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?
Robert says
Does anyone know the complaints email for Aqua credit card (Newday) and if they have had any success
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Some people have recently won FOS cases against Aqua. See the comments below https://debtcamel.co.uk/refunds-catalogue-credit-card/ which is the best page for complaints about credit cards.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If anyone reading this is in a DMP including an loan from Everyday Loans, I would be interested to know.
I am following up on the comment left by Robert above.
Jamie Lowe says
Hi,
I took a loan out with Savvy and defaulted after the 3rd payment.
This loan was not affordable to me at the time, I am currently paying this back through a CCJ, should I complain??
Thanks
Jamie
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was this the only loan from Savvy? How large was it? Who took you to court, Savvy or a debt collector?
Jamie Lowe says
Yes this was the only loan for around £750 currently owe 1k paying £25 per month to CCJ.
Yes it was Savvy who took me to court.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, well change the sentence in the template which says “I am asking you to refund the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record.” to read “I am asking you to remove the interest and charges from the balance, set aside the CCJ and delete any negative information from my credit record.”
I suggest you also add a couple of lines saying that £750 was a large loan to give someone with a poor credit record so Savvy should have checked carefully that it was affordable.
R says
Interesting statement, on the Avant Credit website;
We are currently not accepting new loan applications
I wonder what this means? Have you heard anything Sara?
Louise says
Update:
I submitted my complaint to 118 10 weeks ago. Just received an email…..to say they need an extra 21 days :(
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send it to the Ombudsman now!
Charlotte says
Hi Louise
Did the same with me and when I did email and chase up after the 21 days said they had sent my SAR via email which they haven’t. I explained was going to FOS over it, following day received email offering me full refund of interest on my third loan of over £1160. Money in the bank within 24hours
Charlotte
Louise says
Hey Charlotte,
Good result, well done!
I emailed them back saying I understand they’re busy but 13 weeks (if they don’t ask for even more time) to consider a complaint is ridiculous. Hopefully I’ll receive my response soon too.
Amigo’s deadline was last week. They responded on the last day partially upholding but said they will look at further loans if I provide bank statements. I did so immediately and they said they would get back to me by 27th latest.
Had nothing from them either so not a good day for me!
Louise
Linds says
I had a loan with Bamboo for £1000, I fell behind with payments and I had to put it on my DMP, so I paid them a small amount each month.
The balance owed when I started the DMP was £1840.
I put in a complaint to them in May and they replied that they did not do enough checks. They took the amount back to the original amount borrowed (£1000). I had paid back £798 to date, so my outstanding balance to them is now £202.
I accepted that offer, my DMP has now reduced by £923 because of this so i was happy with that.
Linds
John Stockwell says
Dear sara. I am asking for your advice. I am wondering if I should complain about the Fos. Whilst I understand they are busy I have 5 complaints. 118118 (2loans 2 top ups) been 13 months not picked up. Sunny adjudicator ruled (27 out of 31) been a month now adjudicator on a 6week break will contact me when she gets back. Satsuma (8 out of 8loans upheld) been 10 weeks since adjudication no correspondence from adjudicator as to what’s happening. Quick quid got a letter nearly a month ago saying quick quid would be in contact (still nothing) this was adjudicated January this year. When complaints go past a year (all loans taken in past 5years) it can get depressing that despite me being in a dmp I’m just stalling. When I contact Fos for updates I get apologies and told I will get updates and be sorted soon but it doesn’t happen. What would you do??
Max says
Dear Sara
I recently put in an affordability complaint for my second log book loan that I took out from Mobile Money for £4000.00 I have since paid this loan back but it was a struggle, I borrowed the money to put into my business as I am self employed and cash flow was low.
My income was checked only by sub contractor payslips and an income & expenditure assessment no other checks were done.
I today received a reply with this outcome.
Given todays regulatory framework it is likely that MML would have lowered the amount lent to you to around £3000.00 Therefore MML offers you redress of a refund of interest plus 8% on £1000.00
The amount offered is £1290.51.
I would like your advise on whether I should accept this bearing in mind if it goes to the FOS it could the up to a year.
Do you feel this offer is reasonable under the circumstances
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you know how much interest overall you paid on this second loan?
And your first log book loan with them – how large was that and was there much of a gap between repaying that and taking the second loan?
Max says
Hi Sara
It was around £5000 in interest paid back.
Between the loans it was approx 2 years and the first one was for £2000
Thanks
lisa says
Hi Max, can you advise when your loans were taken? I a waiting a response by the 5th September. Also did they wait the full 8 weeks to receive a response? was it by post or email? thanks Lisa
Max says
It was just under the 8 weeks
Lisa says
Thanks max I’m hoping they respond soon, can you also advise if these were older than 6 years. Hard decision to make with regards to your offer. I’m sure though you would be better off referring to fos. Good luck!
D says
Sara/guys
Made an affordability complaint to L2G about 10 days ago and they’ve rejected it.
In my complaint I told them they’d seen my bank statements with all sorts of loans showing on it. They said they’ve done the correct checks and their loan was affordable.
It was for 500 quid and i pad 4 months 180 pounds and then 581 to clear it.
Should I raise this with FOS or will I struggle due to the amounts?
Linds says
Hello all,
Has anyone had any dealings with TM Advances?
Linds
dave24 says
I have a loan with them and just about to start the process – £3000 loan and which is costing me £10K (desperate times as I was gambling heavy).
Interested to hear how you get on with them! is your complaint re a current loan or a closed one?
Bill says
Anybody had any complaints against Harvey &Thompson that is currently with the FOS? this company was on parr with the money shop over ten years ago, I can’t believe I don’t see that many complaints on here as am guessing in the near future the flood gates will open and maybe they will end going bust like instant cash loans?
DM84 says
Hi,
Lost my case with Likely Loans at the final Ombudsman level.
Basically just agreed eith adjuidicator at every level.
Informing them of gambling transactions is fine as I did not make them aware it was a problem. Some statement about gambling is not an illegal activity and likely informed me they would credit score me instead of looking at statements. He said it was my decision to apply for the loan knowing this information.
He accepted credit applications should be assessed but in the same breath but said its up to Likely Loans to make this commercial decision and he cant interfere with it.
3 defaults in the previous 2 years to this application had been registered but also satisfied (be nice if they didnt have such an impact with other loan companies). They are still hindering me from any reasonable interest rates but due to drop off this year
So there we have it, I thought this was my stromgest case and have lost it.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Sorry to hear that. Satisfied defaults don’t really help your case.
DM84 says
I was angry yesterday but have calmed down now.
I’m not a big fan ofthe Ombudsman service though.
