In November 2019, many people hoping for a payday loan refund from Sunny were watching for the third-quarter results from Elevate, Sunny’s US parent.
Would Elevate decide to close Sunny, so they wouldn’t get their refunds?
In late October QuickQuid had gone into administration after its American parent announced it was exiting the UK. That left Lending Stream, Myjar and Sunny as the largest payday lenders in Britain.
But on 4 November, Elevate’s results were fine. Elevate’s CEO said:
“In the UK, we continue to scale back growth due to the lack of regulatory clarity. In the interim, our business remains profitable and we see expanded, long-term potential”.
This future potential comes from “so little supply” and Sunny’s lower customer acquisition cost due to “diminished competition“. In other words, Sunny expects to be able to get more business and make higher profits with QuickQuid gone.
But why is Sunny unclear about UK regulation?
Background – payday loan regulation
Before April 2014, payday lenders were regulated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The OFT issued Irresponsible Lending Guidance which said that:
“all assessments of affordability should involve a consideration of the potential for the credit commitment to adversely impact on the borrower’s financial situation, taking account of information that the creditor is aware of at the time the credit is granted.”
a loan is able to be repaid “in a sustainable manner” if it can be repaid “without undue difficulty – in particular without incurring or increasing problem indebtedness“.
After the FCA became the regulator in 2014, its CONC rules on affordability took the same approach:
CONC 5.2A.12 The firm must consider the customer’s ability to make repayments under the agreement:
… (3) without the customer having to borrow to meet the repayments;
(4) without failing to make any other payment the customer has a contractual or statutory obligation to make; and
(5) without the repayments having a significant adverse impact on the customer’s financial situation.
What checks on affordablity have to be done?
The FCA doesn’t spell out exactly what checks a lender has to make that a loan is affordable. But it talks about:
how much information is sufficient for the purposes of the creditworthiness assessment, what information it is appropriate and proportionate to obtain and assess, and whether and how the accuracy of the information should be verified.
FOS has published several “Key Decisions” about payday lending affordability. These are decisions which FOS thinks contain points which will be applicable to other similar cases and they cover the regulations in detail.
Here is what the ombudsman decided in one case about when a lender should have to check in detail that a loan is affordable:
I think that a reasonable and proportionate check ought generally to have been more thorough:
- the lower a customer’s income (reflecting that it could be more difficult to repay a given loan amount from a lower level of income);
- the higher the amount due to be repaid (reflecting that it could be more difficult to meet a higher repayment from a particular level of income); and
- the greater the number and frequency of loans, and the longer the period of time during which a customer has been given loans (reflecting the risk that ongoing use of these loans may signal that the borrowing had become, or was becoming, unsustainable).
Similar words are commonly used in other FOS decisions about affordability complaints, not just for payday lending.
FOS’s emphasis on the number of loans and the length of time someone is borrowing from a lender was mirrored in the FCA’s letter to high cost lenders in March this year. This identified “a high volume of relending, which may be symptomatic of unsustainable lending patterns” as a key driver of consumer harm.
Typical FOS decisions on Sunny complaints
Sunny’s business model seems to involve giving small loans but a lot of them, often letting a borrower have several at once.
People who think their Sunny loans are unaffordable – they could only repay them by borrowing again – are making an affordability complaint and asking for a refund of the interest they paid. This is explained in detail in How to ask for a payday loan refund which has a free template letter you can use.
When FOS considers an affordability complaint about a lot of small payday loans, it looks at whether the loans were unaffordable for the borrower and when the lender should have realised that the borrower was becoming dependent on these loans.
So the typical FOS decision is usually to refund all loans after the first few. And this is exactly what FOS decisions on Sunny cases are showing.
Here are some comments left by Debt Camel readers over the last few months:
- Adjudicator has suggested that Sunny pay all interest on loans 6-14.
- Adjudicator rules in my favour for loans 5-42 with sunny. They have already agreed to pay me £2800 for loan 37-42.
- The adjudicator has upheld my complaint against sunny for loans 5-15.
- My adjudicator ruled in my favour … 54 loans out of 58.
- Adjudicator said sunny should refund loans 6-122. [That wasn’t a typo, I checked with the reader and she really did have 122 Sunny loans.]
- Adjudicator has come back today and said he thinks sunny should refund me for loans 3-26.
- Adjudicator recommends Sunny refund loans 5-35.
- Adjudicator has emailed me and has agreed loans 4-31 with Sunny should not have been lent.
- The adjudicator upheld my complaint with Sunny for loans 7-37.
- The adjudicator has said in the email that [Sunny’s offer to refund loan 46 to 53] was unfair and that Sunny should refund me from loan 5 to loan 53.
No-one has said that their FOS adjudicator agreed with Sunny that only the later loans in a long series should be refunded.
That looks pretty consistent to me!
Sunny isn’t learning from FOS decisions
The FCA’s DISP rules say that a lender should learn from FOS decisions and adopt that approach in how it responds to complaints. But there is no sign of Sunny doing this.
Here are some examples of poor offers or rejections from Sunny on cases that sound very strong:
- 49 loans with them over 3 years continuously, offered me 37-49 (£2,100).
- I had 30 loans from them between 2017-2019. As a goodwill gesture they’ve offered to write off my remaining balance of around £70.
- The complaint has been rejected. I thought I had a strong case I carried out 70 loans with no breaks in borrowing. Paying back a total of over 30,000.
And Sunny seems to be rejecting far more adjudicator decisions and forcing the case to go to an ombudsman than is reasonable.
So what isn’t clear?
What the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is saying and the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) decisions on Sunny complaints seem both clear and consistent.
I am not surprised that Sunny doesn’t like these decisions. But I think it’s hard to say they are unclear.
I am sure FOS and the FCA would be happy to have a meeting with Sunny to explain, once again, how FOS is deciding affordability complaints.
Sunny basically has three options. It can accept the FOS approach and apply it to future complaints. It can decide to go to court and ask for a judicial review. Or it can give up and go out of business.
To carry on making absurdly low offers or rejections to customers with a lot of loans is not an option.
UPDATE – comments on this page are now closed.
For the latest news on Sunny, read 500,000 Sunny customers owed refunds will get little or nothing and leave your comments there.
Kerry says
Hi there upon reading this sunny responded to me earlier this week and said that they were not upholding my complaint (I had 19 loans in 18 months) but as a good Will gesture they were wiping the £1000 that was remaining on my account. I didn’t respond but they have since done so and closed my account so can I still go to the ombudsman as they did not state if I go to the ombudsman they would not do this?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can go to the Ombudsman.
How bad is this offer? A few numbers will help you decide this:
Have you added up the interest you paid on all the loans that you have fully repaid?
The last unpaid loan(s) – how much did you borrow? how much have you paid to the loans so far?
Were there any big gaps in borrowing, or has it been pretty much every month?
Terry says
Hi all I have complained to sunny fell behind with them and got a 75% reduction and payed loan up but they will not uphold my complaint thanks terry
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How many previous loans had you had with them? This 75% reduction – that was on the outstanding balance? Did you accept that offer or did they just do it?
William says
I have recently been rejected for any refund on 64 loans totalling over 19k taken pretty much every month over a 4 year period. I’ve made claims against other companies and had full and partial refunds from them so I was surprised when Sunny reject all the loans. I’ve forwarded the case to the Financial Ombudsman but progress is slow, how long does a decision normally take? Hopefully they don’t go bust in the meantime like so many others. It seems like a delay tactic to make me give up.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I’m hoping things will now be moving quicker at FOS now all the Money Shop and QuickQuid cases have been removed.
That is a ridiculous amount of lending to have have a complaint rejected for. Have you tried leaving them a bad review on Trust Pilot? https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk.
It is so bad I think you could also tell the FCA. The FCA won’t investigate your complaint, that is FOS’s role, but as Sunny’s regulator you let them know of such a very bad decisions. It’s just a simple email to send:
email to consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to rmallinder@elevatecredit.co.uk and sgrice@elevatecredit.co.uk.
Subject: Elevate Credit (673771) trading as Sunny.
