The Financial Ombudsman won’t look at complaints about two payday lenders, Swift Sterling and Pounds Till Payday, because these are not UK firms regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Swift Sterling, Pounds Till Payday and My Money Partner were trading names of Northway Financial Corporation Limited, a Maltese company.
Can you get a payday loan refund? looks at how to complain to a UK regulated payday lender if you were given an “unaffordable” payday loan. But that article and its template letters don’t apply to these two Malta-based payday lenders, so this article looks at what your options are.
What has happened since this article was first published
- December 2015 – the websites and brand names were bought by an FCA-authorised UK company, MMP Financial Ltd.
- January 2016 – the Financial Ombudsman said the MMP take over hasn’t made a difference to complaints about previous loans from Swift Sterling and Pounds Till Payday, and these complaints have to be made to the Maltese regulator, not in the UK.
- After this, people started complaining to the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). There are lots of comments at the bottom of this article about this.
- May 2016 – the MFSA ordered Northway, the lenders’ parent company to refund interest for a few readers who then received cheques.
- the Consumer Complaints Unit within the MFSA is being phased out and replaced by the Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services.
- November 2016 – the FCA is making MMF, the debt collector that has bought many Swift Sterling and Pounds Till Payday debts, refund many customers for its poor debt collection practices, see the bottom of this article.
- December 2016 – Northway has offered to pay some compensation to some more customers.
- April 2017 – the MFSA has told people with active cases that they have been closed and complainants have to go to the Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services. This will feel like more bad news and delays, but apparently the Office of the Arbiter can issue binding rulings in relation to complaints. So hopefully Northway won’t just ignore these decisions as they have been ignoring MFSA decisions. I don’t know how you can enforce a binding ruling in Malta
For the latest on what is happening, see the Comments section at the bottom of this article.
Why can’t you take these complaints to the Financial Ombudsman?
Both Swift Sterling’s and Pounds Till Payday’s websites said 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.
Thank you for sending me the page on their website which specifically directs people to bring their complaints to us … I have spoken to a colleague and we are going to contact Pounds till Payday to ask them amend this. I agree this is misleading borrowers.“
(The websites have now been changed, but here is a snapshot taken in November 2015.)
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.
You may think this is never going to work… But if you read the comments below you will see that several readers have managed to refunds – some of them large – after going through the lengthy process of appealing to Northway (Swift Sterling and Pounds Till Payday’s parent company) and then the Maltese regulator. It has taken many months but with perseverance you may get a good result.
Definitely misleading!
Did Northway really think the Financial Ombudsman will look at these complaints? Or were these incorrect complaints procedures included on the two websites to give the appearance of respectability by suggesting that the payday lender was subject to some UK regulation?
In the USA, Northway is being sued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which alleges it is part of a group of payday lenders that:
- made false threats to consumers;
- deceived consumers about their debts; and
- used illegal wage-assignment clauses:
Has your debt been sold to MotorMile Finance?
Swift Sterling and Pounds Till Payday have sold many defaulted debts to the UK debt collector MotorMile Finance (MMF). In November 2016 the FCA has made MMF offer a redress package to many customers because of poor way it has handled debt recovery, so if your debt is now with MMF, read MMF – can you get a write off or a refund?
Claims against MMF can only relate to the defaulted debts sold to them. You may still have additional claims against Swift Sterling and Pounds Till Payday for “affordability” problems. Additionally putting in an affordability complaint to the original lender should mean that a debt collector puts a hold on any debt enforcement such as taking you to court for a CCJ whilst the dispute about the original debt is resolved.
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Joe says
Ignored by Northway ever since receiving SOA.
Off to OAFS next week.
martin hood says
is northway same company as swift stearling have made complaint to them with threat of moving it forward with mfsa has anyone ever recieved reply from them as tried before with no joy
Joe says
Northway are Pounds till payday if that helps at all?
Nigel says
Martin
You would need to complain to http://financialarbiter.org.mt/en/Pages/Home.aspx or OAFS for short, MFSA are not dealings with any of these now.
Joe says
I am filling my OAFS form out online at the moment.
The formatting is fine but as soon as I try to input my address the format gets messed up. Any ideas please?!
Thanks!
Joe says
Case with OAFs now. Paid the money (Thanks Santander for £25 charge to send abroad!).
They’ve been unbelievably helpful and swift so far with any questions.
Fingers crossed now I get it back. Northway still ignoring all emails from me including an offer for about 66% of what I think I’m owed.