They cut my case to one A4 piece of paper and cherry pick evidence to support the decision they want to support and are painfully slow. It’s kind of frustrating but its not worth the time to think about it now as I cant do anything about it. I now have 2 years worth of an arrangement to pay on my account which will come off in 2025.
Charlotte says
Do you mind me asking how long your case was with them for?
Mines been in since March and still haven’t heard anything!
Thanks
DM84 says
January 2019 – complaint raised
March 2019 – First phone call with adjudicator
April 2019 – Adjudicator decision
August 2019 – Ombudsman decision
Terry shirley says
Hi Sara/guys.
I have recently raised a complaint with Avant credit about a £5000 loan that I have paid £8000 ish to so far and still have a further £1500 to pay.
My credit record at the time was disastrous (125ish), I had 5 payday loans in the 3 months previous to my application and a £2000 118 money loan and so many more payday loans before this and after.
I also had a £15000 bank loan at the time.
I had gone over my arranged overdraft limit with my bank and had a gambling problem with £100s I’m deposits to various online gambling sites.
Am waiting on a response but just wondering if you think I have a good case?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think for a large loan and a bad credit record, the lender should have checked carefully it was affordable eg by looking at bank statements. Which would presumably mean seeing you had a gambling problem…
Send it straight to the Financial Ombudsman if Avant say No!
MelD says
Hi Sara, looking for information, Wonga have emailed today to say they have accepted my claim however it will be significantly lower than I’m owed etc, and cannot pay this till they have dealt with everyone else’s complaints to work out what they can afford to pay back.
This is what they have added up Total interest and fees on loans
£2,062.33
1
Total compensatory interest
£1,128.37
2
Less previous write off(s)
£
3
Accepted claim value
£3,190.7
Is the total I’m due £3,190.7 but will I expect to get a lot lower than this ?
Please let me know if you have any help on this.
Meld
A. says
I sent my complaint against likely loans to the fos 4 weeks ago – I received the generated email saying thanks for contacting us we’ll be back in touch but have heard nothing since. Is this normal just now given how busy they are? Or should I have received my reference number?
KS says
I sent my complaint to FOS regarding Bamboo on 11 July. So far I have only received the automated acknowledgement email. I called FOS earlier this week to check on the status and they just said there is a huge backlog and basically I will be lucky to hear anything from them this year. Incredibly frustrating but there doesn’t seem to be another option other than just sit back and wait and hope that it is all worth it in the end.
Jane says
Hi A,
Pretty normal as I understand it. They have 12 weeks in which to gather information and contact the business for their understanding of your issues. You should receive an update via email or post advising you of the approximate time frame.
Don’t be afraid to ask for updates. I have several cases at the FOS including Likely Loans…one of which is 12 months old.
Back logs are pretty long, especially now that the vultures that are Claims Management Companies (sorry no offence intended to those working in this field) pounce on the Payday/High Cost Loan victims, as the PPI reclaim period has now closed!
Hang in there…it may be worth it!
Danielle says
I really could do with some advice. I complained to avant credit for irresponsible lending end of last year. I had 4 loans with them in total and I’m currently in a payment plan for the last loan which is currently at about £2800 owed. They upheld my complaint on the first 2 but not on the second 2. I stood firm and sent through to the FOS in January So my outstanding balance hasn’t reduced yet. I keep calling the FOS for an update but they think it will be at least a few months. I’m concerned that avant will do a wonga and go bust as they have recently got on their website that they are no longer issuing new loans. I don’t know whether to contact them and take their first offer of the 2 loans to be refunded and withdraw my complaint for the FOS. I dont want to be left owing the total amount when they’ve already partially upheld my complaint. Any advice would be really appreciated? X
Sara (Debt Camel) says
how much are you paying them a month? how large was the refund they offered for the first 2 loans?
Danielle says
I’m currently paying them £51 per month. The loan was for £3500 and I have currently paid £1438 to date but it’s only down to £2800 due to interest before I got in a payment plan. Which is why I was really hoping the last loan would be upheld.
The first 2 loans interest together is £1557. I’m just so worried I’ll regret not taking their first offer if they go bust. I’ve spoken to them to try and find out why they are not accepting any new loans but I obviously didnt get very far
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t really like making predictions about what can happen if a lender goes bust as there seem to be a lot of different permutations. But in most cases you would be ok because you would have a “right of set off” as they have agreed the previous two loans weren’t affordable so that would then be used to reduce the amount you owe on the current loan.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
PS I have no knowledge that Avant are about to go bust. Lenders stop lending for periods, that doesn’t always mean they are about to go under.
Danielle says
Ahh I see. I was worried that I’d still end up owing the same amount if they went bust. Thanks so much for your response. I just have to hope the fos picks it up soon
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It’s not 100% guaranteed there would be a right of aet off. But there would normally be.
Lew says
Has anyone had any luck with complaints against avant credit?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes!
Lew says
Mines getting looked at now and the adjudicator said he should have a reply in a few days. Lots of repeat payday loans constant borrowing / gambling I think I have a good chance however I noticed someone else say that theirs was nocked back for gambling.
However who knows let’s wait and see. I’m not too hopeful
Charl says
How long has your complaint been with then till an adjudicator picked it up?
Apparently it doesn’t take long for them to come to a conclusion
My complaint has been with them months and still hasn’t been picked up!
Lew says
It depends. Sometimes they’ll get dealt with in 5 months from start to finish some I’ve seen go up to a year! Lending stream I’ve been waiting 6 months and it’s still not been picked up
Danielle says
My avant complaint has been with the fos since January and I’m still waiting. They’ve said it may be another couple of months. Yet yesterday they picked up 2 complaints for other companies that I submitted in April. One they are now investigating and hopefully just a couple more days and one they just sent their decision!!
Louise says
I have a loan with Avant credit for £3800. I paid 16 payments of £158.99 to them before I fell into financial difficulty. Since then I have attempted to make payments of £50.00 or lower. They have showed a real lack of sympathy or assistance and have said that I still owe them a balance £3300. It seems very frustrating that even though I have paid over £2000 that I still owe this amount and I am in financial difficulty. Is there any advice or can I fight to have the interest and charges removed or would this be a lost cause?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Louise, what you can do is send them an affordabilty complaint. It may feel as though your problems started after you had this loan, but that is a large monthly repayment and my guess is you had other debts and a poor credit rating when you applied? So at that point the loan may have been unaffordable. It just felt it was OK at the start as the money would have given you some finacial relief, but the repayments were eventually too much.
So use the template letter in the article above to complain and ask for the interest to be removed from the balance owed.
MelD says
Hi Sara, thanks for all you’re previous help it really has made such a difference with my financial circumstances.
