The repayments on many loans and car finance are too high to be manageable so people get deeper into debt trying to repay them.
When you applied, a lender should have checked a loan would be affordable for you – often they did not check properly and you should never have been given this loan.
This article describes how to complain, with a template to use.
Many people have won complaints using this. If you win, you get the interest refunded in cash. When you still owe a balance, the interest is removed so you only repay what you borrowed.
These complaints do not hurt your credit record if you carry on making the loan repayments while the complaint goes through.
Contents
A quick overview
What types of loans?
- any personal loans, including high-cost lenders, bank loans, and credit union loans;
- you can complain if you are still paying the loans, it has already been repaid, it has defaulted, or you have a payment arrangement/DMP;
- a consolidation loan may have been cheaper than the credit cards it cleared – but it may still have been unaffordable!
- you can also complain about car finance. But if you are still paying car finance, be careful – read Car finance affordability – what you get if you win a complaint
- the complaints here do not apply to mortgages or business loans.
What is “unaffordable”?
The regulator says “affordable” means:
you can make the repayments without hardship or having to borrow elsewhere.
For large loans, a lender should have made adequate checks at the start. The larger your loan, the worse your credit score and the more other debt you had, the closer a lender should look.
If your loan was fine at the beginning and only caused problems later when you lost your job or your mortgage repayments went up, you are unlikely to win an affordability complaint as this could not have been predicted at the start.
How does this work?
You first make a complaint to the lender saying the loan was unaffordable and ask for a refund of the interest.
There is a template here you can adapt to say what happened to you. Send it by email.
The lender has up to 8 weeks to reply. Lenders reject many good complaints, so you can send a rejection to the Financial Ombudsman.
Complain to the lender
Email addresses for lenders
If your loan has been sold to a debt collector, send your complaint to the original lender not the debt collector.
It’s easiest if all communications are by email – free, instant and you have a copy with a date stamp to show the ombudsman.
For banks, see this list here: email complaint addresses for banks.
For car finance and logbook loans, see this list: email address for car finance lenders
Here are the email addresses for some non-bank lenders. There are a lot of other smaller lenders, including many Credit Unions. If your lender is not listed, ask in the comment below for an email address.
Abound (used to be Fintern) complaints@getabound.com
Admiral loansquality@admiralgroup.co.uk
Anico complaints@anicofinancialservices.com
Avant Credit emailcomplaints@avantcredit.co.uk
Bamboo Loans complaints@bambooloans.com
Better Borrow enquiries@chetwood.co
Castle Community Bank complaints@castlecommunitybank.co.uk
Creation customercare@creation.co.uk
Everyday Loans – for loans after 31 March 2021, see Evlo and use the template in this article. It is no longer possible to make complaints about their loans before that date
Evlo (rebrand of Everyday Loans) chioma.nwachukwu@evlo.co.uk
Fair Finance complaints@fairfinance.org.uk
Finio Loans (rebrand of Likely Loans) complaints@oakbrookfinance.com
Fluro (used to be Lending Works) cx@fluro.co.uk
Koyo loans info@koyoloans.com
Lendable complaint@lendable.co.uk
Lifestyle Loans info@lifestyleloans.co.uk
Likely Loans – see Finio
LiveLend support@livelend.co
Loans by Mal (Monthly Advance Loans) Complaints@loansbymal.co.uk
Loans 2 Go read Loans2Go – how to complain
MBNA mbnaonlinecomplaints@mbna.co.uk
Moneyline headoffice@moneyline-uk.com
My Community Bank complaints@mycommunitybank.co.uk
Novuna (used to be called Hitachi) ComplaintsTeam@NovunaPersonalFinance.co.uk
Plata complaints@plata.com
Plend complaints@plend.co.uk
Progressive Money complaints@progressivemoney.co.uk
Quick Loans customerscare@quickloans.co.uk
Reevo complaints@reevomoney.com
Salary Finance (Neyber) complaints@salaryfinance.com (for loans, not “pay advance”)
Savvy info@savvy.co.uk
Shawbrook Customercare.team@shawbrook.co.uk
Snap Finance customer@snapfinance.co.uk
Tandem pl@tandem.co.uk
TM Advances info@tmadvances.co.uk
Updraft complaints@updraft.com
Vanquis customer.relations@vanquisbank.co.uk
Zopa complaints@zopa.com
118 118 Money complaints@118118money.com
Use this template
Email the lender to begin your complaint. Put AFFORDABILITY COMPLAINT as the subject of your email.
Template for you to adapt:
Please confirm the date this loan started, the amount, the interest rate and the monthly repayments. [don’t include this if you already know the information]
I am asking for a refund of the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record. [the refunds for car finance can be a lot more complicated than this, see but this is all you need to put in your complaint]
I also want the CCJ that I have for this debt set aside. [delete this sentence if you don’t have a CCJ!]
I attach copies of my bank statements and credit report from the time I applied for this loan/these loans. [delete if you don’t yet have them yet, but they help your case if you do. Even if they show gambling, that supports your argument the loan was unaffordable.]
I didn’t know that the lender was supposed to check that I could repay the loan without having to borrow more. I only found out in [2024] when I saw a newspaper article in the Sun/an advert on Facebook for refunds/a friend said they had made a complaint/whatever. So I am complaining within 3 years of having found out that I have cause to complain. [only put this paragraph if some of your loans are more than 6 years old. It explains why you haven’t complained before. It’s only an example so change it so it really covers what happened to you!]
Add extra information if you want – see below for some ideas – you don’t have to do this.
Do you need a payment arrangement now?
If you want an affordable payment arrangement now, add a sentence to the complaint saying this. These complaints may take months to sort out – a payment arrangement can get your finances into a safe place:
- a payment arrangement shows on your credit record, but if you win the complaint all negative marks will be deleted
- talk to a debt adviser such as National Debtline if you want to know more about payment arrangements
- but don’t risk a payment arrangement for car finance or a logbook loan – one would put your car at risk.
Other details to add if you want
The template above is fine, you don’t have to add a lot more details.
But you can add extra points if they apply in your case, for example
- my bank statements and credit record (attached) show that I was unable to afford the loan repayments.
- this was a large loan, you knew I had poor credit and may have been in a difficult position so you should have tried to verify my income and expenses. If you had done this, you would have rejected my application.
- during a telephone call, your agent suggested some figures should be lower to get my application accepted.
- if the lender was your bank – you should have seen from my bank account that I was in financial difficulty, I was using my overdraft a lot, I was only making minimum payments to my credit card from you.
And some examples of points about top-ups:
- a credit check would have shown that my finances had got worse since the first loan
- I had said the first loan was to consolidate debt, but you should have seen that this hadn’t happened.
While you are waiting for a reply
Try to get copies of your bank statements from 3 months before a loan to three months afterwards. You can get statements from closed bank accounts, normally going back 6 years.
Also get a statutory credit report now and download it. You can get one from TransUnion. Do this as soon as possible as sometimes the details change, so you want a full one saved to show the Ombudsman later if necessary.
Do not wait until the Ombudsman asks you for credit records or bank statements – you want them ready to hand. They really help your case as they prove your financial situation when you took the loan out.
You should get a response from the lender within 8 weeks. If you don’t, phone them up and ask when you will get it – a couple of days is worth waiting for but many responses are rejections, so don’t wait weeks for one, go to the Ombudsman straight away.
Go to the Ombudsman if you don’t get a good offer
Don’t be put off by a rejection! Or if the lender said it was your fault because your loan application wasn’t accurate – the lender should have made checks.
Sometimes a lender will send a long, complicated reply designed to make you look as though you should give up. If they say the loan was over 6 years ago, see below for “time limits”.
I suggest you rely on your instinct – if the loan caused you a lot of problems, send it to be looked at by the Ombudsman.
If you aren’t sure, ask in the Comments below this article. You only have 6 months to send the complaint to FOS, so it’s best to do this as soon as possible.
It isn’t usually worth trying to negotiate with these lenders, you are just wasting your time.
Send to Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)
It’s easy! Use the “do it online” option to send a complaint to the Ombudsman. It asks you for all the details they need.
