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 will get the interest refunded in cash. If you still owe a balance, the interest is removed so you only have to 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?
- this includes high cost, bad credit 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 could still have been unaffordable for you!
- you can also use this approach for car finance. But if you are still paying car finance, you may have a better option than an affordability complaint, so read HP/PCP car finance problems first. And then read Car finance affordability – what you get if you win a complaint
- if you have a guarantor loan, read Refunds from guarantor loans as it’s different and the guarantor may be able to complain as well;
- the complaints here do not apply to mortgages.
What is “unaffordable”?
The regulator says “affordable” means:
you can make the repayments without hardship or having to borrow elsewhere.
This isn’t just for “bad credit” loans – you can win a complaint about a loan from a major bank. But as bad credit loans have very high interest rates, they are more often unaffordable.
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
Creation customercare@creation.co.uk
Everyday Loans – for loans after 31 March 2021 complain to complaints@everyday-loans.co.uk using the template in this article. It is no longer possible to make complaints about loans before that date
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 repaying the loan caused you a lot of problems then 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 to FOS 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 the Ombudsman can look at a complaint about older loans where you complained within 3 years of finding out you have a “cause to complain”. So if you have only just heard that a lender should have checked the affordability, you can take your complaint to the Ombudsman if the lender rejects it as too old.
The Ombudsman also has a 6 month rule. You must send a complaint to the Ombudsman within 6 months of getting a reply from a lender. So don’t delay!
Need some help?
Don’t use a claims management company. They are expensive and 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?
Sean says
Hello,
I have recently had a complaint upheld at adj level.
The loan was through lend able for £5k with a £300 odd admin fee added at the start in Nov 18’.
To date I’ve worked out roughly £4.5k paid back however the adj has stated-
To settle the complaint, I’m recommending Lendable does the following:
To add up the total amount of money received as a result of having been given the loan. The repayments made should be deducted from this amount.
a) If this results in having paid more than received, any overpayments should be refunded along with 8% simple interest (calculated from the date the overpayments were made until the date of settlement). †
b) If any capital balance remains outstanding, then Lendable should attempt to arrange an affordable and suitable payment plan.
To remove any negative information recorded on the credit file relating to the loan.
Question is what is the 8% simple interest all about?
Thankyou
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The 8% interest is paid on any cash refund going to you.
But in your case you aren’t going to get any cash back (on those numbers) but instead your balance will be reduced to about £500 (if you received 5k at the start? or did they take the 300 off that and you only got 4700?)
Sean says
No it was added to the amount borrowed so capital starting repayment was £5300
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then balance after a refund would be about £500
Jonathan says
Hello Sara wondered if you could help, my mum took a loan out with likely loans which she couldn’t afford and she won a complaint after it to the financial ombudsman and all interest was cleared and she had the remaining balance to pay, in March this year we logged into the account and the balance said £0 and she was all paid up so we fort maybe we’d had the balance cleared after it was massively unaffordable for her and fort it was a delayed action from likely loans, so we chased up potential refund of what she paid about 4 weeks ago and we’ve logged in today and the balance as appeared again. They are a difficult company to deal with, she took the loan out for £2400 I think it was and only pays £15 a month coz that’s all she can afford, they didn’t do enough back ground checks that’s why she won. Just wondered if you could help with them clearing the balance for 3 months and it now appearing
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It looks like some sort of systems error that they corrected.
You can complain and say this has caused her distress as she thought her problem had been removed and ask for compensation. But you are unlikely to get much – perhaps £100?
Can you say something about her situation? Does she have other problem debts? Is it ever likely she will be able to pay more? Is she behind with any bills?
Joanne says
My husband took out a loan which was completely unaffordable and as such he is now in a debt management plan. Can we still send in a complaint if he’s on a DMP?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes you can. being in a DMP is a good time to make these complaints as you are in a safe financial situation and can simply refer the case to the ombudsman if the lender rejects it.
Also think about the other debts in his DMP – that loan may be the worst case, but was he stuck in an overdraft? Did he have a credit card where a lender increased his limit even though he was only paying the minimum amount?
James says
Hi Sara,
That’s twice I have went to Financial Ombudman and twice they have rejected my claim, giving 8 loans in the space of 8 months is not unreasonable due to the figure I put down for earnings. Also then attempting to take payment 13 times in 2 days should not have caused significant distress.
They did not take into account how I had 5 credit cards which were fully maxed only payments made, they have not taken into account rent, council tax or gas only what it shows I pay out on my credit file.
Honestly fed up with them, don’t see the point in sending anything to them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
who is the lender? is this an adjudicator decision or an ombudsman decision?
James says
Hi Sara,
It was adjudicator, they said if I want ombudsman to make the final decision then I need to provide more proof I have asked what more proof and they has not come back to me. Also said that the rates were set out and even though you pay double back I knew this which is fine but after loan 4 they said we think they should have looked at the financial situation more but it was not a concern so if they think that after loan 4 what about loan 5/6 and 7.
Some of the things said made no sense to me and I have questioned it such as “the amount of loans on the short period of time shouldn’t have shown you were in financial difficulties”
My reply was if a friend Comes 7 times in 6 months for money I am sure you can assume they are in difficulty and they have only taken my outgoing from credit file no rent, council tax or gas and electric and not taken into account I was max out on cards and making minimum payment.
I am at a loss what the further evidence is to get ombudsman decision.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
who is the lender?
how large were these 8 loans from them, can you list the sizes in order? so 300, 250, 350 etc
and what were the gaps between the loans, from the time you settled one to taking the next one out?
And what was the interest rate on the loans and did it increase?
James says
Fund ourselves
£500
£750
£1000
£1000
£1500
£1500
£1500
They said the interest is irrelevant also and they don’t take that into account even though they charge double what you borrow.
Between 4 and 5 there was 7 months in between all the rest it was days.
Not sure how the interest works but for every £1 you borrow you pay £2 back, so £1500 is £3000. No did not increase stayed the same.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so these are loans subject to the “payday loan” price cap.
Go back and say that that although the first loan was small, they increased until you hit the maximum the lender would allow. And that the amount of repeat lending by a payday lender and the size of the loans means they should have halted after the first few loans or made additional checks. Say that you think all the loans after the first three should be refunded.
Ask for this to go to an Ombudmsna if the adjudicator doesn’t change their mind.
James says
Perfect I will email the women again tonight and say all of this and that I would like it to be decided by the ombudsman.
So I don’t need any further proof?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Everyone has the right to have their case looked at by an Ombudsman. Obviously if you can produce more “proof” that helps… but a clear argument should as well
James says
Thank you, it did state with further proof but if I say my argument that it was said at the 4 loan it should have been looked at but they were satisfied and what you said about the payday loan price gap.
Thanks again for your help.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
the argument is that this was REPEAT BORROWING of high cost short term credit – after the first few the lender should have looked more closely and would have seen the gambling.
Sam says
Hi Sara,
When they say the complaint needs to be raised within 6 years, is this 6 years from when the finance was agreed or from when the finance was settled. I had car finance from Moneybarn that i struggled with from the start in May 2017. There was a court order that allowed me to keep the car whilst paying about £400 a month to clear the arrears. In 2019 i had fallen back on payments again and was told if i wanted to keep the car I would have to pay £10k. I needed the car for work so had to borrow the money off parents to keep the car. I have sent a complaint to Moneybarn, they have yet to contact me or confirm receipt of the complaint but it has only been a few days. Im just wondering if this falls within the 6 years.
Thanks for your help,
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is just outside.
But the Ombudsman can agree to look at older complaints if you have only recently found out that the lender should have checked affordability.
You should complain asap AND try immediately to get your bank statements for 3 months before the application, as they can be very helpful for your case if this has to go to the ombudsman. Which it almost certainly will as MB will very likely reject because of the age.
james says
Hi Sara,
Had another reply,
As explained in my view, when deciding whether a lender’s checks were proportionate, we think it’s reasonable for a lender’s checks to be less thorough – in terms of how much information it gathers and what it does to verify that information – in the early stages of a lending relationship.
I can see you had a break in borrowing which means when you took out loan five this was a new lending chain and we would expect the business to treat this as the early stages of a lending relationship.
So FUND OURSELVES LIMITED asked you what your income and expenditure was and you told them what it was, and I think it is reasonable and proportionate for FUND OURSELVES LIMITED to have relied on upon this information.
So is there anything I can do or am I fighting a losing battle?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell them you want the case to go to an Ombudsman.
James says
Thank you they have advised they will reconsider loan 4 if I send more bank statements which I will do but after that should I still send it to the ombudsman as they won’t agree to look at 5.6.7 as there was a gap between?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would certainly argue that loans 6 and 7 should also be refunded, as it looks as though you are slipping back into being dependent on the loans.
james says
Hi Sara,
I have to send over more bank statements but they have made it look like they won’t overturn anything with the wording of the email.
I have copied the email below, I think it should say as I have not, not haven’t as they have made decisions on all loans but either way it looks like I won’t be winning this and discouraged from asking ombudsman to make the final decision.
“As I haven’t already made my findings on the rest of the loans I wont be reviewing any of the other loans using your bank statements. I will however go over your case again to make sure I am happy with everything”.
“Once I have made my findings on loan four, if you remain unhappy that you will still have the option to request that an ombudsman makes a final decision on the case, but they will use the same approach as me”.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
send those statements and say you want it to go to an Ombudsman
james says
Hi Sara,
so send the statements that the adjudicator has sent to me and ask for it to be referred to the ombudsman and just state I am not happy that it was pre judged on it would not be going in my favor or something along those lines?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“and just state I am not happy that it was pre judged on it would not be going in my favor”
i am not sure what you mean by that.
The points to make are that you think at least loans 4, 6 and 7 should be found to be unaffordable because of the large size of the loans and the repeat lending, whoch should have caused Fund Ourselves to look more closely and verified your income and expenses.
Sam says
Hi,
Is there a template to use for when the loan is full being paid? I’m just over one year into a four year loan but believe it should not have been given to me. It’s with Oplo.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is this car finance?
Sam says
No, it’s a personal loan.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok. In that case you can just use the template in the article above. If you win the complaint interest will be removed so you only have to repay in total the amount you borrowed. But you don’t have to ask for that in detail – just say you want a refund of interest.
Sam says
That’s great, thank you so so much
James says
I had an overdraft maxxed out at £25k (had been maxxed out for 2 years or so – used your overdraft template to complain) with Natwest at the time of applying for, and being accepted for, £20k loan with Natwest.
