are just wasting your time.
Stage 4 – send to Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)
I suggest you use the “do it online” option to send a complaint to the Ombudsman. It asks you for all the details they need.
The main part of your complaint can be a version of what you sent the lender in Stage two. Add any more details you want, including pointing out if you think there are errors in the lender’s reply. Also attach:
- the reply from the lender
- Credit Karma credit record
- bank statements starting 3 months before first loan.
Your complaint will first be looked at by an adjudicator. If either you or the lender rejects the adjudicator’s decision, it will then be looked at by an Ombudsman.
“Is this really going to work?”
Here are some recent comments from people who have had refunds for this sort of loan. They show how some people get a good result directly and others have to go to the Ombudsman. Don’t assume a rejection by the lender means you can’t win!
Andy: A flat out refusal from 118118 Money. One loan (£1,000) plus one top up (£2,500). Stating they had done nothing wrong, all payments made on time and paid top up loan off early. Saying I had a good income, verified by a bank statement and they had phone call recordings that I had made it clear the repayments were affordable.
Sent to FOS as I was in loads of debt at the time, loads of repeat pay day loans etc. Didn’t hold out much hope but thought I may get a positive decision on the top up loan. Adjudicator held in my favour on both loans. 118118 accepted decision and offered circa £800. I had my loan statements and the total interest (plus 8% interest) was nearer £1,300. Adjudicator queried this for me with 118118. They agreed with my calculations. Adjudicator gave them 28 days to pay. It was in my bank the very same day.
Dan: I had a complaint upheld by the adjudicator at the Ombudsman against Avant Credit: Refund of all interest and 8%, £75 compensation, removal of loan from my credit file. Avant Credit agreed with the adjudicator.
Louise: Have had my response from Everyday Loans and complaint upheld. All interest been removed and I only have to pay back what they lent. Excellent outcome. Lent 5000 and have paid 3k so just 2k left to go. On my DMPthe balance was showing at 6.5k still left. Took them 5 weeks to uphold my complaint a lot of emails going back and forth.
Soph: Had 2 loans from Avant Credit. Rejected within 2 days, sent to FOS Jan, upheld in March, Avant agreed with FOS and refund in the bank within 7 days.
Robert: I was successful in getting all interest wiped from my topped up loan with 118 118, didn’t go to the FOS or anything.
“What about a bank loan?”
The affordability test is the same – could you repay the loan without getting deeper into debt elsewhere. But there are two problems with normal bank loans:
- their interest rates are lower so it’s harder to show that the smaller repayments are unaffordable; and
- if your credit record was OK or even good, the bank wouldn’t have been alerted to the fact you may have difficulty.
So it can be hard to win a case involving a typical bank loan, especially if your credit record was OK. But if you want to try, use the template letters here.
Need some help?
If you need help to complain, go to your local Citizens Advice, they will help for free.
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and often incompetent. And if you still owe money, then you may just get the interest removed so you owe less… which is great, but you don’t want to have to pay a claims company in cash when you never had a cash refund to pay it from.
Payday loan refunds if you owe money
What to put in an affordability complaint
Examples of gambling & payday loan refunds
Shaun says
Has anyone ever done a compaint against everday loans? If so what was the outcome ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes! Expect them to reject your complaint and send it to FOS where quite a few are being won.
Calvin says
Hi Shaun. I made a complaint in September 2018 for 1 loan that I believed was unaffordable. It was rejected and I sent to the FOS. It was picked up by an adjudicator in February 2020 with a decision in my favour March 2020. Everyday Loans rejected and it’s now been in the queue for the ombudsman. I’m expecting 6-8 months. Good luck with yours.
Hazel says
Hi I wonder if anyone could offer me some advice . I put a complaint in against Log Book Loans a few weeks ago and they have replied that they can’t investigate further as my loans were over 6 years ago . My loans were taken out in 2011 and 2014 . Is it possible to take this to the FOS or would it not be worth my while .
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS is usually deciding it can look into these “over 6 year” loan cases – sent it to FOS asap.
Robert mills says
Hi Sara just had a interesting reply where 2/3 loans issued to me 118 apparently amended the expenses figure I supplied have a read of this
Mr X understated his expenses by significant amounts for his first two loans – we’re unable to evidence whether this also happened for his third loan also. 118 118 would have been aware of the difference between the information volunteered by Mr X and the information they were able to verify. For this reason, more checks should’ve been done to verify his expenditure.
The above confirms that within Mr X application, 118 118 had reason to believe the figures provided for his expenditure were inaccurate once compared to his credit file. So, it seems 118 118 adjusted Mr X I&E, proceeded with the application and concluded that the loan was still affordable.
Interesting think I have a good chance? I have a feeling they will refuse the third loan based on that
Sara (Debt Camel) says
who is that reply from?
Robert mills says
The adjudicator it got submitted over a year ago
Sara (Debt Camel) says
was there a gap between loans 2 and 3?
Robert mills says
Yes a year and a half. Don’t know if it’s worth holding out for loan 3 if they refuse
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that depends on how strong your case is for loan three on its own.
D says
Has anyone had any sucess against Bamboo. They have me a loan approx 1 week after taking a 118 118 loan and didn’t ask for bank statements.
Joseph says
I’ve seen people have success in the past. I was curious too see what they’re about and just seen an £8,000 loan would cost you £15,323.68 so a total payable of £23,323.6. Jesus christ how do these company’s get away with this ?! Astonishing
Lisa says
Mine is a very similar situation, Bamboo rejected so I have sent it off the FOS and awaiting reply.
David says
I received a reply from bamboo yesterday, declining my claim but still offering me £450, I replied to decline and say I was referring to ombudsman and received an email and phone call today increasing offer to £1000, even though they are still not admitting wrong doing. If my claim is upheld fos I’m expecting around £4000, hopefully I’ve made the right decision to decline.
Lee says
Hi everyone,how long do lending stream take to reply after adjudicators decision?