Give your Sunny reference number, your name and address.
Then give a couple of sentences summarising your borrowing, just what years and how many, how large the loans were. Say Sunny rejected your complaint and you think this is simply obstructive, hoping you will give up as they know perfectly well that the Ombudsman is likely to uphold the majority of your loans. Say you have sent the case to FOS but you thought as the regulator they should be aware of a firm’s very poor complaint handling.
William says
Thanks Sara, I’ll definitely give that a go and will let you know the outcome.
William says
Hi Sara,
FOS has asked for my credit report. I have signed up to credit karma for the report like you suggested but there doesn’t appear to be a way to download it so I can send it to them. Do you know what it is they want to see as I could screenshot certain things.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go onto Credit Karma website, go into your financial information, ctrl P to print, when the box comes up, change the destination from your printer and choose PDF.
PS general questions are best asked on the main payday loan refund page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/
Sarar R says
Hi, I have accepted a redress from Sunny and I have seen comments that from reviews that they are not been paid their redress. What are my options if they don’t pay me within the 30 days time line, can I still take them to the FOS?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Yes you can. But if it gets to the end of the 30 days (and most are paid in time!) first leave them a bad review on Trust Pilot which often kicks them into action.
David says
Hi How long does it normally take for a refund to reach the person’s account from when they make an offer! Thanks
Dan says
Hi Sara
New to this website and you all seem very helpful . Read some threads and your advice seems very down to earth and helpful. How do I get some advice. Just comment on a. Thread or is there a section?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
just comment on a relevant article.
Glen says
I’ve had loans with Sunny in the past no idea how many etc how do I find that out and how do I claim .
Sorry total novice.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Hi Glen, this article https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/ describes how to make a claim. It has a template letter to use to complain which also asks for a list of your loans. You don’t need to loan details before you make the complaint. Good luck!
Chris says
Hi all sunny have declined my claim I borrowed a total of 14500 starting from 2015 – jan 2019 paying a total of 22160 bk all loans payed bk on time I have escalated to fos via resolver just wandering what happens next ? Thanks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That sounds like a lot of loans – have you counted them up?
Were there any big “gaps” during this time when you didn’t have a Sunny loan at all, or was it pretty much every month?
Chris says
Hi yes it was a total of 20 loans
11.6.15. £700
20.11.2015 £850
13.3.2016 £550
30.4.16 £450
15.09.16 £600
16.09.16 £350
27.9.16 £900
19.10.16 £450
22.10.16 £450
18.11.16 £950
13.4.17 £600
20.517 £950
8.7.17 £600
08.01.18 £1300
08.02.18 £1200
07.06.18 £800
24.08.18 £1400
03.11.18 £300
07.03.19 £400
14.03.19 £600.
Also as embarrassing as it is may I add I had a bad gambling addiction at the time hence why sometimes I borrowed, won, paid the loan back, lost and borrowed again. Also sunny were the only lender who would borrow me at the time.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If Sunny had looked at those loans rather than just handing you the next one, they should have thought they looked odd and they needed to find out more about your situation, eg by asking for bank statements.
Nick merriman says
Never be embarrassed about your financial situation or gambling addiction . You’ are amongst friends on this forum and most certainly not the only one
Holly says
Absolutely!!
Darren says
Hi,
Also email sgrice@elevatecredit.co.uk, the MD, your amounts and timescales sound similar to mine, I escalated to ombudsman, but the complaints manager resolved after I emailed the MD (he forwarded to the complaints manager.
Chris says
They never asked for a bank statement I was surprised as other payday lenders at the beginning wouldn’t give me a loan apart from Sunny. Do I just wait for the fos to get intouch or do you think it’s worth emailing elevate and if so how would I word it thanks chris
Darren says
Hi Chris, My email I sent to Elevate was too long to post, but the below is the crux of it, I would email them as all they can do is decline and then you continue with the ombudsman route.
——
So I have managed to get Scott Greevers email address, which advised to email Steve Grice, Which I am now doing, whilst also adding in BBC watchdog, as this is something I believe is extremely bad service, not to mention how absurd it is declining an affordability complaint is, after having 87 loans (most to pay Sunny with a loan from Sunny), over a 4 year period, 32 of which were in the last 12 months.
Chris says
Cheers mate I have emailed elevate like you say they can only decline did you get a response off them an if so how long did it take them to reply thanks
Darren says
Yeah I got a reply from them within 7 days.
I just looked and my email was 24/10, their complaints manager replied to me on the 28/10 with an offer of full refund, plus the 8%, I replied that same day to accept and the money was in my account the following day, I think I posted on another response it took 7 days, but it turns out when I looked back, it only took 5 days to get the money.
It was one of those moments where I thought “this is too good to be real”, but it was and I am slightly impressed (not that I would tell Sunny that).
Chris says
Wow that’s great hopefully get a response as you did seen as our cases are similar fingers crossed.( I won’t hold my breath though) thanks again for the advice.
Myles says
I also emailed the director like Darren and receive a response from the complaints manager he didn’t do anything and obviously didn’t look at my complaint or email. I’ve responded again and cc’d back in the director so I’ll let you all know if I receive a response.
Myles says
Hi Darren,
Did you just copy watchdog@bbc.co.uk into your thread? Do you think this made the difference as I also email Steve Grice and just received a stock answer from him.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The first time someone senior gets one of these emails, he probably tells someone to sort it. After that if they keep coming, they are just going to tell their secretary to send them on the complaints department.
That’s why I suggest senior people are cc’d on emails to the FCA, but not generally.
Darren says
Yeah I did CC watchdog, it may be why they took it more seriously, or like Sara said, it may be because I was the first one to email him.
I have done the same with 2 other companies, although the MD’s whilst apologetic, have passed the details onto the complaints team and said in the email they will get back to me with a final response within 10 days, instead of 8 weeks and if they don’t, or if I believe the response to be unsatisfactory, to email him again and he will get the complaints manager to look at the information. Both said similar things like that.
Myles says
Thanks, I figured it was worth a shot anyway so I’ll see what happens.
Paul says
Hi Sara, would it not be better to have a number of loans cap in CONC? There are already caps on daily rate, total cost etc. The cap can be no more than 3 loans in 90 days / 6 months / 1 year / etc and that would give everyone perfect clarity on where they stand. Not just Sunny but also their customers. Currently everything rests on an assessment being proportionate so you can argue that Sunny can reject a complaint about 122 loans that you mentioned above, esp as FOS would say that each case is looked at on its own merit. Why not have a cap if just the number of loans makes it an open and shut case? From a customer point of view it also feels completely counter intuitive. You give me a loan, I repay it, I at the very least then expect to be approved again for the same amount without having to jump through more hoops than I did for my first loan. To be honest the more I’ve used the service, the easier I would expect to be able to access it again next time. I’ve had a credit card for years and would never expect them to tell me that I need to justify myself to them if I want to keep using it next year (unless I ask them for a higher credit limit or a lower interest rate, then I accept they have grounds to quiz me) but that’s what it seems like we are asking loan lenders to do. If we believe that loan credit is fundamentally different to credit card credit, then let’s have a cap on the number of loans, no? Customers would know that they can access the service X times a year and lenders will have the clarity they need to know if X times a year is a viable business model or not. Thank you for your insights!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Obviously I can’t speak for the FCA.
I don’t think a limit on the number of loans that someone could get from one lender would be sufficient on its own. At the moment FOS may well say loan number 3 should be refunded if there were three loans in 3 months of 300, 600 and 900. Or loans number 2 if it went 200, 800. And I’m not sure it is worth the complexity if it is brought in as an addition to all the current provisions.
Would this just be for 1 months loan – many payday loans are actually longer term these days. If you say it’s for loans of up to three months, then the market will switch to providng 4 month loans to avoid this new cap.
Paul says
I agree that a limit on its own without any checks doesn’t make sense. I also agree that FOS can go either way on 2 or 3 loans. What I am trying to understand is can FOS ever go with a lender on 122 loans? Or 64 or 26 etc..?