The main part of your complaint can be a version of what you sent the lender in your complaint. Add any more details you want, including pointing out mistakes in the lender’s reply. Also attach:
- the reply from the lender
- Trans Union statutory credit record
- bank statements starting 3 months before first loan
- do not worry if you don’t have A copy of your credit or finance agreement – lots of people don’t. The lender will supply a copy if FOS asks for it. Don’t delay sending a complaint to FOS while you try to get this from the lender.
Other information that may help your case
Don’t delay sending a case to the Ombudsman while waiting for this information.
If you don’t have the bank statements from the time of the loan application, get them now. You can get these going back at least 6 years even from closed accounts. And you can often go back a lot further with an account that you are still using.
This is a good point to ask the lender for a Subject Access Request (SAR) if you are missing information that may come in useful at the Ombudsman. This could be your loan applications, all credit and other affordability checks and assessments, and a statement of account for the loans, and – if you think this will help – a record of all phone calls.
Your lender will have details of how to ask for this information on their website – it’s often included in their Privacy Policy, with a link at the bottom of web pages.
“Is there a time limit?”
You can’t complain about a loan that started before April 2007 – that is when the law changed to allow these complaints.
Lenders will often reject a complaint if the loan started more than 6 years ago.
But if your loan was still being repaid within the last 6 years, the Ombudsman may well decide they can look at it. So if your loan started in 2017 and finished in 2021, send this to the Ombudsman if the lender says it’s too old, because it isn’t.
The ombudsman may also look at older loans if you had a continuous stream of borrowing which carried on into the last 6 years. So if you had 2 loans, the first from 2014-17, when it was refinanced into a loan from 2017-2021, the Ombudsman may decide they can look at the earlier loan as well. And if you had two overlapping loans, eg from 2014-2019 and 2017-2022, the Ombudsman may look at both.
But if your loans from this lender ended more than 6 years ago, then it is very unlikely you will win a case at the Ombudsman.
Need some help?
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive, often incompetent and use a similar template to the one in this article.
Instead ask a question in the comments below.
Can you get an overdraft refund?
Refunds from cards and catalogues
Get a car finance commission refund?
Matt says
Moneybarn success!
Originally complained to Moneybarn And they rejected August 2018. I then referred to the FOS and an adjudicator in November didn’t uphold. I then requested an Ombudsman to look at it as I felt they needed to take into account the payday loans and other debt I had when given this big expensive car loan.
So late last night (must be doing overtime) I get another email from the same adjudicator saying he had consulted a senior colleague and now fully upholds my complaint! Obviously a new guy on the job, I’m so glad I asked for Ombudsman as this is potentially worth £7k!! I will be interested to see Moneybarns response now.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
good progress, hope MB accept it! It is well worth trying to get an adjudicator to change their mind with a careful argument.
Karen says
I have just submitted my Moneybarn claim. Well done on getting a good result. My reply from Moneybarn about the complaint I sent in was them being a high risk finance company and expect people to miss payments!!!
matt says
Thought I would update, Moneybarn rejected the Adjudicator decision so it is back in the queue for an Ombudsman. This complaint is very old, I called for an update and had the comment “this is an old one, will have to check the other system”. I am hoping an Ombudsman looks at this soon!
KR says
I’ve chased ombudsman as my husbands varooma case has been with them since last July and heard nothing and it’s still yet to be allocated. One has now gone past the 6 year mark which I put back in July to them, not holding out any hope it will be sorted anytime soon
Lisa says
Hi Sara
After some more advice. I have just received my data information from Bamboo and the credit file they have doesnt show the majority of my accounts as they are all still in my previous name. The previous name shows on my file as being me but there is no account information for it and this is where all the adverse credit is. All account information for both my married and maiden name are on my Credit Karma/experian report so why would it not show on the one that Bamboo have used? Will this affect my case at FOS?
David says
Hello, I was just wondering if anyone had ever made an affordability complaint against Progressive Money? If so how did you get on?
I believe my original loan was for around about £3600 but i ended up paying back close to £7000. The loan was issued when i had numerous Payday Loans already and was used to pay these off.
Cheers
Anon says
Is anyone having any joy getting replies from their Adjudicator. They agreed in my favour with regards to EDL 4 weeks ago now. Said EDL had two weeks to reply. Been trying to contact by phone and email to get an update but no reply. Any ideas how to tackle? Much appreciated.
Paul says
Has anybody had their complaint against 118 actually picked up and actively investigated by an adjudicator? I submitted this to the FOS in August and haven’t really heard much from them about it. Seems weird to me.
Linds says
Hi Paul,
I submitted my complaint to FOS in July 19, for 118 118, I received and email on 15th Jan 20 saying they have asked 118 118 for my case file. I have not heard anything since.
Paul says
Thanks Linds, hopefully they get that information back from 118 for you soon and then pick mine up too.
John C says
Paul I put my complaint in to the FOS about 118money in January 2019. They requested file from Madison CF and then in May the adjudicator told me it was going to a different team. Despite ringing every couple of months its not been allocated. I suspect you may be in for a long wait yet as I’ve already been waiting 13 months
Paul says
I wonder what the issue is with 118 specifically?
I’ve seen comments on here about previous records of loans with them disappearing from peoples credit reports as well. That also seems strange.
John C says
I spoke to someone at the FOS yesterday and it was same story. I’ve been told for over a year now that they were training people up as the team was small, but I think the sheer volume of complaints with Wonga and Quick Quid in the news, means this is having little impact
As for credit reports, my first 3 loans are still on Transunion (Totally Money and Credit Karma), but don’t believe they were ever on Experian or Equifax
Its just a waiting game I guess
Ross says
I’ve just logged in to my Credit Karma account and noticed that, on 28/01/20, a ‘consumer credit file request’ was made, but it doesn’t say by who? Could this be the FOS? I am awaiting an ombudsman ruling on Avant Credit and also for a Likely Loans complaint to be picked up at adjudicator stage. I haven’t applied for ANY credit in a long time, so it can’t be down to a credit request. It’s also showing as a ‘soft search’ so I am not overly concerned, more curious?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
no, FOS cannot access your credit record.
Do you have a copy of your credit report as you should send that to FOS if you haven’t already.
Catherine says
Every time you log in to your credit report it is logged as a soft search so could just be you.
Ross says
Thanks Catherine. It’s the first time I have ever seen this, and I log in to my report regularly, to check for any issues/irregularities.
Thanks to you too, Sara, I did send credit reports when I submitted both complaints to FOS. The adjudicator didn’t uphold my Avant complaint (you may remember?) and I was going to leave it, but you said to submit for an Ombudsman decision regardless and I have seen some Ombudsman overule the adjudicator decision so, nothing to lose I suppose?
The Likely Loans complaint was sent to FOS on 23/08/19. The last contact, from the FOS, was on 23/12/19, advising that they had asked Oakbrook Finance for information about my complaint. It seems things are moving, albeit very slowly.
Kate says
Morning, has anyone had any luck with Provident/Satsuma. I first raised my complaint with them in June 2019 and it took them over 6 months to respond. I eventually got a response, not upholding my complaint, and advising me to go to FOS. I had already done that before I got my final response from them as I know they are allowed 8 weeks to investigate and respond.
I am now in communication with the FOS who appear to be allowing Satsuma as long as they want to send over the case file. They won’t give me a straight answer as to what they are doing about chasing Satsuma for this information other than they are contacting them every two weeks and poor Satsuma have a backlog so it’s taking quite a long time…… No Satsuma like messing folk around and no-one seems bothered about the people who have been mis-sold. I am getting extremely frustrated so was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience to me and a positive outcome??? Thanks
Amy says
Hi,
Ive put in a complaint to 118 118 as i borrowed £1000 with 99%apr which then they offered to top up to £2200 a year later which I accepted. I’m still paying this loan off now however been on a few payment plan for the past few months as on maternity leave. Should i still keep making these monthly payments whilst they are investigating?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
are the monthly payments affordable? do you have other problem debts?
Amy says
Yes they are affordable. I have other loans but up to date on all payments
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then it’s probably best to carry on making the payments.
Bob says
Hi Sarah, I’ve just received a final response to my everyday loan complaint.