Tony says
from the time ll agreed with adjudicator money was in account within the week
Andy says
I have an adjudicators decision in my favour against 118118 Money for a loan.
They’re being very obtuse, they were expected to reply by Friday but won’t even confirm if they have received the FOS decision let alone what they’re planning to do about it. My emails are ignored and I’m just bounced around the Manila call-centre with the same excuse of ‘we can’t see any of that information sir’.
Any suggestions or experiences with this and what they usually do?
Kind Regards,
Andy
sam says
did you get this sorted Andy?
the opmbudsman have ruled in my favour and wondered how long itll take them
GH says
Sara I’m after some advice please. I made a complaint regarding irresponsible lending. The complaint is a historical loan and the bank and adjudicator have both said it can only be considered if there are exceptional circumstances that caused me not to raise the complaint within the 6yr time limit or within 3yrs of knowing I had cause to complain.
I have had a gambling problem for many yrs that I am now overcoming. Can this in your opinion be used as a exceptional circumstance.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how old is the loan?
GH says
The loan is 2007. Can you advice if my gambling problem could be considered as a exceptional circumstance that caused my not to complain within the time frame please.
This is something I am very ashamed about and am embarrassed to mention to the adjudicator. So will onky mention it if it counts as a exceptional circumstance towards my claim
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The usually accepted exceptional reason is that you were not aware that a lender should have assessed if the loan was affordable so you only became aware you had a reason to make a complaint in [October 2019] when you found out about affordability complaints when [you saw a newspaper article in the Sun, saw a Facebook advert from a Claim Company, was told about it by a friend…. whatever actually happened to you].
You need to be aware that there may be VERY little evidence about what the lender checked or your circumstances at the time for such an old loan. This may be difficult to win.
GH says
My understanding was that I had 6yrs from the time I took out the loan, if that passed 3 yrs from the tume I had cause to complain.
This is from the adjudicator:-
I do appreciate you have explained that it was only in the last two years that you realised that you had a case for complaint. Within the last 2 years you have made claims for refunds of interest on payday loans and it was whilst claiming these that you realised you could do the same for the irresponsible lending of the loan and credit cards through Lloyds.
Whilst I do understand this, I can’t agree that this amounts to exceptional circumstances or changes the outcome of my findings. I say this because you don’t need to know to complain, for the time limits to start. You only need to know you have cause to complain. And from the point in which these debts were sold on, as you state within your own testimony you are aware of, ought to have made you realise then to complain. So, this complaint has been made out of time and as such we are unable to consider this matter.
I made my complaint within 3yrs of being aware, how can I argue this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you reply that you were aware that the loan was causing you difficulties from early on [assuming that is correct? don’t just say something because I put it here, I am trying to get you to articulate your own story] but at that point you were not aware there any regulations about affordability so you did not realise the lender had failed to follow the rules and did not knowe you had any cause to complain. Instead you thought it was your own fault for getting yourself into a financial mess.
Ask for the decision to go to an Ombudsman if the adjudicator does not change their mind.
BUT do think about what evidence you have about your financial position in 2007. If you don’t have anything or very little, you are unlikely to win this complaint even if FOS decide they can look at it.
Ruby says
Is it possible to put in an affordability complaint to vanquis credit card and littlewoods? If it is where would i find this information please.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/
Robert says
I have had a response from 118 118 Money just shy of the 8 week deadline with an offer to uphold 50% of the loans I took out with them. The offer is poor and the rationale for the refund differs between each loan. I have replied with a counter offer and will update you with the response.
N.B. I am conscious that I am giving away few details at this point, but I want to settle prior to providing more information
A says
Likely loans upheld my complaint in May 2020 and said that if I replied within 1 week I would receive my money and all would be settled. I replied via email through both my outlook account and through the resolver portal but still haven’t been paid, to add insult to injury they continue to take money from me monthly (£230 a month) and have served me notice on arrears. I escalated to Ombudsman at the end of June but absolutely zero response to any emails I send to Likely Loans or the Ombudsman I feel like I am trapped in an echno chamber – what do I do? Do I freeze any further payments? They had upheld my complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should definitely cancel further payments.
Was your complaint already with FOS before LL offered the settlement?
A says
Hi Sara
No I escalated to the Ombudsman after LL offered the settlement and I accepted. This was all done through the resolver portal. I escalated up to the financial ombudsman when I wasn’t getting a response. I will try and cancel payments to them now!
Lee Walker says
Re Bamboo, taken over a year but, complained after a rejection of my complaint to FOS….Fos asked for some details and then investigation started…they found in my favour and wrote to Bamboo. Email from Bamboo today asking to accept and confirm bank details. I have and £1300 coming back to me in 7 days time, all this even though I fully repaid 2 years ago..happy days.
Thomas says
Hi,
I have received the below from likely loans…. is this a good offer as it’s all confusing me
My decision
In consideration of the above I am not upholding your complaint in respect of the top up loan. This is because Likely Loans considered your income, your credit history and monthly creditor commitments at the point of your application for credit and this did not suggest that the loan was not affordable at the point of application.
However, I conclude that your complaint regarding your original loan has been upheld on this occasion. This is because my investigation has revealed that further checks should have been undertaken at the point of application to ensure that the loan was affordable.
In resolution of your complaint I am therefore proposing to remove all applicable interest from your original loan and have also recalculated the interest on your top up loan to reflect the removal of interest from your original loan. I can confirm that the new total interest repayable on your top up loan will be £512.12 instead of the original figure quoted of £737.27
Original amount borrowed loan 1* = £1250.00 + Total amount repayable loan 2 (with recalculated interest) £1712.12 – Total £2962.12
Total Payments received = £2422.60
Remaining outstanding balance to pay = £539.52
Thomas says
Hi, can anybody help with the above?
How can they say my first loan was unaffordable but the top up loan wasn’t?
Would you accept the offer or has anyone got previous of going back to likely loans and they make a better offer?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“How can they say my first loan was unaffordable but the top up loan wasn’t?”
They could be trying to settle your complain very cheaply, which if course thye shouldn’t do… Or there may be some technical problem with their records for the first loan.