If we are saying that FOS can side with a lender on 122 loans then it’s difficult to hold it against Sunny and say that it’s unreasonable of them to reject such cases. If we are saying that FOS can never side with a lender on 122 loans then I think we are not being honest and we should admit that there is a cap and let lenders build a business below that cap or leave the market. This is why it doesn’t strike me as unreasonable that Sunny are asking for clarity, no?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
But writing a “maximum number” into stone makes little sense. 10 may be OK if they were less than £100 each. 10 would be a lot too much if they were £800 each. Add in the duration of the loans.
Sunny are not being at all reasonable.
If they were routinely offering to refund after loan 8, that would make sense. But instead they never seem to refund at all if someone has been borrowing for less than a year, even if they have had 40+ loans in that time. And they reject clearly very strong cases such as William’s, who mentioned his 64 loans over 4 years in the comments on this page yesterday.
Instead they are blaming regulatory uncertainty as a fig leaf for not making reasonable decisions. Some customers, especially if they are vulnerable, given a very poor offer or a rejection will simply give up. That is not a responsible way to handle complaints.
Paul says
Could it then not be a function of loan count, size and duration because that ultimately drives the £ amount that the customer paid in interest? 10 £80 loans for 30 days would cost a total of £192 in interest at 0.8% a day which is exactly the same as what 10 £800 loans would cost for 3 days. Given the customer is charged the same amount, could they ever both be OK or will £800 borrowing always be too much?
To have 40+ loans in less than a year means they must have had very short duration to have been repaid within that time. If they were short duration and low value, the £ cost paid would be low so would that always be a problem because of the 40+ loan count or could it ever be OK? 40 £200 loans for 5 days over the course of a year would cost £320 and less than what 2 £200 6 month loans would cost over the same 12 months.
I am not defending any of Sunny’s decisions. They can stay in the UK or their parent can shut them down but my feeling is that their customers would be better off if Sunny were given a clear set of rules within which they can operate going forward and I don’t think they are being unreasonable by asking for this clarity. If Sunny goes the same way as Wageday and QuickQuid it would affect most the people who will again get pence in the £ when they could get a full refund if Sunny is given the clarity on rules that it seeks.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I don’t believe Sunny is genuinely unclear. If it is, then it needs to ask for another meeting with FOS and the FCA.
But clarity isn’t what it wants. It is hoping for a change in policy so the refund amounts are lower.
Could it then not be a function of loan count, size and duration because that ultimately drives the £ amount that the customer paid in interest?
Yes! And that is exactly what the Ombudsman looks at… See the quote in the article above which says:
I think that a reasonable and proportionate check ought generally to have been more thorough:
– the lower a customer’s income (reflecting that it could be more difficult to repay a given loan amount from a lower level of income);
– the higher the amount due to be repaid (reflecting that it could be more difficult to meet a higher repayment from a particular level of income); and
– the greater the number and frequency of loans, and the longer the period of time during which a customer has been given loans (reflecting the risk that ongoing use of these loans may signal that the borrowing had become, or was becoming, unsustainable).
So you have arrived at the same decision the ombudsman has made about when a lender should make extra checks. (Well FOS also looks at the customer’s income, which is sensible.) But this doesn’t translate neatly into a “maximum number of loans”.
Jordan says
2 years ago Sunny upheld my complaint and agreed to remove the default from my credit file. 2 years later and I’m still fighting to have the default removed. The FO have told them to remove it but they just ignore everything the FO or myself say.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
is this a decision from an adjudicator or an Ombudsman?
Jordan says
It was an Adjudicator. I’m not sure what to do now. Sunny are by far the worst Payday company I’ve ever dealt with and that’s saying something. I’m sure in one years time Sunny will be history like Wonga, QQ etc
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Go back to your adjudicator and say you want an Ombudsman decision – this will be legally binding.
Jordan says
Ok, thank you Sara.
Anon says
I work for a CMC in this area that I wont name. Just 24% of settlements against Sunny occur without referral to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Financial Ombudsman decisions for this lender average circa £400 more on average than Sunny offer. Precisely how is this effective claims handling? With those stats, the FCA should be investigating. The stories on here are all too familiar. Just today Sunny has offered to refund 1 loan out of 40.
Andy S says
I had payday loans with QQ and Sunny I made complaints after I found this site, ended up escalated to FOS. My FOS complaint was submitted late April by late July, I had acknowledgement of the complaint being received but I was in a holding que. As this at the 90 day stage they should have worked on it I sent an email to my MP.
But, In my email I highlighted the following 2 (true) facts.
That I was presently renting and required funds to purchase my first property, and that delaying this meant I was paying rent rather than securing an asset subject to TC’s etc of a mortgage for my long term benefit and stability.
Secondly, that I would also be using the funds to pay off credit cards, the balance of which arose as I had essentialy switched my payday loans to credit cards. Interest was far less and I could manage the repayments without the debt with associated interest. It was the only way I could get out from under the payday loan trap.
As further delay meant a financial loss, my MP forwarded this to Ombudsman which got them assigned and then resolved.
Anytime I heard of a delay I replied politely asking if it could be escalated with my MP cc in.
If the delay with FOS means your paying interest on a line of credit you intend to clear then before Sunny pull the plug as there wording sounds like QQ did…
I would suggest mailing your MP, I got my complaints resolved and compensation received. QQ was 2 days before they went under.
Anon says
I am a CMC worker. I posted last week on the poor direct uphold rate Sunny has. It forces legitimate claims to the FOS. In recent weeks, we have seen a new trend where Sunny is rejecting virtually all adjudicator decisions, offering circa 50% of the adjudicator’s decision. Such a systematic tactic is a gross misuse of FOS resources. It would be interesting to know whether direct complainants are seeing a similar tactic.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
A few readers have reported similar:
https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-162/#comment-323992
https://debtcamel.co.uk/financial-ombudsman-what-happens/comment-page-1/#comment-321975
https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-159/#comment-320425
Also a couple of reports of Sunny calculations being just wrong eg:
https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/comment-page-158/#comment-318194
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Can you get your clients to leave Sunny a bad review on Trust Pilot?
Anon says
Hi Sara – yes that’s a good idea – we will certainly do this. We are also escalating this to the FOS Management Team who are pretty proactive where lender trends are detected. Clearly lenders have a right to defend their position, but this seems very arbitrary / pre-determined. I suspect they are playing on consumer nervousness about lender stability.
Donna says
I have just had my complaint to sunny rejected as they have said it was affordable to me as I never made any late payments. I only have about 15 loans in total that are showing on my account but all over the space of about 18 months without much gap and fairly large loans. They were the only ones that would lend to me at the time. I’ve worked out that I’ve paid about £2500 in interest in total. I’ve sent this to the FOS but is there anyone else that its worth sending it to? Like ive seen people saying they have emailed the MD – is it worth me doing that?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
probably not. You could leave them a bad review on Trust Pilot though https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk
Donna says
Thanks Sara – have done that now. Might not seem like a lot but I also have a case against Wonga for similar time period. They also owe me over £2800 but I know I’ll be lucky to see anywhere near that. Should find out by the end of this month anyway.
Nikki says
Yes, FOS upheld my complaint and instructed Sunny to refund interest etc for loans 6-14. They have refused and offered refund for loan 14 only. Have now referred to ombusman and emailed Elevate Directors, FCA etc.
JR says
I had 44 loans with Sunny, 36 consistently every month, but they have replied saying they will only uphold from loans 32 onwards for my redress. I have replied saying this is not acceptable as I believe they are giving me a low offer. Where do I go from here as they have stopped replying to emails and any communication I send to them. My reply from them did not state it was their final offer and I have replied on several occasions but they are ignoring all correspondence?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did your reply say you had the right to go to the Finacial Ombudsman?
Has it been 8 weeks since you complained?
JR says
Yes my Reply stated I could go to the FOS and over 8 weeks since I complained. I started a case with the FOS via web page but then Sunny replied the day after saying they will look into my case again and reply this week! I left a review on Trust Pilot and the same day they sent me an email after chasing up for days. I will have to wait and see if they change there mind on only upholding loans 32 onwards or if I am in for the long haul with FOS. I will keep you updated but at least I have a reply and hopefully they do reply this week but not holding my breath.