In the first line it says
“ having looked into your concerns I can confirm the I will be partially upholding your complaint. Please find below details of my investigation”
So in the investigation they say their unable to agree that the loan was unaffordable. You may contact the FOS etc etc
How can the partially uphold the complaint then in the next paragraph say it was affordable.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No idea, I suppose it could be a badly edited template answer?
You can ask them or just send it to FOS.
Brian says
Hey – I had a loan with Juo loans which was passed to lantern ( in more paying then small amount monthly) however I’m only now realising all the loans taken out at that time were unaffordable – long story short, with wage day advance/juo closed is it possible to make the complaint to lantern?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can try but they may say they have no records about the lending and you should have complained to the administrators – which it is now too late to do.
Brian says
Ok thanks Sara
Paul says
Hi Sara can you help? I made a complaint to FO about likely loans, I had two loans from them. The adjudicator agrees with me on both loans but for the second one I repaid it with my partners credit card before the complaint was settled. Will I still get my interest back on this loan? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you will.
Paul says
The original loan was for £2500 And I paid back £3023.76 they waived £171.24 to pay it back early will that affect things?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No. it looks as though you paid 3023-2500=523 in interest.
Linds says
Has anyone had a complaint upheld for Varooma?
KR says
I’ve seen one case on here recently and a few appearing on fos websits, I’m still waiting for my husbands to be picked up by fos from July 2019
Dean says
I’ve complained to varooma but no reply and not even an acknowledgement of the complaint.
Shuan says
Sorry for yet another question.
A family member paid off my loan with Everyday Loans for me. They gave me the money and I settled the account. Will that cause any problems when making a complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No this won’t be a problem. Any refund comes to you. And just because the loan was paid off EL can’t claim it must have been affordable.
Craig says
How long does it usually take for provident to list your loans and get back to you. I have had the email acknowledgement of my complaint but no loans list. My wife’s claim they asked for more evidence, she had her customer number, how much more evidence can they want.
PAUL says
Anyone had a complaint against likely loans? I’ve had mine upheld by the adjudicator yesterday so just wondering on timescale for pay out?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
First Likely loans have to accept the adjudicator decision.
Paul says
Any experience of them and if they are likely to disagree?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Other may respond with some recent experience.
Sharper says
An adjudicator upheld my complaint just over a week ago and I am still waiting for a response from Likely Loans.
JA says
Good news for you both and hope likely loans accept. May I ask when you sent your case to the FOS and when it was picked up? I sent my last may and I’m still waiting for an adjudicator.
Sharper says
I thought sent mine last August but looking back it was actually the beginning of May. Fingers crossed yours won’t be long
Lisa says
Hi me again!
I have now received all of my info from TM advances and it includes an e-consumerview with a CAIS risk score! My risk score is ‘high risk’ and goes on to say “most lenders view this score as high risk – A high proportion of applicants for credit with this score will experience serious repayment problems if the application is accepted” then goes on to say my ‘consumer indebtness index’ is very high level. They have also included an experian report which only covers a small proportion of my current debt as alot is in my maiden name still. The report shows my maiden name as a allias associated with my current name but none of the debt. All of my debt is shown on Credit Karma so not sure why experian would be different. Why do these people lend to desperate people knowing they are at high risk of not being able to pay it back???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
because no one not at high risk would pay their interest rates!
Lisa says
Does it help my unaffordability case that they had that warning from experian?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
not much. You have to show actual unaffordability. Did they send you an income & expenditure assessment?
Lisa says
No, they didnt ask for any proof of income or bank statements. It doesnt help that they have a credit report which only shows half of my debt! I expect if they had seen what I actually owed and the payments I was making each month they wouldnt have lent me the money. I have gone back to them about half of the paperwork as the screen shots are cut off at the edges so none of it makes sense.
Paul says
Hi,
Can you claim against secured loans, I have one with 1st Stop home loans. They let me take out another secured loan to pay off my original secured loan with them and they gave me extra to consolidation.
Paul
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 about this – it may have been under a different regulatory procedure.
Paul says
OK thanks,
Madeline says
Has anyone ever had an unaffordable claim against everyday loans be upheld by FO, I have received a definite NO from EDLand it is sitting with FO at present, they are waiting for response from EDL. I have never heard of anyone being successful against EDL.
Fraggles says
Hi – Is your complaint at adjudicator level or FIS decision ?
Madeline says
I have had no decision from the financial ombudsmans office they are awaiting more info from everydayloans
Fraggles says
I have a complaint against EDL that had been upheld by the adjudicator. Currently waiting for EDL to respond by the deadline set, if the don’t respond it will automatically be passed to the ombudsman.
Not sure what EDL are like for accepting adjudicator decisions but fingers crossed
Madeline says
Oh interesting hopefully they will pay out. I had 4 loans over 4 years each one paid by more borrowing and each one larger than the last
Phil says
How long did you have to wait for an adjudicator to pick up your case?
I have a complaint against EDL currently waiting for an adjudicators review.
CJK says
Waited 18 months on mine getting picked up but that’s because they were training the team. Been waiting 5 weeks on Tuesday for EDL to reply to adjudicator but still nothing.
Fraggles says
Took the adjudicator around 14 month to pick up the case and give a decision. EDL hasnt responded to their decision date 15th Jan by the given deadline. The adjudicator has now sent my complaint to ombudsman to make a final decision.
Lisa G says
Fraggles, I think that’s really poor of EDL to not get back to you. I think you said they’d asked for more time but to still have not got back to you isn’t good. I doubt they’re dealing with the level of complaints as pay day lenders.
Hopefully they get back to you before the ombudsman.
Keep us updated!
Madeline says
Hi fraggles
Have you heard anything on your complaint yet?
Madeline
Peter says
Just wanted to share my experience with 118118 money. Pleasantly surprised!
I had two loans with them in the past 3 years. One for £2500 and the second for £2000. I thought I would try my luck and complained about irresponsible lending. Ive had many payday loans and high cost loans so my credit file was pretty shocking.
Anyway, I am still paying the 2nd loan back, paid just over £1000 so still around £3000 to go.
They replied to my complaint today. Of course they will not agree that the first loan was lent irresponsibly, but have agreed to wipe out the interest on loan 2! I’m totally shocked as I thought i didn’t stand a chance of succeeding without going to the FOS. A total of £2307.52 interest wiped off, leaving a balance to pay of £545.62. I’ll have the loan paid off around 2 years early, thank god.
Well done 118118!
If anyone has had similar circumstances, then I would urge you to complain. It cant hurt.
Leesharratt says
I had something similar. A Loan of 2500 pound. Emailed a director I think. And wiped off 4500 interest. Only paid 260 pound and it was closed
Liam says
I only ever had one loan from them. What’s the chances of getting any joy reclaiming from a company where you only lent once from?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most people winning cases against 118 money only had 1 or 2 loans from them. The template letter on this page is designed for single bad credit loans.
Wendy says
Hi well done with 118118 I just wondered how long did they take to reply to your email ,do they normally take the whole 8weeks?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
At least! Send the complaint straight to the Omif you dont Get a reply within 8 weeks.
Julia buettner says
Does anybody have any experience with Nextcredit loans, they have agreed a refund which was to be paid within 4 / 5 working days , now 10 days later and still waiting
Julia B says
Yes I had the same problem, but after 2 weeks got the money
Dana says
Hi Sara,
Please can you advise. I complained about 118 118 Money last year to the FCA because they sold me an unaffordable loan which I was struggling to pay back, they came back saying they did the correct checks so it was upheld, however, they advised me 118 118 money would help me with an affordable repayment plan. I’ve been on this plan for a few months and it really took the weight of my shoulders until today when I got a notification from Credit Karma saying a default has been added to my credit file by 118 118 Money. When I agreed to this repayment plan I asked several times, would this lead to a default and I was assured it would not. I’ve started a complaint with 118 118 Money, are they correct for doing this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is pretty normal for a repayment plan to result in a default after a few months. How long will it take you to repay this debt at the current rate?
Jay D says
If an adjudicator fully agreed to my complaint and has upheld it, but then the lender rejects this in part or fully;
A) Will they have to give a good justification for this?
B) Will it not matter and has to go to an Ombudsman anyway if I didn’t agree with the lender?
C) How likely will the Ombudsman agree with the adjudicator?