If you know the top up was just as bad or worse, then send the case to the Ombudsman.
I don’t know if LL will negotiate. If you would be happy to settle if they clear the outsatanding debt you could suggest that as a compromise? But if you think you should be getting cash back you will probably have to send the case to FOS.
Kat says
I took out £5000 with likely before this top up thing even started only had 1 loan with them and after likely rejecting what I said, I send it straight to the FOS got an email back saying they agree with FOS and I’m getting £4982 back. (Did take a while but worth it in the end)
if you don’t feel 💯 % happy with this offer, reject it and take it further.
SEG says
Hi Sara,
I have complained to OPOS/KAPMANA about a bad loan they purchased from Minicredit back in 2014. I have filed an unaffordability complaint to them and they came back with the following statement:
“Neither Opos Limited or Kapmana Limited are the company with whom you entered into this loan agreement The company was Microcredit T/A Mini Credit, who have since entered administration and no longer trade in the UK.
Neither Opos or Kapmana offered you a credit facility, did not undertake any consideration of your loan application, did not offer you any loan facility and so have not lent irresponsibly. Furthermore, neither Opos or Kapmana has applied any interest or charges to the loan/s issued to you by Mini Credit.”
Ok I do understand that.
My question is: Given that they have not lent to me (only purchased the debt) and Minicredit have gone bust long time ago, do they have the right to report this previous debt as a default on my credit report? Do I have the right to request they actually remove this in its entirety from my credit files?
Is there any advise you can give or where I can find further information? I was looking at your website but couldn’t find anything relating to such an issue.
Thank you!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes they do have that right :(
But when did you default on the debt? is there a default date on the credit record, if so, what is it?
SEG says
The start date is listed as 27.08.2014 when Mini credit approved the loan.
I wen t into payment arrears in August that year and finally on 12.10.2014 the debt was assigned to Opos to chase.
I had already entered into a DMP with Kensington Finance at the time and authorised them to contact Opos / Kapama in regards to my debts and started making small payments towards the outstanding debt to them via my DMP.
So, Opos/Kapama should have listed the default date
on the credit report around October / November 2014.
Instead, I can see its entered as 29.07.2016. That doesn’t make any sense and looks to me they reassigned the default date from the original to a later one. Can they do that?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I wen t into payment arrears in August that year
but you said the loan was taken out on 27 August?
SEG says
Sorry no it was 27th July 2014 when the loan was taken out and I went straight into arrears in August
JA says
Hello All,
I have finally had my adjudicator send the views of my likely loans complaint upholding irresponsible lending. He mentioned some key points showing that my outgoings were more than income , no expenditure done by likely loans and that I was on a DMP when being given the loan.
Timescale was unfortunately very long, Complaint opened with LL in April 19, Sent to FOS July 19. Picked up by FOS July 20.
Do people know if likely loans tend to agree with adjudicator or are they ones that like to just disagree and go to Ombudsman?
Thanks
Tony says
my wife had hers upheld and ll agreed with adjudicator
ja says
Ah okay that sounds promising. Did they get back to the FOS in the two weeks allocated ?
Cheers
GH says
Likely Loans refused to uphold my complaint so I’ve sent mine to the FOS. Sounds like I’ll also have a long wait for it to be picked up looking at your dates.
Kelly says
Hi first time posting on here. I have just had adjudicator decision on 4 loans from satsuma. He has upholded loan 4. I think loan 3 should be included as was taken the day after settling loan 2 and more checks should have been carried out. I have been in a bad lending cycle with other lenders and adjudicator has mentioned this in his findings. Is it worth going back and saying this or asking for ombudsman to look at this. Thank you for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large were loans 1,2 and 3?
Kelly says
Hi Sara they were Loan 1 £1000
Loan 2£100
Lonn 3 £1000
Loan 4 £100
Kelly says
I dont know if more information would help with my question I did send all my bank statements and credit report which shows gambling transactions alot of (I have self excluded and not gambled in 6 months) constantly in £800 over draft two large catalogues open on report and a number of payday lenders on report showing aswell.
JA says
Yeah unfortunately high cost loans seems to have a much smaller department dealing with them. Hopefully you wont have to wait as long as I did.
Good luck.
Anne says
Hi,
My complaint Re Mobile Money Ltd has been upheld and Mobile Money has agreed with adjudicator to refund charges and interest etc.
My question is, does interest refund include the interest I paid for early settlement? (They have not provided a full breakdown yet )
And does anyone know how long it takes for them to process the payment?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It will normally include all interest and charges unless the adjudicator decision limited that in some way.
Anne says
Adjudicator said all interest and charges, so if that includes early repayments then I’m look at a refund in the region of £6k which is amazing, especially as I have cleared all my debts with previous payday loan redress.
This will be a nice fresh start in my bank account
William Rowan says
Hi Anne, good result for you, can I ask how long from initial contact with the fos to where you are now?
Bill
Anne says
I made a complaint to MML back in 2018 there was then lots of discussion about the 6 years plus so it was sent to FOS
I was contacted in October 2019 by FOS who confirmed they will not consider loans 6 years plus, and it was 2 weeks ago when the adjudicator finally issued a response to MML upholding my complaint for 5 of the 7 loans.
I got a form to sign this morning to accept the offer and they say money will be in my bank in 3-5 days. (I’m hoping it will be in before 3 days)
Bill says
Thanks Anne, what year did you first borrow from?
Bill
Kevin says
Hi All, I’ve had a complaint upheld at the end of Feb by likely loans. They agreed to remove interest from my loan, but the loan was sold to Cabot Finance 18 months a go. The interest still hasn’t been removed and now Cabot have offered me a 70% off settlement discount. Should the refund of interest be paid to me or Cabot? Why are they making me this offerthe ? Any advice greatly appreciated , thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you been asking LL why they haven’t done this?
Cabot will happy to get 30% off you because they probably paid LL a lot less than 30p in the pound for the debt.
