There's a right and wrong way of complaining against payday lenders. If you get it right first time, you're in the minority. There's almost an art to it. But once you know the system with regards to payday lenders, I believe all justifiable complaints can be settled fairly. The payday lenders that remain in the industry are not here to keep paying out in compensation for their past mistakes. They will try almost everything to dismiss valid causes for complaint. But here's how to go about it properly. NEVER call them! Like never. Not only are you wasting time and effort, but they'll try and manipulate you and put you completely off your aim. Keep everything in writing. In my experience, emails are fine and entirely admissible in court (should it get that far). Snail mail is fine too, just more of a faff. If complaining about an array of loans with a particular lender, firstly put in an information request. You can simply ask them for all the data they have relating to you and your loans. If they play hard-ball, put in a SAR request (costs a tenner and takes up to 40 days, but is a legal requirement to comply with). Once you have your data, fire off your FORMAL COMPLAINT. This 'first' complaint must be as detailed as possible (to avoid future letter tennis). Include EVERYTHING that has cause for complaint (see library here for this). Make it clear what you would like them do, be it refund interest paid on unaffordable loans, remove data from credit files etc. Lenders have 8 weeks to issue their final response. Some are quicker than this and come back dismissing everything with a template response. In some rare cases, you may succeed right here. Well done, job done. But most of the time, you're left with the options of taking the complaint to the FOS, the ICO or initiating legal action. The problem with the so-called adjudication services such as the FOS and ICO, is that they have to be prize winners for inconsistency and incompetency. They are target monitoring, box-ticking, largely inept civil servants who have just two weeks of training before being let loose on often highly complex cases involving thousands of pounds. That's not to say they sometimes get it right. But frequently they don't just get it wrong, they actually ignore what's in front of them and make stuff up. In my opinion, the FOS cannot be trusted. However, the justification of using the FOS is that it's free and you may have your case upheld. It's 50/50 after all.. flip a coin and you may win. Even if your case is not upheld you can reject the decision and it's not legally binding. Not helpful if proceeding with litigation, but not always disastrous. Now here's where you can ramp things up a bit and begin litigation proceedings. If I were to go through my huge number of complaints against lenders all over again, I would bypass the FOS altogether and go straight to litigation after formal complaints. You must start by sending the lender a Notice of Intended Legal Action. It’s best to use recorded mail for this as this notice is part of the MoJ Pre-Action Protocol and proof of postage could be paramount later on. This notice should be kept straight to the point. There are templates available on various websites, but’s it’s best to write your own. Title the letter ‘Notice of Intended Legal Action’ to be clear to the lender that this is a pre-action warning that needs responding to. Summarise the fact that you now intend to commence legal action as they have not resolved your cause for complaint. Then clearly state what they have done wrong and the laws, regs, guidelines etc they are in breach of i.e. CCA, DPA, FCA/ICO regs etc. You can quote examples of other FOS cases of identical nature which have been upheld if necessary. You must also be clear about how they can put things right and avoid your intended action. Give them a minimum of 14 days to respond satisfactorily. Receiving letters such as this is not something that payday lenders are typically used to. In some instances, they may fold there and then and settle your complaint. In other instances, they will continue to dispute everything in your claim and may pass the matter on to their legal department (i.e. Colin, two desks over in the office). Other times they may ignore you completely thinking that you are bluffing. If they either dispute your claim or don’t respond after 14 days, here’s where you start your legal claim. [NOTE: Only start legal proceedings if you have the required evidence to prove they are in breach of statute law(s) and/or regulatory rule(s). You will need to demonstrate clearly why they are at fault]. It’s really not as daunting as it sounds. The easiest way is via Moneyclaim Online. Open a Gov Gateway account and all the instructions are there. The fees for doing it online are cheaper as well. For claims up to £300, it’s only a £25 fee, for up to £3000 the fee gradually increases to £105. All fees are added to the total sum you are claiming for, so you’ll get them back if they settle or you win later on. You’ll have to complete the N1 Particulars of Claim form. This is what will be sent to the defendant and it needs to comply with the Practice Direction. There are numerous guides available for completing this. But keeping it very simple and on point is the best way to go. Once sent, the defendant has 14 days to respond by either Acknowledging Service and admitting liability, accepting partial liability, or registering their intention to defend. If after 30 days, there has been no response whatsoever, you can apply for a Summary Judgement against the lender and they will have a CCJ registered against them. Upon receipt of the claim form, most lenders are typically not going to want to end up in front of judge pleading that they are a responsible lender and that the FCA got it all wrong. In addition, as soon as a court hearing is allocated for a payday lender, the Daily Mail will be all over it like a Diana exclusive. The press love stories against these companies and it would only trigger more bad PR for them. So, it is much more probable that they will try and settle outside of court. In the unlikely event that they do take it all the way, worst case scenario is you don’t win, however, this is unlikely if you use your evidence and other case studies effectively. If you have an outstanding balance with them, it’s probably best to thread carefully if the sum you’re claiming for is less than you currently owe. I think if more people started issuing claims against these dismissive lenders, they would have to start resolving complaints sooner. But as it stands, most complaints are not upheld and that’s the end of it. Irresponsible lending of unaffordable loans are the biggest cause of complaint, and if taken all the way, I’m very confident that everyone can be awarded the appropriate redress. Use all of the information available to you and never take a lenders final response as the final word. Good luck with your battles, keep going and you will win in the end!

