Payday Loans ** Successful outcome **

[Irishson]

Hello i have posted a few times before about my situation but to quickly clarify, i have taken payday loans out in the past and these have had a negative impact on my credit worthiness. I recently applied for a mortgage with skipton and was declined due to my history of payday loans.

 

I took out loans with Wonga, Payday UK, Lending Stream and last year Quick Quid!! With the exception of quick quid the other 3 loans were from 2010 to 2012. It got to the point were i was borrowing from wonga more each month and had deferred my loan with payday uk each month for a year, which meant it almost became like a monthly bill, and then borrowing extra from lending stream to make up the short fall. i eventually got to the point were i had to contact them and arrange a payment plan.

 

This was with payday uk and wonga as i had settled the lending stream loan. Both Wonga and Payday Uk were contacted before the loan date, they asked for an income and expenditure they then offered me another deferral!! Then i was told that i had to wait until the loan was due and i missed the payment for them to consider a payment arrangement. Both Wonga and Payday UK have marked me as defaults on my credit report and i feel this was not accurate as i had contacted them weeks before the loan date express concerns for my financial situation.

 

I want to write to both companies asking for the inaccurate information to be removed. I understand this is a long shot but then i would also like to complain to the FOS for irresponsible lending. I was just wondering if there is a good way to start, do i start with a SAR? if so is there a template, or is there simply a template for a starting letter. I know this was my fault but i feel these companies are vampires and needs one more person to start a complaint, I was in a vulnerable position at the time, i was young and im paying for it now. Any Help would be appreciated.

 

Edited February 17, 2015 by citizenB
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[citizenB]

Indeed a Subject Access Requests would be worth obtaining because you will have all the information you require in order to move forward with your complaint.

 

They have 40 calendar days to provide this information to you and it will cost you £10.00.

 

Once you have all the data, you can then start on your complaint process.. First of all, a Formal Complaint to the Head / Registered offices of Wonga and PayDay UK. They have 8 weeks to provide you with a satisfactory response or a Final Response letter if it becomes deadlocked. At that point you can then escalate your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.

 

The draft SAR is linked below. Send them via Recorded or Special Delivery and print off the received / signed for receipts to keep with your records.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?387306-Full-Subject-Access-Request-**Updated-January-2015**

[citizenB]

Once you have received the data, then let us know and we can help you draft your complaint(s) to the PDLs.

[Irishson]

Once you have received the data, then let us know and we can help you draft your complaint(s) to the PDLs.

 

Thank you, I will get started on that and keep posting on progress!

[JEC1965]

Thank you, I will get started on that and keep posting on progress!

 

 

 

Hi

 

I was in similar position to you and was constantly lending from payday loan companies for 4 years.

 

I sent a formal complaint to Wonga and although it took a while I received close to £5k in refunded interest.I just went through all my bank statements and worked out how much I had paid over the years.

 

They agreed that the loans were not affordable. It is certainly worth an e-mail. I have been payday loan free for nearly a year and feel that this nightmare is finally coming full circle. I now intend to look at the other companies and send a complaint to them.

 

Good luck with your complaint.

[citizenB]

So pleased you posted JEC, I was going to link your thread as an example of what could be achieved, but couldn't find it

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?441280-Wonga-Complaint-Success

 

Irishson, have a read of JEC's thread ^^^^^^

[Irishson]

 

 

 

Hi

 

I was in similar position to you and was constantly lending from payday loan companies for 4 years.

 

I sent a formal complaint to Wonga and although it took a while I received close to £5k in refunded interest.I just went through all my bank statements and worked out how much I had paid over the years.

 

They agreed that the loans were not affordable. It is certainly worth an e-mail. I have been payday loan free for nearly a year and feel that this nightmare is finally coming full circle. I now intend to look at the other companies and send a complaint to them.

 

Good luck with your complaint.

 

Wow this is amazing!! If I have half your success I'll be very happy

[Irishson]

 

 

 

Hi

 

I was in similar position to you and was constantly lending from payday loan companies for 4 years.

 

I sent a formal complaint to Wonga and although it took a while I received close to £5k in refunded interest.I just went through all my bank statements and worked out how much I had paid over the years.

 

They agreed that the loans were not affordable. It is certainly worth an e-mail. I have been payday loan free for nearly a year and feel that this nightmare is finally coming full circle. I now intend to look at the other companies and send a complaint to them.

 

Good luck with your complaint.

 

Hello all, i have had a reply to an email i sent Pay Day UK (MEM consumer finance) I had complained about there proceedures and felt that they were guilty of lending irresponsibly.