Just a question for you, have an ongoing claim with everyday loans that was rejected, sent it to the financial ombudsman awaiting an answer. Took out loan 2014, struggled to pay it back within the 1st couple of months as had a baby and went onto maternity wages etc, 5 years I was paying it off originally at £242 per month, after the problems it went down to £90-100 per month, would everyday loans have been in a position to offer me a lower interest rate because of the problems I was facing? Not sure if this could have been an option but I was paying 110% APR. For the full 5 years. And also asked to pay if off early but my balance still remained the same.
Hope you can make sense of this.
Thanks
MelD
MelD says
Would also like to mention it was originally meant to be paid over 2 years but was changed due to my financial circumstances.
Thanks
Sarah Staine says
Hello, I’ve had a final response from 118 118 money. They included this line;
In addition, as part of the application form you completed to apply for the loans with us, there is a statement just above the button you clicked on to submit the application which states “If false or inaccurate information is provided and fraud is identified, details will be passed to fraud prevention agencies…” Similar wording is contained within the loan terms and conditions.
Is there a possibility they will go after me for fraud now saying that I couldn’t afford the loan when I stated I could? Thanks!
PH says
That is just a threat they make to make you drop your complaint. Send to FOS now, as they know why you made false representation (you were desperate to be accepted – that’s not a judgement on you, that’s just what we have all done in the past, me included).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree with PH.
Some lenders routinely put this sort of comment into their replies. After nearly 4 years, I haven’t yet seen a lender do anything in practice when a cutomer has ignored it and sent the case to the Ombudsman.
Also read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-lender-says-lied/ – there can be many reasons why an application was inaccurate.
Lisa says
Hi all just an update with regards to mobile money complaint, 8 loans taken out 2011-2013, 8 week deadline today and they email to say it’s over 6 years and therefore do not need to investigate. There was forged documentation which clearly wasn’t my signature. This part of the complaint was ignored completely it wasn’t even addressed or mentioned in their final response. I have sent to the FOS.
Terry says
I have sent in an unaffordability complaint to Avant. In 2015 I borrowed £5,000 over 4 years (£215 a month). At the time of applying I had a 118 118 loan and also lots and lots of Payday loans, (wonga, quick quid) which I had been doing since around 2014. I had credit cards, another loan for £15,000, a car finance loan, a large overdraft which Was always maxed and online catalogues too. My credit score was awful which is why I went to Avant as I couldn’t get credit anywhere else. I have now paid £8,000 towards my £5,000 Avant loan and still have £3,000 to pay due to going on payment plans and taking payment Holidays. I also did lots of online gambling at this time too which shows in my bank statements. Am i likely to get a good outcome with this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a large loan and you had a lot of other borrowing on your credit record, I think Avant should have checked carefully that it would be affordable for you eg by looking at your bank statements. So this feels like a good case to me.
Have you also made affordability complaints about QuickQuid, 118 etc?
Terry says
Thanks for your reply. I did Wonga and quick quid a few years ago and got a refund. I paid the 118 loan off with the avant loan. Do you think this is something I should pursue?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes I think you should pursue 118 and Avant. Send the complaints to the ombudsman if the lenders reject them.
Ross says
Hi Terry,
My situation mirrors yours exactly. Took out a loan, for £5,000, with Avant whilst juggling numerous payday loans, other loans, credit cards maxed and an online gambling addiction. They rejected my complaint, but the response itself was so poor, it was almost laughable. They didn’t address any of my points and one thing I am finding, with many companies, is that they only look at their own loan(s), compared to your income, and don’t look at the ‘bigger’ picture. I had the exact same issue with my complaint to Likely Loans, who also chose not to address my concerns or look at the ‘bigger’ picture. Both cases are now sat with the FOS, but I don’t envisage these being looked at anytime soon.
Terry says
Good luck with yours. How long did it take for Avant to get back to you? I had a call about 4 days ago saying they were transferring it to the right department.
Taylor says
Help please lovelies! I’ve started a complaint with 118 and they’ve asked me to be specific in regard to what information I’m requesting from a SAR. What do I go back with?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You want a copy of all your personal information, including but not limited to loan applications, all credit checks they performed and recording of any telephone calls (delete that last bit if you know there weren’t any)
gary says
Has anyone had any luck with CarCashpoint took out loan in July 2018 they rejected the complaint and it is now with FOS since July 2019 i guess a long long wait ahead if its the same long process as payday loans, Thanks for help in advance
Chris says
I am in the process of making a complaint. Sent the complaint in 6 weeks ago – no response from CCP. Reminded them yesterday of the 8 week deadline. Will send to FOS once that is reached.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
With these sorts of complaints no one ever expects to win… but people do! Just see it through, if you don’t get a good decision from the adjudicator at FOS, pop back here and we’ll discuss if it’s worth taking to the Ombudsman stage.
They aren’t often mentioned. here is one person who won his case at the ombudsman: https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-54/#comment-234348
Linds says
Can anyone advise please,
I put in a complaint against Varooma, I took out 1 loan then topped it up.
They replied and did not uphold it, which was 1 month ago.
I did reply ad say I would not be taking it any further as I had a panic incase they took my car!
I have thought about it and maybe I should take it to the FOS, I have been paying half the monthly payment for the last 4 months as I’m struggling.
Advise is appreciated
Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Taking your case to FOS does not mean it’s more likely that they will take your car. But if you can’t make the normal payments that is already a risk… I know you are in a difficult position with the Amigo loan as well. How much are you currently paying to your DMP?
Linds says
Hi Sara,
I’m paying £248 to my DMP each month. Do you think I should take it to the FOS and if they don’t uphold maybe I could put it on my DMP as I think they would freeze interest?
Linds
nazim nawaz says
Hi I have got a loan with lendable of 10k at 31.33% interest. I have made an affordability complain with them and explain how this loan was not affordable for me and also that I had gambling transactions on my account. None of it was checked and this loan was given to me within seconds of applying.