So as the title say can they refuse permission? Do I need their permission? It's regarding a loan I took out in 2011. At the time I had already been using payday loans since Oct 2011 several times a month with several different companies, rollovers, same day borrowing, several on the go from different companies and at the time I took out the loan I already had loans outstanding with 6 other payday loan companies and it far outstripped my income leading to a default on the all in April 2011. I contact CFO 2 weeks before repayment and they refused a repayment plan telling me that they didn't "do" repayment plans and I had to pay the full balance or default and refused to provide me with paying in details. I got details from here and started paying back small amounts but like others on here they hounded me with emails, texts and phone calls to the point I was scared to check my emails or turn on my phone. They sent Daniel Silverman after me and offered their Resolve Loan which I obviously didn't take although I do believe if I had that would have compounded the problem. The loan which started at £250 has ballooned despite payments of £93 initially, my payments then started being rejected by CFO and returned to my bank. I certainly think its irresponsible lending on their part and put in my complaint. I've had their final response back saying that as a goodwill gesture they will reduce my balance to just over £400 and that my complaint is out of time for the FOS and they don't give me permission to take my complaint to the FOS. I've obviously rejected their offer, I believe at the least the should reduce it to the original loan of £250 minus what i've paid plus compensation for the unsympathetic and frankly appalling way they treated me when I told them I was in financial difficulties also they should remove the default. In an ideal world i'd say wipe the balance but I don't see them or FOS agreeing to that so I need to be fair. I've kept a good paper trail of all emails from them except the Resolve texts and emails as I've got a new phone since then and must have deleted the resolve email Is this the end of the line for my complaint or can I go to FOS?