Therefore, they would have known full well that I would be using overdraft to make repayments. Is that in itself enough to deem a loan unaffordable as I’d obviously be borrowing to repay?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You had a 25k overdraft? Was this on a personal account?
James says
Yes – currently have a complaint lodged
But interested in whether by default that makes a loan unaffordable
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It certainly makes this worth a complaint!
L Taylor says
An update – I put in an affordability complaint with lendable in January on two loans I had – one of 9000 with around 18% interest, the second 3300 with around 30% interest. The second was taken about 15 months after the first.
In short lendable rejected my complaint, despite the fact that during the course of the loans I had asked for payment holiday, reduced interest etc. and they did little in the way to help me as I’d always made payments etc.
I was in a cycle of living in borrowing, and explained this to them, with no success. I went straight to FOS on 3rd February. I got an email Monday to say they were upholding my case! Lendable also agreed that same day.
I don’t have a final figure yet – but I had cleared the loan (due to some other refunds – see overdraft and CC thread). They have been instructed to repay anything I have overpaid from initial borrowing + 8%.
I’m hoping this will be around 5k. Will update when i know.
Thank you Sara for this site! X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Great result
Mia says
Hi both,
I have just my final response from lendable for 2 loans, 1st was £1200 in 2020 and the 2nd for £5000 in 2021. They said they are not uploading my complaint as I only had 2 late payments and paid off the loans early (I did this both times by taking out other loans to consolidate debts), I feel I was in a similar situation to you in a cycle of borrowing.
I used the template above too and your comment makes me think it’s worth me going to the FOS?
Thanks
Mia
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Definitely. Paying off early by consolidating does not mean they were affordable.
L Taylor says
Yes! Do it, you may have to wait a while but its so worth it!
L Taylor says
I also want to mention that I finally got the money land in my bank account this morning – delighted! I received £5050 back – in the ball park of what I was expecting. So super happy.
Mia says
That’ great so happy for you!
I am going to send my two to Bamboo and Lendable today.
Fingers crossed
L Taylor says
Definitely! And give the FOS as much info as you can – when I submitted mine I have them a credit report I had saved from when my debt was at its worst as well as giving them bank statements from around the times I took out the loans. I think this way it gives them some solid “evidence” to consider too.
Fingers crossed for you – hopefully you’ll get resolved before the end of the year!
Jax says
Well, an Ombudsman has rejected my complaint against Livelend. I have no idea how one Ombudsman can uphold a loan that was taken out in September 2018 and another reject one taken out 6 months later.
I guess that’s that one exhausted now!
CM says
Hi Sara,
I have a Zopa loan of £5000. This was a loan provided to me whilst I was on maternity leave. I had taken out a £20K loan a year earlier and I took out a further £7500 loan out with another lender just 6 months after. I also had significant credit card and overdraft debt at the time.
I complained to Zopa about unaffordable lending. This was rejected my Zopa as they advised all minimum lending requirements had been met.
I then sent this straight to the ombudsman. This has now been picked up by an investigator. I have just received a query from the investigator with regards to my salary so I am looking for your advice.
I declared my income to be £48K however I was on maternity leave at the time so my salary for the three months before I took out the loan and three months after was much lower than I declared. This has been queried by the investigator so I just need to know how to respond. Obviously I lied about my financial situation so that I could take out loan but I needed some money to cover financial commitments whilst I was off work.
Can you please help?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Why did you take out the previous two loans?
Would the zopa loan have been affordable if you hadn’t been on maternity leave?
CM says
The first loan of £20k was to consolidate debt. The second loan was to keep up with repayments as having two children, a mortgage and multiple repayments was now unaffordable.
So, no even if I wasn’t on maternity leave it would have been unaffordable as this loan pushed me into personal debt that was now greater than my annual salary.
Should I advise i was on maternity or say that my income fluctuated?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you say that you were on maternity leave but your complaint is because the Zopa loan would not have been affordable on your normal income. (I assume that is all correct). Point out Zopa could see the very large amount of credit you had taken in the last year and should have made detailed checks.
Also look at affordability complaints against the consolidation loan and the 7.5k loan.
CM says
I have received some good news today. The adjudicator upheld my affordability complaint with Zopa.
Fingers crossed that Zopa agree with their decision and we don’t have to go to the Ombudsman.
I will keep you updated.
CM says
A quick update, unfortunately Zopa have rejected the view of the adjudicator and requested for it to be passed to an ombudsman with some further information.
Does anyone how long I might be waiting now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This complaint was eventually upheld by the Ombudsman. Interest has been removed from the current loan leaving only a balance of £500 and Zopa is removing the default that was registed with the credit reference agencies.
Thom says
I have been waiting for a response from my claim against 118118 money . Impact claims are dealing with this (I know,sorry) but I have been waiting for the FOS to get a response from 118118 – it’s been 4 months since it was ruled in my favour by the ombudsman . How much longer do you think I need to wait ? Impact claims are pretty decent in terms of replying to me but they keep saying they are waiting for the response from 118118, they can’t not reply for ever , can they ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is this an adjudicator decision or a second level decision from an Ombudsman?
Victoria says
James I am going through the exact same concerning a £6400 loan taken out with Creation Finance which was unaffordable. I sent all of the correspondence to the adjudicator and because I hadn’t had an acknowledgment after 10 days I rang. I was so disappointed with the lady who give me no clear instructions and left me feeling that she really couldn’t be bothered. I told her my computer skills were not good and all she said was that it was too bad that I was finding it hard to download and send documents although I have now done it. She was so dis interested and I was in tears when I put down the phone. I feel it’s hardly worth the grief of putting myself through this as I am getting no help or advice from these people. Really hope it works out for you though.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am sorry this has proved so complicated for you. This isn’t a problem people have commented on before. I am glad you have managed to send the documents in.
DO says
So after a few weeks wait, with the adjudicator upholding my complaint and TSB trying to argue their case. My case has to go to the Ombudsman, as TSB have now stopped replying when the adjudicator said the decision stands.
Frustrating, but at least if the ombudsman upholds the findings its final. Still hoping TSB go back and agree, but not holding out too much hope.
DO says
Hi,
Just wanted to provide an update.
TSB went back to the adjudicator, just over a week after the deadline and have accepted the decision now. so they are refunding all interest, Loan of almost 17k is now at 2.9k and removing all loans from my credit file for the last 6 years, not just negative, but removing the actual loans. with the remainder, have set that up over 10 months, which was my decision and affordable. So after 15 years in debt, I am into my final 2.9k.
Really appreciate this site and glad all my complaints are now over.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
great result.
And good news that TSB accepted the decision, even if late.
T says
Hi Sara,
I hope you are well.
I won an irresponsible lending complaint directly with Novuna back in November last year. They agreed to cancel all interest so I would just repay the amount I borrowed. The balance on the account wasnt adjusted and therefore I contacted them by email a number of times to confirm that I would just pay the amount original borrowed. They didnt respond to a number of emails so I ended up calling them around March time and it was confirmed that whilst the account wouldnt show the adjustment, once I had repaid the borrowed amount it would be closed. This was followed up by email.
I started repaying in April and made payments in April and May. However, when I went to pay in June the option to do so online was not available. I called them and was told the account had defaulted, been sold and he couldnt discuss it. At the weekend I received a letter from Lowell saying they had bought the account but the balance they have stated looks like it is based on the interest not being cancelled and not sure if they have accounted for the payments made in April and May (approx. £8.5k compared to £5k).
Whilst the default is not currently showing on my credit reports it feels wrong that having had my complaint accepted I’m now going to have a default on my credit history and it’s outside the 6month period to refer to the FOS. I have emailed Novuna and waiting to hear back before I call Lowell but any advice on this situation? Not sure who I need to speak to about it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you send Novuna a complaint saying you want the balance with Lowell adjusted so the interest is removed and your payments in April and May are correctly taken into account, also ask for the default to be removed by Novuna and lowell and for an undertaking theat the payments arrangement marker will be removed when the balance is cleared. Send this to the Ombudsman if they do not agree
T says
Thanks Sara, appreciate the speedy response. I have heard back from Novuna and they are looking in to it so once I hear I will do as you suggested.
Jim says
Do you have to believe something is wrong or is it just worth a try to get some money?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have to explain why you think the finance was unaffordable.
Jim says
Hey Sara thanks for your reply.
So what you’re saying is I can use your template that suggests and explains the loan was unaffordable. Even if in my heart I know it wasn’t cause I’m only complaining to get a refund.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well the lender or the Ombudsman will usually want to see your bank statements that will show if the loan was unaffordable. really you are just wasting your time if you know it wasn’t unaffordable
Mia says
I have had a final response from Bamboo for two loans with them. The first in 2019 for £1200 (£719 interest) and a second in 2021 for £2000 (£1140 interest) they have offered me £350 to ‘solve the complaint swiftly and amicably’
Should I send to the FOS?
Yes they were both paid off with other loans to consolidate debt
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Bamboo are one of the few creditors where it is worth trying to negotiate.
But if you want a “full refund” you should send this to the Ombudsman now.
However if you would be happy to settle for a lower refund, which is still a lot more than their offer, you could reply that you think the Ombudsman would uphold both loans but you would be happy to compromise in the interest of a swift settlement and accept a refund for the second loan only where you have paid £1140 in interest.
Mia says
Hi Sara.
They have come back and offered £500
I’m not sure what to do.
Thanks
Mia
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if you don’t think that is fair, send the case to the Ombudsman. Where you may well win both loans.
Chris says
Hi Sara,
My grandparent has a secured loan on the house that was taken out in April 2006 and he is still paying this off now.
I can see in your article it says you can’t complain on a loan that was taken out before April 2007, is that a complete hard stop or is there a possibility that the lender may go ahead and look into the complaint anyway?
My grandparent has only just found out about affordability complaints and informed me to look into this particular loan to see if it possible, as he wasn’t in a good financial situation at the time of taking the loan out
Any help would be appreciated, Thankyou
P.S. The loan is with prestige finance if that is of any use
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest he (or you on his behalf) talks to Citizens Advice about this very old secured debt and the regulations that applied when the loan was taken out. They can use the National Specialist Debt Advice Service if they need guidance on this.
The chance of the lender upholding the complaint is very very small, the question is whether he can take a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.
D says
D
Hope this helps. We have a credit card complaint at the FOS from 2000 and a loan from 2004 and they can and are investigating it (the FOS just apply at the rules in place at the time) The important thing is that your grandparent has supporting documents to show their finances at the time, in the way of bank statements/transactions. I can tell you that a number of banks are able to provide you with transactions on current accounts going right back to at ;east 1998 through a DSAR so it is worth applying for everything held on your grandparents current account – specifically all transactions. Don’t be put off if they say they only have statements for the last 7 years – its transactions you want before that if they cannot give you printed statements. It may be a little harder if your grandparent had a different current account to the one now but still possible.