D) Will any kind of precedent take place with past decisions meaning the lenders justification for rejection becomes moot?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It has to go to the Ombudsman if either you or the lender doesn’t agree. If they give reasons, then the Ombudsman is going to take those into account.
The Ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator in 90% of cases across all of FOS’s work.
There is no formal precedent system. FOS has a standard approach to affordability complaints (see https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/complaints-deal/consumer-credit/unaffordable-lending) but the decision will depend on the facts of your case.
Jay D says
Thanks Sara
Well I’ve come to realise that I should keep my expectations low and see what happens. I understand that there a lot of these complaints now. I do think where applicable, there should be a process for including precedent, it would speed things up.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well it seems to me that the current approach has a lot of advantages for customers. FOS cases are meant to be informal, not like a court of law. You don’t want to have to cite case precedents, nor to have the lender quote precedents you don’t know about.
Lisa G says
I don’t know how long EDL take to respond. I had 3 loans from them within 20 months. One for 3000, the next 4500 and the last for 10k.
I sent my complaint off to the FOS in Oct 2018. Last week it was picked up by an adjudicator but as yet I haven’t heard anything from them.
When you do hear from them, please let us know via this site.
Phil says
I don’t understand why it takes the FOS so long to look at cases.
I would have thought with the Quickquid etc administrations it would have released adjudicators to look at other cases.
I only complained about EDL in September 2019 so I guess I’m in for another long wait, having waited 3 years for payday loan complaints to ultimately fail because of administrations.
Fraggles says
Hi Madeline – They didn’t respond by the extended deadline. The adjudicator has sent it to the ombudsman for final decision.
Very strange that they would ask for an extension but then not bother
Sarak K says
I have made a complain to Varooma last June 2019. They refused to respond to other than an initial email acknowledging the complaint and enclosing the complaints policy (which they have failed to follow) me in any way despite numerous calls and emails. I then received an email from the ombudsman who advised me before Christmas that the company had eight weeks to make a response to me, twelve weeks on still nothing.
Not sure what to do next :(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Phone up the Ombudsman and say that you complained in June 2019, you have the email from Varooma acknowledging this so you don’t know why they are being given more time and you want FOS to look at the case now. Ask to speak to a manager if you don’t get what sounds like a sensible reply.
Lisa says
Hi Sara
Bit of advice please. I complained to TM Advances and the SAR they sent me had a credit file with only half the information on. I have today sent them a credit report which i happened to have from 9 days before i appiled for the loan. They have now asked me to send bank statements showing gambling transactions, which I have done. They have now text me with a link to an affordibilitycheck.experian where i have to approve shring my financial informaiton. Should I do this as I have no idea what, or how much information i will be sharing. Have you ever heard of this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are they asking you to share your current financial information through something called “open banking”? I suggest you ask them why they want this and what exactly it is that you will be sharing.
Lisa says
Yes thats it. Made me think its something they should have done when I applied for the loan! They wanted me to send that as they were saying that it would be easier than me sending bank statements. I have sent the bank statements now so I am not going to approve it. If they still need it I will ask for the reasons.
Thank you for the quick response.
CJK says
EDL seem to be dragging their feet. It’s been 5 weeks since the Adjudicator ruled in my favour but still no reply from them, looks like it’s back in the mix for an ombudsman and another long wait. Took from July 2018 until Dec 2019 for complaint to be picked up.
Fraggles says
It does seem strange that they asked for asked an extension and then failed to respond by the extended time.
Anyone know how long the wait is for an ombudsman to review?
Lisa G says
I’ve just called the FOS about my EDL case. It was picked up by an adjudicator on 22/01/20 and they asked EDL to provide some more information, but as yet they haven’t. So still waiting. EDL seem quick to reject claims (one of the quickest if my memory serves me right) and yet are very slow to respond to the FOS.
The ombudsman is usually about 2-3 months in my experience. Then add the time they give the company to pay out, the company actually paying out etc, it’s still a wait.
Jay D says
Hi
Have you heard anything back? I keep getting that they’re still waiting for the lender to respond.. not gave an actual reason aside from they’re busy.
I don’t think my adjudicator is pushing and they’re just walking all over him.. I think i will just escalate to an Ombudsman tomorrow since it’s now been over 5 weeks since the adjudicator sent his findings over.
Fraggles says
EDL failed to respond by the deadline. My has adjudicator sent on the Ombudsman for review.
Seems that EDL are happy to take their chances.
Cjk says
Has anyone had any joy with EDL, 8 weeks since adjudicator went back and not a reply. Worst company to deal with?
Fraggles says
Nope – Currently waiting for an ombudsman decision.
chris c says
I just had my reply declined from Avant credit 11 weeks after my complaint but I feel they have done themselves no favours with what they have send me regarding my loan details see below,
During the application process, you were required to provide your monthly net income and to verify this amount with the submission of a bank statement dated within the previous 30 days. Your monthly net income is used to help determine what a suitable monthly repayment amount would be for yourself. On the application, you indicated that you received £ 1254.00 monthly, which was then verified by information on your bank statement dated indicating a monthly net income of £850.00. Due to the discrepancy we considered the verified information when assessing the affordability of this application. This information was then confirmed against information pulled from your Callcredit Tac report to determine your eligibility for credit. Our records indicate that you stated on the loan application that the purpose for the loan was debt consolidation, therefore your monthly credit commitments were expected to be reduced following funding.
Is this really 11 weeks work I have taken them to the fos already but can you believe this??
Catherine says
That was a similar response to what I got,basic and not really a individual response,they simply stated that I met basic eligibility criteria but didn’t include any kind of income and expenditure details to back up their response,my DSAR report also showed no income or expenditure details.They viewed a bank statement littered with gambling transactions and over 10 payday loan repayments and a overdraft in huge minus figures but still didn’t uphold.
Chris c says
It’s bizarre it’s almost as if they are saying your income was 32% less than you stated but we didn’t query it what kind of affordability assessment is that?
Mike says
Hi Sara,
Following on from my credit union complaint. Well today got the opinion from FOS.They are partially upholding my complaint. To summarise from Jan 2015-today have lent £29,400 ( first loan £2000) The adjudicater has looked at all the info they sent and taken into account all of what I said and ruled the loan after the first £2000 should not of been lent.
So that’s £27,400 they should not have lent and recommended they repay all the interest from Aug 15-today.
He also recommended they contact me to arrange an affordable repayment plan for any remaining balance.(and not add anymore interest to the balance)
I currently still owe £17-£18,000 and have £5700 in savings so not really sure what the actual outcome will be from this?
Ironically he didn’t have all the information regarding the appropriate checks as the CU claimed to have lost or it was corrupted so made his opinion on what they were able to send him!!
They have until 25/2 to reply if they accept his opinion or will have to go to the Ombudsman.
Does the 8% interest rule not apply to this sort of borrowing?
I am totally clueless as to what the financial outcome will be for me?
Any idea how this will all be worked out if the CU agrees?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How were all these loans Structured – as new loans? As new loans where part was used to settle previous loans? As extensions of previous loans?
I haven’t see a CU case like this…
Mike says
Hi Sara,
Apart from the revolving credit I just kept applying for top ups of the following amounts.
19 January 2015 – £2000 loan,
13 August 2015 – £4000 loan,
5 January 2016 – £2700 loan,
10 March 2016 – £2000 revolving credit facility,
28 June 2016 – £3000 loan,
8 November 2016 – £2000 loan,
22 March 2017 – £2500 loan,
2 February 2018 – £5200 loan,
19 May 2018 – £3000 loan,
12 October 2018 -£3000
The CU always claim they are cheaper than payday loans but really don’t know what rates they actually charge.
So apart from the initial £2000 he says all the rest shouldn’t have been lent. So from the £29,400 that leaves £27,400 of which there is still an outstanding balance of £17,300 . Also £1900 left on the revolving credit which they ironically stopped me using after the FOS had been in touch.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
But is a “top up” a new loan? or an extra bit on the previous loan? And if it is a new loan, did you get all that in cash or was some used to settle the previous loan?
Mike says
Sorry if I was confusing you.
Let’s say I had £8000 balance then applied for £11,000 (£3000) top up loan which I got the £3000.