Lendable have come up with a reply saying they have no upheld my complaint giving the reason my income was £1666 which I lied about but they have said they approved it doing industrial checks and didnt need to check nothing else. What should be my reply to win this case?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What was your credit record like? Did you have defaukts? Maxed out cards? High cost debt?
nazim nawaz says
Credit score was decent. Probably had one default at that time of small amount and one 5k loan with uk credit
John Paterson says
I have used your site before and had some success with payday loans. I have now sent an affordability complaint and SAR request to Loans2go for logbook loans. I received a rejection final response email in 6 days saying they done nothing wrong and the SAR details for only one loan. I have emailed them asking for info on other loans. My affordability complaint is based on 6 or 7 payday loans on the go at the same time although these are detailed on the I and e and the fact that I had borrowed 5K from a family member to pay off my 1st logbook loan and buy a car outright. Within a month of doing this I applied for another logbook loan ( a sure sign of madness) on my new car. The loan for 5K isnt acknowledged at all on the paperwork although clearly on statements and neither is the 233.72 monthly repayment to clear this. My free income on application was approx 148 and I remember the guy saying it was going to be close if it was going to be authorised so a little bit of trickery was done I.e including gambling winnings to offset gambling expenses to get it over the line. Sorry for the big explanation. Is it worth taking it to FOS
Sara (Debt Camel) says
definitely worth taking to FOS! For both loans.
Chris says
Wow. I have a complaint in against Loans2Go at the moment but this is lending using the dark arts! Definitely worth complaining and explaining how they got to allow you this loan. Good luck.
The Don says
Hi all,
I’ve previously successfully claimed back interest for payday loans. I’m now looking at claiming back interest for a high interest loan via Likely Loans.
My credit was shocking I had a load of gambling debt, plus a load of payday loans, I never should have received this loan, naturally they’ve replied to me saying they don’t nothing wrong, so I’ve sent this to the FO.
I’ve totally forgot how to download a detailed credit report from Credit Karma (previously Noodle) I found the Noodle platform a lot easier to obtain this. Could someone give me some pointers please :-) As I know the FO will need this .
Thank you :-)
Scott says
Hi,
If you go onto Credit Karma website, go into your financial information, ctrl P to print, when the box comes up, change destination from your printer and choose PDF.
Scott
Ross says
Is/has anyone been waiting a while for their Avant Credit complaint to be dealt with? I originally sent my complaint to the FOS in May. When an adjudicator dealt with my MYJAR complaint, I asked if he could look in to what was happening with my Avant Credit complaint, he came back to me to apologise, saying that I had been given the wrong reference number (this was in June). On 01/07/19, I received an email, from the FOS, stating that my complaint was now registered and that somebody would be in contact within the next 12 weeks. It’s now over 10 weeks, since that email, and I have sent 2 emails, one at 4 weeks (no response) and one just now, asking if there’s any problems/issues (I appreciate this could be Avant playing silly buggers).
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A lot of these large bad credit loan cases seem to be going slowly.
Ross says
You’re definitely correct there, Sara. I’ve not heard anything about my Likely Loans complaint, and that was a fair few weeks ago. By the way, loved the Albamarle & Bond Prawnbrokers link. Made me chuckle! :)
Ljc says
Hi Ross/Sara
Can I ask what the Albamarle and Bond link is ? as I have a complaint in with them/ speedloan and don’t seem to be getting anywhere .
Clare Jane says
Hi Ljc,
I have a Speedloan complaint in at the FOS. It relates to Herbert Brown/Albermarle cheque lending which was converted to a loan with Speedloan. It’s been with an adjudicator since December 2018…fortunately I found the loan paperwork but, despite it originating in 2012 they are still looking at the case….just moving slowly.
Will update if I have any news!
Ljc says
Hi Clare Jane
Mine has been with fos since July 2018 – I had pay day cheques for albamarle & Bond but can’t go ahead with that as that branch apparantly has gone into liquidation or similar ?! Because I know some branches are still trading so don’t get it and the speedloan part they can’t find any records for me (I don’t have any paperwork) just showed the fos the debit amounts on my bank statement (these are +6 years ago) so don’t know what happens now and fos didn’t say much either just saying we’re looking into it – I’ll let you know if any updates
Sharper says
I had the same email on the same day from the FOS with regards to my complaint against Likely loans. I have sent additional documentation over which they have acknowledged but still haven’t been assigned an adjudicator
Chris says
Hi All,
I had a final response from Bamboo Loans regarding my affordability complaint, the loans was for £3000 and I currently making payment through a DMP with stepchange.
Bamboo responded saying they were not upholding the complaint as they believe they carried out all reasonable checks however they do recognise that I was in a payday loan cycle at the time, so have agreed to remove all interest from the loan so I only have to repay the capital, this reduces what I owe to them from just over £5K to just over £2K which is great.
The statements they are sending me still show I owe the full £5K, when I queried this they said that once the £2K has been repaid then they will zero the balance of the loan. Does this sound right to you I am assuming that the fact I have this agreement in writing then they cant change there mind later on but am just slightly concerned why they cant just remove the interest immediately from the balance.
In addition they are continuing to charge me a monthly £12 charge for reduce payment, they said they would stop this once a regular payment was being received which it has been through stepchange for the past 8 months.
Any advice on the best way to approach this, I don’t want them to remove the offer as all the interest removed is the best I could have hoped for given it was 1 loan, but I don’t think I should be paying a £12 charge every month.
Any advice appreciated.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a “not upholding” decision most people would love to get!
But two more ways for a lender to be difficult…
I don’t think you should worry about the statements. As you say, you have Bamboos decision in writing. They aren’t going to change their mind. They probably can’t work out how to change the amount in their system!
But you should not be charged that £12 a month. Put in a complaint and ask for it to stop and for the last 6 months worth to be refunded.
Fiona says
Adjudicator has upheld my complaint against Oakbrook Finance (Likely Loans). They have two weeks to respond.
I’m not sure what they are like with responding and if they are likely to agree with an adjudicator.
Anyone had any positive complaint outcomes with Likely Loans?
Sharper says
That’s great news Fiona.
I’m currently waiting to be assigned an adjudicator for Likely loans. How many loans did you have with them?
Fiona says
Hi,
I had one loan for £2500 over 12 months but had recently completed a DMP and had additional active Payday loans.
JA says
Congrats Fiona, I’d also like to know how many loans / how much if you don’t mind as Im waiting to be assigned an adjudicator to.
I was on a DMP when they gave me the loan , what sort of position was you in?
Thanks
Fiona says
Answered above, but if you were on a DMP when thrh gave you the loan, they should have checked this and not given it to you, so I would hope your complaint would be upheld.
JA says
Yeah I’m looking forward to when I get an adjudicator picked up. My loan was for 2500 aswell.
Thanks for replying
Kate says
I first complained to Cash Euronet re OnStride on 2nd March this year, they took until mid June to give me a final response (not upheld) and I then sent the complaint to the FOS on the same day as I received their response and today have received this from the Ombudsman :
“Thank you for your email.
Your comments have been noted and I can confirm that your complaint file is currently in the Admin team waiting to be passed to an investigator.
In fairness to all our customers, complaints are progressed in order according to the date they arrive in the Admin team.
Hopefully it shouldn’t be too much longer but unfortunately we can’t give an exact time frame.