Chris says
Hi,
Thanks for the information.
Did you go to the lender first with the complaint? If so, what did they reply back to you with? Did they mention that it was pre 2007 so couldn’t be dealt with by them?
D says
Hi
You have to give the lender 8 weeks to respond first in all cases, their responses were that we had not complained within 6 years of the event – no mention of pre 2007 – they cant because it makes no difference. The only difference is, the rules that the FOS are allowed to apply. Pre 2007 would have been different rules but that doesn’t mean there were no rules and the FOS just take these into account instead. Don’t get too hung up on the 2007 bit. If you go on to the FOS website you will find their published decisions and you will be able to see for yourselves there are decisions that relate to pre 2007 for loans and other forms of credit. The FOS are independent and rightly so, so they will investigate your complaint fairly even if that means your complaint is not upheld. The most important thing is – you must have evidence of your grandparents past financial circumstances, not just their word for it but actual documentation to prove it – best way to start is a DSAR on their current account to evidence their expenditure at the time of the loan, then go from there and obtain any other relevant evidence you can relating to existing credit at the time. And, make sure you fully explain why your grandparent is only just complaining now, more than 6 years later – this has to be dealt with first by the FOS, if they feel its not within their jurisdiction time wise, then that will be the end of that. Good luck
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes there were rules pre 2007. But the affordability complaints described here are based on post 2007 rules.
And the rules for secured lending, pre and post 2007, are not the same as credit cards and unsecured loans. That is why I suggested Chris takes proper advice on this.
Mh says
Hi Sara,
I won an affordability complaint against Novuna and they’ve agreed to knock off the interest, and I have suggested an amount which they have accepted for the last 3 months. They have now got in touch saying I need to fill out an income and expenditure form and send it back to them before they can agree the amount.
Wondering if I have to do this? As it has been deemed unaffordable can I not continue with this amount I have paid over the last 3 months.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much do you want to get this settled and how much would you like to carry on arguing about it?
the simple thing is to complete their form. Talk to National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 if you are unsure what to put down. Do not be too optimistic about groceries, and other items that are rising in price. And allow yourself a sensible amount each month for car costs, xmas, and other things.
Sean says
Hello Sara,
Thank you so much for this site. From 3 years ago with debts of 28k with the help from a dmp and you it is now down to 5.5k.
I’ve just had confirmation from lendable that you were correct they have knocked the balance off and all neg marks on the credit file. Great news.
Just remember folks, where there is a will there is a way!
Olivia says
Hi, I had a loan from RBS in 2017 which was to consolidate debt. It came about when I went in for a financial health check with them and they recommended it as it would save me money each month. The application was declined on affordability when it was put in, but the member of staff made an appeal which was granted on provision I provided evidence of paying off the debts that were being consolidated. The repayments were still high and I ended up going into a lot more debt as I wasn’t able to manage my outgoings well enough, and I entered a DMP two years later, I’m still paying off this loan as part of that DMP 4 years on and have 6 years to go. I would like to make an affordability complaint but it feels a bit morally wrong as they did initially decline it and essentially the staff member tried hard to get it pushed through so i would be better off (even though I wasn’t in the end). So two issues really- am I right to complain and 2) would the circumstances affect my chance of success? Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you know what the interest rate on this loan was?
Olivia says
Not a clue but I put the original amount and term into a calculator and played about with repayments, from that would estimate between 4-5%
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So a consolidation loan can be unaffordable even if it was cheaper per month than the other debts you cleared. So if you think the repayments were unaffordable and were a big factor in the DMP then yes you can complain.
It sounds as though you think they were nice to you by giving you this loan – but you can equally well argue that the ban;s first check – that the loan was not affprdable – was correct and they should not have given you the loan at all.
Gemma says
Hi Sara,
I’ve had a complaint rejection from the ombudsman regarding a Frist Plus/Elderbridge loan from 2006. They are refusing to look prior to 2015 and are stating i should have complained sooner, but i only found out i had cause to complained after reading a comment on this blog in 2021, and immediately complained about the Interest Rate Variation Clause.
I put that forward to the ombudsman, along with proof of Firstplus/Elderbridge corresponding with an old address despite having my new address in the original complaint e-mail.
However, the ombudsman feel the £2000 goodwill gesture offered to resole the complaint is sufficient, which i disagree with. I’ve replied and stated i want this to go to an ombudsman as I complained within 3 years of becoming aware i had grounds for a complaint, as until 2021 I had no idea there was an issue with the clause.
The investigator seems to make a meal of the fact we didn’t make complaints to the lender sooner, but how could we? Each time an increase was made we’d get a letter stating it was going up because of the base rate, then each time the rate dropped we were told house prices has decreased, their costs had gone up, therefore they didn’t have to reduce the rate in accordance with the clause. We couldn’t stop paying or refuse the increase as they would have taken the house.
Should I be adding anything else for the Ombudsman to consider? Judgements etc?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No that will do. If it gets rejected by the Ombudsman, I will give you details of a solicitor to talk to,
james says
I forgot to add bank statements and my credit file to my Ombudsman complaint. Worried this will delay the process.
Is there any way of getting them added now? I don’t even have a reference number.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You should be contacted by the Ombudsman soon with a reference number. There is no hurry.
Victoria says
I am really concerned as although I have a complaint with the ombudsman about an unaffordable creation loan I am not getting any comeback whatsoever from them. I sent the complaint a month ago and a week later contacted them to see if they needed anything else. At that stage I was asked to send on a document but I still have not had any email correspondence since and do not know if my case is even being looked at yet. I really don’t want to ring again but when I emailed to check if they have everything they need they didn’t reply to any of my emails. Can this be normal Sarah
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How did you originally send the complaint to them? What was the document they asked for?
Are you still paying this loan?
Victoria says
I originally sent the complaint by email. The document was the final decision letter from creation and no I ended up taking out another loan plus credit card to pay off their loan as the monthly repayments were £245 and unaffordable.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok, well they should have asked you for any other info they need to set the case up (if you have another case, this is all much simpler if you fill in their online form, not email FOS).
I think you should phone again in another week or two if you haven’t heard anything. They are probably waiting for Creation to send over their case file.
Simon says
Hello Sara
I have had a mortgage with initially the woolwich and then the loan was transferred to Barclay book. A couple of years ago something called Mortgage reserve appeared ostensibly a secured credit facility which was increased to 17k. Barclays at no point when they installed this credit facility checked my credit history ( poor ) and kept lending me the money. I could afford the mortgage repayments and still can but the loan is unaffordable. Any suggestions welcome ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So you never asked for this?
simon says
No, I certainly dont think I am alone. Never missed a payment since 2003 and then the “mortgage reserve ” facility appeared …never checked my credit rating or it wouldnt have been offered.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well I suggest you put ina complaint and ask them for the affordability checks them made before issuing you with This mortgage reserve which you never asked for and then extending it to an impossibly high level.
simon says
Hi Sara
I will certainly be doing so. Can I use the standard forms you have created for Pay Day loan affordability complaints or is there another one for this type of issue ?
Simon
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The one above these comments would be a better starting point. But it needs a lot of changes to clearly describe what has happened to you.
Ruth says
I want to make an affordability complaint about a loan of £7000 that my own bank allowed me to take out. At the time I took it out I was juggling 8 credit cards and also using all of my overdraft each month to make the repayments. As these payments were coming out of my current account all this information was visible to them. My query is that if I keep making the required monthly payments ( with the help of my family) could this bank still freeze my account because I am making a complaint. I know I could change banks but I live in a very rural area and am not close to other banks. Also as I am a term time classroom assistant this bank would have seen that I don’t get paid during holidays. Sarah any advice would be great as I don’t think it’s fair to ask my sisters for £213 each month while I need my own wages to pay other credit and food. Sorry for the long post.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large was your overdraft? How many days in the month were you using it at the time they guava you the Loan. Are you still using it as much?
What has happened to the credit cards – did you pay someor all of them off with the bank loan?
Did any of your credit cards increase your limit when you were only making minimum payments?
I’m asking this because it’s easy fo think *this* loan is the problem, but it sounds as though you may be able to make a lot of other affordability complaints as well.
If you keep paying the loan, your credit record should not be affected and I have never heard of anyone having a bank account closed because they have complained about a loan.
But I think you should consider a new bank anyway. Your current one mainly seems to be making a lot of money out of you. You don’t really need to live near a branch – if you get an account with one of the newer challengers banks like Starling or Chase, you can still take money out of the local ATM.
Ruth says
Thank you Sara for your speedy response. My overdraft was £250 and yes I was 10 days into all of it when I got the loan. I still use most of it most months. I originally paid off the cards with it but stupidly had to start using them again to fund the loan repayments. I haven’t maxed out the cards and have stopped using them as much but still owe over 5000 on them plus the 6800 on the loan. I try to pay a little extra on the cards but the large loan payments are too difficult. I will definitely take your advice about changing banks but wonder if I would get anywhere by complaining to the bank. The cards didn’t increase my limits
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes definitely about the loan. And send this to the Ombudsman if your bank rejects it.
Are you renting?
Ruth says
I am living with family and contribute to costs. I don’t own any property and work part time
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Is there a reason you only work part time? Do you have children or other caring responsibilities?
Debra says
*Success story! – Bamboo Loans*
Hi Sara, just wanted to give you an update on my success with Bamboo Loans.
Affordability Complaint put in with Bamboo on 25/04/2023 – they came back to me on 05/06/23 with an offer of £500 and advised they would (in bold underline) “Heavily defend this claim” – I went back and advised that I’d be happy to go to ombudsman. They replied again on 09/06/23 with an offer of £1500 – I counter offered at £3000 – half of what should be due back – for a quick and speedy settlement. They declined this offer and again advised they would “heavily defend the claim”. I put my ombudsman complaint in on 20/06/2023 and had a response back from them on 18/07/2023 very much in my favour. They gave Bamboo until 01/08/23 to respond but Bamboo responded to the ombudsman just 3 days later on 21/07/23 accepting the ombudsman’s decision – no heavily defended claim then!! I have today received the remittance for a payment of £5554.22. So in total it was 13 weeks (91 days!) I will say I made it very hard for them – I was water tight with bank statements and my claim was thorough. Take your time and gather your evidence it will save you time later.
None of this would have been done without your help.
It is much appreciated!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well done!
james says
Wow, only 5 week turn around by the FOS… is that normal?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No it’s fast.