Then again and again does that answer your question?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so you have been making two payments each month, one to the outstanding loan and one to the revolving credit? Or have these somehow been combined? And the “savings” did they just come from the payments to the loans?
Mike says
Been paying £163 p/w
£40 for orbital/revolving loan
£84 for loan
Rest went into savings for security against the borrowing. They would loan upto 5x your savings . I built up the savings from borrowing from other sources, other CU’s and at the time Morses/shopacheck. As this CU was one of 3 I have used asked the adjudicater at the beginning of the process if he found in my favour then would also put in complaints to the others.
Ironically this one did the most ‘ thorough’ checks i.e. Bank statements x4, payslips x4 and credit checks. The others only asked for payslips( one only ever asked for a single payslip and the other two payslips) so based on this complaint being upheld I would imagine the others would be easier cases if I had to go to FOS with them ?
——————–
This is what he wrote at the end of his opinion.
Further loans
In total over a period of three and a half years, Commsave lent £29,400 to Mr F. And I think if a discussion had have taken place about Mr F’s finances and the information within his bank statements, the decision shouldn’t have been made to lend on 13 August 2015.
I don’t have enough information to make a judgement on whether I think the further loans should’ve been lent to Mr F. Commsave have told me they’re not able to provide all of this as some files are lost or corrupted. But based on the above, I’m not convinced Commsave should’ve carried on lending after August 2015.
Next steps
As I don’t think Commsave should’ve continued lending to Mr F from 13 August 2015, I’m recommending they repay the interest charged to him from that date onwards. I also recommend Commsave contact Mr F to arrange a repayment plan for the remaining balance, taking into account what he holds in savings with them. They shouldn’t charge any interest on the existing balance going forwards.
I think this is a fair outcome in the circumstances, for the reasons I’ve explained. Please let me know by 25 February 2020 whether you agree to my recommendations. If I can’t resolve things then an ombudsman here can look at everything again and make a final decision.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Right, so I think the loans can just be treated in the same way that a normal series of top up loans is if the money that went into savings is handled seperately.
So to work out how much interest you have paid, I need to know for each loan (except the revolving credit account) is
– the amount borrowed (not included interest added on), the amount of cash you received (ie less if the loan was a top up loan), and the sum of all the monthly payments you made to that loan.
So these are all what I would term “real money” movements. You can ignore what loan statements say about the interest you paid or the outstanding balance. Just follow the cash.
Then for the revolving credit facility, a total of every payment you made to the account and a total of every withdrawl you made from the account.
Craig says
Does anyone know how long it takes for provident to get back to you with your loans list. It’s been 2 weeks and only had the confirmation of my complaint.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is this doorstep lending or Satsuma?
Craig says
Doorstep lending.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, then asking over on this page https://debtcamel.co.uk/refund-doorstep-loans/ may get more answers.
Sharper says
Just a quick update on my likely loans complaint. 13 days ago the adjudicator upheld my complaint in full and today likely loans agreed. I should receive payment within 10 days.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good that LL aren’t dragging this out to the Ombudsman.
JA says
Amazing news sharper , I can’t remember if I asked – How many loans did you have and why were they upheld? I’m still waiting for an adjudicator but crossed fingers its soon.
Sharper says
Hi,
I had one loan for £4000 and then a top loan a year later for £500.
The adjudicator initially wouldn’t uphold either but after several emails and me pointing out my low income and high credit commitments; they went on to uphold both. It’s definitely worth sending all bank statements, credit report and etc. Good luck
Linds says
Has anyone had any dealings with a guarantor loan called Guarantor My Loan?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
They have been mentioned a couple of times on the guarantor loan page – https://debtcamel.co.uk/how-to-complain-guarantor-loan/. read that article – some important extra points for guarantor loans.
Rachael says
Anyone had problems with Bamboo loans? I took out a loan for £5K and they are asking for £13,204.09 over 60 months which is ridiculous! I can’t afford that and told them so. They have rejected my complaint regarding irresponsible lending.
Katie says
I sent off the first email 7 weeks ago and so far had an acknowledgement and mr SAR info.
I too took out £5k and so far have paid back a total of £8k including a couple of over payments… still £2.5k to go!
I figured I had nothing to lose. If they even just reduce interest rate it would be a bonus!
I was in the payday loan cycle when the loans was taken out… I’ll let you know any outcome.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the Ombudsman! Attach a copy of your Credit Karma report and bank statements for the 3 months before the loan application.
These complaints can take a very long while to go through FOS at the moment. If you can’t afford the current payments have you asked for a payment arrangement? Or considered a DMP for all your debts including this one, see https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx? Winning your affordabilty case later can then speed up your DMP a lot, but a DMP gets you into a secure position to wait for the result.
Lisa G says
Hi Sara, I have a question. I took out a loan from Progressive Money in March 2016. The monthly repayments were £327. In Oct 2016 I entered into a DMP. I started to pay £191 but in Sept 2017 reduced that to £77 as there was a change in my expenses.
In Sept 2017 Progressive contacted me via telephone and said that I needed to get my account back up to date otherwise they would put a charge on my house. This is a jointly owned house with mine and my mums name on it, but it’s my mums home, I no longer live there. It’s mortgage free. Obviously I didn’t want a charge on the home so I reluctantly agreed to pay £370 every month until the arrears were cleared, even though I couldn’t afford it. Despite my protests they gave me no other options. I ended up paying the £77 through the DMP as well as the additional £370.
This loan is now paid off but i still feel they treated me unfairly when I was clearly having money problems. I had money problems (gambling) when they lent to me and obviously still suffered from that when I was entered into a DMP.
Is it worth sending off an affordability complaint to them? Have you heard of anyone else who’s had dealings with them? I had only the one loan for approx £6,500.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Only a few comments saying people were thinking of making claims. Don’t let that put you off, if you know the repayments were more than you could manage then make a complaint. That was a large loan, PM should have looked carefully at whether you could afford it. If there was gambling on your bank statements they obviously didn’t!
You can also complain about the way you were treated when you were in dificulty. The FCA’s CONC rules say “A firm must not pressurise a customer: (1) to pay a debt in one single or very few repayments or in unreasonably large amounts, when to do so would have an adverse impact on the customer’s financial circumstances” and if they knew you were in a DMP they trying to get you to pay so much more sounds unreasonable to me!
You can do this in the same complaint, but change the template letter about so that it is clear you have two separate reasons for complaining, affordablility and the way you were treated.
Did having to make these extra payments cause you to have to borrow more, even though you were in a DMP?
Lisa G says
Thanks Sara, I’ve now sent something off but it’s too long to post on here.
I think I’ve been quite clear so we’ll see what come back. I’ll keep everyone updated.
Lisa G says
I should add, that in my email I’ve written;
“As you can see from my loan breakdown (attached), I was just starting to get my head above water and by May 2017 I only had 1 additional loan to repay.” *this additional loan was outside of the DMP*
“In November 2017, after your demands for additional money, I was again borrowing to keep my head above water and getting further into debt.”
So yes, it caused me to borrow more. I did also send my credit report. It’ll be interesting to see what comes back…. but I’ll prepare for the FOS.
Shaun says
*Be aware of Everyday Loans tactics*
I had two loans with them. I was lucky enough to have my last loan paid off by a family member. I got calls, texts and emails from the local branch telling me I was a valued customer and they were ready to discuss a new loan with me at any time.
Two weeks ago I emailed to make an affordability compliant. The complaints team came back and said I never had any loans with them. They could only see a rejected loan. I sent them all my dates: past addresses, emails addresses, and anything else to identify me. No luck!
I remembered I have a letter from the last loan I’d paid off and luckily I had taken a picture of it for prove, if I ever needed it. It had my account number. Sent it to them. Week later I got a letter to my address (that I had given them) saying they had acknowledged my compliant and would deal with it within the next 8 weeks.
They are a sneaky bunch.
Matt says
Hi
Had an offer from Loans 2 Go partially upholding my complaint and:
“At Loans loans2go we always take reasonable steps to assist customers in financial difficulty.
When we are made aware, or have reason to believe, our customer is in financial hardship, we
aim to treat the customer positively and sympathetically. Having reviewed your account, I can
confirm that we have shown considerable forbearance and have done our best to engage with
you to assist you with your account.