Hi Everyone, Hope you are all doing well. I am just looking for a little reassurance that I am doing the right thing really. I have been in debt since 2012 with payday loans, to say they have ruined my life is an understatement, I know I have responsibility for this, but as you all know, desperate times call for desperate measures. I have emailed in complaints currently, to Sunny, Wonga, MyJar, QuickQuick, WageDay Advance AND MoneyBox247. During the years of 2012 – 2016, i took out so many loans with them all, the main ones being Wonga, QuickQuid and MoneyBox247. It go so bad, at one point i nearly had to go into bankruptcy, but was saved by my family with a £26,000 loan in 2014, so it does show me paying back a loan or two early, but as I stated in the emails, it wasn’t because I was able, it was because of the above. I am just looking for opinion really, do you think I stand any kind of chance? I just hope I’m not wasting my or their time with it. 247 MoneyBox. 5th March 2013 – £110 borrowed – £141 paid back 27th March 2013 – £185 borrowed – £262 paid back 1st May 2013 – £300 borrowed – £439 paid back 28th May 2013 – £480 borrowed – £692 paid back 15th June 2013 – £80 borrowed – £156 paid back 10th July 2013 – £300 borrowed – £404 paid back 26th July 2013 – £100 borrowed – £171 paid back 30th July 2013 – £480 borrowed – £692 paid back 5th August 2013 – £400 borrowed – £551 paid back 7th September 2013 – £300 borrowed – £412 paid back 12th September 2013 – £100 borrowed – £133 paid back 20th September 2013 – £480 borrowed – £698 paid back 22nd January 2014 – £125 borrowed – £211 paid back April 2014 Loan – 30th May 2014 – Extended current loan – Paying back £671 on 27th June 2014 After this loan, I had to take a big helping hand from family in the form of a £26,000 loan as from all of the loans the previous year and up to May 2014, I was in serious financial troubles and close to bankruptcy, so this stopped me lending from June 2014 – January 2015. 26th January 2015 – £200 borrowed – £252 paid back 13th February 2015 – £150 borrowed – £168 paid back 9th March 2015 – £400 borrowed – £473 paid back 2nd April 2015 – £380 borrowed – £468 paid back 20th May 2015 – £125 borrowed – £167 paid back 10th June 2015 – £150 borrowed – £170 paid back 9th July 2015 – £150 borrowed – £177 paid back 29th July 2015 – £384 borrowed – £479 paid back 3rd September 2015 – £300 borrowed – £367 paid back 22nd September 2015 – £80 borrowed – £104 paid back 30th September 2015 – £400 borrowed – £499 paid back 31st December 2015 – £411 borrowed – £509 paid back 7th January 2016 – £200 borrowed – £286 paid back 18th January 2016 – £300 borrowed – £403 paid back 12th February 2016 – £300 borrowed – £417 paid back Wonga – This is by far the worst. 2nd February 2012 – NEW LOAN £100 – £132 29th February 2012 – NEW LOAN £250 – £333.62 9th March 2012 – Topped up previous loan – £75 – £325 Total – £431 to pay back. 11th March 2012 – Topped up previous loan – £70 – £395 Total – £521 29th March 2012 – £580 NEW LOAN – £771 to be paid back. 4th April 2012 – £100 NEW LOAN – £133 to pay back 9th April 2012 – Topped up previous loan £100 – £201 Total – £261 to pay back. 25th April 2012 – Topped up previous loan – £50 – £251 Total – £319.40 to pay back. 2nd May 2012 – £100 NEW LOAN – £133 to pay back. 6th May 2012 – Topped up previous loan £250 – £350 Total – £453 to pay back. 7th May 2012 – Topped up previous loan £200 – £550 Total – £711 to pay back. 2nd June 2012 – £250 NEW LOAN – £374 to pay back. Had to pay late – Received late payment email on 29th June 2012. 9th July 2012 – £100 NEW LOAN – £133 to pay back. 27th July 2012 – £790 NEW LOAN – £1077 to pay back. 29th July 2012 – Had to contact WONGA as unable to meet repayments and had to set up a repayment arrangement. I was making payments of £269.00 for four months, last payment was made on 30th November 2012. Immediately after this repayment plan finished, I was still in big financial difficulty, which my credit check and affordability checks would have shown, also the fact that only a few months prior i just finished a repayment arrangement, I don’t feel I should have been leant to. I was desperate, how ever Wonga should of known better. 1st December 2012 – £250 NEW LOAN – to be paid back. 6th December 2012 – Topped up previous loan – £50 – £298 Total – £397 to be paid back. 7th December 2012 – Topped up previous loan – £50 – £348 Total – £465 to be paid back. 7th December 2012 – Topped up previous loan – £50 – £398 Total – £532 to be paid back. 8th December 2012 – Topped up previous loan – £121 – £519 Total – £685 to be paid back. 6th January 2013 – £50 NEW LOAN – £69 to be paid back. 11th January 2013 – Topped up previous loan – £120 – £170 Total – £219 to be paid back. 11th January 2013 – Topped up previous loan – £50 – £220 Total – £285 to be paid back. 11th January 2013 – Topped up previous loan – £50 – £270 Total – £352 to be paid back. 11th January 2013 – Topped up previous loan – £50 – £330 Total – £418 to be paid back. 11th January 2013 – Topped up previous loan – £50 – £380 Total – £485 to be paid back. 29th January 2013 – NEW LOAN £570 – £745 to be paid back. 31st January 2013 – Had to contact Wonga again to inform them of my financial problems, and needing to set up a repayment arrangement again. In arrangement from 31st January – 4th June 2013. 10th June 2013 – I applied for a new loan, and Wonga again re borrowed to me. I find this very responsible, when I have been in to repayment arrangements previous to this now, along with a very worrying lending pattern. 10th June 2013 – NEW LOAN – £400 – £481 to be paid back. 12th June 2013 – NEW LOAN – £120 – £146 to be paid back 17th June 2013 – NEW LOAN £98 – £115 to be paid back 17th June 2013 – NEW LOAN – £110 – £145 to be paid back 17th June 2013 – NEW LOAN – £53 – £65 to be paid back 17th June 2013 – NEW LOAN – £61 – £75 to be paid back 28th June – I again had to email Wonga and inform them of my financial problems to set up once again, a third repayment arrangement. I was in this arrangement from 28th June 2013 – 28th October 2013 paying £120 back each month. 1st July 2013 – I finished my arrangement in June, and again was allowed to re borrow from Wonga. 1st July 2013 – NEW LOAN – £449 – £595 to be paid back. 25th July 2013 – NEW LOAN £220 – £239 to be paid back. 14th August 2013 – NEW LOAN £552 – £646 to be paid back. 19th February 2014 – NEW LOAN £106 – £125 to be paid back. February / March – A loan of around £1000 was taken out, I am unable to find confirmation of this in emails, but 30th March – £1353.40 was due in one single payment to which I had to change the promise to pay day on and extend from the end of February. 23rd March 2014- I AGAIN had to contact Wonga in regards to setting up ANOTHER repayment plan due to being in financial troubles – THIS IS MY FOURTH REPAYMENT ARRANGEMENT WITH WONGA IN TWO YEARS. 28th April 2014 – 28th January 2015 Arrangement – I was paying back £156 per month 27th September 2014 – I was emailed like many millions of others, to be told my most current and recent loan, was included in their affordability issues – No others! Just this one! And the remainder of my balance was wiped off, totaling 4 x £156 payments that i had left to make. Again, after having 4 repayment arranges with Wonga – They allowed me to borrow again. 13th December 2014 – NEW LOAN £250 – £283 to be paid back. 15th December 2014 – NEW LOAN £100 – £114 to be paid back. 15th December 2014 – Top up of previous loan – £100 – Total to be paid back £437 28th December 2014 – NEW LOAN £250 – £312 to be paid back. 3rd January 2015 – Topped up previous loan – £100 – £120 to be paid back 3rd January 2015 – Topped up previous loan – £100 – £479 to be paid back. 4th January 2015 – Topped up previous loan – £94 – £591 to be paid back. 12th February 2015 – NEW LOAN £150 – £168 to be paid back. 17th February 2015 – NEW LOAN £100 – £108 to be paid back. 2nd March 2015 – NEW LOAN £350 – £420 to be paid back. 22nd March 2015 – Had to set up ANOTHER REPAYMENT ARRANGEMENT! This my 5th in total in the space of 2012 – 2015. I finished paying off my loans on the 3rd July 2015. Quick Quid – Is a very similar store to Wonga, including two repayment arrangements and with them being told i was in financial problems, and they re borrowed again. I am very sad about it all, but I know you have all been in the same boat, and will not judge. I appreciate anything you can help with. It has only been a week, so I am sure it is a long road ahead, but out of curiousity, I do wonder if my story may have any hope. Thanks so much, Lillyx