Kevin says
I’ve asked ‘LL, but no reply. If I were able to take up Cabots offer, what would happen to the refund of interest?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell LL is you don’t get your refund in the next two weeks the case is going to the ombudsman.
If you settle with Cabot, then I don’t know what will happen.
Kevin says
Thanks for your reply. Presumably Cabot won’t refund the interest and charged as they bought the full debt. So should ‘LL refund the interest to them or directly to me? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
LL can sort this anyway they want. They can refund Cabot, they can refund you or they can buy the debt back from Cabot and cirrrect the balance once it is their debt. You need to ask LL what they are planning to do and when before you should think of settling this with Cabot.
Charlotte says
It’s now been over a year since I made my complaint to trust two (everyday loans), which has been escalated to the financial ombudsmen following the steps you’ve mentioned on this website. Although it took some time, my adjudicator gave the final result on the 10th of July, giving trust two until the 24th of July to respond. They haven’t replied at all, so I reached out to my case handler who informed me that they haven’t responded, so he’s given them a further 2 weeks to respond before escalating this to an ombudsman to finalise the complaint.
I’m left quite annoyed, and I understand this is out of the hands of the FOS, but its already taken this long to get here, and late into the investigation trust two stopped responding to requests for information so I don’t understand why they’ve been given a further two weeks in which they are unlikely to respond before escalating this higher. I have a payment due to trust two on the 10th, so had hoped this would’ve been sorted out by now, given the result of the final decision.
Is there anything I can do to hurry this along further? As trust two are being so difficult and prolonging my suffering I don’t have faith they will act quickly and fairly throughout the rest of my complaint.
Agniva Banerjee says
Hello All, I had a high interest loan from Everyday loans in 2015 and a top up in 2016. Apart from EDL, I had borrowed from 6 other lenders. Finally, in 2018, I had to enter a DMP. Luckily, my financial situation is much better now, and I am hoping to finish my DMP by early next year.
I complained to EDL in early 2019 as I thought the lending was irresponsible. However, they got back to me, saying that they did not do anything wrong, and rejected my complain. I being naive and a non- financially orientated person, took the response as final and did not forward it to the FOS. Considering the fact that it has been more than a year, can I reopen the case with EDL or take it to the Ombudsman, or I have missed the boat?
Thanking you in anticipation.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have missed the boat I am afraid. Well done on being so close to finishing the DMP though!
Agniva Banerjee says
Hi Sara, thanks a lot for your response. I thought so.
However, Thanks a lot to you and team debt camel. You have really helped me pull through. During desperate times, I went through your website and comments almost everyday. Its only because of you and your team, I have reached this point where I am hoping to live debt free soon. Thanks a lot. You guys are amazing.
d says
Sara I’ve been rejected for a mortgage due to my likely loans loan which I am still paying off just now the monthly payment im not in arrears or that with them but apparently its classed as a payday loan?
Will this stop me with other providers or is it very much an individual company decision?
The one I applied with said j had to be 6 months clear of payday loans
Any help appreciated
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large is your deposit? When will the LL be paid off?
D says
Likely loans have around 10 months to go.
Deposit is 5%
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is this Help To Buy?
D says
No.sara credit union 100% mortgage.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry no idea, that is a very unusual lender.
Most lender would not treat LL as a payday lender but equally most lenders want a 15% deposit at the moment.
Paul Cowings says
Hi,
Has anyone had a car loan from welcome finance. Mine was high interest, sold to 3rd party claiming thousands still owed etc
Is it worthwhile pursuing as I’m aware they’re not solvent? Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks
Charlotte says
Hi there,
Surprisingly, after waiting so long I’ve finally had a settlement offer from trust two whilst dealing with the FOS. Although I have been advised it is in line with the advice from FOS, i am unsure whether this is true so looking for advice. My first loan with the company was for £3000 ran for 34 months, at 115.11 a month which i work out to equaling over the amount I borrowed – I have been told I didn’t pay off the entire loan but I have sent over my findings and asked how they got that figure.
My main confusion here, as the financial ombudsmen said this is correct – is that I’m only receiving 8% interest as a whole. Everywhere I have read has said simple interest, running from the time of the over payment until the refund. I haven’t yet accepted this offer as I just want to make sure everything is correct. This is exactly what was said to me when i asked about the settlement figure;
‘We would then expect them to add 8% of this total in interest, this is a one off 8% and not a running amount from when the loan was given’
Why is my case different to all the others I have read about, im really confused but this has been going on so long now.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
that’s wrong. it’s 8% per year. When was the loan settled?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
PS i will move this to the guarantor loan page https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/ in a day or so as it’s more relevant.
Charlotte says
Thank you and sorry I didn’t see the garentor loan page.
It hasn’t been settled yet, I had a second loan to cover the first. The first one was settled in 2017, which is when the next one began. The findings upheld both loans, but the overpayment calculated I have a disagreement with so I’m waiting to see what they say back. I’m really confused about being told that is was just 8% for the whole amount. I have replied asking why I am an exception to everything else that I’ve read. If the FOS come back and say the same thing again what should I say? This is at the adjudicator level but it has taken me a year so far, and they said if I don’t accept it before the 5th of August, there may be a big delay getting it to the ombudsmen and they might not be able to deal with the case again!
Thanks for your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ignoring the 8% part, how much redress are they offering and how much do you think it should be? Is the second loan still continuing? Will the redress clear the balance?
Charlotte says
Ah ok so
Loan 1 was for £3000 (48 months) but ran for 33 months @ 115.11
Loan 2 was for £5400 (48 months) but I only had use of £4050 as the rest was used to consolidate the first loan. I’ve been paying £216.69 a month so far for 35 months.
The FOS and trust two have now agreed to uphold both loans on a basis of unaffordable lending – saying I only have to pay what I had use of. But trusttwo have told me I still I owe £416.31 on the first loan – which I can’t see how they’ve worked that out considering I didn’t miss a payment. This means they want to deduct this from my refund.