I can assure you that your complaint is progressing here at the Financial Ombudsman Service. We have obtained the file of papers from the business to complete your case file and to avoid further delays at the assessment stage.
When your complaint is assigned to an investigator, they will contact you directly. In the meantime, we will keep you informed of any progress.”
has anyone else had anything like this from the FOS? – Seems mad that they have the info from the business but are doing nothing with it….. very frustrating
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Seems mad that they have the info from the business but are doing nothing with it” no, it makes a lot of sense to get all the data at the start. Some lenders are very slow to provide it. If FOS waited until an adjudicator picked up the case, there could then be a delay of months waiting for the lender to send their case file.
Hazza the jazza says
Thanks sara, I’ve now complained to sunny, I’m making some of the payments late, but still paying them, up to date as today.
When I took a loan out with 118 money in 2015, for £3500 over 2 years, 10 months later they offered me about £2000, this then starts a new loan for 2 years, but you still have to pay the interest on that, the £2000 you borrowed and the remaining 14 months of the original loan for £3500.
Basically a £2000 loan over 2 years but paying back about £9500.
They did this again 8 months later offering me £800 , so then again you start a new approx £9000 loan over a fresh 2 years, I’ve got just 6 more payments @ £396, all figures for the loans are approx, but very close.
Should I put a complaint in now or wait till I’ve payed the remaining 6 months. From mid 2015 to now 4 loans in toatal., I’ve been paying them probably an zveradge of about £350 a month .
Sorry for veering of the Wonga thread, I spoke to Wonga today and they said the next updates would be when they are going to pay us.
Many thanks sara
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Complain to 118 money now, there is nothing to gain by waiting until the loan is repaid. Template letter above
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have to stop borrowing. If necessary ask Sunny for a payment arrangement on the remaining balances.
ash says
hi Sara I complained to 118 about 4 large loans that I had 3 of them were top ups and I finally recieved a response stating that as I still had an outstanding balance they were willing to remove the interest from the last loan which left me with a balance of £600 but they would not be upholding the other 3 loans, my question is if I send this to fos could they then make me pay back the interest as they had already deducted it from my balance without me agreeing or confirming this
thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
As the lender has offered this, the Ombudsman typically doesn’t look at that loan, but just considers the other loans.
I don’t remember a case where a lender had made a serious offer (as opposed to a “£25 to just go away” offer) where the customer got less by going to FOS.
ash says
thank you what put me off going to the fos was the following line in there reply
I feel that it is important to note that although the interest has been removed from the account, this does not take away from our rights to escalate the account for further action in future should we feel that it is appropriate to do so.
this makes me feel that if I escalate the case that they would then try and make me payback the interest that they have removed
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well they want you to accept the offer and give up, don’t they… I’m saying you should see what you have been offered as the minimum amount you are likely to get from FOS.
An alternative would be to say you are happy to settle if they wipe the whole of your balance, otherwise you will be taking the case to FOS.
Beverley W says
What happens when the lender simply states that the loans are over 6 years old and you should have known that you have the right to complain? My claims have been rejected on that basis and now the company has gone bust.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Who was the lender? When did you make the complaint?
Beverley W says
Hi Sara
This was payday Uk and payday Express
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok, so they have a Scheme of Arrangement being voted on. If it is approved, you will be able to make a claim on it and I hope loans over 6 years will be included. But then you will only get a percentage of the refund back, not the whole amount.
Caroline says
Hi there, i was wondering if anyone has had any experience of putting in a lending complaint to Moneybarn? / car finance company.
I’m really considering it but want to see if i’d be wasting my time first.
I had an awful time with them, took car finance out with them in 2016
Value of car £5,092.75,
advance payment £162.75,
Credit £4,930.00,
interest and charges £4,610.53,
total to be paid to them £9,703.28.
45.4% apr per year
I fell behind on payments, they just got too much for me (How on earth do companies get away with charging that amount of interest, what chance have you got!), which resulted in having car reposesed and ccj against my name. Fast forward a few years and I still have an outstanding balance of about £7,000.00 to pay to them which i’m paying back about £80.00 a month. Has anyone been in a similar situation?
Thank you.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can make an affordability complaint if you feel Moneybarn did not check properly that you could afford the monthly repayments before giving you the loan. Use the template letter in the article above. In addition to the affordability complaint it also asks for a copy of all your personal information, which can give you useful information about what moneybarn knew about you when they gave you the loan.
But change the sentence that says:
I am asking you to refund the interest and any charges I paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from my credit record.
to read:
I am asking you to remove the interest and any charges I paid from the balance I owe, remove the default on my credit record and to set aside the CCJ. I will then make an arrangement to repay the remaining balance at an affordable amount.
There haven’t been many car finance affordability complaints yet.
BUT if you wil this you will still owe c. £2,200. What are the rest of your finances like? If you owe a lot of money elsewhere, then you may be better off looking at some form of insolvency rather than spend time and effort getting this debt reduced.
Ross says
Update on my Avant complaint, which seemed to be stuck somewhere along the way. Had an email, from the adjudicator picking up the case, this evening to say they will contact me, on Monday, to discuss the case. Hopefully get to see some movement on this one, either way. I did contact another adjudicator, who dealt with my MYJAR complaint, and he chased them up. If you have a contact, within the FOS, who has dealt with other complaints, it might be worthwhile just pinging them a polite email, asking if they can help. The MYJAR adjudicator has been a total star.
Calvin says
Hi all,
I referred my affordability complaint with Everyday Loans to the ombudsman in November 2018. I have contacted the FO several times (both call & email) to see if there’s an update on progress and keep getting told that it still hasn’t been assigned to an adjudicator and they’ll be in touch when it has. Is this a little unusual (10 months wait)? I have used the FO for payday loans complaints in the past and while I expect a little wait, 10 months seems excessive. Any help would be appreciated.
Rebecca Jones says
I am in the same boat as you, only I put my complaint about Everyday Loans in to the FOS in May 2018. I have called every week for the past 2 months only to be told that it is still waiting for an adjudicator to be assigned. They can’t give me any more information than that, except that apparently they have ‘changed the way these cases are handled’ whatever that means! All of my other complaints (and there were many) have been sorted and the payouts received (well, except for QQ – I was in the spreadsheet bunch and am just waiting for them to actually pay).
Fiona says
Just to update, after the adjudicator sent his assessment of my complaint a few days ago, Likely loans has agreed. They emailed to confirm the redress amount today! Said I should receive it within 10 working days.
Thanks to this website, I’ve had a lot of wins and only a few losses. Just Wonga and Wageday Adv left, but obviously not expecting anything much from those due to administration.