Lauren says
I had a payday loan from sunny and was in a lot of difficulty and had numerous loans at the time.
Sunny said they wouldn’t uphold my complaint and was sent to the debt company with a default. But on my credit file I have no loan from sunny just the default lodge by the debt company is this correct.
I’m with the ombudsman at the moment still awaiting the replies for quickquid, sunny and 118.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Have you checked your credit records with all three credit reference agencies? See https://debtcamel.co.uk/best-way-to-check-credit-score/
Lauren says
Hello
Yes I have check and the default is now from the debt company.
I had an email back from sunny today saying they don’t have the original default notice so can’t be sent. Do I get this from the debt collection? They also first said they defaulted my account 6 days prior to the loan being taking out and when I stated the dates they just apologised for saying the wrong dates. This must work in my favour if they can’t even get the dates of my loan correct,
I’m not sure who I chase for the original paperwork sunny or the debt collectors
Amy Brawley says
Good evening, I put in a complaint to sunny which was rejected. An adjudicator picked up my case and said that loans 6-20 shouldn’t have Been given. Sunny then rejected this and said they would uphold loans 9-20, very tactical considering loans 7 and 8 had the highest interest. I didn’t agree and the adjudicator informed them I would be prepared to accept redress from loans 7 onwards, sunny agreed to this. That was a week ago and I have heard nothing since. Is there a timeframe in which sunny have to refund? I have emailed elevate credit with no response. Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
It should 28 days from agreement.
Tan says
Just wanted to give a quick update as not done for ages. But it is also a potential answer to your question.
Sunny took 30 days to pay me. Nearly £4,800 back from them. Please do keep chasing them though. I had to email and call them 4/5 times.
And ask the customer service to pass on the messages to the complaint team as there was no direct number for the complaints team, so I am told.
The above redress they paid me was for only about 60% of my loans and they still owe me some further refunds for other loans and these are currently with FOS.
Sunny is one of the few companies who do allow you accept the partial redress of some loans and if you want to escalate the remaining loans to FOS, you can do so.
I hope you get your payment soon.
Tan
John Stockwell says
I have a complaints with sunny .my story is out of 42 loans they offered to refund one .I rejected at 8weeks .in june last year I send to fos .in june this year an adjudicator ruled loans 5 onwards were unaffordable .Sunny disagreed .I made a counter offer of refunding loans ten onwards sacing them £500 plus interest .They disagreed and apparently offered loans 25 onwards but obviously as the terms of my offer was not negotiable the adjudicator rejected their offer .so in July it was sent onwards for final ombudsmen decision .I cant believe they are allowed to act in this way .Its totally disrespectful of the whole system .How are they allowed to behave like this
Leigh says
Dear Sara,
I’d appreciate your advice. I made a complaint to Sunny. After 8 weeks they rejected my complaint. I sent to the Ombudsman. They agreed with my complaint. Via them, Sunny have agreed to settle for ~£600. Approximately one third of the loans. I estimate they owe me closer to £3000. Since it’s via the Ombudsman are sunny likely to increase their offer if I refuse the lower amount?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you refuse their offer – which sounds very poor – it will go to an ombudsman for a final decision. It isn’t clear how long that will take – probably 2-3 months. Normally the Ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator.
I don’t know if Sunny is likely to increase their offer. To try to increase the chance of this, I suggest you do 2 things:
1) leave them a bad review on Trust Pilot? https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk.
2) ell the FCA that you don’t think Sunny should behave like this, in rejecting a FOS decision for a long period of lending and making you a much lower offer. The FCA won’t investigate your complaint, but it may help this get stopped for other people. And if you copy a few Sunny people in on the FCA email that could kick them into action on your case…
It’s just a simple email to send:
email to consumer.queries@fca.org.uk and copy this to rmallinder@elevatecredit.co.uk and sgrice@elevatecredit.co.uk and Pbaldry@elevatecredit.co.uk
Subject: Poor complaint handling by Elevate Credit (673771) trading as Sunny.
Give your Sunny reference number, your name and address. And your FOS reference number.
Then give a couple of sentences summarising your borrowing, just what years and how many, how large the loans were. Say Sunny rejected your complaint, the adjudicator said you should be refunded for loans 5-30 (put in real figures) but Sunny have only offered a much lower refund on loans 22-30 (real figures). Say you think they are behaving unreasonably as they know the ombudsman is very likely to agree with the adjudicator offer and they are just trying to take advantage of vulnerable customers who may be so desperate for the money they are forced to accept a lower redress than they should have had.
leigh says
Done! thanks for your help Sara. If the Ombudsman agree with the original offer – will Sunny be forced to pay up?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
yes, an ombudsman decision is legally binding. There is a risk that they will go bust before you get paid. I can’t say how large that is – with other payday lenders dropping out, the remaining business is actually more profitable for those lenders that remain.
Sarah says
Well it’s been 30 days since I accepted almost £4000 from Sunny as redress. They haven’t paid. It all feels very familiar, I got stung when QQ went bust and wasn’t paid my redress.
So far I’ve emailed repeatedly, left a review, called. Nothing . What do I do now??
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Was the refund directly from Sunny or via the Ombudsman?
Tan says
I ve kept an eye on the news but also checked Sunny’s quarterly figures and it shows they are doing quite well so I don’t seem them going out of business anytime soon. Especially due to QQ’’s demise they have more of the market. That’s what I tell myself anyway.
I am also awaiting for further money from them on some older loans. Early 2015 ones. As they wouldn’t pay these and I had to go to FOS. Adjucator proposed from 7th to 17th loan needs to be refunded back to me. (They paid out on 18th to 41 loans already). They responded by saying they will do 12-17. I have rejected this and currently awaiting to hear from FOS/ Sunny.
I know it’s really painful, they literally paid me on the 30th day but I had to email and call several times. But hang in there, there might be some slight delay due to Christmas holidays and with bank holiday coming up. I would recommend chasing again on 2nd Jan. don’t let up, keep calling them.
Jack says
How much interest had you paid in order for that redress Sarah? I calculated my interest to be over £5,000 and that was 4 years of constantly taking out loans no gaps rarely, yet to hear back from them and i email the MD’s email i found on here.
Eilidh says
Hello. Have you had your redress paid yet? I’m also waiting on one , day 27 now
Debbie says
Can I ask please how long did it take for payment to come through when agreed with sunny direct
Neville says
Hi,
Sad to say, I’m not shocked at the replies here as I’m in a similar situation myself with Elevate Credit. I complained last year which was not upheld, escalated to ombudsman and the ombudsman agreed with me.
Sunny then disagreed with the ombudsman’s decision (shocker), which was sent for a final decision by an ombudsman. I have not heard anything else from the ombudsman since September last year and wondered if there’s any other way of getting an update (as no response to my emails since then).
Has anyone had any luck emailing the MD @ elevate when the case is already in the hands of the Ombudsman?
Nikki says
Hi Neville, I’ve had to refer my complaint on to the Ombudsman as Sunny disagreed with the FOS adjudicator decision. Whrn I did so I copied in all the Elevate directors who simply sent it on to Paul Balfry who I asdume is the complaint manager, who sent me a stock reply. So you’re not likely to get any response but I’d still mail all the directors, sgreever, sgrice, rmallinder, and ncrump. (All @elevatecredit.co.uk) It will at least annoy the hell out of them. I also copied in the FCA Regulator (consumer.queries@fca.org.uk) who are monitoring payday lenders. I also copied in watchdog@bbc.co.uk and panaroma.reply@bbc.co.uk and posted a review on UK Trust pilot. The more people that do this, the more likely Sunny/Elevate will have to rethink their approach.
J says
Hi Sara – The FO contacted me today with an offer from Sunny. They originally declined completely, continued to do so after the Adjudicator ruled in my favour and my complaint has sat in the Ombudsman queue for the last 3 months or so. They have offered about £300 against the Adjudicator finding of around £800. Not a great offer but the FO advises that an Ombudsman decision is not likely for 12-18 months which tipped the balance. I accepted and Sunny advise settlement within 30 days after I confirmed bank details.