Hello, I started a PPI claim from MBNA (credit card) PPI was automatically added, The card started about 1995 (I was about 20) still used today. I have been told by the FOS (via a ppi claim company) that MBNA has said a time bar applies to my claim as I received statements and the ppi would have been on them. Well sure it was every one would have who had PPI. I understand this is fair enough and there will be people saying this is my fault but I did not even know I had PPI (hence miss sold) and this was my first credit card when I was young and obviously a lot went on this card to get me by in the early years, Also to be honest I never checked every transaction I simply look at the amounts and mentally check the figures I still do the same today with all my accounts. I am extremely tied up from 6am until around 8pm working and paying lots of tax... lol I have read about the 6 and 3 rule and also a lot of posts revolving around this matter, I feel this is a loop hole at which all banks can refuse PPI on maybe 9 out of 10 requests, so is this PPI coming to an end and shafting the late claimers who have only heard about PPI reclaiming on the media ?. I feel let down by the FOS at the moment as if PPI is Fraudulently or secretly added is does not matter when it was? I have re submitted/escalated to the FOS stating I was not aware of the PPI until my first phone call to MBNA within the last 2 years and asked on the phone what is this payment for ? Has anyone else had this issue and had a resolve ? Thankyou

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3503678/How-new-CD-player-torpedo-car-insurance-firms-refusing-pay-motorists-claims-basic-modifications-without-telling-them.html It would seem Insurers are increasingly rejecting claims, due to Policyholders not declaring information relevant to the risk. If people are in doubt about anything that could affect the risk, they should phone the Insurers to discuss and either get written confirmation or make a full record. The FOS report over 7,000 complaints about Motor Insurance, with 25,000 enquiries. People should be aware that the FOS do try to reduce the number of complaints they handle, by trying to filter out those they do not think have any merit or are not worth looking at. If people think their complaint is not being taken seriously by the FOS, they should obtain other advice by coming to consumer sites like CAG. Depending on the details, it could be worth pursuing in other ways. Remember that the FOS is funded by the financial services companies and has always been underfunded, so struggles to deal with the volume of complaints received. It is not unknown for some complaints to take well over a year to resolve.

Hiya, any advice will be gratefully received. I started a PPI claim against santander early 2014 for a loan which was taken out in 2001. They claimed to have settled a PPI claim on this account in 2007. In 2007 they settled a 'bank charges' claim for a closed current account not a PPI claim for the loan account. I have never claimed for PPI on any account until early 2014. But in 2007 I had taken on quite a number of banks for charges. I had a call from the FOS today. They said that santander had provided evidence of this settlement. I asked what the evidence was and he said it had the loan agreement number on it, the amount, date and that it was for PPI. Non of this information is true. It's totally fabricated. I expressed my concern to the FOS and he said he'd contact them again to ask for further details. I called santander straight after to request this information and told them it's totally untrue and fraudulent! I'm hopping mad. I don't want to let them get away with this. But what do I do? The FOS have to make a decision on the information they have. I haven't kept anything from my charges claim, as far as I was concerned the matter was closed so I destroyed everything. If they FOS rule in their favour, how do I complain without any evidence? Thornyangel

I cancelled my Barclaycards returning them to BC who did not advise the credit reference agency which might have affected my credit rating. After writing some letters with no reply I started the formal complaints procedure with BC and still no reply so referred the file to FOS. I requested that BC advised the credit reference agency, explained, apologised and paid me compensation of £100. FOS ruled in my favour and I await the payment from BC who apparently had not received any of my letters. So I am a happy bunny.