They have said the total overpayment is £3514.20, interest @ 8% £209.25 so total refund of £3723.45 – but minus the £41.85 deduction to HMRC and apparently £416.31 I owe them my TOTAL refund will be £3265.29
It’s taken over a year to get this far and trust two have constantly been refusing to respond to information to the FOS. I had to provide my adjudicator with this letter so they could check it was inline with the findings to be told yeah it’s correct.
I don’t really know how to go forward with this because I feel from the reply Im forced to take this offer otherwise I might not even be dealt with.
yes the redress will clear the balance either way so the loan will be finished when I accept an offer. Also, from my calculations and reflected by my credit record – 33 x £115.11 = £3798.63
I’m not sure where they’ve come up with £2583.69 – I have asked!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
On those figures I make it that you have paid 5145 to the first loan – 33 lots of 115 plus 1350 settlement from the top up. So as you borrowed 3000, that is interest paid of £2145.
On the second loan you have so far paid 35 lots of 216 = 7560. As you borrowed 5400, this is interest paid of £2160.
So overall you should have the balance cleared and a refund of £4305.
This is the important figure to get right. The 8% interest is very minor by comparison!
Charlotte says
Thank you, that’s more like what I was thinking. After I sent the settlement letter with trust twos findings as above, my adjudicator said it was inline with their recommendations however, I am unsure whether they would have checked the amounts paid etc at this stage.
As for the interest, are they correct in saying it’s just 8% of the refund. In the adjudicators findings they stated 8% simple interest, which I thought was for every year. Maybe I am wrong but I haven’t had any responses to my questions yet to either the FOS or trust two.
Charlotte says
One other point, as the FOS has said I only should have to pay what I had use of, where does the £1350 from my top up – which I never had use of come into this? I feel like this may be where mine or their calculations are wrong.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you did have use of that 1350 – it was used to settle the first loan. which is why I have included that amount in the interest calaulation for the first loan above.
Charlotte says
They’ve claimed in their settlement letter I only had use of the £4069.95, the amount left after the first loan was consolidated.
As the adjudicator has agreed that their letter is fair, can I actually do anything about this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ask for details of how they have calculated the interest on loan 1 and on loan two separately. That shopuld show up where the problem is.
Robert mills says
How long does 118 take to pay out?
They have agreed with ombudsman but it said it can take up to 8 weeks
sam says
please let me know how long it takes! mines agreed so waiting to hear back from 118 about payment now
sam says
So the final response I had from Bamboo. I’m a little confused by it. I presumed my account was held by Lantern as detailed below.
We are writing to advise you that the below account(s) have been sold to Lantern Debt Recovery Services Ltd (Lantern).
The transfer assigns all of your previous lender’s rights, as the owner, to Lantern Debt Recovery Services Ltd. Any future contact should now be made directly to Lantern.
I had this response from Bamboo:
We therefore agree to refund the interest and charges that you have paid against the loan. To date we have received payments of £820.47 against a capital loan advance of £1,200.00. This means that there is an outstanding balance of £379.53 to repay. Once this amount has been repaid, we will remove any negative information from your credit profile.
Your account is currently held by Lantern Debt Recovery Services ltd and they have informed us that you are currently making payments through a debt management plan.
If you are happy to accept our offer, please inform us within 7 working days of receiving this response and we will contact Lantern to make the relevant adjustments to your account.
So my questions are:
1. Should Bamboo be offering me a breakdown of what I’m actually being refunded? There doesn’t seem to be anything in their response.
2. Should Bamboo be discussing this with Lantern?
3. Should I accept this?
Many thanks for any help.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not very clear, is it.
Do you know the total of payments you have made to Bamboo? And to Lantern?
sam says
My Bamboo account doesn’t show me and since Lantern took it on, it looks like the payments are around £200.
I was going to email asking for a breakdown of payments, then how much interest was attached to each of those payments, and finally the total amount of interest and charges being refunded.
Would that make sense?
Thanks again.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s a complicated way to get to the answer.
Much the easiest way to look at this is to not bother about how much of each pay was “interest” and how much was “principal”. Instead just ask Bamboo for the total of payments made to them – you may be able to see this from your bank statements, your credit record, or a statement of account from Bamboo.
You borrowed 1200. If you have paid Bamboo £820 (which is what their email suggests) and you have paid Lantern £200, then overall you have paid £1020. Interest has to be removed so you only have to repay 1200, so you still have a balance left of £180.
So the Lantern balance should be changed to 180. (Or Bamboo should buy the loan back from Lantern and you would owe Bamboo 180 – it’s Bamboo’s choice what to do.)
work out the total of payments made to Bamboo and to Lantern. Is this more or less than you borrowed?
Jo says
Just wondering if any one can help. This is a little different to a complaint so hopefully its in the right place.
I am having issues yet again with Everyday Loans. I currently have a complaint in with the FOS awaiting review.
I have however kept up with the payments (via a DMP and now a SM DMP) I have 2 payments left (thank god!)
Never had a statement of account from them since taking the loan in early 2017 but i have kept track of all payments. I have my final balance at £320. I called them for a balance, they gave me a figure in the region of £450. Why? they said cause of interest. This loan was front loaded and extended from 36 months to 44. I get they are entitled to put more interest on because of the extra 8 months but, should they not have told me? I asked for a statement of account – they sent me a list of my payments. I said a statment of account incl interest and advices on additional intrest they are unbeknowingly charging me, they said they dont do that. Isnt is legal to have to send me a full statement?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I get they are entitled to put more interest on because of the extra 8 months but, should they not have told me?
Actually there is a very good case that they should NOT have added extra interest on because of the longer time. In a debt management plan creditors are asked not to add any more interest. See https://debtcamel.co.uk/creditor-wont-freeze-interest/. This is what you need to complain about.
Of course if you win the FOS affordability case this is all academic, as all interest will be removed.
But I think it’s worth sending them a new complaint now asking them to remove the extra interest they have added.
Lindsay says
I have a similar problem with EDL except not in a DMP so situation is slightly different.
