Payday UK/MEM irresponsible lending claim

[UKDomains]

after recently discovering we could claim back from PDL's,

I recently approached Payday UK for a statement of my account.

 

It was a general query and they immediately responded and said my complaint had been forwarded to their complaints team and they had 8 weeks to respond. 8 weeks arrived and they said they were still investigating my complaint. Great, hadn't made a complaint yet, was just asking about the default on my credit files and a list of my loans I had taken out with them

 

After about 10 weeks they sent me a statement. I was actually shocked when I looked back at all the lending!

 

First loan was taken out in June 2009, and continued till October 2011, when I defaulted and never paid them the outstanding amount of £650. Every month, I either paid off in full, or deferred payment and part paid an amount in "rollover" fees.

 

They only started checking my credit report in april 2011.

 

Amounts involved over 28 months:

 

Amount borrow: £4 625 (including interest)

Interest alone: £2 900

 

Each month I would either pay the whole amount, and then either reloan the same day, or a few days later as I needed the money to survive the rest of the month. I then also started making the mistake of taking other PDL's out to repay them.

 

I feel that with minimal checking, they provided me loans for over two years without checking affordability and should have realised that I was reloaning all the time and that I was spiralling downwards.

 

I took my last loan with them in October 2011 and they defaulted me in July 2012.

 

I intend to accuse them of irresponsible lending.

 

What are my next steps? Do I just email them back saying that I feel I was lent money irresponsibly and that I want a refund of the interest? and default removed?

 

Please advise.

[citizenB]

You need to make a formal complaint pointing out that you believe you have been the victim of their irresponsible lending. There are plenty of threads in this forum that will give you ideas on how to do this.

 

If you have a copies of your credit files then you can point out that they did minimal or no credit checks where they would have established htat you were struggling.

 

You can point out that even from their own records, they should have realised that you were caught in a cycle of debt with them - borrowing in order to repay the previous loan - borrowing in order to make it to the end of the month because you had repaid the loan in full !

 

Your letter needs to go to their Head/Registered office and must be marked quite clearly that it is a complaint.

[UKDomains]

Thanks CitizenB, I have spent a few hours today reading a lot of reclaiming threads.

 

What I would like to happen:

 

Reclaim interest I was charged (Do I include 8%?) Do I work this out, or rely on them to come back with an offer before making a decision?

They remove the default and all previous markers on my credit files.

 

I will update this thread with my experiance.

[citizenB]

I will alert fkofilee for you.

[fkofilee]

Good Evening UKdomains.

 

First off welcome to CAG (Says him munching on his dinner ) lets help get you sorted.

May i please see the full summary of all loans?

Please also answer the following questions;

 

- Gambling Involved?

- Issues with Other PDL Companies? Spiral Debt with more than one PDL Company?

- How much was your income on a monthly basis compared to the loan? (Were you ever unemployed)

- Did you ever give incorrect info to acquire a loan?

- Rollovers... How many?

 

Be warned that as you have already sent them an email for a summary etc and their complaints team responded accordingly, it may be seen as a complaint that has been resolved from their end and they may reject a further "Proper" complaint.

8 weeks to supply a summary is **** poor IMHO.

 

I will be around this weekend, If you can get more info great. Failing that, A SAR Request and £10 will work wonders here - Notes on account etc

[UKDomains]

Good Evening UKdomains.

 

May i please see the full summary of all loans? SEE ATTACHED

Please also answer the following questions;

 

- Gambling Involved? NO

- Issues with Other PDL Companies? Spiral Debt with more than one PDL Company? JUGGLED ABOUT 3 PDL'S AT THE SAME TIME

- How much was your income on a monthly basis compared to the loan? (Were you ever unemployed) MY TAKE HOME PAY WAS ABOUT £1450/MONTH. SO AT TIMES ABOUT HALF MY SALARY

- Did you ever give incorrect info to acquire a loan? NO

- Rollovers... How many? ERMMMM.... ABOUT 18 IN 28 MONTHS

 

Hi fkofilee, please see my answers above in red. I've edited the complete loan history they sent me, removed my personal details. I've attached it.