 

In the letter which is quite long MEM have outlined in detail my lending activity and history with them in the time we had a relationship. they acknowledge all loans and the number of times they were deferred (ihave removed specific dates just in case)..."between december and july you applied on two more occassions (no amount was given) and you opted to defer the first of these loans on 5 occasions""it should be noted that you opted to defer your loan at your own discretion the option to pay was always available to you.

 

This was always donr via your on line account and at no point did you speak to an advisor prior to requesting these deferrals.""A loan of £320 with £80 interest totalling £400 was taking out in august 2011 and was due for repayment in september, our records confirm you opted to defer your loan 11 timeswith the last occasion being follwed by a payment of £80.53 being recieved in july 2012, this left a sum of £281.32 which was £225.06 pricipal sum and £56.26 interest" It goes on to mention the email i sent to ask for a payment plan, they acknowledge they asked for income and ex and then acknowledge that they offered me a deferal in this instance too, they also acknowledge that they shouldnt have done that and dont know why that happing (clerical error they guess.)

 

They then go on to say that they had to try for payment even though i expressed that i couldnt pay, this was apparently due to there processes. Then once the loan failed i had to send another income and ex and that the payment plan was agreed after i told them what i couldn't afford.

 

The interesting part is they have offered me a financial settlement of 50% of the interest i have paid as i have had a financial benefit in part to these loans. I am just seeking some advice on what to do next, is this common should i send it to the ombudsmen?

Edited February 24, 2015 by citizenB

[renegadeimp]

11 rollovers is the definition of irresponsible lending.

[citizenB]

Sorry, I don't understand, what do you mean they are offering you a 50% settlement.. they are offering you money to settle this or they want you to pay 50% to settle any outstanding debt ?

 

I am astonished that they allowed you to defer payment 11 times !! It is disingenuous of them to say that you did this online and no "human" was involved. After the 2nd deferral I would have thought bells would have started to ring and that they should have made contact with you to see what the problem was. Then to fart a$$ around when you tried to enter into a repayment plan !!

 

Am I right in understanding that it is default information you want removing from your records as part of any deal ?

[renegadeimp]

Discounts mean that a large part of the debt is bogus. They know it, but because their greed blinds them, they still try and act like they are doing you a favour. Theyre called legal loan sharks for a very good reason.

[Irishson]

Sorry, I don't understand, what do you mean they are offering you a 50% settlement.. they are offering you money to settle this or they want you to pay 50% to settle any outstanding debt ?

 

I am astonished that they allowed you to defer payment 11 times !! It is disingenuous of them to say that you did this online and no "human" was involved. After the 2nd deferral I would have thought bells would have started to ring and that they should have made contact with you to see what the problem was. Then to fart a$$ around when you tried to enter into a repayment plan !!

 

Am I right in understanding that it is default information you want removing from your records as part of any deal ?

 

 

Sorry my browser was faulty and lumped that together, the debt is paid off, I had complained about irresponsible lending with the loans I previously had taken out, they have offered me £600 pounds as a gesture of goodwill to settle my complaint of poor customer service and irresponsible lending on their part, which is 50% of the interest I was charged on all the loans and deferals etc. Their response and settlement over is a 'final decision response' it states on their letter.

 

And as regards to the default, that was with wonga, pay day UK issued an up to one month late notice on my file because it was paid late because the money wasn't in the account at that particular time. They did say they cannot remove anything that is a true and accurate account of my borrowing habits with them.

[citizenB]

Sorry my browser was faulty and lumped that together, the debt is paid off, I had complained about irresponsible lending with the loans I previously had taken out, they have offered me £600 pounds as a gesture of goodwill to settle my complaint of poor customer service and irresponsible lending on their part, which is 50% of the interest I was charged on all the loans and deferals etc. Their response and settlement over is a 'final decision response' it states on their letter.

 

And as regards to the default, that was with wonga, pay day UK issued an up to one month late notice on my file because it was paid late because the money wasn't in the account at that particular time.

 

Righto, well £600.00 for you to go away .. If you are happy with this sum, then take it. You would very likely have to wait up to 2 years for a resolution from the Ombudsman.

 

I would wait and see what others advise.

[Irishson]

Righto, well £600.00 for you to go away .. If you are happy with this sum, then take it. You would very likely have to wait up to 2 years for a resolution from the Ombudsman.

 

I would wait and see what others advise.

 

 

I will, I have just read a case study from the financial ombudsmen where a woman recieved all interest plus an additional 8% compound interest on the grounds that her loans were loaned irresponsibly, this however was wonga.