I am trying to pay mine off faster to avoid paying so much interest, now that I am in a slightly better position but unlike other lenders its hard to get clarity on this from EDL as they want you to have to pay the full interest.
They will not provide you with a figure of what your loan principle is if you ask and if you receive a statement of account it will not break down interest versus loan principle, it will only show your payments, so while I was able to receive a statement of account though Jo but it really doesn’t show you much.
I recently made a lump sum payment of £1000 off my current £4900 balance and when i contacted them two days after the £1k payment to see how this had reduced the loan principle they would only give me the settlement figure which was £4600, which I am assuming its because they charge you a month’s interest ahead. But when I asked for clarity they wouldn’t help and kept saying that their system didn’t give them that information.
They really keep you in the dark about how your payments are actually allocated to your loan principle and the interest – i tried to raise a complaint about the lack of clarity but didn’t get very far.
I hope all our EDL cases get picked up by the FOS soon and we get a favourable results!
Jo says
Hi Lindsay & Sarah
thank you both for your advise.
Sarah – I have issued a complaint. This company are the only credit to act bullyish and aggresive – cant wait to be rid of them but anyway i will see how my complaint goes.
Lindsay – They really keep you in the dark about how your payments are actually allocated to your loan principle and the interest – they are supposed to provide explanatory statements I believe at least once a year. I have had none, and they refuse me also. I have emailed the information and question to the FCA so i hope to get clarity on this shortly.
Just awful – I am pretty much at the end of my involvement with them thankfully!
Bob says
Just had my adjudicators decision against MyJar.
I had 2 loans with them, MyJar have agreed with adjudicators decision saying loan 1 was unaffordable but loan 2 was ok. This is ok but all my late payments were on loan 2. £1900 back
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So overall you are getting a refund of 1900? The last loan is already cleared? Or it is now cleared?
what was the reason the second loan was decided to be affordable?
Jackie says
I had a loan with 118 118 money for around £3k which I stupidly took out to try and pay off all my other pay day loans etc and have it all come off as a single payment. I really struggled with repayments and went onto a payment plan then they sold my debt to another company. Does anyone have any idea where I stand with this for making a complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a large loan, 118 should have checke4d carefully it would be affordable. Just because the repayment would be less than the payday loans were doesn’t mean they were affordable for you!
You make the complaint to 118. If it is upheld then 118 will sort out the debt which they have sold.
Are you currently paying the debt collector?
Jackie says
Thanks for your response! I was about to start paying the debt collector but then COVID-19 happened and I called them to say I couldn’t make any payments just now and I haven’t heard back from
Maria says
Thank you again Sara l Finally received a response from everyday loans saying:
“ Your loan was taken in August 2019 for £4100 over 36 months to consolidate debts at a repayment of £250.80 a month making total repayment £9028.80. It appears your monthly payments may not have been sustainable therefore I agree you should only repay the amount owing of £1466.60. You should speak to your branch to repay the amount owing as I understand you have been effected by the pandemic”.
I think its a good result any comments
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much have you paid to this so far?
Maria says
Letter says to date you have paid £2633.40
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK so they are proposing to remove all the interst so you only have to repay the 4000 you borrowed. And as you have already paid £2633, that means they are changing your balance to be £1466.
That is a good offer from them (unless you think they have the numbers wrong of course!)
You can now make a payment arrnagement to repay this at a more affordable rate – which may only be £5 a month if your finances have been badly affected by coronavirus. They should not add any more interest onto this.
Maria says
Thank you Sara I will call them on Monday and arrange a repayment plan it feels so good to only now have this debt and a credit card compared to this time last year thank you so much again for this website 🙏🏻
Linds says
Update for 118 118
I submitted my complaint to the FOS in May 2019, I received a response yesterday (30/07/20) from an Investigator saying they have completed my investigation and have the result.
I took 1 loan from 118 for £3000, the investigator has agreed it was unaffordable and said I should only have to repay what I borrowed.
My outstanding balance as of today is £1927.00.
From what I have already paid to 118 through my DMP, I will now owe them £4 and the loan will be repaid and closed.
Happy with the outcome and that is one less debt I gave to worry about.
kat says
Anyone know how long roughly for Likely Loans to payout?
Thanks
JA says
I think I’ve read they take 10 days , How long did they take to respond to your adjudicator?
Tony says
if LL have agreed to refund usually within 5 days of agreeing refund.
Matt says
Hi
I got a loan with bamboo to pay my bills & rent as had 5 other payday loans and 3 maxed out credit cards.
Is this worth pursing as only had the 1 loan with a top up?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large were the loan and the top up?
Matt says
Initially £1k with a £600 top-up
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a large loan, you can get refunds from the first loan when it is large so this is worth a try if you think the repayments were unaffordable for you.
Linds says
Hi Matt,
I only had 1 loan from bamboo but I submitted an affordability complaint. They upheld it and agreed I should only pay back what I borrowed, which was my original loan amount of £1000.
It’s worth submitting a complaint 👍🙂
Jaz says
Hi Sara
I just received a payment of £1605.63 into my bank and the 8% statutory interest that’s due on the refund they paid me £8.74 in total, I just wanted to know is that 8% statutory interest right on the £1605.63 interest refund their payed me.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who is the lender? Were you still paying a balance, if so at how much a month? And how much was written off?
Jaz says
Hi Sara
The lender was 118 118 Money, their was a balance remaining of £531.65 which was written off, I was paying off £101.24 a month.
Loan amount £2,000
Actual Advance £2,000 Instalments £155.98
Internal settlement £0.00
Total paid £2,432.07
Loan amount £1,281.65 monthly Instalments £101.24
Actual Advance £750
Internal settlement £531.65
Total paid £1,923.56
Total advanced: £2,750
Total paid: £4,355.63
Difference: £1,605.63
Their revised offer is;
Refund of interest of £1,605.63 and the 8% is £8.74, in addition amending your credit file.