Debbie says
I don’t think it’s the norm – but as I said I made sure I had everything – bank statements, credit file etc – I spent a couple of hours gathering my evidence and noting and highlighting the faults in Bamboos affordability checks. I gave dates, times, increase and decreases in income. I already had my SAR and used information from that also. I believe the two hours I spent gathering and highlighting/noting information has saved me weeks of waiting and being asked for things. :)
Karen says
Hi Sara
I submitted an affordability complaint to Santander car finance in September 2022 which they rejected so I forwarded this complaint to the FOS in December. An adjudicator was signed to my case on 16th June 2023 and they asked for a response from Santander by 30th June but I presume they haven’t responded as I haven’t heard anything from the Adjudicator. It’s been over a month since they were asked to provide a response, I just wondered if it’s normal to take this long and if Santander doesn’t reply will the Adjudicator just provide a decision without their response?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Santander can be very slow.
So there was an adjudicator decision in your favour? Or has the adjudicator just asked Santander for some information?
Karen says
The Adjudicator asked Santander for some information and said they gave them until 30th June for a response and since then I haven’t heard anything.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back and ask the adjudicator what is happening.
Karen says
Hi Sara,
Just received the below response from the adjudicator:
Thank you for your email.
I’ve not received the information I requested from Santander. I’ve contacted them again and requested they get the requested information to me by 4 September 2023.
If I don’t receive it by this date, I will pass this to our specialist team to chase for a response.
Have you seen this happen a lot where the companies just don’t respond to the adjudicator? Is there anything else that can be done or do I have to just wait until 4th September for it to be transferred to a specialist team?
Thanks
Karen
Sara (Debt Camel) says
it’s unusual with a big bank!
Do you know what information the adjudicator has asked for?
Aggie says
Hi Sara
I made complaint against Evolution Money please help what to do next.? How can I reply to Ombudsman please.
————————————-
When Mrs first brought the complaint to us, the complaint was that Evolution didn’t consider the spending she was making on gambling which if they had done, would have shown the lending was unaffordable. The loan complained about began on 26 June 2015, which is when the six year part of the rule began. This means the complaint has been made outside of this part of the time limit.
If the loan was unaffordable due to gambling or outgoings in general, I’d expect you to have been aware of whether you could afford the loan month by month, more or less as soon as it started and the documents from the point of sale state the interest that would be charged.
This means I’m likely to have to conclude that you ought reasonably have been aware of the issues you’ve complained about not long after the loan began which would begin the three year part of the rule. This is because the complaint points so far are the interest, and the affordability. With this in mind, I think it’s more likely than not I’ll have to conclude this complaint has been made outside of our time limits and I won’t be able to comment on the merits of it.
Having said this, please can you let me know why it is you’re complaining now, rather than closer to the time.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You could reply something like this – but make sure it is actually right for how you felt, there aren’t any magic words here:
When I took the loan my finances were difficult, everything was always being juggled. I always hoped they would improve and part of the problem of my gambling was that I felt sure that one big win would let me sort everything out. A gambling addiction doesn’t actually let you think clearly about these things. I just did what I felt I had to each month, never stepping back to see the full picture. So it isn’t right that to say that I could see from early on in the loan whether it was affordable or not.
Of course I knew it was causing me problems, but I felt those were my fault for gambling and for borrowing all the money. I knew what the interest was and the monthly repayments. But I had no idea that Evolution should have checked that the loan would be affordable for me so I blamed myself and did not have any idea that evolution were partly to blame.
I am complaining now because I found out about affordability complaints in mmm/yy. That was like a spotlight on my past finances, letting me realise what I had been caught up in. I could not have complained before because I didn’t realise Evolution was partly at fault.
Aggie says
Hi Sara this is response from Ombudsman
————————————————————
How the rules apply to the complaint
The six year part of the rule begins at the event of whatever has caused the need for complaint. In this case, that is the sale of the mortgage. The mortgage was sold in 2015.
This means, under the six year part of the rule, Mr and Mrs could have complained until 2021. However, as the complaint wasn’t made until 2023, it has been made outside of this part of the time limit and we can’t consider the complaint any further under this part of the rule.
The three year part of the rule begins when a customer became, or ought reasonably to have become aware of the cause of complaint. In this case, this means when Mr and Mrs ought reasonably have become aware the mortgage was unaffordable for them, and the interest rate was variable.
I’ve spoken with Mr and Mrs about this, and they’ve said the mortgage was unaffordable from the start, and the point of sale documents all explain the mortgage was on a variable rate and what this means.
Mrs has said she always understood the rates were variable and the mortgage was unaffordable but was unaware Evolution Lending ought to have checked the affordability. She was also unaware until 2020 that she could make a complaint about lending decisions and affordability assessments.
…
and Mrs explained she didn’t know she was able to complaint about affordability and lending until 2020. However, this isn’t something our service would consider as exceptional circumstances, and we do expect consumers to know to complain to a business if they have an issue with the service or product they’re providing.
Beyond this, it’s clear Mr and Mrs have been maintaining the mortgage and have been in contact with Evolution Lending throughout the term of the mortgage so far, so I’m satisfied no exceptional circumstances apply in this case.
————————————————————-
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you go back and say that you have explained that when you took the loan you were overly optimistic that things would get better and that this was because of your gambling addiction. So you do not think it is reasonable to suggest that you should have understood what an affordability complaint was or that it was possible to make one to a secured loan lender. You considered it was your own fault for gambling and borroiwing money and you had no idea that the lender was partly to blame for not making adequate checks on affordability.
Ask for this to go to an Ombudsman.
Did evolution ask to see your bank statements?
Sam says
Hi,
Anybody had any luck with the ombudsman and Moneybarn. Had my complaint with Moneybarn denied so have sent it off to the ombudsman. Just wondering if this has happened to anyone before and had a positive result.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Here is one recent report: https://debtcamel.co.uk/unaffordable-car-finance/comment-page-6/#comment-507746 and another one https://debtcamel.co.uk/unaffordable-car-finance/comment-page-6/#comment-511272
There are also a lot of cases in progress.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
here is another report today – this one isn’t finished but it is sounding promising: https://debtcamel.co.uk/unaffordable-car-finance/comment-page-6/#comment-514063
gemma says
I wish they’d hurry up with mine.
I was promised a decision by the end of this week from the investigator, but nothing has come through yet.
I think I’ve just been very unlucky with the person who picked up my file. Can see me having to escalate to the adjudicator, as i really doubt this person is going to find in my favor after I’ve had to chase and escalate to his manager due to him not providing updates or meeting any timescales he sets for himself.
Gemma says
I’m 12 months in and have been told I’ll have the ombudsman decision within the next week.
I won’t lie, I’ve had to chase for updates from the ombudsman. I was told last week that the investigator agrees that moneybarn did not make adequate checks to confirm affordability, but that doesn’t mean he’ll uphold my complaint as his last step is to go through my bank statements and look at income & expenditure… a very strange answer… the paranoid side of me thinks he’s being sniffy because I had to escalate to his manager as he wasn’t giving me regular updates and told me at various point he’d made a decision, but it was under internal review, then it was he was writing up the decision and then the latest response above. This is all over the course of 10 weeks. So I’ve certainly not be hounding them. He’s had the file since end of Jan.
I replied back to his last email outlining all the evidence in my credit file & bank statement that shows I did not have the disposable income to make the finance payments and was in a right mess financially.
Chloe says
Input in a complaint about a Santander Loan I had in 2015 but the adjudicator has said they can’t look into it because I complained about paydays with the FOS in 2018.
Is it worth sending to the ombudsman for another view?
The adjudicator has basically said;
You’ve told me that you didn’t know you could complain and you realised something might have gone wrong when you started reviewing your finances at the beginning of this year. However, having looked through your previous complaints, I can see you made a complaint with a different business about multiple loans which you felt were unaffordable in July 2018. I think it’s reasonable to say you were aware you could complain and had understanding of the process. Also as the previous complaint related to a business completing appropriate checks when providing lending, which is the similar to this complaint, it’s reasonable to say you were aware of these complaint issues at the same time in 2018. Therefore, I’m satisfied that you were aware of affordability complaints at this point. As you raised this complaint in July 2018, I think this would have also been a trigger point for reasonable awareness that the loan you took with Santander was not affordable.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Assuming the following is correct (it would be for many people), you could reply and say that you thought payday loans were different because of their very high interest rates and because you had so many of them. You thought there had to be several loans before a lender would have to give a refund because you were told you probably wouldn’t get a refund for just a couple of payday loans. Also there was lots in the news about payday lenders. Point out that if you had known you could make a complaint about a single large loan from a bank you would have made a complaint then.
Chloe says
Is it worth saying that Santander didn’t object to complaint being looked into?
In their respond they just said they thought it was responsible and they completed the relevant checks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Santander may have told the Ombudsman they object to it being looked into because the loan was over 6 years ago.
Paul says
Hi Sara, I recently had a unaffordability claim against Oplo be awarded in my favour by adjudicator. However Oplo have rejected the findings and now been passed to Ombudsman to make a final decision on the matter. I was just wondering if you or anyone has a rough timescale this process will now take? It hasent taken to long to get to this stage as I originally sent my claim in February and was given a decision by mid June by adjudicator. Regards paul
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It is usually 1-3 months for the case to be picked up by an Ombudsman. If the Ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator decision (which FOS says happens in 90% of cases) this can then be very fast as the Ombudsman will often go straight to a Final Decision.
Paul says
Hi Sara,
I had a 2700 with avant provided to me on 4/12/20
From checking my bank statements before the loans was provided I obtained a £10,000 loan from Santander on 24/11/20
A £160 loan from Wonga on 25/11/20
Then between 25/11/20 to the avant loan being provided over £1,000 on gambling
Is that enough to say the avant loan shouldn’t have been given to me? Or was too quick for them to see anything on my credit record?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
oh, I thought Avant had stopped lending before then.
Just send them a complaint. And send it to the Ombudsman if they reject it. You can overthink these things.
Paul says
Sorry the end of my dates never came out.
I had a 2700 with avant provided to me on 4/12/2016
I obtained a £10,000 loan from Santander on 24/11/2016
A £160 loan from Wonga on 25/11/2016
Then between 25/11/2016 to the avant loan being provided 4/12/2016 over £1,000 on gambling
It’s already gone to FOS. Who said they think the credit before hand were enough. Is it worth pushing for an ombudsman?
Natasha says
Hi does anybody have a complaint address for shawbrook?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Customercare.team@shawbrook.co.uk
I will add it to the list in the article above
Natasha says
Thanks Sara.