[Irishson]

Righto, well £600.00 for you to go away .. If you are happy with this sum, then take it. You would very likely have to wait up to 2 years for a resolution from the Ombudsman.

 

I would wait and see what others advise.

 

 

Hi do you think i should write back with a counter offer, I know they said their offer is a decision in final but the ombudson website suggest trying to resolve it with the company. My thought is that given they were very negligent I was going to suggest with the exception of the first amount of interest on each loan I would like the rest repaid?

[renegadeimp]

You pay what the court ordered or you get the ccj.

[Irishson]

You pay what the court ordered or you get the ccj.

 

There is no CCJ, the loan was always paid back in full, I'm complaining about irresponsible lending on their part, they have offered me £600

[citizenB]

You pay what the court ordered or you get the ccj.

 

Imp.. you have read things wrong.. there is no debt.. the company is offering this money for Irishson to drop his complaint about irresponsible lending !

[citizenB]

Hi do you think i should write back with a counter offer, I know they said their offer is a decision in final but the ombudson website suggest trying to resolve it with the company. My thought is that given they were very negligent I was going to suggest with the exception of the first amount of interest on each loan I would like the rest repaid?

 

 

I wonder if it might be worth providing a link to that FOS decision to the company ! I think because Wonga were investigated by the FCA/FOS, then these are going to be benchmarks.. Sadly, one can never assume that the FOS will make consistent decisions

 

If you were to make a counter offer, how much more would you be looking for ?

[Irishson]

I wonder if it might be worth providing a link to that FOS decision to the company ! I think because Wonga were investigated by the FCA/FOS, then these are going to be benchmarks.. Sadly, one can never assume that the FOS will make consistent decisions

 

If you were to make a counter offer, how much more would you be looking for ?

 

Well it will be significantly more to them but for me I think 2 deferals I can in a sense understand, the reason I defered so many times was because I was allowed to and buried my head. I feel the original loan balance and possibly 2 months worth of interest is more than generous to them because I didn't have a financial benefit to the original loan but the multiple deferals un did that significantly so as an example, the loan that was defered 11 times was I think the 4th loan I had with them, it was for £320 plus £80 interest, so instead of saying I want £880 interest which is the full amount i would say £720 they get to keep their two months, so it will be close to £800-900 I think?

 

Also here is the Fos link... http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=20264

[acid53]

irishson, id be careful about thinking that the FOS is a shoo-in and you would automatically get the same award as the case you have referenced. As citizenb as indicated, consistency is not a strength of the FOS. I have a number of cases with them about irresponsible lending with payday lenders and have a range of different initial decisions depending on the adjudicator (despite the fact that all of the cases had examples of extensive rollovers and multiple other lenders). When I get through all of the cases, I am intending to post full details so other people can reference my experience

 

IMHO, some of the adjudicators are conscientious, some basically just take the evidence from the lender as absolute truth and others just pass offers between both parties has been experience and be prepared for a long wait! I did a similar deal with MEM for around a similar figure as I needed the money quickly.

[Irishson]

irishson, id be careful about thinking that the FOS is a shoo-in and you would automatically get the same award as the case you have referenced. As citizenb as indicated, consistency is not a strength of the FOS. I have a number of cases with them about irresponsible lending with payday lenders and have a range of different initial decisions depending on the adjudicator (despite the fact that all of the cases had examples of extensive rollovers and multiple other lenders). When I get through all of the cases, I am intending to post full details so other people can reference my experience

 

IMHO, some of the adjudicators are conscientious, some basically just take the evidence from the lender as absolute truth and others just pass offers between both parties has been experience and be prepared for a long wait! I did a similar deal with MEM for around a similar figure as I needed the money quickly.

 

 

I see what you mean. I think I will just accept the offer, because I wasn't expecting it anyway! And then I still have to contact Wonga about their lending practices

[citizenB]

I see what you mean. I think I will just accept the offer, because I wasn't expecting it anyway! And then I still have to contact Wonga about their lending practices

 

I think this is a sensible decision

[Irishson]

I thought I should update my progress. After accepting from payday UK and then pushing forward with a complaint from Wonga, I am pleased to say I have been offered an apology and £1344 refund from Wonga. Patience has definitely paid off.

[citizenB]

I thought I should update my progress. After accepting from payday UK and then pushing forward with a complaint from Wonga, I am pleased to say I have been offered an apology and £1344 refund from Wonga. Patience has definitely paid off.

 

 

Nice one, well done for sticking with it