I think the timescale there is really telling, 12-18 months for an Ombudsman decision is a very, very long wait and I wanted to share that so that others can make an informed decision if they receive an offer.
Good luck to all awaiting news, offers and favourable settlements
Emma says
Thanks J, this is really useful. I’ve been waiting months already for an Ombudsman decision and have received another offer from Sunny/Elevate this week. It is roughly £900 short from the FO decision but I am concerned that Sunny will go bust and I’d end up with nothing. I have previously tried to get an idea of time from the FO with no luck, so this is very helpful.
j says
I should add that after I accepted (via the FO) Sunny paid up within 14 days direct to my account. Like you I was concerned about the possibility of them going into administration. Even though it was significantly less I am glad I accepted and finished all of this.
Whatever you decide to do Emma good luck. J
Craig says
Hi there I emailed sunny with the affordability template, today they emailed back basically giving me the option to view my borrowings in a very long winded but vague email, is this their way of rejecting my claim? I’ve borrowed over 8,000 with them
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Did your complaint ask for a list of your loans? If it did, then this is probably the reply to that bit. Unless it says they are rejecting your claim? Or telling you you have the right to go to the Financial Ombudsman?
Craig says
Didn’t ask for a list or copy of my loans. This was the end part of the email
We hope that this explanation has provided you with some clarity and that our response to your Data Subject Access request is satisfied.
If you are dissatisfied with this response, please let us know so that we can address any concerns. You may also complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. Information on how to do this is available
stuart says
I applied via [claims company] and they offered me £2800, will get about £1700 back after paying their fees. Seems a lot lost but to be fair they did all the legwork.
fingers crossed they dont go bust before they pay out ..
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What legwork, they sent the same email you could have sent yourself… but fingers crossed you get your payout soon.
stuart says
mainly just writing the letter really I suppose but taking it to the ombudsman if necessary
all I did was fill out a form, 2 mins work, 2 months later they give me money. working full time I don’t have the chance to do all the chasing and stressing and admin back and forth
JV says
Hi, when you first put in your claim/ complaint with sunny.. how long did you find it took them to reply. I got my first email saying they were looking into my claim.. and have heard nothing since, this was nearly 3 weeks ago. Thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
you normally won’t hear anything until the 8th week with Sunny or any payday lender.
Rhiannon says
Hi Sara,
After finding this website back in early 2018, I complained to my payday lenders and started the process asking for refunds.
Sunny was (suprisingly) the first ones to respond and I accepted their offer.
I have just been informed by my new landlord that I have a CCJ that is ‘not satisfied’ on my credit report. It came as a shock to me.
I remember recieving a CCJ when I first started complaining to lenders. I thought this would be at least ‘satisifed’ on my credit report if not removed completley.
Can you give any advise on what I can do next please?
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Does this CCJ relate to a Sunny debt?
William says
Hi Sara,
I posted comments on this thread before about being rejected for a refund on 64 loans from Sunny borrowing over 19k, the case has been sent to the ombudsman. However I had not received any information about how the process was going after I had sent all my information to them 3 months ago. I recently email to FOS to ask about this and they have responded saying they are still awaiting a reply from Sunny with case information they had requested.
As I said in my previous comment I believed they had rejected my complaint as a delay tactic hoping I would drop the case and this goes further to confirm this. Surely Sunny cannot just ignore information requests from the ombudsman? and why haven’t the ombudsman been chasing the information up, I’d have thought there would be some sort of time limit?
This feels to me as if the end is coming for Sunny and they will go bust soon. This will leave me with no claim just like the wonga victims.
Jenny says
Hi – silly question, but just checking I’m not going mad!
Had a response from Sunny offering to partially uphold my complaint. I had 6 loans with them and they have offered to refund the interest (plus 8% statutory) on loan 3 onwards, plus wipe them from my credit file.
Now, I’m quite happy to accept in principle – as I suspect the FOS would throw out the first 2 loans as well, plus I would rather get some redress now than risk losing it if I have to wait months and Sunny go under in the meantime.
However – am I correct in thinking ‘loan 3 onwards’ means loans 3-6 inclusive?
Sunny are offering to refund a figure of £433.47 plus the 8%, making £571.81 total refund.
I did the sums, and this corresponds exactly to the interest paid on loans 4, 5 and 6 – but NOT including loan 3.
I paid £326.29 interest on loan 3, which I would think means I’m owed £433.47 PLUS £326.29 = £759.76 interest paid on loans 3-6 (plus the 8% statutory, of course).
Or, when they say ‘loan 3 onwards’, do they really mean ‘all loans AFTER loan3’ ?
I’ve replied to them querying this, but interested to know how this wording is normally interpreted!
Jennifer Williams says
Hi everyone – just an update on this, and some advice to CHECK the figures on any offer you get from Sunny.
As I stated previously, they initially offered to uphold my claim for loans 3-6, but when I worked the interest out their offer of £433.47 plus interest= £571.81 only covered the interest paid on loans 4-6.
Loan 3 was missing from the calculation, and funnily enough that was the biggest loan…
Anyway, I went back to them and 2 weeks later they’ve replied to say that they are now refunding me £759.76 plus interest= £1022.71 – quite a difference from £571.81 !
So always check the numbers, don’t just believe what they tell you in the offer letter, and stick to your guns.
Thanks again Sara, for all the support – I’m still waiting on a few lenders but this was the main one I thought I would get something back from so it’s a relief that I will (just got to wait patiently for payment now!).
Betty says
I’ve taken out some sunny loans last year and this year and the daily interest has been from 0.36% to 0.70%. I thought there was a cap at 0.8% daily interest. I did query this with them but they have dismissed it , yet they advertise a 0.8% cap themselves on their website.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
if you have been charge interest between .36% and .7% then that is always less than the 0.8% cap.
BUT the more effective way to make a complaint about these expensive loans is to argue that the loans were unaffordable for you. read the article above and if you think these sunny loans were unaffordable – they left you so short of money you had to borrow again – sned in a complaint using the template letter.
Betty says
I got this back from the FCA about it , just yesterday :
What I’ll do with this information
We take information provided by consumers seriously and I’ve logged this information against the firm so that the wider FCA organisation is aware of your experience with them. Hearing about consumers’ experiences is a valuable source of information for us and we welcome receiving your feedback.
We’ll be unable to provide any response on what may happen because of receiving this information. I appreciate this may be frustrating, however, I assure you these details have been logged in our system and I’d like to let you know we’re grateful that you’ve taken the time to raise your concerns with us.
In closing
I hope the information I’ve provided will be useful and enable you to escalate your complaint against Sunny.
Your opinion matters
So that we can better understand the service we provide to consumers, I’d appreciate it if you would take a moment to complete a brief survey that will follow in a separate email. Thank you in advance for your feedback.
Amy says
Hi,
Ive jus had an email off sunny saying they have not upheld my complaint. I only had 5 loans with then between £100 & £200 each is it worth taking to the ombudsman or not? Thanks x
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were the loans continuous, no breaks between them?
Amy says
Yes each month i took another out.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
OK, then if you know the loans caused you problems -that you had to take the next one as the previous one left you so short of money – then this is worth taking to FOS.
You may only get a refund for the last loan or two, but that’s a good result for you and even small amounts of money back can really help you. There is a lot of chat on here about people getting huge refunds, but it’s better to get a small refund after a few months than go through the agony of payday loans for years and get a big refund!
do you still owe Sunny any money?
Amy says
No i don’t owe them any money there all paid off! Fab thanks so much for your help!
Chris says
Today Sunny rejected my adjudicator decision and made a counter offer – adjudicator had said refund loans 4-37, Sunny offered to refund loans 21-37. I have asked to go to an Ombudsman for a final decision, but per above, this could take months.
Have people had success by badgering Sunny directly about their massively different take to an adjudicator’s decision?
Would obviously like to get this put to bed asap, but also think their view is so far off the adjudicator that it is worth an Ombudsman decision (but that will take ages!).