Dj says
How long did you wait to hear from them I’m still waiting for payment ….no one has got back to me after they agreed Adjudicator decision …was it paid as a BACS or bank transfer on the day …my 8% is £38 on a refund of 1000
Jaz says
Hi Dj
They gave 118 money up to 4 weeks to get back to me and pay the refund, there replied back just after 4 weeks from the time their was given, and said their will pay me in 14 working days, their payed me on the 10th working day, which was yesterday, and it got paid straight into my bank account, it was a long wind but it paid off, just going to raise the concern about the 8% their payed me. hope this helps. Good luck
Sara (Debt Camel) says
to clarify, was £2432 the total of the monethly installments you paid to loan 1? And £1923 to loan 2?
But the 8% figure is definitely wrong. I suggest you go back to 118 and ask them how it was calculated.
Jaz says
Thank you Sara I will get back to them straight away many thanks again
Jaz says
Hi Sara
That’s right £2432 was the total I payed to loan 1 and £1923 was the total for loan 2
sam says
Hi Jaz
what DJ said, how long did it take them to reply to you? and how long for paying out?
Robert mills says
I’m still waiting for them to come to me. It was only agreed last Thursday that I was to receive a refund so it may take a few more weeks yet
Danielle says
So I complained to the FOS last year about avant credit as I’d had 4 large loans for them over the last few years with a balance remaining on the last loan. The complaint was upheld in January with them stating refund on interest for all 4 loans offset the remaining balance then refund me the remainder and remove the default. I received the refund back in March time and thought nothing of it. Then yesterday got an email from avant stating they were adding a default as they have received no payment for months and I have a remaining balance of 1900 to be paid, baring in mind my refund was much more than this. Turns out they had refunded me the full interest and didnt take it off the balance so I still owe them. I have checked my credit score and they removed the default from 3 years ago but now looks like I’m going to get another one this month. I’m absolutely gutted as thought I was getting somewhere with my debts and my credit report and now feel like I’m back to square one. Do you know if it’s worth complaining to avant again about this? I dont have the money to pay it all off now
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“with them stating refund on interest for all 4 loans offset the remaining balance then refund me the remainder and remove the default”
That was the FOS decision?
How large a refund did you get?
Danielle says
Yes that was the FOS decision. I got about 2200. But I just assumed they had done what was told and the money is gone now as this was back in Feb/March time. I dont know what to do now
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, reply to Avant and say they are being unreasonable, they made the mistake, you didn’t realise what they had done because they never sent you details of how it was calculated. So you reasonably assumed the refund was correct and you have spent it. If you have had covid-19 problems or used the money to pay priority debt mention that too! Also say that they should not have registered a default without even telling you you owed any money as you had no idea. Say you want the default/missed payment markers on your credit record removed and for them tp accept a [payment arrangement of £x a month to the debt.
How much can you actually afford> Do you have other problems debts or priority bills at the moment?
sam says
Anyone had 118 agree with the ombudsman and pay out?
wondered what lead times were like with them.
ruled in my favour and they have till 14th to respond.
Linds says
Hello,
I was just thinking the same, adjudicator ruled I my favour against 118, they have until the 13th to respond.
Wendy says
Hi
How long are people waiting for an adjudicatior to pick up for 118 118 cases
Thanks
Linds says
Hi Wendy,
I submitted my complaint in May 19, it was picked up by adjudicator in July 20.
Wendy says
Linds
Thanks for reply wow so I got a long wait on this 1 then ,good luck with your case x
Steve G says
Hi all
Recently rejected an offer from 118118 money as they would only to refund interest on the most recent 2 of my 7 loans i have had with them and wouldn’t diffident even offer the 8% interest.
As such had two questions if i may ask for other peoples experience
1:- I Had to raise my complaint to the Ombudsman via email but have not yet received confirmation they have received it. On there website it says it can take up to 8 weeks to even get confirmation of email but this doesn’t sound right to me has anyone had experience of this timeline and how long a simple confirmation takes?
2:- I notice 118118 have removed the remaining balance from my current loan even though i rejected there offer. Most of the remaining payments could have been considered interest anyway but normally my payment would be due on Friday. Does anyone know if they can or will likely reinstate this balance now i have rejected there inital offer.
Thanks in advance
K says
So Vanquis rejected my affordability complaint even though I was on a DMP, basically saying that it was affordable for me. Is it worth escalating this to the FOS do you think? Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how large was your credit limit? did they increase this?
K says
The credit limit was £1200. They didn’t increase. Thanks.
JA says
Has anyone had Likely Loans reply to there adjudicator recently? They seem to be dragging there feet with mine..
JA says
They have finally responded to my adj and agreed with them thankfully. Does anyone know if likely loans will contact me directly to organise the redress? And if so, How long roughly?
I just want this one done as its my last complaint and unfortunately taken since april 2019 Thanks
DM says
Hi Sara, thanks again for all your help. Just after some advice. I had a loan with Bamboo for £3k over 3yrs which I topped up to £3.55k three months later over 4yrs Loan was then passed to lantern with the full amount including interest which was in over £8k after making reduced payments. My initial complaint was rejected and I followed up with FOS as per the advice on the site In Jan and just got an email stating they will waive the interest as a good will gesture so still owe £1.2k from the initial loan which I am more than happy to pay. Question is has anybody accepted an offer of good will and had the marks removed from their credit file also? I have e-mailed to request they do this but wondering if anybody else has had any success with getting defaults removed and am I right to accept the offer?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds a good offer unless you think there is anything wrong with their figures and they are not taking into account what you have paid Lantern.
Ryan says
Hi,
I currently have a logbook loan with Varooma for £6,500.
I have made 4 payments of £433.33 totaling £1733.32.
Recently contacted them to settle the balance as I wanted to sell the car, but the settlement figure came back at £6935.55. When I queried why the total remaining balance was higher than the original loan amount after I have already made 4 payments I was met with hostility and mis-information, but I have now received a full breakdown of the schedule for how principal and interest is applied against my account.
Out of the £1733.32 paid, only £41.18 has been allocated against the actual loan amount and the rest took as interest!
