Buddy Loans - failed IRL Claim

[Sassylassy]

several weeks ago I emailed buddy loans via Resolver, this is the initial communication:

 

Dear Sir / Madam,

I am writing to you to raise an issue about: Guarantor Loans

 

The issue that I have experienced was: I took out a guarantor loan in June 2017, I declared myself as working with an income of £2600 before tax. This was my husbands income as I wasn’t working. I showed proof of our income and our child benefit payments.

 

Our loan was for £5000 but in total out repayments were £11,804.45. As we were desperate for money at the time, we didn’t consider the affect of this loan or the high amount of interest we were being charged. It occurred on: 2017-06-06

 

This meant that Taking into account our rent which was £1050 per month, council tax at £230 a month, debts which were taking up around £300 a month we wasn’t left with much to live on. But we made every payment and didn’t miss any as we left other bills to pay this one as we didn’t want my father in law to have to make payments.

 

Refund of all interest paid plus 8% interest.

I look forward to your prompt response on this matter.

As recommended by Trading Standards, I would like to keep a complete record of my case, so please reply to this email address.

Yours faithfully
 

I got this back today:

 

Further to our email dated 6^th April 2021, I have now investigated your complaint and outline my findings below.

 

My understanding of your complaint is:

• You believe that your loan with Buddy Loans was unaffordable for you and that insufficient checks were carried out at the time it was approved.

   

My Findings:

Buddy Loans are a responsible lender and conduct thorough Underwriting checks on all Borrowers and their Guarantors before a loan is approved. These checks include identity, credit history, income verification and affordability. Your loan was no exception and would not have been granted had either of you not met these checks. 

 

For example in your case, we ran a credit search using TransUnion (previously called CallCredit). TransUnion are a global company and world leaders in providing credit data.  This check also includes a credit score that is used in our decisioning. If you want to check your own credit profile for free you can contact them directly at www.checkmyfile.com 

 

The FCA handbook also asks that we assess “evidence of income” and “evidence of expenditure”. You told us on your application your self-stated income which you also sent us evidence of.

 

The Financial Crime team have reviewed your application due to your disclosure. You advised within your application that you were a full time employee of GBA Ltd since February 2009. You provided copies of your bank statements showing payments from GBA Ltd going into your bank account. You also would have disclosed this information via a telephone call with a representative of Buddy Loans. Therefore, you provided the information suggesting that you were employed on 3 separate occasions.

 

Whilst I appreciate that you were 'desperate' for the funds, your disclosure within your email dated 27^th March 2021 that this was not your income but in fact was your husbands means that you have committed a crime. We will be passing this account to our Money Laundering Reporting Officer for them to potentially take further action by reporting this incident to the National Crime Agency.

 

In terms of calculating your affordability, we calculated affordability by matching your self-stated validated income against considerations such as; 

a.           validated net monthly income from employment or benefits as shown on your bank statements

b.           monthly rent or mortgage. 

c.           stated debts, and financial commitments reported to TransUnion. 

d.           existing debt including high cost shot term loans, alongside. 

e.           monthly expenses as estimated by the government reporting agency the ONS. 

 

All loan interest rates and fees were clearly stated on the web site prior to loan acceptance, on the electronic contract you signed and, on the contracts. These charges meet with the FCA guidance on allowance interest charges. You were eligible within a 14-day cooling off period to have repaid the monies and cancelled the loans, with no charge, an option you did not choose should you have considered the loan was provided incorrectly. 

 

I have reviewed the underwriting of the loan agreement and I am happy that sufficient checks were carried out and that the loan was affordable for you. 

 

Outcome

Due to the reasons above, I am unable to uphold your complaint.

 

Please note that, under the terms of our Complaints Procedure, this is our final response.  If you are dissatisfied with it, you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. For more information, please read the enclosed guide ‘Your Complaint and the Ombudsman’.

 

You have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge – but you must do so within six months of the date of this letter.

 

If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances

 

Please confirm your understanding and acceptance of this letter as our final response on this matter.

 

Yours sincerely

 

do I continue or shall I leave it?

At the end of the day, even with my husbands income we couldn’t afford the loan and even our credit record showed we were in debt!

 

any advice is appreciated

 

Sassy

 

[dx100uk]

and do you still owe them?

 

dx

 

[Sassylassy]

No it’s all paid back, I paid it in full in September 2019...literally paid off all the interest in 2 and a half years of payments and only paid £600 off the actual loan.

 

The income was my husbands, but it was the correct income we had coming in at the time, couldn’t afford the loan but we still got given it.

They went on my word and the bank statements, I didn’t have to show actual proof of employment.

 

Regards

 

Sassy

[dx100uk]

urm.. dont think you really have anywhere to go

did you get some interest knocked off when you settled early or did you?

 

[Sassylassy]

We had pretty much paid all the interest off, got a loan for £5k paid £200 a month for 30 months and when I settled it I still paid £4,400

So you don’t think I can pursue my claim for interest back?

[dx100uk]

so almost £2k cheaper than letting it run it's full course. you got some int taken off

dx

[Sassylassy]

Yeah which I expected when paying early, I was just wondering if there was anything I could do with regards to the unaffordable loan?

 

sassy

[dx100uk]

pers i don't think so but if the refute is within 6mts no harm in raising it to the fos.

 

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