I have a historic debt with Welcome Finance which, after a prolonged period of time, has gotten back in touch with me. Having read a few posts on this site, I think there may be a few options I can look into with regard to possibly reducing the balance on this debt. There is quite a long story here, so let me explain as best I can.... 18 Aug 2001: Purchased 2nd hand car from Direct Car Finance. Finance provided by Welcome Finance. No PPI. Shortfall Insurance also taken out for full loan term. Breakdown and recovery insurances also taken out, not for full term. Loan repaid erratically. ?? May 2002: Car stolen and not recovered, motor insurance paid out for a total loss. Shortfall insurance also paid out. Both lots of money went to Welcome against loan balance. Loan continued to be repaid erratically. April 2003: I signed a new loan agreement to enable the balance to be used to pay off the car loan, which now had no security as the vehicle was stolen and I was left with an unsecured loan to pay off. I have in my possession a full list of transactions on my account from inception to this date. Jul 2005: After once again falling behind with my payments, I signed another new loan agreement. If i recall correctly this was to allow me to reduce my payments by taking the balance over a longer term. May 06: Last payment to Welcome I have a record of. Jan 2007: Moved house, lost contact with Welcome, heard nothing from them until March 2010 when a letter from Willen arrived. I have my copies of the Aug 01 and Jul 05 agreements. I also have a large number of cash receipts from payments I have made, probably most but definitely not all of them. I have the vast majority of correspondence from them. I have read reports of some people having success in defeating Welcome due to incorrect clauses in the Credit Agreements. The two agreements I have clearly state that PPI is not a part of the agreement, and I think it is extremely unlikely I have it on the 3rd agreement. It is over 6 years since my last payment to Welcome, if my final receipt is indeed the final one. My frustrations are two-fold. Firstly, despite a large total amount of money being paid to Welcome by me, and additional payments from the motor insurer and the shortfall insurance company, I still owe over £2000. Secondly, Welcome were a rude and scary company to deal with, to the extent that I had cause to place a written complaint with witnesses to them regarding a DPA breach in 2004. To be totally honest, I am sick of this having been a millstone around my neck for over a decade now and am looking for any way I can to reduce / clear the balance, perhaps with reference to the original agreements, charges applied, statute of limitations, etc. The end-game I am looking for is where this shows as fully settled and satisfied on my credit file, and I am prepared to negotiate some sort of settlement to achieve this if I have to, but would like to explore all the options. I have scanned and uploaded copies of my loan docs, but unfortunately cant attach the link due to a low post count. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer. I am just a bit confused as to what my options might be....

Hi, I wanted to see if anyone has had a complaint against a PDL upheld with FOS and in particular if FOS had recommended that the full loan amount was to be refunded. Typically they will advise to refund loan charges etc and looking through some of the cases it seems that FOS will state that the debtor had the benefit of the loan so this should not be refunded. I agree with FOS in a small way, but when it comes to a PDL lending 14-16 times in the space of less than 2 years then surely there is a case to be answered and that is would it not have been required of the PDL to confirm affordability or even consider reliance on PDL's once the 3rd/4th loan had been requested. If as in many cases once a debtor asks for his 4th loan then surely this is reliance and therefor no additional loans should have been granted. If they were not granted then the debtor wouldnt have had them in the furst place - hence why they should be repaid in full.

hi been trying to claim back ppi on a credit card with midland bank/hsbc now since 2013 . i have no statements left but can produce some paperwork for 12 months they denied i had a cc but re searched by hundreds of phone calls and eventually they agreed i did have one but no ppi was on it . the cc was from 1986-2003 and did have ppi and went to metropolitan collections in the 90s the debt was fully paid up. hsbc said prove it or go away, i tried the insurance root for the policy number with axa who tell me the credit card number is the policy number and insurance is inhouse with hsbc. hsbc said not with them . so did a sar which was waste of time 7yrs of transactions of banking. eventually enquired with dataoffice and dc sent out by mistake copy of card details, start and end dates customer/card account numbers. i have asked for the past two years for them to confirm that ppi was on card from day one but they will not answer this question, i went down fos route which was fast tracked due to health but they wont or cant get hsbc to answer it either. i am at a total loss as what to do now should i just give up as the stress of this has not helped my illness. this is the short version of this sorry tale the first time i have ever e mailed anywhere so opologies if a bit rubbish.

We were sold a 25 year Standard Life Decreasing Term Life Assurance policy / Mortgage Protection Plan on our first property / mortgage in 1990. It was also a condition according to the company representative who we had the meeting with. We have moved twice since then and mortgage amounts increased (with same lender) but we continued to pay the same monthly premium. Should the original policy been amended / updated to coincide with increased borrowing / coverage ? Thank-you

Can someone give me a rough turn around time for FOS complaints? Thanks

Hi All Just after a bit more advice.. It has just come to me that a couple of years ago, one of my PDLs sent me court papers. It was one I had been rolling, rolling for ages then payment plan which I could not keep to. I ended up settling by paying the full balance including court costs interest fees etc because the court papers freaked me out at the time. Can I still take this lot to the FOS or make a complaint based on irresponsible lending like my other loans?