Thanks for looking at this.

MEM Loanbook SOA - redacted.pdf

[fkofilee]

Oh i see what they did, pay off £100, we give you more, pay that off we give you even more....

This is typical of PDUK.... More questions...

 

Did you tell them when you hit financial arrears?

Why did you stop paying? Did you pay anything off after the last payment of £25?

[Dale1985]

Just out of interest fkofilee (as you seem to know your stuff) what would the situation be if a) gambling was involved and b) if you did use incorrect info to get the loans?

[UKDomains]

Oh i see what they did, pay off £100, we give you more, pay that off we give you even more....

This is typical of PDUK.... More questions...

 

Did you tell them when you hit financial arrears?

Why did you stop paying? Did you pay anything off after the last payment of £25?

 

Actually, those last £25 I didn't make those payments. I think it was interest that they deducted.

Stopped paying as I was juggling too many PDL's, had bailiffs knocking on the door for outstanding council tax, and was just fed up of not being in control of my money. I do not recall ever telling them I had financial problems.

[fkofilee]

Just out of interest fkofilee (as you seem to know your stuff) what would the situation be if a) gambling was involved and b) if you did use incorrect info to get the loans?

 

Hi Dale

 

Read; http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=457677&goto=newpost

[fkofilee]

Actually, those last £25 I didn't make those payments. I think it was interest that they deducted.

Stopped paying as I was juggling too many PDL's, had bailiffs knocking on the door for outstanding council tax, and was just fed up of not being in control of my money. I do not recall ever telling them I had financial problems.

 

ok UKD... If you didnt tell them, then it gets harder to claim, if you had discussed your arrears etc with them and they failed to help, this would be a no brainer.

So.... Do you have proof of all the loans taken from all providers and also any proof of council tax arrears with bailiffs?

[UKDomains]

My credit report would have shown at the time loans from wonga and cash genie. Cash genie was removed about a year ago as part of their redress process and small cheque they sent me.

Council tax: I might have some correspondence from them still, but am unsure of that. It was due to tossendales that I became involved with payday loans, but that's off topic and my own bitterness towards them

[fkofilee]

Council tax doesnt show up on CRAs which is a shame because it would have helped.

Be careful with this one. Could end up blowing up in your face if not done right.

 

Technically speaking, did PDUK give you a yellow leaflet about the FOS?

[UKDomains]

No. They never sent me anything. I have lots of emails reminding me it was overdue, then emails from Keyes Whitlock, only ever emails. They never ever sent me letters or a yellow leaflet.

[fkofilee]

Okay well all I can day is that right now, youll need to place a further complaint with them advising that they havent actually had a complaint off you yet.

What evidence do you have that suggests it is unfair?

 

Do you have bank statements? Do you have any info on your CRA file? Go to Noddle and Clearscore and find out what they have as you will need to check they did CRA searches etc.

[UKDomains]

The first time payday uk is mentioned on my credit report is April 2011. 22 months after I started lending with them.

I have SAR'd Lloyds for my bank statements as they closed my current account due to PDL's clearing my Acc out, going overdrawn as they let some transactions through despite me verbally telling them not to. But that will be another thread soon.

[UKDomains]

So a bit of an update on this:

 

In January I emailed Payday UK asking for more information regarding the default registered on my credit file, as well as a list of all previous loans. They responded and said they had registered my complaint. I hadn't actually laid a complaint, just asked for more information. Then took 10 weeks to email me the statement of account. (Post 6)

 

Two weeks ago I laid a formal complaint regarding all the irresponsible lending over 28 months.

Today I received a reply from Payday UK saying:

 

Our records confirm a complaint has been registered reagrding your concerns that you feel your loans were lent to you irresponsibly. This was registered in January 2016 and an acknowledgement letter was sent to you at this time; as 8 weeks have since passed and we have not been able to issue you with a final response letter you are within your rights to refer this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service should you wish to.

 

Now bearing in mind that they have not actually looked at/dealt with my complaint, should I:

 

a. Wait for another 6 weeks so that I know it has been 8 weeks since my complaint.

b. Do as suggested and go straight to FOS

c. Wait for my SAR's to banks for bank statements and THEN go to FOS?