In the circumstances and after consideration to all the evidence available to me, I am partially
upholding your complaint as our findings suggest we could have carried out more checks prior to
providing you with the loans.
Therefore, we have agreed to write off the remaining balance on your loan agreement. This would
mean you would no longer be liable to make further payments to Loans2Go as your account
would be completed. We would then amend your credit file accordingly. This would be as full and
final settlement of your complaint.”
Your thoughts???
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large was the loan? How much have you paid to date?
Matt says
It doesn’t give the amounts on the letter just this:
“Loan 1 Agreement date: 25/11/2017
I note that we verified that you received an average monthly income of £1,276.03. Also, following an extensive review of your application, in addition to your credit file, we calculated your monthly expenditure and credit commitments to total £967.32. We therefore calculated that your contractual loan repayment of £68.89 would have been affordable.
Loan 2 Agreement date: 16/03/2018
I note that we verified that you received an average monthly income of £1,575.92. Also, following an extensive review of your application, in addition to your credit file, we calculated your monthly expenditure and credit commitments to total £1075.60. We therefore calculated that your contractual loan repayment of £110.22 would have been affordable.”
I’ll try and find the exact amounts, loan 2 is in a default state from Feb 2019 and Credit Karma shows as current balance of £3196
Thanks :)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Those amounts arent much help.
Here you don’t want their statements or balances including interest. just follow the cash:
loan 1 borrowed A, paid B
loan 2 borrowed C, paid so far D
Dub says
Hi Sara
Is it worth complaing to cash converters? And which letter should I use?
Ross says
Disappointing news, in the post, this morning. The Ombudsman has ruled on my Avant Credit complaint, and he has agreed with the adjudicator’s findings, where they didn’t uphold. The main crux of the argument is that, as I didn’t tell Avant Credit about my gambling problem when applying for the loan (what compulsive gambler would, in all honesty?) they feel that Avant Credit wouldn’t have known not to grant the loan.
I just have to take this one, on the chin, and be thankful that this loan is shortly about to be paid off. I have a complaint , about LL, waiting to be picked up and I can see this one going down the same avenue, as the facts of the complaint are almost identical. Therefore, I won’t be holding my breath. Ah well, you live & learn I suppose?
Catherine says
Hi Ross,So was the main point of your complaint that they shouldn’t of lent due to gambling?Did you have any other debt,payday loans etc that showed on the statement Avant Credit viewed?
I have a avant credit loan awaiting allocation,the statement they had was littered with payday loan repayments and hundreds of gambling transactions,my credit report showed in the months prior to the loan issue I had a reliance on short term lending with over 80 loans in 2 years.
Did you send report and statements prior and after with your complaint to FOS?
Ross says
Hi Catherine,
The FOS were provided with all of this info, and I also made the adjudicator aware of the fact that all of my credit cards were up to their limit, that I had borrowed from numerous payday lenders and was dependant on them (hence the reason why I had redress from a lot of them). I just have to accept that the FOS don’t agree :(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
These cases are very individual. Just because someone wins or loses a case against a lender doesn’t mean other people will have the same result. It’s not like payday loans where after a certain amount of continuous borrowing you are almost certain to win a case.
Neil says
Has anyone had any success dealing with Carcashpoint?
They have sent me a final response letter refusing my claim because :
– They do not do normal credit checks,
– They seen my account and confirmed I was paid my wages every month (ignored other payday loans)
– I told them I had a claim that was due (which I didn’t)
Should I sent this straight to the Ombudsman
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“We don’t do normal credit checks” is the worst reason ever for rejecting a complaint!
So they saw your bank statements? What would they have shown, a lot of debt? Other problems?
What is this Claim?
Neil says
Its an unaffordability complaint against a logbook loan company
yes my bank statements would have shown an £800 overdraft, the fact I got a top up and numerous payday loans
sorry just realised what you meant by claim, I told them I was due £8000 from a road traffic accident I wasn’t I was just desperate for cash which was very stupid in hindsight
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then I think you may struggle with this complaint.
Neil says
Can you give me a few reasons why?
– is it due to RTA?
– has anyone beat a logbook loan company unfortunately that is where most of my debt lies?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh yes quite a few wins against logbook loans. It’s you telling them you expected to receive 8k that I think may be the problem.
chris says
Have a claim in with the FOS with this company. They sent me a similar letter. It was full of their so-called calculations. What they said I earned and what they said went out each month simply bore no relation to the facts – that despite the fact that they had 90 days of bank statements and 3 wage slips. Totally bizarre tbh. The claim has been in for 6 months and meanwhile I am paying eye-watering amounts each month. I wish the FOS would get on with it.
Brendan says
I had same outcome from CarCashPoint back in July have send to FOS but yet to get assigned to adjudicator. Sadly could be waiting a long time.
Matt S says
Hi, received my SAR from Likely Loans today. For all loans and top ups there is nothing about credit scores being checked, nothing about any further information being requested (I never had to send any proof of income). First item for each loan is the credit agreement being signed and then a text saying the money would be in my account by 5pm.
Has anyone else had an SAR from Likrly Loans? It all seems pretty vague!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you go back to them and say they appear to have not sent you the information about credit checks.
Matt S says
Hi Sara,
I’ve asked and had a response, the gist of which is below :
‘I can confirm that we did conduct a full credit check on your application however, we do not hold a physical credit report, this can be obtained from Experian, which holds six years of data and this will show your financial position at the time you applied with us.’
and
‘All applications are subject to affordability and creditworthiness assessments. We use an internal scorecard and automated decisioning as part of our loan assessment process. Our scorecard is sensitive business information therefore, we are unable to provide you with the details of this. ‘
Does this seem right? I would have thought there should have been some mention of this on the SAR?
Lilly says
Anyone had any success with 118118?
My first loan was £1500 and had top up loan 11 months later for another £1500 had multiple payday loans and credit cards when had 1st loan and with top up had more payday loans, credit cards and amigo loan also? Finished paying loan on a DMP.
Loan all paid but not sure weather this will be uphold, waiting for response from 118118.
Ts says
Not sure if anyone has ever experiences this, but some advice on how to complain would be great.
I made an affordability complaint to Bamboo, initially they were great. They upheld my complaint and removed all interest. So I only had 1 final payment to make plus a small amount extra. So in January I did this. My account remained “open” on Bamboo, but they told me it would take 8 weeks to close.
I had an alert earlier this week from Experian and Credit Karma saying that something had changed on my credit file. In fact, Bamboo had marked my loan as “Defaulted” and my credit score went from 829 to 216. I was initially terrified. Firstly I work in the financial sector and having a default was something they checked when I joined, I am due to move house (renting, so credit check) and this week I also got rejected on my phone contract. I immediately called Bamboo but they have been awful to deal with, and its going to take weeks to rectify.
I’ve made a complaint to them also, asking for details about why this has happened, but they haven’t acknowledged this yet.
Any idea what I should expect here? It has the potential to have a huge impact on my life.
Catherine says
I had my bamboo complaint in December,they agreed to wipe interest and accept 4 reduced payments to clear the remaining £416.
They are still recording account as late and missed payments on my report and my account still shows full amount including interest.
When I queried it,they said until the principal is paid they can’t close the loan(get that part) but I asked why they were continuing to report as missed payments and could they mark differently as every month my score is going down as they have recorded I have missed 5 payments and account has worsened.
Get a complaint in asking for compensation for distress and inconvenience and list all impacts it has had,is having and could have if not rectified promptly.
Calvin says
Hi all,
I’m still waiting for my Everyday Loans case to be assigned at the FOS. I referred this to them in November 2018 (not a typo!). I’ve had payday loan complaints before be assigned to an adjudicator within a few months. This feels like an awful long time. Are other experiencing the same?
Lisa G says
Hi Calvin, I sent my Everyday Loan complaint to the FOS on 18th Oct 2018. It was picked up on 22nd Jan 2020, so I’d say you won’t have much longer to wait…. saying that, I haven’t heard anything from the adjudicator yet. But at least it’s in the right place.
