Quick overview Provident's Scheme of Arrangement is now in operation. The Scheme was proposed because Provident could not afford to carry on paying full refunds to customers winning affordability complaints. The Financial Ombudsman was upholding 75% of complaints against Provident. The FCA, Provident's regulator, said it did not approve of the Scheme. But as Provident has stopped providing … [Read more...]
Refunds for unaffordable lending
The articles here look at how affordability complaints can be made for different sorts of borrowing. Most of them have a template letter you can use.
The regulator says that a loan is "unaffordable" if you couldn't make the repayments without borrowing.
This could be borrowing again from the same lender, from another lender, using more of a credit limit, getting deeper into your overdraft or by not paying a bill.
So even if you always paid your loans on time, they could still have been unaffordable if paying them made your finances worse.
How to ask your bank for a refund of overdraft charges
Have you had big overdraft problems for a long period? You can make an affordability complaint and ask for a refund of overdraft charges if: your overdraft limit was increased to a level you would be unable to clear; or your overdraft usage showed you were in long-term financial distress. For example, being in the overdraft all the time, or using an unauthorised overdraft a lot. This … [Read more...]
How to get refunds from catalogues and credit cards
Have you had a catalogue, credit card or store card where you were given a high credit limit? So high that the monthly repayments were hard to manage so you got into more debt? Many people were originally given sensible limits, but the lender kept increasing them. You may have a good complaint that the lender was irresponsible in allowing you to borrow so much that the debt … [Read more...]
How to get a payday loan refund
Did your payday loans cost so much when you repaid one you had to keep on borrowing? You can get a refund of the interest you paid on unaffordable loans. It's easy to ask for a payday loan refund using the free template letters here. The letters work if your payday loans were repaid or if you still owe money. This article covers everything you need to get started. It's easy, free and many … [Read more...]
Gambling – get refunds from loans, credit cards & overdrafts
Many people with a gambling problem have been given unaffordable credit. This fueled their gambling and they got deeper into debt. Credit is affordable if you can repay it and still pay your other debts, bills and expenses. If it is unaffordable, then you can ask for a refund of interest and charges and take a complaint the lender declines to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS). But gambling … [Read more...]
Doorstep lending – a template letter to ask for a refund
UPDATE: in March 2022, Loans At Home was put into administration. You can still make complaints against them, but they will be decided by the administrators and you will not be able to send them to the Ombudsman. UPDATE: in August 2021, the Provident Refund Scheme was approved in court. You can no longer use the template on this page for provident complaints. See Provident's Scheme for how to … [Read more...]
Refunds from large loans including car finance
The repayments on many loans are too high to be manageable so people get deeper into debt trying to repay them. If you have an unaffordable loan, you can complain and ask for interest to be removed from your balance. If the loan has been settled, you can ask for a refund of the interest you paid. This article describes how to complain, with templates. Many people have used them and got … [Read more...]
How the borrower of a guarantor loan can complain
UPDATES: Do not use the templates on this page for the following lenders, instead see the specific page: Amigo is proposing a second Scheme of Arrangement, after the first was rejected as being unfair to customers. You can now vote on this, see Amigo's new Scheme for details and points to think about. Buddy Loans went into administration in September 2021, see Buddy Loans goes into … [Read more...]
Were you sold a car on unaffordable finance?
In March 2019, the FCA has published Our work on motor finance – final findings. The FCA regulates the providers of car finance and their review began nearly two years before and has been long-awaited. News reporting has seized on the FCA's findings that commission structures give dealers an incentive to charge higher interest rates. But here I am interested in the FCA's findings on … [Read more...]