Hi All, I've got a couple of PPI claims that were with Shop Direct of which the FOS has upheld my complaints Back in Jan, the FOS said they were not happy with the way Shop Direct have been handling the refunds (on a mass scale not just my accounts) and is now being discussed at a more senior level. However this does not currently help me, as one of the debt collection companies which shop direct sold an account to, has turned up TWICE to my address - both times I stood my ground and they went away.. Today the FOS have comeback to me and stated that SD are willing to do an interim Payment based on two options: 1. Shop direct would buy the debt back from Lowell and would deduct the PPI and interest paid and this would then decrease the debt. The interim payment would then be deducted from what you owed Lowell and if there was no more left to pay you would receive a cheque for the amount that what was left over. 2. You could have the interim payment issued to you but this would mean the full amount you owed including the PPI charges would still need to be paid to Lowell if you did not use the money for paying off the debt. Of course I've opted for Option 2, as I dont trust them. BUT option 2 did not read right with me also - it seems that the FOS are telling me that I must use the funds to pay off the DCA even though there is a MIS-SOLD debt which they already know about? Anyway - I was wondering as to how they should calculate the refund(s) as I have the following: Account 1: PPI Charges £450, Annual Account Interest 49.4% - charges taken between May 2009 & September 2011 Account 2: PPI Charges £100, Annual Account Interest 49.4% - charges taken between April 2010 & September 2011 I've tried filling out the Calculation sheet's found on this site and seem to get £3.5K compound interest for account 1 and £800 for the other. Is that right? FOS also gave me the impression that its Charges + APR + 8%?

Hi I went to FOS over loans with lending stream. To cut a long story short. I had 4 loans with them and claimed they irresponsible lending. This was because I had other payday loans etc. They also lent me (2 loans) after I had defaulted with them. Yes I was irresponsible and was ill at the time I agree I should not profit and pay back what i borrowed but not the interest. I heard from FOS who said Lending stream were willing to wipe out the balance on the 4 loans. They said this was a fair offer and the decision they would come to However I have already paid back more than I borrowed. I also was claiming compensation from lending stream using CPA sometimes 8 times in one night making without telling me resulting in additional stress and bank charges. What I don't understand is if FOS agree it was irresponsible lending why have they said Lending streams offer is fair. I f they think the lending was fair then I should pay back the interest. How is this a decision I have appealed

I am in the process of a complaint regarding my late Father's estate. His medical insurer have withheld information relating to who provided his healthcare since 2009. Medical records are available to me under the Access to Health Record Act and I have requested this from a number of institutions which formed part of a litigation process surrounding invalid/ potentially fraudulent Wills. The health insurer stated that it would be a breach of the DPA to provide this information and invited me to gain appropriate legal status. At great expense, I did. They still refused to provide me with the private healthcare provider list and invited me to contact every healthcare professional in the country to see if they treated my late Father. Absurd! Having consulted the ICO, the DPA is not applicable here as the providers are acting in their professional capacity, so they are hiding behind inappropriate legislation. The adjudicator had never even heard of a 'grant of probate', which is shocking. So how did they make a decision upon my rights as executor? Yep, you got it, they couldn't be bothered to find out and made up their own version of the Administration of Estates Act! HMCTS have confirmed that a grant of probate is sufficient and the insurer's request to get a court order is unnecessary and possibly will be seen as a waste of court time. I referred the case to the FOS. It took over 4 months to be allocated to an adjudicator. The adjudicator was extremely inexperienced. I was invited to provide a breakdown of the legal costs for which WPA forced me to incur by leading me down a garden path. I stated this would take a week or so to compile from the legal bill narrative. Two days later, I received a letter (the adjudicator took less than a week in total to conclude their findings on a complex matter) stated that the firm believed the DPA to be in effect. Despite my extensive documentation and the adjudicator's own admission that it was a 'lengthy' complaint, it seems the adjudicator couldn't be bothered to deal with it properly and simply wanted to get it off the desk as quickly as possible. Upon speaking to the manager I was refused to be notified how long the adjudicator took to review the full file (hundreds of pages of documents) and had to source this from the helpline. Tellingly, the manager told me that the time that the adjudicator spends looking at the file before concluding is 'irrelevant' and the adjudicator had ignored most of my complaints as only the 'key issues' as defined by the adjudicator, not me. I was also told by the manager that this particular adjudicator's workload is extremely large and the individual was not feeling well and had to be stationed in one of their 'quiet rooms' for the day. Hmm... The whole process is bizarre. They quite clearly have no idea what they are doing and when I explained this to the helpdesk staff, they clearly admitted that they don't really help consumers. I don't see the point in their existence and have absolutely no confidence in the FOS now as it seems like a big game for firms to play with. It's a no brainer to send all complaints to the FOS if I were a firm as it's a safe risk due to the incompetence of the FOS. No wonder they are busy and it's in excess of 6 months for a case that has been referred to a full Ombudsman to be re-reviewed. Any similar experiences with the FOS?