I was granted a loan in 2018 with Shawbrook for 15k.
However I had taken out a 20k Barclays loan 6 months before and a 15k Sainsbury’s loan 1 month before barclays.
I also had been making minimum payments on my barclaycard.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s a lot of borrowing. Was there a particular reason? Who was your bank?
Natasha says
I moved into a house in 2017 and needed the extra money for work.
2018 I asked for debt consolidation loan as I had a maxed out credit card too.
My bank was and is Barclays
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so was the maxed out credit card from barclays? had they increased the limit on this after the first two large loans?
Natasha says
Yes it was a barclaycard.
The barclaycard increase to 12K was 2015. I thought it was later than that.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so the large Barclaycard balance supports your case that the Shawbrook loan was unaffordable.
You pay also want to think if the Barclay loan was unaffordable.
Fm says
Hey,
I put in an unaffordable complaint against NatWest for a £5000 loan, NatWest rejected so sent to the ombudsman, an investigator picked up my complaint and have sided with NatWest that this was affordable. Okay my situation was/is I had a £1100 overdraft facility that I was using to the max for years. ( already put an unaffordablity complaint in with this that NatWest rejected but the ombudsman agreed with me that it was unaffordable) due to maxing out the overdraft every month for years and borrowing money to stop failed direct debits but even with borrowing from friends I still had failed direct debits too. This complaint is now closed.
So if my overdraft was unaffordable why wasn’t the loan unaffordable that they gave me whilst maxing out my unaffordable overdraft. This was done in 2 separate complaints too and picked up by 2 separate investigators. I have until the 25th aug to go back with a reason why I don’t agree with their decision.
Is it worth fighting for?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long ago was this loan? Was this during the period when your overdraft was maxed out?
What was the loan for?
Fm says
The loan was in September 2019. I had been maxing my overdraft with even going into an unauthorised overdraft a couple of months a year at least. I’m not sure what I put on the loan application , maybe debt management or house improvements I just was desperate at the time. I remember logging into my banking app and it said I could apply so I did. They said I had put 2300 as my monthly income (mine £1450 and my partners varies from £600 too £780 paid into the same account) ingoings but I feel if they had checked they would have seen my account was always utilised to the max seeing as the loan was applied for through my banking app.
I had put £400 for mortgage/rent and £770 as my outgoings so was deemed affordable. I obviously didn’t put all my outgoings because as a family of 5 my food shop alone was probably that for a month. I don’t even remember what I put on the form if I’m honest. this is just my bank account, it’s not a joint account. I know I defaulted on a NatWest credit card with themselves and I was paying that back to them until 2018ish.
But if they were saying I put £2300 as monthly ingoings and only £1200 ish outgoings that would have left me with £1100 roughly monthly spare money. When that wasn’t the case if I was borrowing money from family and friends to put into my bank most months.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think that is well worth taking to the Ombudsman.
Reply to the investigator that you don’t think that they have taken fully into account the very poor state of your finances which NatWest should have been well aware of as they were your bank and could see what your income and expenses were, also that your overdraft was in use all month, sometimes exceeded and direct debits had been returned. Point out that you have recetly won an affordability complaint about the overdraft which covers the period this loan was taken out.
Ask for this to go to an Ombudsman if the investigator does not review their decision.
FM says
Hey,
Adjudicator is standing by his decision that the loan was affordable. I pointed out that I’d recently won an overdraft complaint with the same account the loan was taken with. I also explained I’d had a NatWest credit card ( same account) that I had a payment plan set up with because of missed payments. I also told him I had court summons for missed council tax payments for 2018/19. And that I had borrowing from provident during that time that were all deemed unaffordable with the provident scheme ( I was too late to open an affordability complaint with provident but got a little something back with the scheme). And he wrote back his decision stands and hasn’t changed his mind so he’ll forward to the ombudsman now.
Im really not holding out hope the ombudsman will go against an adjudicator and agree with me though.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds like a good claim to me. You have made all those points in writing to the adjudicator?
FM says
When I replied back to his email, I made all these points, he said he would take another look. Came back a week later that he stands by his decision and would now forward all information over to an ombudsman as requested. We shall see. I’ve heard it’s not very often an ombudsman goes against an adjudicators decision, so I’m not holding out much hope for this going in my favour. I’ve recently put in an affordability complaint against Aqua credit card that I had in dec 2020 and the adjudicator for this has agreed that the credit card shouldn’t have been given. It’s just this NatWest loan that seems to be affordable in the eyes of the adjudicator.
Chris says
Hi Sara,
I’m wondering if you know what to do in this situation.
My grandparent was sold a loan in 2006 and we have complained to the company that now has control of this loan(Prestige Finance) and they have said due to the loan being brokered via a company called ‘Greenhill finance’ and credited from a company called ‘GE Money’, both of these companies have now ceased trading, Prestige are now saying they are unable to proceed with any investigation into the claim.
This is a secured loan on the house.
The mortgage is fully paid off on the house, but this loan is attached to the deeds of the house.
How should I go about this?
Should I proceed with taking the claim to the ombudsman?
We have a really good case because we have bank statements from the time showing that the loan was massively unaffordable, so I’m thinking if the bureaucratic red tape issue was resolved then we would win the claim.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Chris
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was the interest rate on this loan increased in 2009-11?
Chris says
The interest rate on the loan has fluctuated since initially taking it out
Payment per month was originally £252 and then went down to about £163 p/m and now is £215 p/m
However I can’t confirm whether the interest of the loan was increased between 2009-2011
The original loan amount was £30000 and this was taken out in 2006
There is still £15000 left to pay on the loan
We have worked out that the amount paid altogether comes in the region of £40800, but around £26000 of that payment has been interest payments only.
We do know that when the BofE interest rates have increased the loan interest rates increased, but when the BofE interest rates went to record lows, the interest on the loan only dropped ever so slightly.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As the above article says, it is for unsecured loans. For large secured loans different regulations apply.
I think you need to talk to a solicitor if you want to take this forward.
Mike H says
Hi Sara
Re affordability complaint with Loans2go they provided a letter rejecting complaint saying this is “full and final” response which I rejected. They then ask for further information e.g. bank statements to decide if this would affect their decision. After almost 7 weeks they did finally respond (citing staff shortage) after I had 2-3 times chased a reply, saying they not obligated to look at statements etc and reject the complaint adding “we wish to highlight this is our full and final response”. So I eventually decided to complain to FOS, who have just informed me that L2G refuse allow any complaint as it is now outside the, I presume initial, 6 months time limit (by 5 weeks) of their original letter. However their belated email response stating f&f is 2 months later than their letter. So am I within time limit or are they correct I am outside the limit?
Is it worth objecting to this conclusion by the adjudicator at FOS who I think didn’t take sufficient credence of the continuing correspondence emails and the requests for further info by L2G and subsequent f&f statement?
Thank you for your time.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back to the adjudicator and say that as they had asked for more statements and your supplied them and they then sent you a response dated dd/mm/yy saying “this is our full and final response” you assumed you had 6 months from that point and you responded in that time. As if they had meant you only had 6 months from the previous response, they should have said that.
Mike H says
Hi Sara
The adjudicator has now referred this to the Ombudsman. Will wait and see what happens.
Mike H
Mike H says
Hi Sara
The Ombudsman decision is that my complaint was too late, regardless of the fact that extra correspondence was entered into as requested by L2G, until a 2nd Full and Final decision was notified two months by L2G after the original F&F letter. The 2nd time I was within time limit of 6 months. Does this look like L2G have slipped through on a technicality or is their any other form of recourse open to me to pursue?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m sorry but this is why I tell people not to delay sending decisions to the Ombudsman.
Your only option now is to sue L2G – which I don’t recommend unless you take legal advice
Mike H says
Hi Sara
You mentioned about suing L2G…I fully expect them to sue me now!!
Any loan from L2G falls into the practice of usury loans (meaning unethical or immoral monetary loans). Everyone on this website that is subject to loans in excess 25% interest are falling into same category. They might well set-out what their loans cost but still it is usurious. Is there no class action that could be considered against L2G or others because surely they can’t be allowed to carry on ruining peoples lives with impunity??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
25% … would you like to quote the English Law where this is set out?
Mike H says
Hi Sara
I wish there was an appropriate English law. I said 25% falls into category of usury loans being unethical or immoral, I didn’t say this was a law.
Charging extremely high interest rates such as L2G’s 770% is certainly usury, and considered an exploitative practice.
Maybe this can still be challenged under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. This allows courts to review and potentially strike down excessively high-interest rates that are deemed unfair or unreasonable. Would they risk it…we’ll see!
btw I don’t receive email follow-ups even though I ticked both relevant boxes.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
UTC can’t be used to challenge the price of something – this is the “core exemption”, see https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/450410/Unfair_Terms_Explained.pdf#page21. For a loan, the interest rate is the effective price.
There is some protection under the Consumer Credit Act through s140 “unfair relationship”. This is the legal underpinning for affordability complaints.
But it is massively simpler to take these to the Ombudsman than to court. I am only away of one decision on an affordability complaint, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/kerrigan-elevate-credit-unfair-relationship/ for description of that judgment.
That was against Sunny, one of the largest payday lenders. I doubt any firm of solicitors would be interested in pursuing a case against a small lender like L2G, especially as winning the case could well force L2G into administration (which is what happened to Sunny).
Moving forwards, I am optimistic that the new Consumer Duty could possibly be used against L2G for any loans taken out after the end of July this year.
But that won’t help you. I am sorry, I don’t like the Ombudsman’s decision here but you made a bad mistake in delaying sending your case into FOS. My suggestion is to regard this as one that got away and look at what other affordability complaints you may Be able to win.
Liz says
Hi Sara,
I am looking for some advice…
I took out a £1550 loan from 118118 Money in November 2021. I already had high levels of debt including 6 credit cards all at their credit limit, payday loans, 2 large overdrafts with TSB and a personal loan with Wesleyan Bank. As well as this, I had a high interest shopping account with Very which was near its credit limit. None of these accounts could have been settled with the amount I borrowed. I was paying minimum payments on many accounts and my level of debt was not reducing.
After four weeks, 118118 Money have responded with:
“Whilst we do not agree that the loan was provided irresponsibly, based on the information you have provided in your complaint, we can appreciate that you may have suffered an element of detriment or inconvenience and as such, we would like to offer you a goodwill payment and an update to your credit file in full and final settlement of the complaint.
The goodwill payment amounts to £628.05.”
I didn’t miss any payments and paid over £1300 in interest over the 14 months I had this account.
