A reader recently told me he had taken out a loan for £650, with 18 monthly repayments of £147. This adds up to a total repayment of £2,650 - an eye-watering amount and more than four times what he borrowed. At first I thought this was probably taken out several years ago. But in fact, it was borrowed in 2018 from Loans2Go. Here is a snapshot of the personal loan page on the Loans2Go … [Read more...]
High cost credit news and policy
Wageday Advance proposes cutting the refunds it pays
Curo, the American parent of payday lender Wageday Advance (WDA), is in talks with the FCA about a Scheme of Arrangement (SOA) for its redress liabilities in the UK. See Curo's statement in its end of year results. These liabilities are the payday loan refunds that WDA is having to pay to current and previous customers who were given unaffordable loans. Curo has proposed to the FCA that: … [Read more...]
Amigo – being careless with people’s data
Amigo is not taking proper care of its borrowers' personal information. Readers are reporting that their details are being sent to the wrong address, or have been so poorly packaged that they are arriving ripped open with some of the contents missing. Now once could be an accident, but I have five reports in five weeks. I am not seeing similar comments about other lenders. What information are … [Read more...]
Wageday Advance – delaying complaints and in financial trouble?
Wageday Advance (WDA) is not giving its customer a Final Response to complaints within eight weeks. At the end of the eight weeks it is telling customers it needs another eight weeks to consider their complaint. UPDATE two customers have reported in the comments below that they have still not received responses after 20 and 21 weeks. This article looks at why Wageday Advance is receiving so … [Read more...]
Caroline Wayman, Chief Ombudsman, on payday loan complaints numbers
Caroline Wayman, the Chief Ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) gave evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee on 22 January 2019: Here I am just picking out some remarks which are relevant to payday loan affordability complaints. Complaint numbers Wayman talked about "the unprecedented growth" in FOS complaints about payday lenders this year. This was … [Read more...]
QuickQuid’s refusal to refund loans after 2015 is wrong
For several months QuickQuid has been refusing to consider any affordability complaints about loans made after March 2015. First it rejects a refund on any of these recent loans when a customer complains. Here is an example of how QuickQuid even classifies these loans separately in its reply to a complaint: Then, when a customer takes the case to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS), QuickQuid … [Read more...]
Is your refund from Vanquis right? It’s probably too small!
Have you had an email or a letter from Vanquis saying it is refunding you some money? In late 2018 tens of thousands of people are getting these refunds. Nice? Yes, but it may be too low... Some people are being given tens of pounds when I think they should get hundreds. And people getting hundreds should be getting thousands! There were no details of the refund in the email or letter … [Read more...]
Lending Stream stops customers complaining by email
Lending Stream has changed its complaints handling to make it harder for customers to make an affordability complaint and ask for a refund of the interest they have paid. Until recently you could send them a complaint email, as you still can to the other payday lenders. Now all emails to complaints@lendingstream.co.uk or payments@lendingstream.co.uk bounce back. Instead, you have to complete … [Read more...]
FCA will cap BrightHouse prices and interest from April 2019
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it is introducing measures that will cap the cost of buying from BrightHouse, PerfectHome and other pay weekly shops from April 2019. This is very good news. It is not just a cap on the interest, where the FCA has imposed the same 100% cap that currently applies to payday lending. The FCA is also proposing controls over the prices … [Read more...]
Is Vanquis delaying ROP refunds to current customers to get more interest?
Vanquis was told by the FCA in February 2018 to refund £168million to customers. This was for the extra interest charged on its ROP product that people were not told about. It said it would refund existing customers within 90 days, then closed accounts within 180 days. But since then there have been huge delays and now Vanquis is refunding some closed account before the open … [Read more...]
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