Before December 2015 Swift Sterling, Pounds Till Payday and My Money Partner were trading names of Northway Financial Corporation Limited, a Maltese company.
In 2016 these brand names were bought by a UK company called MMP which went into administration in December 2019.
When were your loans? This affects who to complain to
If your loans were before December 2015
Then you need to complain to Northway about them. If that doesn’t resolve your complaint you can’t go to the UK Financial Ombudsman, you have to go to the Maltese authorities.
The Financial Ombudsman won’t look at complaints about loans from the Maltese lender
The comments below show how other people have got on. SoO far as I am aware, these complaints are now being rejected as too old (“time-barred”) in Malta.
No-one has received a refund or a write off since mid 2019.
If your loans were after December 2015
This is NOT the right page for you, it only covers complaints about the earlier Maltese lender.
Your complaint is a normal payday loan affordability complaint in the UK.
You would have been able to go to the UK Financial Ombudsman, but now MMP is in administration, all claims have to be sent to the administrators using the Claims Portal.
All questions about the administration and these later loans should be asked on the main payday loan refund page.
Why can’t you take these complaints to the Financial Ombudsman?
Both Swift Sterling’s and Pounds Till Payday’s websites said in 2015 in their Complaints Procedures:
“At this stage, if you are dissatisfied with the delay or we have not been able to sort out your complaint to your satisfaction, you can escalate your complaint to an external body (see below).
Step 3 – If you remain dissatisfied
It is important that you give us the opportunity of addressing your concerns first before escalating your complaint as they will only consider your complaint after we have had the opportunity to sort out the matter under our internal complaints process.
You may ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to review your complaint. You should contact the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of receiving our final response letter. Their details are below: [full address and email details for the UK Financial Ombudsman]”
One reader has received the following reply from the Financial Ombudsman:
“Unfortunately Pounds till Payday don’t have offices in the UK and as a result we are still unable to look at complaints about them. As you said below, their offices are based in Malta and they are regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority. I’m sorry their website seems to suggest otherwise… I agree this is misleading borrowers.“
So if you wanted to complain that one of these lenders gave you a loan that was unaffordable, you have to go through the Maltese regulators, not UK processes. But in 2019 these complaints were being rejected as too old – the legal term is “time-barred”.
Was your debt been sold to Lantern (was called MotorMile Finance)?
Swift Sterling and Pounds Till Payday have sold many defaulted debts to the UK debt collector MotorMile Finance (MMF), which changed its name in 2018 to Lantern. In November 2016 the FCA has made MMF offer a redress package to many customers because of poor way it has handled debt recovery.
Claims against Lantern can only relate to the defaulted debts sold to them.
Comments on this page are now closed.
Paul Millar says
I’ve had a response about my loans being time barred and there fore rejected, but am I reading right that some people have quotes the 6 and 3 year UK rules and then got somewhere with Northway, as the loans were taken out with reference to English law inside the Credit Agreement ? Slightly confused, but also want to try and work out if I have any kind of chance to claiming something back before another time window closes.
Al..M says
Hello Paul,
I’m in a very similar position. Have you heard anything or discovered how we might be able to claim? I had constant rollovers amounting to £57,000 ! 😳
I have written to the Malta Arbiter asking if they are able to investigate due to the large sum involved.
I will let you know how this progresses. I am also interested in your comment regarding 6 and 3 year uk law, have you any further info?
Thanks
Paul says
I’ve heard back from the Malta Arnitar and don’t think there is anything we can do – just have to hope some of my other claims make up for this!
Please refer to your complaint against Northway Financials Ltd, hereunder.
We regret to inform you that your complaint cannot be processed further as in terms of article 21(1)(b) of Arbiter for Financial Services Act, 2016 (visit http://www.financialarbiter.org.mt to download), complaints in relation to the conduct of a financial services provider which occurred before 18 April 2016 (the date when this Act came into force) could be lodged by not later than two years from this date, that is 18 April 2018. Your last transaction with Northway Financials occurred on 5 March 2013.
Your complaint has been received after 18 April 2018, and therefore after two years from the coming into force of this Act.
We regret that we are unable to assist you further at this stage. However we suggest that you seek legal advice.
Please be guided accordingly.
Sincerely
Customer Relations Officer
Terry Nicholls says
Got a rejection from swift sterling (malta) today, not really suprised reading the posts here.
Rachel Linacre says
I have had the same response from Northway about Maltese Law however their loan agreement which I still have a copy of clearly states at the bottom that they were regulated by the FCA and the email we used was to a uk.co address therefore surely there is an argument to say that they were trading and being regulated under uk law which surely should have an impact on time barring?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
What date was this agreement? Do you still owe any money?
Rachel Linacre says
Hi Sara 2014 to 2015 and no I don’t owe them anything. It was only because of the Wonga situation that I became aware that it was possible to make a claim. Surely if they took the time to register with the FCA to make people believe they were in the uk which seems a bit underhand anyway they should be held accountable under uk law. How do I find out if they were actually registered with the FCA? I want to know now whether that was true or just another lie – if they weren’t would that be a criminal matter?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
You can ask the FCA.
Rachel Linacre says
Hi spoke to FCA and they were registered but by default really because they were originally registered with the office of fair trading and then had a grace period after which the company was sold to MMP which is who has gone into liquidation. I’ve spoken to FOS and basically they have referred me to the Maltese Ombudsman Service so as I have some free time at the moment I will contact just for the hell of it and raise the point that when does the time barring begin at the date of loan or the date when an individual realises that there was a problem which needed redress.
Vic Smith says
Hi.
I took out some loans with Swift Sterling around 2017.
I repaid them all.
I tried to reply after,and they turned me down.
However I have had an email today from the administrators that I make a claim.
My question is
What are the chances of receiving anything
How much
Does this involve Pounds till Payday,as I have loads of loans with them over the years.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
This page is for pre Dec 2015 loans from the Maltese lender.
From the comments here it seems that no one has had a refund from the Malta loans for more than a year as they are considered time barred in Malta. I am not aware of anything that can be done to get round this.
—————————————————–
After Dec 2015, these 2 brand names were bought by MMP, a UK lender that is now in admonistration. All questions about the MMP administration should be asked on the main payday loan page: https://debtcamel.co.uk/payday-loan-refunds/