Thank you Sara!
JA says
Congrats Fiona, I really hope I get an adjudicator pick up my case soon. How much was your redress?
Fiona says
Was £487, nothing too life changing but a welcomed addition to my empty account
Sara (Debt Camel) says
there are plenty of people reading these comments who know exactly how welcome finding £487 in your bank account is!
Fiona says
Thank you Sara for all your advice and help.
I wouldn’t have known I could send such a complaint in the first place and my financial situation is now ten times better off because I found this amazing website/blog.
Chris says
Hi Sara
I made an affordability complaint to CarCashPoint who have, finally, and predictably rejected it. I am in a dilemma now. I listed my debts on the paperwork but, essentially, made up both the lenders and the amounts because I needed the loan. They took 3 months bank statements and 3 months payslips. They claim that they checked all the outgoings from my account against my payslips. In fact, they have not calculated the income correctly – they have overestimated my income by £250 a month.
They also claim to have seen that I was in a DMP and say that no payments have been missed on this plan. Yet, I have missed payments. My dilemma is that I have not been honest. However, the fact that they have got their figures wrong and that they could not have carried out a credit check makes me want to complain about them to the FCA not the FOS. I feel that I have partly contributed to my position with CCP so don’t think I should go through to the FOS.
If you could give your advice, I should be grateful. Thanks.
Andrew says
Good morning all,
I have just had my final response from likely loans and not upholding, I have just been in touch with the ombudsman yesterday and see what they think. I had a £2k Loan in April 17 then a top up in October 17 for £5k and stupidly another top up in September 18 for £5k. I know I shouldn’t of done this but when it’s in front of you after getting a text saying additional funds available, got the better of me, will keep you updated on progress.
I was in a DMP in the time leading up to the first loan and stupid but seeing this website has give me hope after receiving redress from leading stream from 2010,
MM says
Dear Sara
I complained to MONEYBOAT Loans in JUNE2019, for irresponsible lending :( they rejected in JULY- so i ref to FOS. Whom have thankfully upheld SEPT.
However I am desperately for two weeks now: tryn to SPEAK to someone in MBOAT who can give me updates/details about calculations/redress etc..but NO ONE can; I spoken to the ONLY dpt that answers calls (collections team) & they are useless! Inform me “nothing on computer system”! I have emails the complaints dpt many times & they phone line jus goes to “leave a voicemail”, that is clearly NOT monitored.
Very frustrated; as FOS are also not gttn a response.
Please help (advice/contact details not already tried)
Thank you !!
MM
PF says
Hey MM, i’m in the exact same position. My adjudicator advised me on the 2nd Sept that the business had agreed with his decision and the business would be in touch with redress offer. I have tried contacting Moneyboat several different ways, email, messaging through their website, phone but nothing so i have referred it back to my adjudicator who has promised to let me know tomorrow what is happening. I thought it was a bit strange that the details weren’t passed back through my adjudicator every other complaint i have had the details are communicated straight away. Let me know if you hear anything and of course i will let you know if my adjudicator has any news tomorrow. PF
MM says
Hi PF
Thanks for that; yep very frustrating & odd that FOS did not get this info in first place.
Yep I kp calling to chase it up.
Fingers crossed not tooo long! Jus annoyed that MBOAT don’t respond.
Wait & see.
All the best.
MM
PF says
Hey MM, as promised my adjudicator contacted me today and hey presto so did Moneyboat. The representative explained they had been short-staffed due to holiday and illness. They also sent my redress breakdown spot on to the penny and requested bank details. All this is now sent – fingers crossed money in the bank soon. Have you had any contact today?
MM says
That’s great for you.👍 so they pay immediately in accnt same day?
Enjoy.
I’ve still not heard anything:( will gv FOS a chase up.
Thanks for informing me
Hv a gd day
MM
MM says
Hi PF
Phew- jus received email for redress & askn for Bank details; it said may take up to five days… how soon after you got email askn for dtails you get payment? Same day? Or shall I call them? Jus nd asap (although not much bttr then was!)
Appreciated.
Regards
MM
Charl says
Congratulations on getting your “win”
Can I just ask,you went to the FOS in July? This year? And got a decision by September?
That’s really quick,my complaint,like many others has been in months and months and still no sign of being picked up by an adjudicator.
Thanks
Charl
MM says
Hi Charl
Yep guess no real order of how cases are dealt with FOS unfortunately. Some of my other ones took a year!
Waiting game.. see what comes bk: updates now ⏳⏳⏳
All the best
Al says
Has anyone had any luck or got any info on Everyday Loans? Do they take the full 8 weeks, and do they every uphold? I had a large loan, but don’t feel like they looked deeply enough into my records and didn’t take into account a lot of outgoings and knew I would have to reborrow in the future from other lenders. I’ve paid off more than I borrowed, but still have a huge amount to go to pay off the interest – I’d be happy with a write off but I’m not holding out much hope.
MelD says
I complained back in march, they took under a month to get back to me, said no to my complaint. Offered to write off £800 left on loan, but I had paid £5,000 odd in interest and only borrowed £2,000. Complaint was sent to the ombudsman in may I’m still waiting on it getting picked up by adjudicator but happy to wait as feel I have a good case. The interest on these loans should be illegal. Good luck.
kara says
Hi
i borrowed 250£ once from loans2go. I have repay 18 times 57.14£ which makes 1028.52£. this is 4 times bigger than the amount i borrow. I will be grateful for any advice of what to put in the complain?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“The worst loan in Britain” as I call it…
See https://debtcamel.co.uk/worst-loan-in-britain/ for more about this and how to complain.
John says
Dear sara. Just to let you know that I took your advice about complaining to Fos about the 13months waiting on an adjudicator for a 118118 complaint. A manager got back today to tell me the team dealing with 118 complaints is currently working on april/May 2018 complaints so judging by that I have at least another 4months before being assigned. He did say they are hoping shortly to get more staff.. Whilst I’m not happy about that sort of wait at least I know now. When I see on here people getting other high cost lenders adjudicated so quickly you have to wonder if 118118 are being treated unusually leniantly.
Louise says
Its 13 weeks today since I complained to 118 and still no final response. They’re ignoring all of my emails and can’t get through by phone.
Sent it to FOS 3 weeks ago but now not holding out much hope for an answer any time soon!
MM says
Hi Sara
I am very shocked/confused & nd to knw if Cash4u loan’s are legally allowed to do this:
Back in JULY 2019 I complained to FOS about C4u, which was rightfully upheld. As recommended by FOS my existing balance (£700) was REDUCED £300 to be paid small instalments which agreed by me & confirmed by C4U.
Unfortunately a payment of £12 that was due on 1st Sept 2019, was not made by me until 4th Sept. I heard nothing.. until today:
I got a letter from Legal Collections service today stating that because I missed arrangements (by few days!) outstanding balance back to ORIGINAL debt £700 (so they have disregarded FOS upholding complaint!)
Please advise: is this allowed!? Can I fight this with C4u/collections company?
So confused & angry!
Kindly help…anyone !!
Thank you
Louise says
I had similar. C4UNow upheld my complaint themselves. I made a payment arrangement with them to repay the remaining balance minus interest and was sticking to that arrangement.
A month later they sent me a default notice to say I had to pay the balance in full – with interest included.
I complained to them and said if they are revoking their final response, they need to make it clear as I will go to FOS.
They replied a few days later – apologised and said it was a mistake, the offer still stands and no default is being added.
Funnily enough, same thing happened to me with Western Circle too. These companies are so incompetent.
Make a complaint too, hopefully it will get sorted.
MM says
Oh- ok thanks for that defo will complain! So frustrating.
Thank u.
Regards
MM
Sara (Debt Camel) says
No they can’t do this. Challenge it and it should be sorted, if not, back to FOS!
But for a quiet life, can you not set up a standing order to make the payments in future?
Nesta says
Hi, I am on my 6th loan with 118 118, everytime i could top up i was taking that option up instantly.
The loan started at £2000 and is now at over £4500. I’ve always paid but always instantly topped up my loan but i am at the point now where i just can’t keep up.
I complained to them a while ago they are passed the 8 week date and asked for an extension as they said my complaint is complex.
Anyone with experience with 118 118 know what they are like to deal with? The repayment fees are taking up a 20% of my wage and along with other loans from Quid market, Likely loans and Avant i am drowning in debt.
Right now my monthly outgoing exceeds my wage due to all these loans.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Send the 118 complaint to the Ombudsman straight away. People have waited many weeks beyond the 8 only to get a rejection in what sounds like a good case so waiting is pointless.
Also put in complaints to Likely Loans, Avant and Quid Market. And any payday lenders you have used in the past.
But these complaints may take a very long while to resolve so you have to get your finances into a safe position while they go through. You can’t keep borrowing more. I suggest you phone StepChange and talk about a debt management plan see https://www.stepchange.org/contact-us.aspx.
Christine says
Hello,
I was wondering if anyone has made an irresponsible complaint against loans2go (logbook loan)? I had a loan out in 2014 for £2000 the car itself was only worth around £3000 (bought it in 2013 for £5500 10 REG and it had quite a few miles on the clock when I took the loan out). Anyway after a few months I needed to go back and top this up (had a lot of payday loans, and a very poor credit score) which I was able to do. As you can imagine this became a habit whenever I was short of money I would go and top up to the point the manager at the time remembered me and we had a bit of banter going on between us! She would never tell me that I was never allowed to have a top up. This carried on for most of 2014/2015 until the payments became to much for me to handle after missing a few payments, by the end of it with all the interest etc my loan which started out at £2000 then topped up a few times ended up at over £14000, in the end I voluntarily terminated the agreement and handed them my car. They took the car and sold it way below what it was worth and then told me that the remainder of the loan had been wrote off, this suggesting that they had realised their mistake and tried to make amends. My question is do you think I have a good case for irresponsible lending? Or should I just leave it as they did write off the remainder of the outstanding loan?
Jaz says
Hi Sara
I have just received my final response from Mobile Money mentioning, I am unable to accept that this loan was unaffordable to you and therefore do not uphold your complaint. I took a car loan off them on June 2014, for £500 pounds with a 18 months term I cleared them in 9 months as the intrest rate was so high, I had to lend from my mother to pay them off, but all altogether I payed them £1500 in intrest, and when i took the loan there even advised me to put my earnings high then I can be accepted, which i did as I was desperate, but there didn’t carry any checks, if there did, my credit report would of shown them my credit was poor, and also there never asked any bank statements. I have sent my case now to the FOS, I was wondering how can there make a final decision, when there did not carry out proper checks before there gave me the loan.
ClaireR says
I had 3 consecutive loans with 118118, which I complained about last year.
The result being that they wiped out the interest on the last loan, leaving a
balance of about £1300 to repay. I have been in a payment plan (£45.00)to pay this since
last november. I was getting daily email reminders of the account being in arrears
(as I was not making the contractural original payment, £202.00 p/m), I logged into my account
this morning to check the balance outstanding and the loan has completely disappeared
from the account. I have also just realised that I have not had a daily email since last thursday.
Wondering if they have sold the remaining debt onto a collection agency.
They have not informed me of this yet if they have.
Anyone else had anything similar with 118?
ClaireR says
There was a letter in the post when I got home last night,
118118 have sold the debt to Moorcroft.
A little bit annoying as will be paying this off when my Sunny refund comes
through, so would rather it hadn’t gone to a recovery company, as 118118 had removed it from my credit file.
Will it now show on my credit file again?
Nesta says
Hi,
This is a brief outline of my situation.
I have a loan of 2300 from Avant, 2000 from likely loans 1800 from Bamboo and over 3400 from 118 118 money (this has been in a spiral dating back to later 2016. It is around my 5th loan.
I also have a HP car and monthly insurance policy. All these show on my credit file. Yet somehow Avant, Bamboo and in 118 118 case have irrespnsibly continued to lend to me as they offer me top ups after 6 month installments. Right now my loan payments are more than my salary.
Likely loans leant me this money despite knowing from my file i had loans from avant, 118 118 and bamboo along with a loan from Quidmarket.
I also had maxed out credit cards, ironically one was from 118 118 too.
Do you think i have a case with these lenders?
Sarah Staine says
Just an update as I thought it might be of interest. I had an email from 118 Money two days later to say that my previous rejection was an error. They upheld my complaint on the top up loan I took out and 2 weeks later the refund was in my account!
Nesta says
118 118 have responded yesterday, they have said they will remove the interest on the last two loans. There is still a balance i owe after this.
I am not sure what to do as i feel atleast 2 more loans should have been included.
They have already accepted the last 2 loans issued to me they could have done more on and will remove from the credit file. The adjustment to my balance has been made.
Do i have anything to lose if i refer this to the FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I can’t see you can lose anything if they have already adjusted your balance. Worse case is that they change it back, but I think the Ombudsman would take a dim view of this! People never get a worse result by going to the ombudsman in this sort of situation.
Nesta says
The interesting line was, the complaint handler at 118 118 acknowledged that the last 2 loans they should not have issued to me and would be removed from my credit file.
I would be really shocked if after admitting this they reapplied the interest from them.
They said they do a welcome call after each loan but acknowledged i only got this once on my initial loan since the rest were all top up loans.
I will see what the FOS decide, as i think i should get interest back from some more, that would help null my current balance with 118 118.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I agree that 118 should NOT try to reapply interest here and I doubt they will. I was just saythe worst case isn’t bad.
“They said they do a welcome call after each loan but acknowledged i only got this once on my initial loan since the rest were all top up loans.” The Ombudsman isn’t likely to think that is a good approach! Every decision to lend more should be treated as a full reassessment of affordability.
Mrs Skint says
Hi there. Thanks for this great website! Just wanted to let you know I’ve had an affordability complaint upheld this week by Bamboo Loans. They have agreed they lent to my when my credit score was not good and I had lots of short term loans (with lending stream) on my credit report, and have refunded me about £1700 in interest and charges and also apologised for their over-zealous default notices and charges, which make an already stressful situation unbearable.
Lending Stream and HSBC have rejected my affordability complaints, which I have now escalated to the FOS….watch this space :-)
Nesta says
How long did Bamboo take before responding to you i am currently in week 6 and have had no response apart from the initial acknowledgement.
Mrs Skint says
Hi Nesta,
They sent me another holding email saying they were still looking into it at about 4 weeks and then I got the Final Response at about 6 weeks. They haven’t actually given me any money but but reduced my outstanding balance so I won’t have paid any interest or loan charges or their shocking monthly default charges.
Got my fingers crossed for you too!
J says
Was Bamboo a guarantor loan or personal? Thanks!
Mrs Skint says
Hi J. It was a personal one. Thanks.
Ross says
Disappointing news today, from my adjudicator working on my Avant Credit case. She has stated that, even though she appreciates my comments & concerns, that she can’t side with me. She states that even though I had a lot of other borrowing, including the default set by Natwest, that this is no barrier to a lender borrowing. Just going to let this one go, as I feel that should I send it to an ombudsman, that he’s just going to agree with her anyway. I’d rather not clog the system up, unnecessarily. This decision doesn’t bode well for my Likely Loans complaint either, I think.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How large were the AC and LL loans? How long before the AC loan was the default and did you also have payday loans?
Ross says
Hi Sara,
The AC loan was for £5000. The LL loan was £3000, and an additional top, which I couldn’t resist because of the gambling. The default fell of my file in 2018, which means it would have been there since 2012. The AC loan was taken in 2017,
Ross says
Oh and, yes, I did have PD loans from MYJAR, Cashfloat and Fernovo. Lots of others prior to this too, over a number of years, which were paid off.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Ok then that default is too old to be of much relevance.
But did you also have payday loans in 2017? Did you have credit cards you were only paying the minimum on? An overdraft?
Ross says
Yes, 6 credit cards (all close to their limit) making minimum payments and an overdraft of £5000 with Halifax. I used £3000 of the AC loan to reduce the overdraft down to £2000.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
So I think it’s worth taking this to an Ombudsman. Your argument is that this was a large loan for several years, it should have been obvious from the payday loans and high credit card and overdraft debt that you had debt problems and so AC should have considered carefully if you could afford their loan by verifying your income and expenses, when your bank statements would have shown your gambling problem.
Ross says
Thanks Sara,
I have already told the adjudicator that I now consider the case closed (I am currently dealing with a close family bereavement, and this is not helping), so this is why. Can I change my mind and ask them to send it to an Ombudsman?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t know but try now.
Ross says
I’ve just sent the adjudicator an email, so let’s see? Thanks for your feedback Sara, always appreciated.
Ross says
Hi Sara,
The adjudicator has just sent a further email. She is now looking in to my complaint again, based on the points that you made, and I have subsequently made, with reference to the credit cards, large overdraft and the historical dependency on payday loans. She says she will submit a second response today, so I will let you know what she says, but this sounds interesting as I expected it just to go in the queue for an ombudsman so, she seems to be taking some notice of the further points I have made.
Sophie Turner says
Hi Sara, Could I ask a quick question. I had a refund on the interest on my 118118money loan. £500 was paid to write off what was outstanding on the account and the remaining £615 was paid to me. On top they paid me 8% on the £615. I queried this as I thought the 8% would be due on the full amount including the £500? They replied saying that it is only payable on the amount paid to me – is this correct? I know its only £40 ish but it doesnt seem right to me. If they’re wrong is there some wording I can use to prove my point?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Sophie – I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment before.
Did you have more than 1 loan with 118 Money?
Ross says
The adjudicator, dealing with my AC complaint, has now handed me her second decision, after looking at my credit report. She states that as I maintained all of my other accounts well (part of which the payday loans funded, I am keen to add) and there’s no apparent negative info on it, she’s still unable to uphold. These where her main points;
Unfortunately I don’t see any adverse information that would consider you to be high risk for Avantcredit to lend to you. I’ve taken into consideration the following:
· You’d gone over your credit limit in the past around the time of your application.
· You were spending close to your credit limit on a few credit card accounts around the time.
· Your accounts were generally well maintained as I didn’t notice you were missing payments
Stumped on what to do now, as I feel the ombudsman will just back her up?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Just say you want it to go to the Ombudsman.
Bob says
Hi, my complaint was passed to the ombudsman as AvantCredit didn’t agree with the adjudicators decision. It’s been in the queue since last October and still hasn’t been picked up yet. Anyone know what the time scale is? Also do the ombudsman normally agree with the adjudicator?
Lew says
They are a total nightmare to deal with. Mine was due to be looked at then they “ realised “ it was in the wrong department so it’s going back in the que despite having the case file.
Total joke it’s looking like 2020
Sarah Staine says
Hi Sara, Could I ask a quick question. I had a refund on the interest on my 118118money loan. £500 was paid to write off what was outstanding on the account and the remaining £615 was paid to me. On top they paid me 8% on the £615. I queried this as I thought the 8% would be due on the full amount including the £500? They replied saying that it is only payable on the amount paid to me – is this correct? I know its only £40 ish but it doesnt seem right to me. If they’re wrong is there some wording I can use to prove my point?
Linda says
I set up a payment arrangement with Bamboo after complaining. As part of the complaint resolution they removed the interest from my loan and the remaining balance was included in my DMP. A month later I had a letter from them saying I’d defaulted on my payment arrangement advising me to get a solicitor etc etc. I hadn’t defaulted the payment was simply a couple of days getting to them from the DMP. I emailed and they said although I was in a payment plan I would continue to receive these letters. Is this right?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Most firms find it difficult to stop their systems sending you an annual Notice of Sums in Arrears letter. But you should not be getting monthly letters about this.