 

Payday UK have demonstrated that they cannot even respond correctly to an email.

[UKDomains]

Well just a quick update on this.

 

FOS looking at my complaint, I think they are slightly snowed under with complaints.

 

I emailed all the forms to them and they said they'll get to it in two weeks, which was today. Got a quick email asking for proof I had complained to Payday UK, so I forwarded to them my email sent in January, as well as all the replies from Payday UK where they asked for more time to investigate, and then their additional email saying it's been 8 weeks and they do not have a response yet for me, so I should take it to the FOS.

 

I expect this to be a long drawn out process.

[azzadle]

FYI my complaint to PDUK started in August 2015 and wasn't resolved until almost the end of Jan 2016.

 

They fully milk the 56 days then delay responses to the FOS.

[UKDomains]

Thanks for your comment. How did your case progress? Did you have to go through Ombudsman, or did they accept adjudicator's decision?

How long after FOS decision did it take for them to actually pay you?

 

I'm trying to guage how long this process will take now, and if it will be more of an uphill battle.

[azzadle]

Timeline:

 

Asked for statements 22nd Aug 2015

Letter received with statements a few days after

Complaint sent 26th Aug 2015

Exactly 56 days later - offer of 20% of my claim, went to FOS

FOS complaint logged same day, acknowledged a week later

Bit of to'ing and fro'ing between PDUK and FOS

Offer of 75% of claim on 9th Jan 2016, accepted

Money received 26th Jan 2016

[UKDomains]

Just a small update:

 

Adjudicator sent me a copy letter yesterday which he had sent to Payday UK.

 

He agrees with my assessment that Payday UK lent to me irresponsibly, and has recommended that they repay me all interest charges, plus 8% interest on these charges, plus remove all their records from my credit files.

 

He has given them two weeks to respond, and finishes off by saying they are welcome to escalate this to the Ombudsman if they disagree, but he doubts that the decision would be any different.

 

So now the waiting/negotiating might start. I've worked out the interest and 8% interest is in the region of £2 500, so would be interesting to see what they offer if they do.

[UKDomains]

Another update today:

 

PDUK responded to the adjudicator saying they were offering £800as compensation, minus the £600 I defaulted them, totalling £199 they were willing to give me.

 

I replied to the adjudicator that I was insulted with that offer, seeing that the 8% interest totalled more than they were offering me. The adjudicator's recommendation was that they repay interest charged plus 8% interest. I worked this out to be currently £2900. Was absolutely peeved off that they were offering approximately 10% of what they were told they should repay back.

 

Suppose this will go to ombudsman now.

[fkofilee]

Another update today:

 

PDUK responded to the adjudicator saying they were offering £800as compensation, minus the £600 I defaulted them, totalling £199 they were willing to give me.

 

I replied to the adjudicator that I was insulted with that offer, seeing that the 8% interest totalled more than they were offering me. The adjudicator's recommendation was that they repay interest charged plus 8% interest. I worked this out to be currently £2900. Was absolutely peeved off that they were offering approximately 10% of what they were told they should repay back.

 

Suppose this will go to ombudsman now.

 

Hi UKD - Sorry its been a while since i checked in with this. Im sorry to see that they shafted you on Compensation. I think the clearing of the debt is actually a fair settlement, although i do beleve that they should write this off and not take it out the amount they were going to pay you.

But add in the fact thats it £200 money for you. But I agree that if the OMB has said to do that, then it might be worth pushing with them to get them to cough up. If the decision is made by the ombudsman and then they STILL Dont cough up, you can go legal if required. As long as the Ombudsman rules.

[UKDomains]

Hiya

 

The adjudicator actually sent me an email on Friday with a letter regarding me rejecting their offer. Interestingly enough, it seems that PDUK disagreed with his findings. His letter states:

 

"an ombudsman will review your complaint:

 

Because the business didn’t agree with my recommendations, an ombudsman will review

your complaint and make a final decision."

 

So it seems that PDUK didn't agree with the adjudicator in the first place about his findings.