Citizen's Advice believe that the majority of payday loans could be complained about; their in depth analysis of 665 payday loan cases, reported to its consumer service between 1 January and 30 June 2013, finds that at least 76% could have grounds for an official complaint to the Financial Ombudsman including: 1 in 5 were possible cases of fraud – where a person was chased for a loan they hadn’t taken out. More than a third involved issues with continuous payment authorities including money that was not authorised to be taken. 12% involved harassment whereby lenders pester people with phone calls and text messages rather than accept affordable repayment offers. 1 in 10 were about lenders’ unfair treatment of people in financial difficulties. Why you should complain to the FOS Every creditor is allowed 25 free investigations by the FOS, all subsequent investigations will be charged at £550 each to the lender. You can read more about the way the FOS charges here: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/QG1.pdf Given that payday loans are generally given for small amounts, the charge made by the FOS is often very high by comparison - usually more than the actual loan amount. As such complaining could put a massive dent in a payday loan lender's profits. In addition, you may find that a lender agrees to write-off a loan as it could be financially cheaper than allowing a FOS investigation. Get complaining, it makes a LOT of sense. Make your Complaint HERE

If a credit card account is in arrears and PPI claim is up-held by bank, do they offset all of refund against arrears ? Will this also include the net 8% statutory amount or will that be mine ? I have tried looking on FOS website for some clarification for this circumstance but I cannot find anything ? Thank-you

Hi I stupidly took loans out with lending stream. I then had my hours cut and was unable to pay. I emailed them and asked not present direct debit as it would be rejected. they stil went ahead and made lots of withdraws at midnight for £3.00 even though I owe them £100 The bank phoned me and as I did not recognise the amounts put a stop on the card and my account. I have open another account but I am confused what do I do now. Will they agree to a repayment plan over 1 year? Really worried they will start phoning me at work

Since 1988 we have been victims of fraud by a Building Society – now part of a major bank. In 2006 we exposed part of the fraud ourselves; the FOS upheld our complaint; on the same day the Building Society registered their displeasure by surcharging us an amount equal to twice the refund ordered by the FOS. Evidence discovered subsequently via the FOS (using the Freedom of Information Act) showed there had been other infractions by the Building Society. The City of London Police declared there have been fraud; we now have a case number. They asked us to forward details to the Financial Conduct Authority. Our mortgage was redeemed precisely on the prescribed date but, unknown to us at the time, the amount was split by the Building Society and used for other purposes. By way of explanation to the FOS, the Building Society claimed that an endowment policy had been inadequate. However, there had been no endowment policy used in the settlement. That had been the third piece of false evidence they had submitted to the Ombudsman. A surcharge valued at 10% of the mortgage was made against us by the Building Society soon after. There had been other such sanctions by the BS totalling over half the capital amount of the mortgage. At the time of our invoking the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Bank seemed to be aware there had been earlier transgressions by the Building Society, for some pieces of information had been redacted. We have notified the ICO. Our numerous letters to the Building Society asking them to address these issues have been ignored for the past 7 years, They have however continued to charge us £40 routinely, now amounting to over £11,000, all of which is based upon a fake debt, contrived by the Building Society. Action Fraud have explained they are too busy to progress our case. The FCA do not deal with individual cases. I, at the age of 77, do not have the funds to confront a major bank at court. We have been given to understand that the Statute of Limitations (the 6 year limit) which is available to defendants at the FOS, should not be available in cases of criminality, and so our case was not suitable for the FOS to deal with, either in 2008 or again now. 1. Is there anyone who finds this at all familiar? 2. Does anyone have a useful suggestion on which way I should turn next for help? For reasons of brevity there is much I have not explained here, but I have compiled a chronological and more comprehensive account, cross referenced to a compendium of evidence.

I have started a new thread here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?448084-An-interesting-link-on-mis-sold-PPI This relates to the good decision by the FOS on offsetting PPI claims against old debts I hope you drop by and have a read. This maybe of use to many other debtors in a similar situation.

Just had a completely ridiculous experience with the FOS. Rather than rewrite it all here it is part of my thread in the Debt Subforum http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?376861-1st-and-second-mortgage-negative-equity-on-property-what-happens-next (The FOS comes into it towards the end, if you don't want to read the entire story )

Hi, New to this so apologies if this should be posted elsewhere. To set the scene - got a Barclaycard in 1992 and had PPI on the advice of the person in my local branch. Tuens out I could never have claimed so cancelled it in 2002. Still have the credit card so tried to claim back. SAR didn't go back far enough but CCA proved I had it. Barclaycard rejected my claim so I went to FOS. They investigated and found in my favour (hooray!) - they wrote and told me Barclaycard would put me back in the position I would have been in if I hadn't taken out the PPI. Question is - if there are no records how will amounts be worked out by Barclaycard to put me back where I would have been? Has anyone had a similar experience?