Nigel says
Just a slight update. Northway have until 14th August to respond to OAFS, so should have a further update next week
Joe says
Hi Nick,
How long since paying OAFs the money is it before the investigation takes off?
I’ve not heard anything from Northway since they provided the statement of account.
Nigel says
Drop them an email and ask, mine was two weeks.
Joe says
Thanks Nick. They’ve confirmed got money and will send me a note when the investigation starts.
The Hitman says
I’m 6 weeks into 8 waiting for a response from Pounds till payday after my stage 2 letter. Will I have to wait 8 weeks before reporting them to OAF? Or put it in now?
The Hitman says
Hi guys, any help on the question above would be greatly appreciated
Thank you
Allison says
You need a final response letter, have you complained to Northwayfinancial?
The Hitman says
Hi Allison,
I’ve had nothing since I received my statements.
I’ve chased them again. 8 weeks is just under 2 weeks off
Nigel says
Ok I have had the new offer from Northway Financial that has come via my complaint to OAFS.
Original offer was £360. Upped to £450. Once complaint went to OAFS the new offer is now £1085. In My mind I think its not enough. Everything would be £2400. But I am a realist and I would have accepted around £1500. I don’t think though the wording in the letter that they will ever consider loans before 2011 as they openly state they did not have to comply with legislation before that date on some things. So I’m now thinking of accepting the offer. I will mull over it at the weekend. I am not sure I want to have a Skype or Google hangouts mediation with them! I have been sent that form so OAFS can arrange if i decline the offer.
Nick H says
I agreed to mediate and they cancelled on the day and then offered me over £1000 their previous offer.
They won’t actually attend the mediation so don’t worry about that. They drag it out in the hope people give up and accept less
Nigel says
Hi Nick, can you please expand on this. Thanks Nigel
Nick H says
I have posted full details earlier in the thread.
Northway rejected my complaint completely and offered nothing in compensation. I passed over to the OAFS in Malta.
Once Northway had heard from the OAFS they reiterated their belief that they had done nothing wrong and stuck with their original final response.
I then agreed to the OAFS mediation session. Northway pulled out of this on the morning that the meeting was due to happen, and a week letter offered me a settlement of over £1000.
As this was only a 1/4 of what I believe I had paid to them over the 4 year period I negotiated and asked them to settle at 50% of my original claim. They refused that and it is now waiting full adjudication in Malta.
Nigel says
Interesting that they offered you nothing. My offers have gone from £380 original offer, £450 with me negotiating with them. MFSA stated then ball rolling, that then went to OAFS and since there involvement they have now offered me £1085.28. Its a borderline acceptance for me. I am sure if I hold out I will get more. But I am mulling over it. I will first test the water with Northway.
Nick H says
I say nothing – it did in fact include the w/o off a small o/s balance of £300 – so it was actually an offer of £300 I suppose.
Joe says
I do not know your circumstances but if I was in the same situation I think I would accept. It’s money you didn’t have and it’s almost treble what the first offer was.
Is it also worth dragging out further for what might only equate to a couple of hundred quid?
Nigel says
Hi Joe
Yes, but It could also be worth double the amount currently on offer.
paul says
Afternoon all,
I have just sent off my complaint to Northway. Typically, Swift Sterling was one of 2 big lenders for me – about £12,000 over a year. Assume I leave it the 8 weeks before getting OAFS involved?
Has anyone had any joy with Northway direct or are they basically ignoring until the Maltese authorities are involved?
Cheers
Paul
The Hitman says
Hi Paul, as per my message below I got a reply (not final though) from them
Took 6.5 weeks
Al says
I rejected Northways 1st and 2nd offer and negotiated about 75% of what I had paid them in interest completely. You only have to give Northway 14 days to respond and if they dont give a final response then go to the OAFs. Send a few emails to Northway as they claim to not recieve them but save them as it’ll show the OAFs that they are not communicating. When emailing northway give them 14 days to respond then follow up after 7 days, in each email state that you will be going to the OAFS on a certain date. When I did this they were very responsive!
It took me about 6 months all together but that said I’ve had UK claims that have taken longer…………but they have ALL been successful so go for it
The Hitman says
Got a response from Northway/Poundstillpayday.
I still had a historical balance of £861, so minus that plus 8% it should be £4193. Offered to remove the 861, and token gesture of £360!
Off to the FO in Malta I think! Unless they can offer a vastly improved figure
Total loan fees/interest between 11/01/2010 – 03/08/2012 = £4744.89
Emma says
Hello all!
I too unfortunately dealt with S/S in the past-the usual trap.