Should I ask them to outline how they reached this goodwill payment amount or send directly to FOS?
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think they are guessing that this may be enough to buy you off. It sounds like a very good complaint from what you have said. If you win at the Financial Ombudsman you would get back the 1300 plus a bit of 8% interest added. but there is always some risk that the ombudsman won’t upheld and they may hope you really need that money right away.
What other affordability complaints have you made?
Liz says
I have made complaints to Very and TSB for my Overdrafts and Credit Card.
Very have agreed that they should not have increased my credit limit so have reduced my balance. I have received a refund of all my Overdraft fees for both accounts from TSB for the two year period I had them.
TSB rejected my credit card complaint and after referring to the FOS the Adjudicator agreed with TSB that my credit limit was not too high.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Tell me about the TSB credit card – what was the limit? Did they increase it?
Liz says
It was opened with a £6,000 limit with no increase.
The adjudicator worked out I should have had a disposable income of £400 each month. He said he couldn’t find evidence of my personal loan from Wesleyan on my Credit report. I have responded to his findings with my Wesleyan Annual Statement. I await his response.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were you paying this loan from your TSB account? If so TSB could see it there.
Liz says
Yes it was. The adjudicator says as it is not visible on my Credit Record he can’t take that into account.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That isn’t right. TSB should take account of all the information that they are aware of – and because of your overdraft they should have looked at your bank statements and what they said about your situation, which would have showed the payments to this loan.
Go back and ask the adjudicator to review this and say you want the case to go to to an Ombudsman they don’t change their mind.
Gemma says
Hi Sara,
I’ve also just put a complaint in to 118 118 for unaffordable lending. The loan was £2000 and made 4 months after a large amount of moneybarn car finance, which the ombudsman have just found in my favour over. I’ve mentioned this in the complaint to 118 118 as this loan exacerbated the situation .
Will being successful in my moneybarn complaint lend weight to my 118 118 complaint?
Thanks,
Gemma
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Not directly, no. But the fact you won that complaint shows that you had a lot of unaffordable debt so that suggests 118 should not have lent to you.
Rich says
Sara,
I submitted an affordability complaint and was paid out. Then the lender said they made a mistake and wanted the money back. Sparing you the details, I staked my claim as to why the refund request was invalid and gave the lender until the end of the week to reply otherwise I would consider the case closed.
I heard nothing for 3 weeks and two days and I have also spent the money now, only to receive just now an email from the lender saying they do not consider the case closed and is still investigating matters internally.
Is this acceptable to not reply to my email for over 3 weeks and then expect the matter to continue?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
well it obviously isn’t good practice. Were you sent a replying upholding the complaint, or did the money just appear in your account and you assumed your complaint had been upheld?
Who is the lender? How much money is involved? Why do they say your complaint should have been rejected?
Rich says
Lendable agreed to refund me £15k which they did. But the issue is because of extreme relationship issues and multiple complaints between us, I was paid out by them previously. They are saying these previous credits aren’t payments towards my loan and so when using the FOS rules on how to refund, they’ve made a mistake.
They said I paid less than the capital when Lendable wrote the loan off based on the credits, and so i shouldn’t have any refund. My argue is that the credits were payments for me to do as I wish, so reducing my loan in full was my own choice. Otherwise I could have taken the money via my bank account and done whatever I like with it.
I argued this and gave Lendable until the end of the week to reply otherwise it was case closed. They’ve emailed today, 3 weeks and 2 days later, and said case not closed and still investigating. But I’ve spent the funds now and its been a long time for them just to say this.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So previously they gave you some cash which you used to pay to the loan?
Now they sent you 15k in cash? How much do they say it should have been?
Rich says
Yes. They paid out a few times on previous complaints which were upheld in my favour. But these payouts were applied to my loan at the time. This meant it reduced the loan balance owed. This was my choice. I believe they should be classed as payments as they are the net effect of complaints and I could have had the money sent straight into my bank account. Instead, I agreed for Lendable to hold on to the funds and reduce my loan balance in order to save time, CHAPs fees, admin etc.
Lendable disagrees and says they are not physical payments at all and are credits. As I never made these manual payments, they cannot be counted as payments toward the loan. The loan was therefore written off as opposed to settled. And so they believe I should be refunded zero given my actual manual payments were under the capital loan balance first received.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This seems tangled. If they offered to pay you the previous refunds but you said you would prefer to have them paid off the balance, I can see why you thought they were just payments from you.
How long was it after they paid the the recent refund that they said it was incorrect?
Lendable is a bad credit lender – if this loan from them caused you further problems and you have used the refund to clear other debts, that is understandable.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I am not a solicitor and can’t give advice on this.
I suggest you wait until they respond and then decide whether to complain. There seems to be no reason for you to push this.
james says
Has anyone tried complaining to Monzo about loans? It’s been 13 weeks and still no response
(Yes, have raised with FOS now)
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did they acknowledge your complaint at all?
james says
Yep, they’ve acknowledged. But can’t seem to get any sort of update. Shambles
Sara (Debt Camel) says
very poor
CC says
I have a large loan with the Halifax for 20K. My complaint has been rejected by the adjudicator so I want to send it to to the ombudsman so I am just looking for your advice.
When I took the loan out my monthly pay was between 2k – 2.4k. I was in a lot of debt with loans, credit cards and overdrafts. I was using this loan to consolidate. I consolidated some debt but I still had two overdrafts of 2k & 3k and after 18 months I had taken out two further loans to keep up with my repayments. This very large loan was the start of a vicious financial cycle that I could just not escape. When I took out this loan I contributed a large sum to our mortgage and household bills so I had very little disposable income.
I am now in a debt management plan.
I have submitted all this info with statements to my adjudicator so I am asking for this to be reviewed by the ombudsman for a final decision. I am just wondering if I can detail anything else to support my complaint?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds like a good complaint but it will depend on what your finances looked like after the consolidation. Was Halifax (or Lloyds) your bank? Did you have an overdraft with them?
Have you also made a complaint about the overdrafts and the loans you took out afterwards?
CC says
Halifax was my bank. I had three current accounts with them, two personal and one joint. My personal overdrafts with two separate Halifax accounts were 3k and 2k.
I have made complaints about the overdrafts which have been upheld by an adjudicator. My subsequent loans were with Creation and Zopa and they have both been upheld by an adjudicator (although not agreed by the lenders yet).
Martyn says
Hi cc what email did you use for your complaint to the halifax
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Id the adjudicator saying that Halifax made all the checks they should have done?
Or are they saying that Halifiax should have made more checks but those checks would have shown that the loan was affordable?
this changes how you ask for this to go to an ombudsman
CC says
The adjudicator agrees that Halifax did not carry out the checks they should have done. However he believes even if Halifax did carry out the checks it would have shown the loan was affordable- which I disagree with.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok so you said “When I took out this loan I contributed a large sum to our mortgage and household bills so I had very little disposable income.” – I assume this would have showed on the bank statements.
I suggest you take the months before you applied for the loan (unless there was something unusual about that month) and sit down with the bank statements and show the large amount that were going to the mortgage and household bills. THen show this to the adjudicator and say you want the case to go to an Ombudsman if the adjudicator doesn’t change their mind
Martyn says
Hi Sara hope you’re well great advice and thank you, could you advise what email is best for halifax loans, I tried the Lloyds one and got no reply in over 8 days.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Wait another week then phone to check your complaint has been received.
Ben says
Can anyone help i put in a affordalibily complaint against 118 118 money and they offered me £500 compesastion and said if you accept will close the claim and issue final respsonse aswell as remove from credit file but you cannot go to the ombusmun as this will not be allowed etc i accepted the offer and yesturday i had a email stating they have made a error and i had every right to take my claim further and have now granted full authority to seek the obs help if i wanted what should i do as the loan was
£2500 i paid so much then went into dmp with step change and the debt was sold to a debt collector qoth interest added around 3000 in total with loan amount etc
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you send this to the Ombudsman. There is a section in the article above that describes how to do this.
Ben says
Thabk you even though i accepted the money still worth doing thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well you said 118 say you can still go to FOS even though you accepted their offer? If you aren’t sure, copy and paste the section in here.
If repaying the loan caused you problems, then it doesn’t sound like a good offer?
Andrew says
Hi Sara. Thank you for all of the advice you provide on this site, it’s very useful!
I have just had a complaint response from Tesco Bank from a loan issued in 2015 and credit card they issued me in October 2017, which was feeding my gambling addiction at the time. They have refused the loan complaint on the following basis:
“we inform the applicant that we will conduct a number of checks, including referring to the Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs). This is included within the privacy policy which the applicant can view before continuing with the application. We explain at this point that we complete these checks to ensure that you will likely be able to repay the amount being borrowed.
In addition, we wrote to you on 25 May 2018, 27 November 2018 and 27 June 2019 (in relation to your credit card account) with information on our commitment to responsible lending. At these dates, you ought to have considered raising a complaint as you should’ve realised you had a potential cause for complaint. ”
I cannot remember seeing or reading any of these letters and was not aware I could complain about any this until I found your website this year. I intend to take this to the FOS but wondered whether you have any advice on how to address their points raised of this being over the 3 years?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have they also refused the credit card complaint?
Andrew says
They have refused the credit card also, but this was on the basis of it being affordable in their opinion, rather than being over the time. In response to the CC they stated:
“We could see that your unsecured debt was £24,567 (inclusive of the Tesco Bank loan), and that you had declared a net monthly income of £1866. This means you were not regarded as being over indebted as the total debt was in proportion to your income.”
Which I don’t believe this was affordable given the income of £1866 was actually more of a gross figure not a net amount, they also increased the limit from the initial £500 to £800 later.
For your info they did provide reasoning behind why they thought the £12k Loan was affordable too despite it being over the time:
“the account was offered on the basis that the data showed you had existing unsecured debt of £10,878, and so in relation to your declared net monthly income of £1100 you were not regarded as being over indebted.”
This loan was more than doubling my debt to over £22k with a yearly salary of around £13-14k.
I cannot recall fully but it is possible I might have overinflated my net salary on the applications to ensure I was able to get these products with my gambling addiction.
But clearly the main barrier to the loan complaint will be the time elapsed since.
Andrew says
Hi Sara, just wondered if you had any advice on how to approach my complaint being over the 6 year and 3 year rules for the loan?
My only thought is the letters they have stated were apparently in relation to the CC rather than the loan.