Jay D says
Hi. So I’d sent mine to the FOS in July 2018, it didn’t get picked up until January 2020 and adjudicator had found in my favour. He asked them to respond by the 23rd of January but they kept delaying so it was basically extended and extended until yesterday. Everyday Loans basically did NOT respond at all even after almost 6 weeks. I would say, try if possible to get your case in the Ombudsman queue as soon as the first deadline for a response from the adjudicator passes. Don’t give them an extension as you will most likely just be waiting around for no reason. I’m not the only one, read some previous comments, all in the same boat.
Lisa G says
Hi Jay D, that’s good advise. I’ll take that on board. Thanks very much…. what a pain they take ages to respond though. Let me know when you get an outcome from either EDL or the Ombudsman.
Terry says
Hi,
Has anyone had any luck with Varooma? My complaint has been with the financial ombudsman since September last year still waiting for a reply.
Linds says
Hi,
I submitted my complaint against Varooma in Aug 19, but I have not heard anything since.
Paul says
Hi,
I put my irresponsible claim against Avant Credit to the Ombudsman in May 2019. It was picked up this week and today Friday. 21.02.20 the Ombudsman has requested bank statements but only for February to June 2015 which I sent. Why did the not ask for more any ideas. I got the loan in February 2015
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
because what matters is whether the loan was unaffordable at the time the loan was made. If there is a long chain of payday loans, then there were a lot of lending decisions and so a lot of bank statements are needed. If there was only one loan, only statements from around the start of the loan are nomrally needed.
If your income was very erratic, you can go back and explain this and provide statements for a longer period showing it.
JA says
Can I ask , Was it adjudicator that picked up your case that you sent in may or Was it an ombudsman.
Trying to get a timescale on my likely loans complaint that I sent to the FOS in june 2019 still awaiting to be picked up.
Thanks
Paul says
Hi, its just this week been picked up by an adjudicator been waiting since May.
John C says
Just as an update I put my 118money complaint to the FOS January 2nd 2019. Today I received a call from adjudicator that has picked up my case, so around 14months give or take. Hopefully he’ll have something back to myself and 118money in the next couple of weeks
4 loans over 3.5 years and paid £2.8k in interest over the first 3 loans and 118 held up complaint on loan 4, so there was no interest paid. Multiple late payments on credit file showing on 118’s credit checks, inc on mortgage, 12 new accounts opened in 6 months before 3rd loan, but 118money thought this was ok. See what the adjudicator thinks
John C says
Response from adjudicator upholding all my loans which is a great result. Crux of this was 118’s own credit checks that showed a horror story of a credit file, with many late payment even on my first loan, but no additional checks performed. If they had there was thousands of gambling transactions all over my bank account which would have been a red flag. Adjudicator did say that any credit check that showed no issues would have meant 118 wouldn’t really have had to look any deeper meaning it would unlikely have meant my complaint upheld. However as it was so bad that should have raised such a concern they should not have lent to me. Hopefully 118money won’t waste time pushing this to an ombudsman
DM84 says
That’s great news. I have had my case picked up after waiting for about the same length of time as you. They actually asked to see my bank statements for my loans. They showed thousands in gambling transactions, family borrowing, payday loans and no disposable income left. This gives me hope. The only problem I can see is that I never missed a payment with them although I had to borrow, use more credit etc to stay afloat.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Making all the payments isn’t a problem. Loads if refunds have been won where all the payments were made.
If the lender has sight of statements that showed a lot of gambling, you have A VERY strong case!
John C says
DM84, I agree with Sara sounds like a strong case. 118 originally upheld the last loan saying they couldn’t find the credit check done, a familiar story that a lot of other people complaining have said happened to them. The adjudicator pointed out my first loan’s credit check showed my mortgage 2 months in arrears and credit cards in arrears too. A search of my bank account would have shown over £1k in gambling transactions in the month before I took the loan out plus numerous payday loans feeding this. By the 3rd loan I had a loan 4 months in arrears, was using 98% of my avail credit and had opened 12 accounts in the previous 6 months. All visible on 118 moneys own credit check. My bank statement showed over £2.5k of gambling the months before my 3rd loan
John C says
So glad I eventually self excluded from every gambling website and got my complaints in early (although wasted a chunk of my QQ refunds continuing to gamble). My refunds from other companies helped pay off a lot of debt and got many accounts off my credit file. Last week I was accepted for a mortgage in principal, as a joint application, from a high street lender too. Definitely light at the end of a dark tunnel and all thanks to people on here and especially Sara
DM84 says
Well done John. Its such a difficult thing to overcome and people are generally not sympathetic to it. Self excluding from all online sites has been a godsend using the gamstop tool. I would highly recommend that people self exclude in high street bookmakers too. I only wish I had done sooner. Anyone reading this with a gambling addiction please look into it. You wont regret it.
John C says
Thanks DM84. I convinced myself it would be all under control once the refunds started coming in, but I was kidding myself. My first QQ refund was over £7k (for loans) and this was used for my first holiday in years, pay back some debt to family and reduce some limits on cards, but should have cleared most of my short term debt. It didn’t as I kept gambling. It wasn’t till after my second QQ refund (for flexi loan and P2P), Lending Stream, PoundsTillPayday and Wonga refunds that I also set up Gamstop, which was the only way I could finally get things together. All this from WDA stopping me from lending as they said my account was a mess and me complaining. They gave me a refund in 2016 and I started looking online about complaints which led me to Sara’s site. I dipped out of Debt Camel at the end of 2018 once all my payday loan complaints had been completed, but decided to go back to Avant (upheld by them) and 118 as also believed they had not acted in a fair and correct way
I know gambling was my issue, but it was causing me problems with money that led to terrible mental health. Well done to anyone that can kick this horrible habit
Ciaran says
Hi Sara, would loans from conduit/5 lamps be in this section?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes if they were large loans.
Ciaran says
Just one loan for £1000
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, this page then.
Wendy says
Has any one had any luck with jd williams the catalog as they kept putting up my credit limit,I was just wondering if they accept irresponsible lending ?
DM84 says
I have a complaint in with the FOS against JD Williams. Still hasnt been picked up. Been with them for 18 months. Will let you know the outcome. They doubled my balance from 750 to 1500 in interest as I couldnt make payments. They would not freeze interest. I asked them to send it to a debt collection immediately to which they said they could only do so after 6 months which added over 750 pounds worth of interest. I think they did this to bloat the balance bwfore they sold the debt. The default has dropped off now though so even if the FOS find in my favour It will be just to award a refund of interest.
Wendy says
Thanks for ur reply ,did they give you a reply after 8wks ?yeah I got them in my dmp since last year as I couldn’t afford the payments they wanted (approx 250 a month )
Hope you don’t have to wait to much longer and good luck
DM84 says
Thank you,
Yes, I did receive my response in the post even though everything was submitted online. I use an app called tiny scanner which is free on my phone to take a picture of any documents I got sent, they can then be saved as files so you are less likely to lose it in the bin etc. I received the response dated 2 days before the 8 weeks.
chris says
Submitted a complaint (to Premierman) in August 2019 but still waiting to be picked up. Credit limit raised 10 times in 18 months from £250 to £2500. Ended up in a DMP. Anticipating a long wait.
Michael says
I have a current loan with Peachy and they’ve said that they will put my account on hold while they investigate (not do any recovery activity for 60 days). They also say that my account will become overdue because they aren’t collecting, saying that I can make payments on time by either phone or email. Does that damage my credit rating if I don’t pay until after the investigation, would they start logging these as missed payments? Should I manually still pay my monthly amounts to them, even during the investigation?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many loans did you have from peachy before this last one?
can you afford to make the repayments without being so short you have to borrow again?
Michael says
I’m at the end of my debt cycle, I can afford to payoff this peachy installment without needing to borrow again but I won’t be able to afford to pay all of it off without borrowing, would have 6 months left of payments.
I would’ve had approx 15 loans previously over the last 5 years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so 15 loans over 5 years sounds like a strong case to me. If you win it, any negative marks would be deleted from your credit record.
Michael says
So, should I phone them up at the end of the month and make a manual payment? The overdue line made me worried about a mark on my credit rating
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Any negative marks will be removed if you win your case. It’s your decision about whether you should make the next payments, but if you cannot afford to make all the remaining payments, I suggest you should stop now. The only way out of the payday loan trap is to refuse to make payments that unaffordable, leaving you having to borrow again.