Can I please confirm-is it just the interest we can possibly claim or the value of the loans?
Kind Regards
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Interest only
Petersfield Pete says
I am going through the Financial Arbiter in Malta and have now reached the stage where I have been offered mediation or an offer from Northway. I started borrowing from Pounds till Payday in 2009 and they are offering a refund on interest paid from 2011 as they say there was no requirement for credit checks until 2011.
Should I accept or go for mediation?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
How much are they offering? How much interest did you pay before this point? Do you have a balance still owing?
Nigel says
Hi Peter
I have had the same as you, its mentioned above in this thread. I have decided to accept the offer although I think I would have definitely have got more if I had of opted for the meditation etc. In fact I only completed the acceptance forms last night and they promise payout within 2 working days. They wont budge on loans before 2011, they make that very clear. They did not have to comply with any legislation pre 2011. So I weighed it all up and I would have maybe got another £300-£400. But I am just about OK with the amount I have now been offered £1085. But Its your choice of course. As Sara says whats the offer, what interest did you pay? My offers went £380 £450 to the new one one OAFS were involved.
Petersfield Pete says
I paid just over £2000 interest but only only £367 of this was after Feb 2011. they are offering £237 as they say £130 was written off although I don’t recall this. The debt was settled via a debt management company and finally cleared nearly 2 years ago. Should I take it?
Sara (Debt Camel) says
That’s a hard one. You could ask for evidence of the write off if that would make a difference? If you plough on through the arbitration, the chances are that you won’t get LESS than they have offered, but there are just no guarantees about this as no one has yet done it.
Petersfield Pete says
The write off is on their statement and could of been in the hands of the debt management company at the time. £237 is better than nothing, I’ve managed to get nearly £4000 back from UK based vultures in the last few months so this is a bonus, as I was told I had no chance from these as they’re based in Malta. Only through finding this site I found there was hope. I can’t ”like” you on facebook as I don’t do it but thanks very much for your comments!
Emma says
Sorry to be a pain again-still a newbie, trying to tackle S/S.
So ,we can attempt to put in a claim to Northway for interest only paid.Is that the interest that we paid out for the loan term,or plus additional interest from that particular date to present day?
Many Thanks
Petersfield Pete says
I believe the interest on interest you paid only applies to the UK, I know the UK ombudsman sets this at 8%. I hope you manage to get something back from these vultures
Joe says
I have had receipt from OAFs through as proof of paying the €25 fee.
Does anybody know how quickly this progresses now on the different stages. I’ve only been offered the chance to write off existing debt so far.
julie says
I asked northway for a statement last november, got it after several emails, told them I wanted to claim charges back but been ignored. I have sent probably an email a week since then most of which were returned as spam. I threatened to go via the OAFS in Malta but it didn’t make any difference. I was ignore from nov until last week. I had paid 11.8k in interest. Out of the blue, the day before flying out on a holiday that had taken 18months to pay for I received an email offering me 2.6 k to settle case which would be paid within 6 days. I decided to accept as at the moment with the holiday and my daughter starting uni next week. I do realise I probably would have got alot more but it would get me out of a mess at the moment. I don’t regret taking the money though maybe I will at a later date but it was in my account the next day. It made for an enjoyable holiday which I was able to spoil my children and buy my daughter some uni stuff without worrying how I was going to pay for it. Good luck to all and I really hope you all get what you deserve
Bright Erack says
HI
Can anyone please provide me with a functional email for Northway as the one I was given by Swift sterling is not being responded to
Many thanks
Brighton
The Hitman says
complaints@northwayfinancial.com
Joe says
They don’t reply. They ignore.
I’m now with OAFS and despite many messages to Northway I have received two in response. Once with my statement of account and another with there final ruling after the eight weeks.
Nigel says
After a lot of messing about I have finally received My refund in my account today. Excuse after excuse from Northway as to why it had not been paid, Not receiving emails due to technical problems, need two directors to sign off a refund and one is on holiday. Just poor all round. Its a good job OAFS were there to ensure that its finally done. It also led to a further £15 due to the delays!
Good luck to all that peruse them.
Joe says
Well done Nigel.
My case is with OAFs at the moment so it’s a case of keeping fingers crossed.
Not heard anything from Northway apart from SOA and then email saying not making satisfactory offer.
Paul says
I had a swift sterling loan outstanding a few years ago, I’m not sure if this debt was sold on to a dca or what happened to. I have not heard about the loan for many years but i really nees to find out if its out outstanding. Who would be be the best people to contact about this.