Marie says
Hi I had car finance with startline for years on a car for 8999 total payable would be 15899 at 250 a month . I’ve been paying for 17 months so I’ve paid around 5k already and settlement figure was 7,400 which means I’ve paid around 12,400 . Does this mean I’m entitled to some of this back as I’ve basically paid about 5k for 17months of finamce
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have these monthly payments been hard to afford – causing you to have to borrow more elsewhere eg by putting essentials on a credit card?
Marie says
I am heavily in debt but did keep up with repayments. Just thought I might have had a rebate of Interest considering I’ve settled the finance 17months in
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can make a claim for the loan being unaffordable if it has caused you problems.
As you have settled the loan, you will be in “case A” here: https://debtcamel.co.uk/car-finance-win-affordability-complaint/.
When you send in your complaint, attach your bank statements for the 3 months before and 3 months after the finance started. ANd send this to the Ombudsman if Startline reject it.
Racquel says
Hi Sara
Just after some advice if possible please. Lendable didnt uphold my complaint after i put in an affordability claim, i stated they they didnt act accordingly in regards to affordability checks as they did not ask me anything and provided me a loan of £9000. I took the case the FOS and they have agreed lendable should have carried out relevant checks and requested bank statements which ive sent. If they have agreed lendable should have done these checks does this mean they will uphold my complaint? Do you have any idea what they will likely do ie refund me interest or lower the balance i still owe lendable? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
FOS check for two things – first that the lender didnt make proper checks, and they have agreed that lendable didnt. Second that if they had made those checks, they would have seen that the loan was unaffordable. That’s why they want to see the bank statements, they are the best evidence that the repayments were to high for you.
Racquel says
Does it sound like this will work in my favour do you think?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What were the repayments and how many problems have these caused you? If paying Lendable caused you problems eg it left you short so you have had to borrow more on a credit card, or overdraft, or BNPL, or you are behind with bills, then the loan probably was unaffordable.
If you win the complaint, the balance will be reduced so overall you only have to repay the 9k borrowed with no interest, and you can reduce the monthly payments to an affordable amount to clear it. If you have already paid more than 9k in repayments, the amount you have overpayments will be refunded to you.
H J says
Hi Sara, I took out a £15k loan in March 2019 @ 19.2% Apr for 84 months from NatWest bank and have currently paid back over £15k with £9.5k remaining balance. I have been with Natwest since 2008 when I was 18 and took out the loan when I was 29, I say this because NatWest could see all my ingoings and outgoings as that was and is the only bank I have had.
I don’t have a credit report at the time but I know I had either a fair or good rating as I was in a debt management plan with StepChange the year prior for £3k. At the time of taking out the loan I was living paycheck to paycheck essentially, my bank account at the time of taking out the loan had £84 in it and similar amounts the months prior (I’ve downloaded these statements) I was working an agency job in security, so income was always different every week, some weeks £400 and some weeks £200, which shows I did not have a set annual salary.
I have sent a complaint to NatWest and they responded, and in their words “the loan was subject to full affordability assessment, credit
checked, credit scored, approved, and accepted by you”
In your opinion, do I have a case?
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large were the monthly payments?
What was the loan for?
H J says
£292 a month, I put it down as home improvements, even though I was still living with parents at the time. I was young and naive in that I had no savings, living paycheck to paycheck essentially and thought £15k right now would let me be stress free whilst I gradually pay it back. Since the price increases in energy, food etc now I’m starting to find it difficult to juggle rent, food aswell as the loan on top.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Would you be able to afford this loan if you were still living at home? If you would, then you are unlikely to be able to win this complaint. An affordability complaint is judged on the situation at the time credit was given.
But I think you now need debt advice. I suggest you talk to StepChange about a debt management plan that would let this debt be paid back as a slower pace. See https://www.stepchange.org/how-we-help/debt-management-plan.aspx
Beth says
I don’t understand why HJ seemed to have a different response. Surely if his bank seen £84 in his account the month prior and at the time of a very large £15000 loan this should be obvious that it was unaffordable. Just seems confusing that this complaint would be unlikely to win.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I wrote:
“Would you be able to afford this loan if you were still living at home? If you would, then you are unlikely to be able to win this complaint.”
because at home he would have few regular bills. The fact he later moved out and got a lot of bills and is now struggling doesn’t help him win an affordability complaint…
He didn’t reply. If he had come back an explained why the loan was unaffordable while he was living at home, then yes, it is possible that he does have a good complaint. But the amount of money in his bank account isn’t the only thing relevant here – perhaps he had just come back from a good holiday. Perhaps he was dues to get paid the next day.
Josh says
Hi Sara,
I have been looking at a way to complain to some of my lenders for unaffordable lending, and would just like your opinion on which loans/credit cards i should complain about:-
1. Aqua for unaffordable credit increases. I was earning approximately £16,000.00 when i got my first aqua card. Had £2,000.00 overdraft using approx £1,700 – £1,900.00 each month. Aqua initial limit was £300.00 (Sept 2018), i nearly exceeded this within my first three months and aqua increased my credit limit to £1,000.00 (Jan 2019), £3,050 in May 2019, £4,050 in Sept 2019, £5,050 in December 2020, £6550.00 in January 2021 and then £8,000.00 in June 2021. Stupidly, when the App pinged asking if i wanted to accept the limit i clicked yes. I really regret this and it is something i am working on and trying to be debt free. I am not sure if i can complain if i accepted the increase.
2. Koyo Loans taken in June 2021 for £5,000.00. utilisation at the time on my Aqua Card was £5K march, £6K for June and July. My overdraft was still at close to 90% utilisation and Barclaycard at about 90% utilisation. the credit limit on the Barclay Card is £2,500.00 and this was obtained in February 2019. As i write this i do think that the lending may have been a bit unreasonable as i was only earning around £25,000.00 a year and was renting a place and paying car finance of £100.00 a month. I was also clearly very reliant on debt. What is your view?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can complain when you accepted a credit limit increase. Or even if you requested one. Aqua should still have checked the increases were affordable – and those were large and fequent increases at the same time as Aqua should have see the maxed out Barclaycard and the high overdraft usage.
Koyo loans too.
Which was your bank?
Josh says
HI Sara,
thank you for confirming.
My bank is Santander with the overdraft.
I Also have the below:
2. I took out a loan with Likely Loans (Oakbrook) in August 2021. The sum was for £5,000.00 and i believe that this may have been irresponsible lending as I should not have been approved for this loan as i still had the debts above and had just taken out a loan of £5000.00 with Koyo in June. I have contacted Oakbrook about this do you think i am right to do so. This is due to be cleared in 2024.
3. I have three updraft loans as follows:-
A – Obtained September 2019, £3,500.00 for 36 months and still outstanding. I still had the debts listed above. I have no idea how I was approved for this. This is due to be cleared in 2024.
B – Obtained July 2022 for £4,000.00 for 36 months. This is still outstanding.
C – Obtained in January 2023 for £8,000.00 for 60 Months. This is still outstanding and i believe i should not have been given this loan, I basically used it to keep up with interest on the other accounts. I am not too sure if i can really do anything about this as i dont want to enter into a repayment plan if it affects my credit record as i have no defaults or anything like that.
is it worth complaining about updraft?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It seems to me that you have a vast amount of debt and are only keeping repaying it by getting more debt.
The Santander overdraft – are you in this for all or almost all of the month? How long has this been the case for?
Josh says
Hi Sarah,
I have received a response from updraft regarding my complaint 2 out of 3 have been upheld. B and C have been upheld with a full refund on all interest paid, however statutory 8% has not been applied. This isn’t much of a problem for Loan C which only started this year in January but I have had loan B for a year and will be missing out on £90.00. In total I have been awarded an interest rebabte of £930.00 on loan B, bringing the balance to just over £1,700.00 and a refund of £1,300.00 on loan C bringing it to £6000.00 outstanding. It has really helped reduce my DMP already and at the start. All interest is now 0% on these loans, as Loan A for updraft was not upheld should I take to ombudsman, I am not sure I have a really strong case for it.
Thanks so much for your help and advice it helps so much.
Once my DMP is running properly I will be putting a complaint in with everyone who lent irresponsibly and also continue working on my relationship with money.
Josh says
Hi Sara,
Just wanted to say thank you so much for the work you put in and this website.
I have managed to win my complaints against updraft and Aqua. This has resulted in my DMP reducing by over £9,000.00 which is a HUGE amount of money.
The ombudsman did not agree that the Oakbrook lending was unaffordable. It’s probably fair for them to come to this conclusion but I did feel like they were being a bit towards the lender. The only wins I have had have actually been offers from the lender rather than ombudsman.
Most importantly, I am living on a budget now and learning my lessons from this terrible debt. Learning to say no and think about tomorrow when I want something. My terrible relationship with money led me here and I’m taking all this time to get better with it.
Josh says
Hi Sara,
I agree with your comments.
Yes in it for all or most of the month and has been like this for over two years.
I can afford the minimum payments but it leaves me very tight with money. I can’t go on any DMP or anything like that due to my job. It’s a big lesson learnt.
I feel like I shouldn’t have been approved for that amount of debt as I clearly had a bad relationship with borrowing.
Which ones do you think it’s worth complaining about?
Koyo sold all their loans to Koyo Finance 1 Limited and capquest manage the loans now so I presume I contact capquest?
Two updraft loans and the likely loans are cleared in 2024 so this will give me a lot more headroom.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I would complain about everything. Likely loans, Koyo, updraft, Aqua, Barclaycard and also your overdraft. Use the right template for each. Take them all to the Ombudsman if they are rejected.
I think the Koyo complaint should probably be to Koyo Finance 1 not the debt collector.
Josh says
Hi Sara,
Thanks for coming back to me. I have done the complaint for Koyo, Aqua and Likely Loans. I have used the correct templates for these.
Going to work on Updraft next as it will need quite a bit of work due to it being 3 loans.
Koyo have appointed Capquest as they are dealing with the management of the loan Capquest haven’t purchased it. I will send a letter of my email complaint to Koyo Finance 1 Limited to make sure I’m covered.
Hopefully I have some success with some of these.
Thank you for all your help.
Josh says
Hi Sara, just to let you know i have had a response from likley loans stating that as i didnt have any CCJ, defaults or DMP it wasnt unaffordable. I asked for my application form and they didnt even do an affordability check on me! i have taken it to the ombudsman but is there anything you’d reccomend?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
5000 is a large loan, LL should have done a proper affordability assessment. Make sure you send the Ombudsman your bank statements from 3 months before to 3 months after the loan. And a copy of your current credit record.
Gemma says
I had the same response from them. I took it to the ombudsman and as soon as they received a notification from the ombudsman that it was investigating they immediately reviewed their original response and made me a settlement offer. I think they just try it on in the hope you’ll drop it.