I have had other lenders pay out based on adjudicator decision, so have some faith the adjudicator is right.
Thanks!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
First, Sunny’s US parent put out its quarterly earning figures last night and although there were some grumbles about complaints (https://seekingalpha.com/article/4322986-elevate-credit-inc-elvt-ceo-jason-harvison-on-q4-2019-results-earnings-call-transcript?page=8), these were about not about the cost of paying refund but the shape of their business going forward. Quote “This is not a situation where rising complaint expenses are impeding our ability to generate a profit, but rather our ability to come to an agreement with our regulator related to both new and existing customer affordability assessments in underwriting. In other words, which new customers can we acquire? And how often can we lend to existing customers?” And they seem to be expecting these discussions will take quite a while.
So it doesn’t sound from that as though there is much danger of Sunny going under like QQ and Wonga anytime soon.
One option would be for you to go back to sunny and say don’t agree with their offer but in the interest of a speedy settlement you are prepared to compromise halfway and accept a refund for loans 12-37. I don’t know how likely this would be to work. Or if you feel it would be fair.
Another thing you could try is to email the FCA, Sunny’s regulator, and say how you feel Sunny is not complying with the FCA’s DISP rule. The FCA will not investigate your case directly but Sunny won’t like it if people report them to the FCA…
If you want to do this, it’s just a simple email to send to consumer.queries@fca.org.uk.
cc the email to rmallinder@elevatecredit.co.uk, sgrice@elevatecredit.co.uk, Pbaldry@elevatecredit.co.uk
also copy it into your FOS adjuducator.
Subject: Elevate Credit (673771) trading as Sunny not complying with DISP rules
Give your Sunny reference number, your name and address. And your FOS reference number.
Then give a couple of sentences summarising your borrowing, just what years and how many, how large the loans were, Sunny’s original offer (or rejection?) and then the FOS adjudicator decision.
Say Sunny have come back to you and offered to refund a lot fewer loans – give the numbers.
Say that you see from forums that Sunny have made similar low offers to other people when a FOS adjudicator has awarded a lot more. And that this is not righty because Sunny are aware from a lot of previous complaints what a typical Ombudsman decision looks like so they should accept adjudicator decisions in line with the standard FOS decisions as the DISP rules say.
Add that you think they are taking advantage of vulnerable customers who may be forced to accept a low offer as they are in urgent need of the money and this is not treating customers fairly.
Also you could start leaving them bad reviews on trust pilot. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunny.co.uk How about 1 bad review a day for each of the loans that Sunny have not agreed to refund?
Chris says
Thanks Sara, that’s really helpful. Will give some thought to my next move as FOS can’t say how long ombudsman decision will take other than “we are talking months”.
Dave Timlin says
Hi,
I had 25 loans with sunny over 2 years paying nearly £2000 in interest. The FOS adjudicator found in my favour from loan 6-25 (approx £1500 interest). Sunny came back with a laughable offer of £235 for loans 13-25. Clearly I declined this offer and the case is now going to an Ombudsman.
Do you know roughly how long Sunny cases sit with an Ombudsman? The adjudicator advised it could be a few months
Sara (Debt Camel) says
were loans 13-25 much smaller than loans 6-12?
Dave Timlin says
Hi Sara
Thanks for getting back to me. The interest on loans 13-25 still added up to nearly £1000 so I don’t know where they came up with £235. I still owe them around £150 so maybe they were hoping that I’d accept the offer. The adjudicator made it clear several times in her email to me that this offer was NOT in line with her assessment. It is now with the ombudsman so it’s a waiting game I guess. I also left a scathing review on Trustpilot which sunny haven’t bothered to respond.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
If you read the reply I sent to Chris today above, that suggest he could write to the FCA. the FCA won’t intervene in cases, but they are Sunny’s regulator so they should be told when Sunny are messing people around. You could also say they seem to have calculated the refund they have offered completely wrong as well…
Dave Timlin says
Thanks Sara, I have read over your advise to Chris and I will contact the FCA. I might even up my reviews on trustpilot etc.
Thanks, Dave
John says
I can tell you where sunny is concerned don’t waste your time trying to negotiate as they don’t. I had 31 loans in 18months. Was rejected in Aug 18 sent to ombudsman service Sept 18. July 19 adjudicator decision refund 4to 31. Sunny knowing of delays offered 28to 31 with a rather crudely written letter stating the current delays money would be in my account 5 days if I agreed. Obviously refused their offer. Have today received Final ombudsman decision agreeing with adjudicator on refund of interest from loan 4 onwards. Its not a massive amount circa £500 but I would say don’t waste time believing they will negotiate I tried various times through the whole process they’re just not interested. They sunny are the last of my payday loan complaints to get settled. Sunny truly believe if you pay back early it is affordable hence why it drags out complaints as long as it can
Chris says
That’s interesting, how long did it take for an ombudsman to give a final decision out of interest?
John says
Roughly 5 months but because of the to and froing its nearer 8months. Although I was told it could have been a year to eighteen months. So I maybe got lucky. Overall though its 19 months or more start to finish
Dan says
Sunny rejected my initial claim, 24 loans over 2 years in Nov 18 and sent it to Fos there and then. Ombudsman adjudicator finally picked it up 13th Jan and i provided statements and emails and everything. Sunny failed to respond and was given an extension, they have responded today to the adjudicator.
The adjudicator now is saying loan 1 was a flexible agreement and not a payday loan so it has been sent to a specialist team, they haveno idea on time scale or how it gets processed from here i was told.
Anyone else had a similar issue from the adjudicator? I had two other complaints upheld no problem with other lenders through adjudicators and been paid on one and on day 8 with lending stream
Sara (Debt Camel) says
did you realise the first loan was different? Did you borrow a lot from it?
Dan says
I just thought it was a roll over loan that was extended instead of paid fully off each time. It was 5 years ago now don’t fully know.
Loan 1 was £3,400 paid back £4,100 with the interest, all other loans were over the same period and smaller payday style loans £200-£300 all paid back within a month or two.
Only loan 1 seems to be extended and not fully paid off until i fully settled with sunny at the end of loan 24.
Not sure why the ombudsman have’nt treated it all the same, sunny just seem to want to delay and not let the adjudicator make a decision
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so do you know how much interest you paid on the other loans 2-24?
Dan says
Yes i have the full breakdown and the ombudsman does have this, roughly £1,500 in interest on loans from 2-24. All paid off whilst paying off and extending loan 1.
All my complaints and borrowing were very similar but dealt with the same, except for this. Because loam 1 is a lengthy and bigger loan, the adjudicator has passed it to a specialist team meaning an even longer delay, but can’t give me a time frame even though i’ve waited since novemver 2018.
Its just frustrating that all my issues are sorted and complaints are coming to an end and this one, my biggest complaint too, is still dragging on without an end in sight!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok if loan was just big not HUGE, you could tell FOS you would be happy not to have it included in the refund. But as it is so big you really do want it taken into account.
Dan says
Just to update on this, I have had an answer from the specialist team today. Loan 2-24 was irresponsible whilst the large loan one agreement was in place and being constantly rolled over.
Loan 1 becomes irresponisble from a certain point onwards (after so many roll overs) so there is some redress on this too.
Glad its finally got a decision but its taken a while. I just hope Sunny agree and it can all be sort resonably quickly.
On day 20 of my Lending Stream redress and I can’t wait for this all to come to a close now and move on with my life :)
Chris says
LS paid me 5 days early so fingers crossed similar for you!
Dan says
Hi Chris
I was paid on day 21 in the end, the day after your post!
Just awaiting the offer from Sunny now, deadline is next monday
S123 says
Hello all, i have recently had my complaint knocked back twice by sunny. I sent an email last night after looking at this forum and emailed consumer.queries@fca.org.uk also CC’d in sgrice@elevatecredit.co.uk and rmallinder@elevatecredit.co.uk
All of a sudden they have revised my final response and offered me over £2500 on email by the complaints team
Do not let them win If you are in the same boat please email again and get that complaint paid out if they have originally knocked the complaint back!