Hi, I hope someone might be able to provide some general advice. I am trying to reclaim £450 in Platinum Card membership fees, I have already unsuccessfully been through their complaints process and they've sent me the FoS leaflet. 1 - I've had both a British Airways Amex card and a Platinum Amex Charge card (with flexselect credit) for almost ten years. The latter has a membership fee of £450, paid in December 2 - I hadn't actually used the Platinum Card for two years until April 2015 when I tried to use it to pay for a hotel abroad - declined, despite my statement telling me I had over £1000 of my £3500 Flexselect credit available 3 - I rang Amex, and they essentially told me that because I was a risky customer, they were declining to put through my charges. Yes, late last year I ran into financial difficulties and had problems making loan and credit card payments and this will have affected my credit file 4 - However, at no time did Amex tell me I can't use the card. There is no notification on my online account, and I have received no letters or phone calls, so this is the first I had heard of it 5 - In fact the card does work sometimes. It usually works for smaller (less than £20) amounts in supermarkets etc. Not always. Yesterday an £8 charge went through, today a £17 one didn't 6 - I wrote to Amex making a complaint asking that my card be downgraded to one of the free ones, and that as I had been sold a card I can't actually make full use of, that my year's membership should be refunded 7 - Amex has rejected the complaint saying I could only have a pro rata refund (which I guess would be £300 odd) and making me aware that they can basically stop me using it when they want as it says so in the Tcs and Cs I would now like to complain to the FoC. The basis of my complaint will be that Amex knowingly sold me a card membership I can't make full use of, and never told me that I can't fully use the card. Had I known this, I would not have paid them the £450 at the end of last year. I have two questions: 1 - There is £550 due to be paid next week, some of this is from the small purchases I have been able to make - public transport, small supermarket shops etc. The rest is from my flex select balance. I am in a position to pay this, but would there be any grounds for me not to, if I am disputing the account? Or would this make things worse and I should just pay up as normal. 2 - Because the Amex card seems to work for most smaller charges, does this in any way negate my complaint? The £450 membership is sold with various travel benefits, but as I discovered I can't actually use the card when travelling Any other advice of how I should approach this with the FoS is appreciated. Thank you for hearing me out, all being well I'll look to submit my FoS complaint in the next few days

Hi all Apologies for the long post but I have been lurking/reading for a quite a while now and wondered if somebody could explain in laymans terms if there's any chance of me having a default removed from my credit file as I can't really make sense of all the jargon?! I had a student account with Santander that had a maxed out £2000 overdraft. I had been reducing it slowly after graduation and managed to reduce the limit to -£1000 with a £350 cash deposit (which was a large sum of money to deposit into the account at that time). Only a few days later I went to New York and couldn't make a payment on my current account debit card (I'd forgotten to notify the Halifax that I was going abroad) thus used my Santander card - completely forgetting that I'd actually reduced the limit after making the deposit. This transaction went through fine, shortly after I received a letter to say my interest free graduate/student account had been changed to a current account, and I needed to pay back the overdraft immediately and would be accruing charges and interest until it was paid back in full. After finishing university I was only able to find work part time at a bar. So I set up a £50 a month payment plan. A handful of times I knew I would struggle to be able to make the payment but I always called the bank to let them know either prior or on the due date to make alternative arrangements and this always seemed satisfactory. Santander have sent a trasnscript letter, outlining they would have told me at the time of the calls that it could effect my credit score but I don't recall this. I struggled to clear this account in full, and felt I had done well in doing so, particularly having started to clear the account so soon after graduation - only to find out so many months later that the account that it had been registered as a default. The only reason I am even aware of the default is because a finance company declined my application. I then used a credit reference agency (Experian) to get an explanation and the result came back that I had a default that I was not aware of. I've received a FRL from Santander instructing to go to the FOS, which I will. I'm just wondering if anyone has any idea on my chances with this one? I received no default notice, and there is no 'D' on my credit score? In fact, there is no '1, 2, 3' it goes straight from solid green ticks to '5, 5, 6, 6' - which are the four months immediately after the account closed and I had to pay back the £350 to get out of my unplanned overdraft and THEN start the payment plan. As a student who'd just graduated from a fashion degree (not cheap) on a part time bar wage I find this to be unfair treatment. My account was managed well prior to the overdraft reduction and managed well after the three or four months where I struggled when the account changed over. I don't actually know why it was changed to a current account?! The account is now settled and had been for over 12 months, but remains open (but unused). Any advice at all would be incredible, I don't really have anyone to break this down to me in layman's terms… my mum's advice was 'well you just learn about these things along the way'. Sure… one default in mum! It's extremely frustrating as my credit score is actually ranked 'good'. Many thanks in advance! I really appreciate any advice, no matter how little W