Many thanks
Sara (Debt Camel) says
Do you know how long ago this might have been? If there is any chance it is getting near 6 years, this would be a very foolish thing to do now – better to wait as it may become statute barred.
Have you looked at your credit records with all three credit reference agencies? https://debtcamel.co.uk/best-way-to-check-credit-score/. SS sometimes sell on loans to MotorMile Finance. To be honest they are not a debt collector I would care to approach with a question about a debt I may or may not owe.
You could ask SS themselves? Did you have a lot of loans through them? If you did you could put in an affordability complaint and that would probably throw up what happened to the last loan.
Paul says
Hi Sara
Many thanks for your reply, I’d imagine it was about 3 or 4 years, there is nothing showing on my reports. Maybe I’ll just wait to see if I hear from them. All post is been forwarded from old address so I would have received any correspondence from them.
Thanks again
Ben says
I’ve been reading through the comments recently and am glad to see people have been having some success with refunds.
I am still waiting to hear the outcome of NIck H arbitration which he said was scheduled sometime in September ’17 before I submit my claim to the OAFS due to a “I think it’s a statute barred outstanding debt” with Pounds to Payday that I don’t want to acknowledge in writing if my claim potentially wouldn’t be successful.
However, my current question is that I have been reading in previous posts that:
“They wont budge on loans before 2011, they make that very clear. They did not have to comply with any legislation pre 2011.”
My last loan was in FEB 2009, so I am concerned they won’t even consider it.
Has anyone had a payout with a pre 2011 loan?
The Hitman says
I’ve had a very similar thought today with mine, As I had loans from 2009-2011
Nicky says
Well eventually got a final response from SS they don’t admit any wrong doing but will waive the outstanding £450 balance! Gone back a few times over the last few weeks nothing back from them threatened OAFS still nothing. Ashamed to say 9 consecutive loans with SS all post 2011 alongside 10-15 other monthly payday loans due to my financial distress and a dark dark time bank statements and credit file show the extent of borrowing and how dependant I was on these loans so I’m not backing down on this as if they had done proper checks I really wouldn’t have been given any form of credit! Anyway I’ve dealt with the other lenders some of which went to FOS and upheld.
Long story short I’ve emailed OaFS and they have been so helpful. Today when I emailed them for addesss and bank details to lodge my complaint with them they said forward on all the emails I’ve sent them and they will email SS/Northway and chase up before a formal complaint so that was done today and let’s see if they respond otherwise posting my forms and all evidence and hoping for a good result! They do tbink because they weren’t regulated in the U.K. or by FCA and out of reach of FoS they can just dismiss people and I would have let it go if it wasn’t for this page so thank you!
Nigel says
Hi All
Just one last bit of information for you on my now settled loan. OAFS have refunded my 25 Euro fees as i accepted the offer that I had from Northway, despite the fact that I probably, well definitely, would not have had that offer with out there input. Great service.
With regard to the comments I made about PTPD not budging on loans pre 2011 then that is something you need to challenge. That is the info they told me in me uncertain terms, I had ten loans pre 2011 from 2009 and through 2010. As I accepted an improved offer I did not get the chance to challenge this. But you should.
Laura says
Hi there
I have started the OAFS process – I’m sure it’s pretty variable, but can anyone give me a vague idea as to how long it took from that point?
Am I looking at another couple of months to resolve?
Joe says
I’d love to know this to!
I received my receipt and registration of the complaint at the end of August.
What I will say though are the people at OAFS are very helpful and would happily pay our Financial Ombudsman a similar amount for a service as good.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The FOS is getting a thousand payday loan complaints a month. 68% are being upheld. I doubt the OAFS gets 50.
martin hood says
how did you get in touch with them can you give me address or number thx
Nick H says
I’ve been going through for about 3 months now and should have my hearing adjudicates by the end of this month
vickie9 says
Hi all, Northway have responded to me with my statement of account for Swift Sterling but have said as they no longer own Swift Sterling a complaint cannot be directed to them so who do I put a complaint into if it doesn’t go to them?
Joe says
I directed complaint to them as they received the interest I paid, they granted the loans and I believe it is they who are the irresponsible lender.
Sara (Debt Camel) says
The complaint should go to Northway. Ignore their very carefully worded message – legally it is correct but almost everyone reads it the wrong way…
martin hood says
can someone put the address for oafs up please have email from northway say looking into it but that was 8 weeks ago so need to move it on as this is the last one.
Laura white says
Any help in how to start the complaint for redress for poundstillpayday would be great Could a link to form or email address for the company in Malta be put up Please? Thanks