My question is, is there any legal guideline around how much a company may allocate against the the principal and interest amount of payments we make? I was not given any information about this when I first applied and was told there was no early repayment charges as well. Do I have a case against this sort of thing?
I’ve requested all the information they hold about and the initial phone call going over all the information.
Thank you in advance,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Asking for all the information is a good move.
There is a legal forumla, it is set out in The Consumer Credit (Early Settlement) Regulations 2004 – https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/1483/made.
In most cases where people complaint, the calculation turns out to have been correctly done :( The cost of settlement for high interest loans is high :(
You could try putting your numbers into here https://www.financecalcs.co.uk/Calcs/Settlement.php – but I haven’t checked that gives correct results.
Were these monthly payments affordable? Read the article above… If they have left you struggling, think about making an affordability complaint and ask for a refund of the interest you have already paid. But these cases take a LONG while to go through, so don’t put off settling this loan in the hope of winning the complaint.
Matt says
Small update
I am still waiting for an Ombudsmen to look at my Moneybarn complaint. I’ve chased a fair amount of times but still no movement. It’s now 2 years since my original complaint!
The investigator upheld my decision but Moneybarn rejected and it was allegedly picked up by an Ombudsman in April, I guess it’s collecting dust on their desk as I’ve had no decision at all yet. Frustrating. The redress here could be life changing and I’ve been stung by both the Wonga and QQ admins so a little concerned a similar ending may await.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think you should be talking to FOS on a weekly basis about why there is no movement here.
Matt says
Hi Sara
I’ve been doing just that. No real updates and I don’t want to be a problem to them. I never get any answers and you can’t speak directly to the Ombudsman it is assigned to. The investigator is quite difficult to get hold of as well. Not the best but trying to be patient.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Phone up and say you will be making a complaint unless you get some information about what is happening. FOS may be waiting for MoneyBarn to respond, but if this is the case, you should be informed.
Matt says
Thanks Sara. I will call on Monday and do that.
Many thanks as ever for this site and your hard work
Matt says
Hi Sara Out of interest If I need to. Who do I complain to about the FOS case handling and what is it likely to achieve. I don’t want to poke the bear so to speak?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just call the normal FOS phone number. Be very polite and say you just need an update on what is happening to your case and say you do not want to have to put in a complaint just to try to get this.
Matt says
Hi Sara
I sent an email chaser saying I felt it was taking too long etc and just received this. Do you think I ask them to raise the service complaint?
Thank you for your previous email, my apologies that you feel this has taken too long. If you would like me to I can raise a service complaint with a manager and ask them to review the handling of the case.
In relation to the final decision from the Ombudsman, I can see that the Omudsman has begun the decision and is in the process of their investigation. I will send an email requesting an update and will let you know what the response is.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you reply that all you want is an update and that you would rather not raise a complaint if you are kept informed about what is happening and the cause of any delay.
Matt says
Thanks Sara
I will let you know what I get from here of course.
Calvin says
Hi Matt,
I’m in a similar position with EveryDay Loans. It took 16 months from sending compliant to FOS for an adjudicator to pick it up. The adjudicator found in my favour but EDL rejected. That was in March 2020. It’s been in a queue since then. I was told it could be up to 6 months. Hang in there!
Matt says
Hi Calvin
I’ve been patient and was really happy in April it seemed the end was near when an Ombudsman finally picked it up. 4 months later and I’m left with more frustration!
Hope you get the resolution you hope for soon. Crazy amount of time to be waiting.
Shaun says
My is being looked at as we speak by the adjuicator regarding everyday loans fingers crossed.
Robert mills says
My adjudicator ruled in my favour Thursday 30th of July but 118 still have not got in touch with me
I’ve spoken with them and they’ve told me it can take up to two months for someone to get in touch with me as the complaints team doesn’t have a phone number? You would think after all this they would just close the case
sam says
The adjudicator normally gives them 2 weeks to reply like he has with mine once they make a decision.
But that doesn’t mean that they will reply I suppose….
Robert mills says
Sorry I’ve typed that wrong, they agreed with the adjudicator on the 30th so I’m still waiting for 118 to contact me for my refund
sam says
i’d be calling them daily and trying to get an answer! they’ll probably take 4 weeks to pay out i’ve heard
Lisa G says
Hi all. A question.
My Everyday Loan complaint is now with an Ombudsman. The Ombudsman has had it for 4 weeks today.
I’ve not heard anything from them, they haven’t requested any more information from me or Everyday Loans.
Does anyone know roughly how long an Ombudsman takes to make a final decision? I know they are thorough but I’m looking for an average time frame.
Thanks!
Calvin says
Hi Lisa,
How long did you wait from the adjudicator referring to the ombudsman picking this up? I’ve been waiting 3 months now.
Thanks
Lisa G says
Hi. My case has been in the ombudsman queue since 21/04/20. But I put in a hardship case with the FOS to get it looked at quicker, which is why it’s been picked up sooner. I don’t know how long it would take otherwise.
Pete says
Onstride / casheuro portal now open for claims good luck to everyone submitting I know know one will get the full amount due but hopefully plenty with balances that can be reduced or written off
Chris says
Hi Sara. An ombudsman made a final ruling in my favour against Savvy loans (Valour Finance) on the 30th July 2020. I accepted his decision the same day. On the final decision email he gave me until the 27th August to reply. Would that mean Savvy must refund me the interest by that date or do they have 28 days from the 27th to refund? Thanks, Chris A
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think its 28 days from when FOS tell the lender you have accepted. Have you talked to the lender and provided your bank details?
Chris says
Thanks for replying. I phoned the lender to ask if they had received the ombudsman decision and all they said was they had received it and will respond to me by no later than the 28th August. They didn’t ask for bank details.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do they have your correct bank details? If not, tell them what they are.
Chris says
They should as my details are the same from when I had the loans but I will phone them again tomorrow to confirm them. Here’s hoping they will actually talk this time instead of rushing to get me off the phone