Josh says
Hi Sarah,
I spoke to Stepchange and had a further look at my job and what impacts it. A DMP is okay and I am signing up with Stepchange.
My question is that I can’t afford the monthly payments for my debts until my DMP starts. Stepchange have just suggested I write out to them asking for a stand down of 30 days and inform them that I am taking advice from Stepchange. I want to get my accounts defualted asap and I have no money saved at the moment. Would you suggest that getting an emergency fund from now and until November when the DMP starts is a good idea? I would be able to save £2,000.00 (£1,000.00 each month) if I don’t pay and I imagine I will default quicker as well?
Also should I cancel all my DD’s now ?
I just don’t want to annoy the lenders by not paying. I can pay some but not others, therefore, it makes me think I should just build an emergency fund now.
What is your view ?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/stop-debt-payments-before-dmp/
Building an emergency fund is a Good move. As is getting these debts make as defaulted.
Josh says
Hi Sara,
thanks so much for all your help so far.
I have provided all DMP info to stepchange and the first DMP payment is 1st December 2023.
Just a quick one in relation to my complaints, two have already come back to me which is great as it meant i sent to FO before 8 weeks passed as it was the Final Response Letter. Likely Loans said no they aren’t at fault so i have referred. I also had a credit line with drafty which i have sent to FO. Do you have any tips i did sent 3 months statements before and after credit, credit report FRL and pointed out my debt was paying off other debt and had lots of returned Direct Debits. Don’t think i can do much more?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sounds good – sit back and wait, this can take a while at FOS.
Josh says
Hi Sara,
I have had a response regarding the Oakbrook Loans. The FOS have said that the lending was not irresponsible because Oakbrook used the CATO and ONS figures. They also say that because I had no CCJ’s bankruptcies or missed payments it was not irresponsible. I was using over 90% of my credit with PayPal, Barclaycard and Aqua at the time. The person reviewing this has also got dates mixed up with the Koyo loan I got in 2021 as they think it was in 2023 and therefore after the event. Do you have any tips before I take it to the ombudsman for final review?
Aparantley I was maintaining my credit well by being 90% in utility and not missing any payments so this is the main issue with my claim.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How long before the likely loan was the koyo loan? How large was it?
Josh says
Hi Sara,
It was taken out in June 2021 and payments were on my bank statements. The amount was £5,000.00. The Oakbrook loan was taken out in August 2021. Over 40% of my net income was going to debt repayments in June 2021, this increased to 50% with the Oakbrook loan. That’s before housing expenses etc
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then go back to the adjidicator and point out the koyo loan was takn out before the LL. And make the other points about the amount of debt you had in relation to your income – say that high percentage means that a lender could not assume that ONS and CATO numbers were a reasonable reflection of your expenses and they should have verified them
Mike H says
Hi Sara
Thank you. Good points and well noted.
My “bad mistake” was believing that L2G had effectively and certainly by implication reset the 6 months limit by stating for 2nd time “Full and Final decision” two months after the first F&F. Furthermore, as I mentioned before, L2G took an unreasonable 6 weeks 3 days during this “2nd period” period after original F&F letter, to respond to the extra information (bank statements) provided them in accordance to their request and even then they finally respond that they don’t have any obligation to review bank statements…so why bother asking me??
My submission to FOS was 5 weeks outside the 1st F&F time limit, but certainly within the “2nd” F&F time limit. Fairness would effectively extend the period by at least corresponding length of time…they cited staff shortage for reason of delay. Surely this is an unacceptable excuse by L2G etc.
Should they decide upon court action against me…entitles me to obtain pro-bono legal assistance/representation. Will they risk it to potentially go bankrupt…frankly I hope so!! I only risk a CCJ to me…first ever in 50 years!
Thank you for your wonderful advice as always. So appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It was still foolish to delay. Move on.
What court action against you? A money claim? No legal aid for that.
Make you bankrupt? Do you have any assets?
T says
Hi Sara,
How long is a typical wait for an Ombudsman decision? I didnt agree with the adjudicators view (they rejected my complaint for 2 of the 4 loans I complained about) so asked it to be reviewed by an Ombudsman. It’s now 3months since the email confirming it has been sent to the Ombudsman. I have emailed the adjudicator monthly and other than confirming it had been assigned to an Ombudsman after the first month they haven’t been able to provide any further updates.
Thanks again for all your help
Sara (Debt Camel) says
2-4 months is common. Some shorter, some longer.
T says
Thanks Sara, hopefully not too much longer to wait then.
BB says
Hi Sarah, I’ve referred a claim regarding Shawbrook Bank and a £16k loan they provided without checking my bank statements. I used some of it to consolidate other debts, however the investigator said whilst they didn’t do the necessary checks the loan remained affordable as it put me in a better position due to the high fees I was paying on the overdraft. What they aren’t looking at it my full picture of paying out more than my income was, is it worth referring to the Ombudsmen and if so are there any further comments I can make? Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What they aren’t looking at it my full picture of paying out more than my income was,
yes this is defintely worth referring.
Write out a short statement saying that the Shawbrook loan may have been cheaper but it was still unaffordable. And explain this – showing how your expenses including this loan repayments were more than your income, so this caused you to get back into more debt by [using the overdraft again/using credit cards more, using Klarna, getting behind on bills , whatever]
Ask the adjudicator to review their decision and if they don’t change their mind pass on your comments to an Ombudsman.
BB says
Thank you, I’ve now asked for the matter to be referred to the Ombudsman as the adjudicator is standing by their decision. Do you think I need to add anymore details? Thank you
Dawn says
Sara I have a complaint with the adjudicator since July about creation who give me a £6400 loan which was not affordable. I used it to pay off credit cards but found the repayments too high and ended up paying it off again with my cards. My complaint has only now been looked at and today I sent in my credit file and bank statements which showed I was using all of my overdraft two weeks in every four for the months leading up to the loan. Do you have any idea if this complaint has a chance of being upheld and if so what would creation normally be asked to do. Thanks in Advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Bank statements are usually the best evidence that a loan is unaffordable.
Have you repaid the creation loan? IF no, do you know how much you have paid to it so far?
Dawn says
Yes I repaid it all. I used credit cards which unfortunately now has the debt back on them.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Then if you win the complaint, your refund will be the difference between what you paid to the loan – monthly payments plus the final settlement – minus the amount you borrowed.
Also look at whether you can make affordability complaints about the credit cards: https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/
Kelly says
Hello,
I have an arrangement with Stepchange and have done for about two years now. I pay an amount each month to them and they pay my creditors – Loans2Go and NatWest(Moorcroft).
I have just had a look at my credit report on Transunion and it seems that every month still has a Default beside it and doesn’t show the correct amount.
I am really mad about this as it looks as if I’m not paying anything. My Stepchange account is all up to date and the correct figure is on there.
It is also updated on both my creditors log in accounts, it’s just Transunion where it isn’t updated.
Can I get this updated? Whose job would it be to keep this up to date?
Thank you , Kelly
Sara (Debt Camel) says
One a default has been added to a credit record, it will remain there until it drops off after 6 years.
Have you looked at making affordability complaints about the debts? For Loans2Go, see https://debtcamel.co.uk/worst-loan-in-britain/. What sort of debt was the NatWest debt?
Winning an affordability complaint will help clean up your credit record and will aklso speed up the DMP as interest is removed from the balance.
Did you have any other debts in the DMP?
Jax says
Good evening. How long does it take for your credit record to be updated and negative information removed following winning a complaint via FOS please? I’ve been waiting for over a month now for barclays to update it and still no movement. I’ve had several complaints upheld and I haven’t waited this long. The contact at barclays is now also ignoring my emails.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It should be sorted in a couple of months.
Cyndy says
Today the adjudicator emailed me to introduce herself and say she would be looking into my irresponsible lending complaint. Now that all of the documents have been sent in and acknowledged from her I was wondering how long it usually is for a decision to be made. The complaint is with Lendable.
John says
Hi Sara,
I obtained a car loan with Oodle Finance, this was arranged through a company called Hippo Cars. The initial amount of credit was £17,000.00 at 9.5% interest rate. The total I paid back was £26,675.20.
This was at a time when I had numerous other creditors and feel the loan was unaffordable. Would i make the claim against Oodle as they issued the loan?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes. How long ago did the finance start?
John says
Hi,
The loan was from 2018 – 2023.
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Good, so less than 6 years ago, that makes it easier. Send your complaint now and get your bank statements from the 3 months before and 3 months after the loan – you can go back that far even for closed accounts.
Peter says
Hi Sara
I have a quick query please.
I raised a complaint with Novuna re irresponsible lending and they upheld my complaint and agreed to refund all interest against the loan which left an outstanding balance. However they are still reporting the full loan amount plus interest on my credit file and not just the remaining capital that is left after all interest has been deducted. As such, my credit file with the agencies shows a much higher amount than what I actually now owe them. Is this correct, can they do this?
Kind regards
Peter
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I suggest you go back and ask them to correct the balance.
Peter says
Thanks Sara
I forgot to mention that the account was/is in a DMP and I am making reduced payments to the loan, does this make a difference to what the overall balance should report as?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how long will it be before the debt is cleared?
Peter says
Hi,
just over 3 years
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, well it won’t make a great deal of differnce to your credit score or chance of getting more credit if Novuma corrects this, as it is the DMp thta will be cause the problems, not balance owing to Nouma. But you can ask them to correct it if you want as it is wrong.
Peter says
Thanks Sara
The issue I have is that Novuna have removed ALL the adverse information from my credit file due to irresponsible lending (which is great) but if I ask them to correct the balance to not showing the interest will they then be able to show the remaining amount as still being on a DMP (which I obviously don’t want)?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t see why you don’t just live with this. Your credit record must have been badly affected by the DMP – getting this balance changed isn’t going to make any difference to that. At the point the debt is cleared in the DMP, the debt should be marked as settled with a balance of zero.
Valerie says
I have today written a letter of complaint regarding 4 loans from the same bank that I have my current account with . The smallest was £3000 and the most recent one was for £14,450. These were taken out from December 2021 followed by August 22 November 22 and July 2023. These were basically used to refinance the one before and pay off credit cards but at the time of each loan I was working part time, using my overdraft every month and paying out more than my income. Should my bank not have noticed this as they had access to all my details. Also my credit score was showing as poor. What do you think are my chances of a successful outcome. I have asked for interest and fees to be taken off
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It sounds like a good case to me. Send it to the Ombudsman if the bank rejects it.
How many days of the month have you been In the overdraft?
Valerie says
usually about 14 days Sara. Sometimes more