JA says
Update for anyone waiting a long time for complaints with likely loans (Oakbrook) I received this email today.
Having checked your case, it appears that we’ve been doing some checks with Oakbrook to ensure they understand our approach to our assessments.
this has taken some time, and so there has been some delays to the cases we have.
We are working through the cases at a slower pace, and are working the cases in date order, by oldest first.
Not sure what checks they would be doing
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I guess it means they first wrote then honed then had a meeting or two. FOS explaining several times what they look for when deciding a complaint.
EJ says
I had complaint with LL (oakbrook finance), started in Nov 2019, it was completely rejected stating it was affordable at time and no reasons to believe otherwise. There response was extremely detailed explaining why. I answered each point of theirs saying why I felt they were wrong i.e. tonnes of payday loans, massively overdrawn, loads of credit cards at high spend. Still rejected. Finally I sent them 3 months of bank statements for immediately before the account with them was approved. This showed lots of gambling transactions (i’ve stopped fortunately 18 months ago !). Yesterday, LL said although they did nothing wrong, as gesture of goodwill, have cancelled my remaining balance of approx £800 and credited my bank with £300. Initial loan was for £4500 and have paid £6000 in total. I’m happy for anything, so good result.
JA says
Congrats on controlling your gambling habit and well done on getting something back that you’re happy to accept to close the complaint. I’m waiting for an adjudicator atm (sent june 2019 to fos ) At the time of the loan being granted I also had lots of payday loans, maxed credit cards and default due to a 2k overdraft. Thankfully fully debt free now so am happy to wait as the interest I’ve paid is £2500. Would be a very big help towards a deposit if i am successful.
EJ says
Wishing you all the best getting that deposit together :-) Most important thing is getting credit reports in good order.
Kevin says
Hi, I had a loan from wage day advance in 2018 for 300 pounds. I made regular payments and kept upto dat however they sold my loan onto another company (shelby finance) who are demanding I pay 1500 pounds to them.
I have started a claim against wage day advance but would you have any suggestions how I proceed with this new company.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Are you sure this was only 1 loan and for only £300 and that your payments are up-to-date? What was the term of this loan?
Kevin says
Sorry iv mixed this up with another and rechecked .I did not reconise shelby finance when I received the letter and had to research them. I emailed them asking who they were and they referenced wage day advance. I c have had so many payday loans in the past I could remember who I have borrowed from so I went back through my bank statements and saw the initial borrowing of 170 in june 2018 the monthly payment of 65.28 pounds from July to October
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so what is this £1500 debt to Shelby?
Kevin says
They said this is there charges relating to wage day advance. The letter shows initial balance of 1500 then 3 dd of 181 pounds from Oct 2018 to dec 2018 which is why I started checking because those payments were not made by me. And then a final balance. I have also noticed defaults on my credit report issued by shelby from Jan 2019. I have not called them as yet we have just emailed.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so you need to talk to Shelby, not WDA, and explain that you never borrowed that much from WDA and you can produce the bank payments to show this.
Kevin says
Thank you for your help.
I have just spent 1hr on the phone and discovered it was a forged application. Shelby have started an investigation and will get back to me within 5 days I have supplied them with all bank statements to support and will be raising this with the police
Sianyy says
Hi Sara,
I have an O/S loan with OnStride (aware they are now in administration) my complaint was initially rejected by them. I have looked in to my original loan contract with them. The loan was taken out for £2,600 but would be £5,910.93 to repay back which the interest alone was £3,310.93. I was under the impression that lenders could not charge 100% of the original loan amount. Is this correct? Would I be likely to win this case with the administrators as I have an O/S balance on the account?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
what date was this loan taken out and what was the term of the loan?
Sianyy says
It was taken out May 2017 for 36 months
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am afraid the payday loan price cap (“you can’t pay more in charges and interest than you borrowed”) does not apply to loans over 12 months. When was your original complaint rejected?
Sianyy says
It was originally rejected July 2019.
The letter sent by them was awful and made no sense. Basically rejected the complaint with no real reason or outline as to why. When I queried the letter I had no response and then they went under. Similar with Pounds to Pocket and QQ who I also had complaints with.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So the question here is whether you will be able to submit a claim to the administrators. they are expected to put the new claim page live in possibly April. Until that is live, there won’t be any definitive answer to your question… in other administrations the administrators have allowed people to put a claim in when they were originally rejected and you were within the 6 months to go to the ombudsman at the point they went into administration. My guess is that you will be able to make a claim and I HOPE all claims against all three firms will be considered together.
Are you making payments to this debt?
Sianyy says
Not currently making any payments. I referred the complaint to the FOS when it was rejected in July so hopefully this will be considered!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, if it was with FOS then EITHER it will automatically be considered as a claim by the administrators OR you will definitely be able to put a claim on on the new claims page. Come back in April and see if there is any news.
B B says
Hi everyone,
i have had my final response from Loans2go today.
They have not upheld my complaint for a top up loan taken in july 2019, but have offered to wipe all interest from the remaining balance, leaving me to pay the remaining balance of what i owe.
is this a good result?
Cheers
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is this the only loan you had from them? How much did you borrow and what have you paid so far?
B B says
Well it was a top up loan, so originally for £350 in march 2019, then topped up in july 2019 to £600. the interest was ridiculous, however now I am now only due to pay back what was borrowed as i had stopped paying due to affordability.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so it’s up to you if you want to accept or send the case to the Ombudsman, where you may be able to get back the interest you paid on the first loan as well.
Timka says
Hello Sarah and everyone! Today I received a reply from 118118 loans. Timelines wise – I complained around 25th Jan, reply received 25th Feb so not bad and the SAR was given to me a week ago approx.
Brief history:
1st loan taken 31/07/2017 £1000, term 12 month, interest to pay on this £417.68
2nd loan taken 16/03/2018 £1266.74 (£750 new top up loan to me, rest to settle the previous loan), term 12 months, interest to on this pay £477.34
3rd loan 31/10/2018 £1352.79 (£700 received as a top up, the rest to settle previous loan), term 12 months, interest to pay on this £567.69
4th loan 08/08/2019 for £1785.40 (£1350 received as a top up, the rest to settle previous loan), term 12 months, interest to pay on this £717.20
They have upheld my complaint only for loan 4 saying that they will wipe interest on this one and I still have to pay £700 ++ (half of my borrowed amount as I have paid it for a while now).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, send the complaint to the Ombudsman! if you told them you were unable to afford the 2nd loan repayments, they should have been very careful about lending you any more money!
Apart from the 118 loan balance, what other debts do you have?
Timka says
Sadly I have few but feeling like it’s getting better
Outstanding is
Aqua card around £400
Capital one around £250
Another capital one £450
Barclaycard now partially settled, outstanding around £1100 with low interest of 6.9%
Likely loan -complaint is in, have had 4-5 loans non stop as with 118118, £263 monthly payment for around 9 month longer
Bamboo loan- same as likely loan, £150 payment a month for other 6 month
Drafty £200
Couple of personal loans from friends
Very.co.uk around £300
Klarna 0% credit £750
Paypal credit £550
I am getting there. This site has been brilliant. I can not thank enough.
All are under control with just 118118 one missed payment last month and I won’t be paying likely loan this month
Timka says
I somehow feel that this one I would like to take further. I really had no other choice as to take these top ups due to my other payday loans and high interest loans. During 2nd loan with 118118 I had to call them and tell them I was unable to afford it and my payments were delayed couple of months, the notes are available on my SAR they provided. The bank statements would also show my all other credit commitments at the time (payday loans, 2 other high interest loans, few credit cards etc).
My monthly payment right now is £208. I missed the payment last month as I have just decided not to borrow any more from anyone. I felt I needed that money for food and glad I did it as this is the first month I am actually finishing in pluses. I have food the day before salary!!! amazing!
Do I stand any chance with this one? Any advice would be highly appreciated.
Matt says
So Moneybarn rejected adjudicators findings after 4 weeks considering it. Now back in the Ombudsman’s queue. This is really frustrating, originally complained August 2018!