Sara this site is amazing
Steven says
I have my complaint up held from a previous 1 month loan. Does anyone have contact number for them. Contacted sunny was told it’s a different number
Sara (Debt Camel) says
did they not tell you what the number was?
Steven says
No. Just an email to send sort code and account number
Sara (Debt Camel) says
which you have done?
Steven says
I have sent my sort code and account number for redress to be paid into.
Jake says
The adjudicator found my complaint in my favour, Sunny disagreed and rejected the complaint twice. It then went past the point, for sunny to reply to the last complaint so the adjudicator sent it off to the Ombudsman for its final decision.
6 weeks later I receive a letter stating that the Ombudsman finds it in my favour and for sunny to refund interest paid on loans 4-7. Also to remove any adverse history on my file through them.
I should also state that Sunny also said they “Wrote my last debt off” which is complete nonsense, I paid all debts back in full and the transaction data shows just that.
Companies like this need shutting down. I understand we are to blame for taking loans out in the first place, but it is just stupidly easy to get them.
Steven says
Sunny has paid my redress within 5 days. I left a bad review every day on Trustpilot until I got paid.
Anthony says
Hi Sara, I applied to sunny who took until the very last few days in the 8 weeks to reply. They offered me a refund of loans 28/29 only. I said I expected it from loan 5 and they said tuff – I then informed them I was taking it to the ombudsman however I still expected them to remove the bad marks on my credit file for loans 28/9 in the meantime as they had already admitted fault on them (which they did)
Ombudsman came back to me within a few weeks and have told sunny they must repay me from loan 4! So even better. They have until the 6th march to reply with a decent reason why they shouldn’t.
My question is, come the 6th of March how long will I roughly be waiting to actually receive my refund?
Thank you
Luke says
Sunny won’t reply by 6th of March. It will then get referred to a final ombudsman and you will be in for a long wait unfortunately.
Pre22 says
Hi,
I had my response from sunny who have said they are going to partially uphold my claim and basically wipe the 1588.60 that I still owe them and get it taken off my credit score (this is loan 16 and 17) all together I had 17 loans with them.
If I accept this offer can I then go on to complain about the others? Or do I have to decline and send it all up to the ombudsmen?? Would I then risk losing this offer?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This offer – which sounds very poor – is in full settlement of your complaint. You can’t accept it and go on to the Ombudsman with the other loans.
In theory you could lose this offer but this doesn’t happen in practice! Are you still making payments?
Pre22 says
I do. I set up a tiny repayment of £1 each month on each of the 2 loans.
I am really stuck with what to Do!!
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Well they aren’t offering you any cash. So is this a hard decision? just send it to the Ombudsman. You aren’t going to get a worse decision from the Ombudsman or if Sunny go under, and you could get a much better decision from the Ombudsman.
Sean says
Hi,
I’m hoping someone can help.
I’ve recently been contacted by FOS to say that the ombudsman has made the final decision and this has gone in my favour.
They’ve said that Elevate credit will process the refund etc within 4-8 weeks.
Does anyone know if they are quicker? Or whether I’ll be waiting until the 8th week lol.
Donna says
Hi all. Wondering if anyone can help. My complaint to Sunny was upheld by the adjudicator at the ombudsman and had wrote to sunny with their decision. Sunny had until 21st Feb to respond. This date passed almost two weeks ago and I am yet to receive an update from my adjudicator. Is this normal? I have sent him emails and left him voicemails to call me all to no avail. Is this normal?!
Rennes99 says
Hi Donna
Exactly the same for me…. FOS found in my favour and Sunny had some time to respond.. that deadline has passed now and I’ve had no response from my Adjudicator at the FOS despite chasing.
This feels just like Quick Quid. They delayed and delayed and delayed with the FOS, then agreed with their findings, then went bust before they paid me!
Can see this happening again, but I seriously hope not, as that’s both Wonga and QQ I’ve missed out on. I was owed nearly enough for a deposit on a house…. 4.3% from Wonga and probably less from QQ
Donna says
I would ring the main number for the FOS and explain to them what’s happening. I did this morning as I felt like I was getting nowhere trying to speak to my adjudicator. The guy I spoke to was very helpful and said he was going to email my adjudicator and cc his boss in too. Said if I dont hear anything today from my adjudicator (which I havent) to ring back tomorrow morning and tell them I’ve spoken to him and explain situation. I will ring again in the morning as I’m not going to let this one lie. I understand they are busy but when were almost two weeks passed a deadline I expect an update on the situation! The man I spoke to was very sympathetic and also very annoyed that my adjudicator hadn’t contacted me as he could see I’d been chasing.
Craig says
I’ve just had an offer back from sunny. Partially upholding my claim from loans 37 to 41 with an offer of £918. Unsure wether to accept or not as I feel £918 is just a spec to the £8,000 I took out, just looking for some guidance thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That is a dreadful offer. I would expect you to get a much better one by going to the Financial Ombudsman
Have you added up how much interest you have paid? That is the better way to asses an offer, not how much you borrowed.
Craig says
The 30 day report has now ended and I not available to view anymore on their website, would it be worth while sending an email back asking them to reconsider their offer as I feel that it’s unacceptable or just go straight the ombudsman and Seine their offer
Sonya Hawley says
I am currently in the process of dealing with Sunny. I took out 47 loans over a period of 4 years. Upon looking at my statements online, it would appear that on some of the loans they aren’t showing me an interest figure. I have asked repeatedly only to be given a standard cut and paste response of ‘check under your agreements online’ however they are not there.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You have sent a complaint I hope? You don’t need the numbers before sending that. If you think they are messing you around, send them an email to dataprotection@sunny.co.uk and say you want a copy of all of your personal information.
Billy says
Hi All,
Has anyone had any luck in getting their payments before 30 days?
If so, how many days did it take?
PM says
I’ve now been waiting 20 days for my payment, and decided to chase them today. Seems to be mixed reviews with some people getting paid within a few days and others having to escalate to the Ombudsman after the 30 day mark. I’m not too sure what the trigger is to get your payment processed but it’s frustrating.
Paul says
Had a final binding decision from fos in my favour against Sunny on 28 Feb. Anyone know how long they’ll take to make me the offer
James’s says
I am also having a nightmaire with sunny. They ignore me emails and have ignored the FOS for over 8 weeks (since the FOS asked for more information) any idea how I can make sunny reply to the FOS? I’ve resorted to leaving a 1 star review on trust pilot every single day until I get a reply.
Julian Harrison says
Hi. I’ve accepted an offer on March 20th. The e-mail tells me they will make the payment within 14 days of receipt of bank details. I replied immediately with the details. Do you know if I should have had confirmation these have been received? and is it 14 days or 30 days i should expect payment?
Chris Davis says
Did you get your payment by now?
I bit the bullet and took their offer instead of waiting for an ombudsman to review given current circumstances, my adjudicator said it would take 4 weeks for me to hear from sunny though which is strange as I’m only accepting an offer they have already made, there’s nothing for them to do but pay it so don’t know why they need 4 weeks!
Dan says
Hello
Had mine adjudicator decision on 24th feb, sunny not responded with an offer, now its gone higher to the ombudsman as a priority, anyone know how long this now takes?
Tan says
It took them (Sunny) 30 days to pay me but even for this I had to chase and ask quite a few times.
Ombudsman query – i’m still waiting for ombudsman decision since beginning of Jan 2020 when it was referred its in the “queue”. Chased a few times, same old answer of it in the queue. There s a few months wait …. all the while I’m praying that Sunny doesn’t go under.
Jess says
Hi,
I was just wondering how do you start a claim? I’ve currently got 4 opens loans and 16 loans in past 12 months. Got in a bad rut and was borrowing more payday loans to pay everything off and my credit isn’t great.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Read https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/ which has a template letter.
If you can’t repay the current loans without being so short of money that you need to borrow more, then you also need to escape from this payday loan trap by stopping paying. Cancel the CPA to a Sunny with your bank. Ask Sunny for a lower affordable payment arrangement. This will harm your credit score now but if you win the complaint, any negative marks should be removed from your credit record do if would just be temporary. As your credit score isn’t great, this seems a risk worth taking as there is no other way out of your bad rut.
Claire says
Hello Sara, may I have some advice on my Sunny claim. I have followed all the advice on here and I have escalated my case to the ombudsman.
The Ombudsman have agreed that 13 of my loans out of 22 were given irresponsibly.
These loans total £5000 plus £1700 interest paid back.
My offer is £940
The ombudsman say I can regect the offer and continue with the complaint.
Not sure what the best thing is to do with the current situation.
Thank you
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Were there any big gaps between the loans?
Claire says
No all were taken out every month sometime 3 at a time.
Anthony says
I was told by ombudsman 2k and sunny ignored them, it then got escalated and I was offered just over 1k. Whilst I don’t mind waiting, if I had rejected I was told by the ombudsman adjudicator it can take over a year to enforce the 2k if the ombudsman agrees to it. I chose to take the 1k as a lot of payday loan companies are going bust already, with the virus it’s no doubt going to speed that up. It’s ok the ombudsman saying yeah 2k is what your getting, but wonga said I was owed 1460 and I got only got £50 ;) take what’s offered before they go bust
Sara (Debt Camel) says
so is this an offer from Sunny on the 13 loans the ombudsman said? or an offer on a smaller number of loans?
Claire says
The offer of £940 is from sunny through the ombudsman, the ombudsman have directed sunny to pay £1900 adding on the interest.
So basically do I take the offer or gamble and fight for the directed amount from the ombudsman.
Thank you for your advice Anthony
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, it is a hard decision to take. It seems the some Ombudsman decisions are going through a lot faster
Whatever you decide, you could also email the FCA, Sunny’s regulator, and say how unreasonably they are handling FOS decision. The FCA won’t look at your individual complaint, but it’s easy to do and hopefully sunny will be embarrassed by it:
If you want to do this, it’s just a simple email to send to consumer.queries@fca.org.uk.
cc the email to rmallinder@elevatecredit.co.uk, sgrice@elevatecredit.co.uk, Pbaldry@elevatecredit.co.uk
also copy it into your FOS adjudicator.
Subject: “Elevate Credit (673771) trading as Sunny making low counter offers after FOS decision”
Give your Sunny reference number, your name and address. And your FOS reference number.
Then give a couple of sentences summarising your borrowing, just what years and how many, how large the loans were, Sunny’s original very poor offer/rejection and then the FOS adjudicator decision.
Then say what Sunny have counter-offered.
Say you think this is clearly against the DISP rules as the adjudicator decision is in line with typical FOS decisions. Say you think it’s unfair that a firm should be attempting to get away with paying less at a time when many customers may be desperate for money and so feel they have to accept less than they should get.
End by saying you know the FCA will not look at your case but you felt they should be aware of the unfair way Sunny is treating potentially vulnerable customers.
Bri says
Hi can I ask how long it took for sunny to make the offer after the adjudicator ruled in your favour.
Claire says
I absolutely agree Sara, my fear is that with the financial climate at the moment and all this uncertainty if they go bust I will kick myself for not taking the offer.
They are probably hoping for this like you say.
If it will take up to a year for the full amount to be awarded to me what is best.
I was thinking that the ombudsman should really tell them to pay up or nothing I didn’t think it was bargaining war.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think it’s very unlikely to take a year! I would expect less than 6 months.
Claire says
I recieved my accepted claim today so if anyone does accept a ombudsman claim you are looking at a payout in 4 weeks.
Megan says
Hi Sara,
I have taken out numerous loans with Sunny over the past 2 years, 7 in the past 12 months. (Amongst other lenders). I have finally sorted my borrowing problems and have only 2 payments of £50 left on my final Sunny loan, I would be at no advantage to pay it off early as due to missed payments I wouldn’t save on interest now.
I have recently been looking into affordability complaints, but am most concerned about improving my credit rating rather than getting refunds on interest – not for further payday loans but for a mortgage in the future. Would it be useful to use your template for requesting refunds but only request that negative information is deleted from my credit report as an incentive for them to satisfy my claims rather than me taking it further and also requesting refunds? Is this possible? I genuinely believe the loans were unaffordable and was shocked to receive so many, when I clearly had an affordability problem.
Thanks in advance
Sara (Debt Camel) says
“Would it be useful to use your template for requesting refunds but only request that negative information is deleted from my credit report as an incentive for them to satisfy my claims rather than me taking it further and also requesting refunds?”
It sounds such a sensible idea, doesn’t it? But lenders are only allowed to delete info from your credit record if the loan is unaffordable, in which case they have to offer you a refund.
So it’s simpler to not try to bargain, but just send in a standard affordability complaint, asking for a refund.
Dan says
Hi, I took 56 loans from sunny in a 12 month period, they never once asked to see a bank statement or wage slip?
I was already in a debt management program and had another loan in default status.
I finally got diagnosed with bi polar last year after trying to commit suicide.
I have periods of managing my money, then periods of madness, where I gamble, drink heavily, and basically lose control of my life.
This has been a repeated cycle of behaviour since my teens, I’m now 44!!!
I’m now engaged with a NHS mental health team and medicated. Which I can show documents to prove.
But I feel irresponsible lending has allowed me to behave in a reckless manner when I’m experiencing a episode of illness?
This illness has controlled my whole life, I’ve never had children because of the cycle of debt, and the fact I couldn’t manage my own life.
Do you think I have a valid claim against them?
I now think I’d have sought professional help sooner in life rather than self medicating with mad spending patterns enabled by easy to get credit? Which enabled me carry on until I finally broke and had a full breakdown, and nearly dying? Your views on this would be appreciated, I’m not sure if it’s my illness, my problem?
Or have they contributed to my problems, by lack of responsibility when lending?
Thanks in advance
Dan
Sara (Debt Camel) says
I think ANYONE who has had 56 loans from Sunny in a year has a good claim for unaffordable lending. Send in a complaint right away and include information on your mental health diagnosis – you must have some hospital or specialist letters you can attach?
Because Sunny were not aware of your health problems, there is no reason why they shouldn’t have started lending to you. But it should have become obvious soon that their loans were resolving a short term problem you had but you were becoming reliant on them. At that point they should have stopped lending or looked at your situation in more detail.
Were you borrowing from other high cost lenders during this time?
I don’t know how confident you are that your problems are now in the past. Can I suggest as a backstop you consider signing up for cifas protection? This is meant for people concerned about identity theft, what it does is put a marker on your cifas record saying that lenders should contact you by post to check that any credit application is from you. This puts in a few days delay that can let you change your mind if you no longer want to borrow. But if you do want to borrow, you still can and it does not harm your credit score. Unfortunately you have to pay for this, but you may think it is worth it. https://www.cifas.org.uk/services/identity-protection/protective-registration
Dan says
Thanks for the reply Sara, yes I have appointment letters from the mental hospital. Thanks for the information about cifas protection I will look into it.
My partner is currently managing my money.
Regards
Dan
Lauren says
After 7 months ombudsmen has said sunny have offered to pay £800 from loan 19?! I told the ombudsman that I was claiming from loan 1. I don’t understand why this process is so drawn out and the ombudsmen hasn’t given me their verdict to run with. They asked if I accepted I said no… what happens now?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
have you already had an adjudicator decision?
Lauren says
No I don’t think so (not sure if my reply came through) I submitted in October and have been waiting for anything and this is what the ombudsmen has said sunny has offered
Sara (Debt Camel) says
ok, then go back to FOS and ask when an adjudicator will be looking into your case.
Daniel says
Hello
Just a final update from me, i finally had an offer off sunny which was much lower than expected but still £1000, so accepted and was paid on day 21. That was i thought my final complaint i had of 3 which have paid me back £3,500 in total over 3 months, but on the day after I was paid from sunny i had a letter from aqua credit card and they are paying me £1,000 aswell after taking 6 months to look at my complaint which i forgot i had submitted!!
I have been debt free for a year after going through a tough 2 year dmp and all the £4,500 is in savings (or heading that way when it comes)
Stick with it everyone and you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel :)