dundeelaw, did you adjudicator tell you this verbally or put this in writing. my case has been settled in my favour similar to suzanne and the position seems to be that there is nothing FOS can do so the info you have been given seems to be at odds with what FOS are telling us suzanna, should we set up a thread in the financial legal forum on this? I'd be happy to support any action that you are taking financially if others believe there is merit in progressing this through court etc

this is clearly a ridiculous situation - i dont believe there is anything legally that FCA can do to stop a company winding up but surely they could have done something to ensure that there was a condition to ensure when the debts were sold on that all liabilities were covered minicredit have done fos and fca up like a kipper!

absolutely shocking, given the behaviour of customers when minicredit were operating it would have hardly taken a mastermind to figure out they were likely to screw people over again. also seems to me that there is nothing to stop other pdls doing the same?

perhaps citizenb or one of the guys could get someone with legal knowledge to give us a steer on this? when i queried this with opos, they claimed they only have liabilities for the portfolio of debts they bought e.g if you were not a customer in debt which got sold then they have no rights suzanne, that is even more frustrating than my case thn as i have just had my decision, as yours was determined before they wound up. what i cannot understand is how they were allowed to sell their debts without any clause or condition being included to honour existing complaints

i wonder if the forum moderators could ask any of the guys with legal knowledge to advise on the chances so that we dont spend any more money on it? my understanding is that minicredit do not exist as a company anymore so i dont know who can be taken to court? its clear that minicredit have done the fca up like a kipper and anyone who has complaints like us. i have been raising this with months with fca and fos but it seems these companies can simply wind up and run with the money

hi suzanne. fos told me to wait 28 days of which i have about 10 days to go. did fos give u a definitive final answer?

MrsT - congratulations. the service level is supposed to be 28 days between FOS and companies. I have had a similar predicament with Wonga where they ignored me for almost 9 months so looks like it is a deliberate strategy on their behalf (which goes against the grain of the FCA guidance on complaints handling btw) I have been waiting over 2 weeks for Wonga to make the payment so 2 weeks to go - am expecting them to make me sweat it out the full 2 weeks. Believe if they havent paid after 28 days it gets passed to the FOS Enforcement Team What a horrible shower Wonga are!

fkoffilee- i cant see how restropsective entries like this make myjar comply with the new regs. most of the pdls did not report to the CRA's in the past and prob do have to now but in this case this is either just vindicative def get a complaint on this

Hi, I have a number of current complaints lodged with FOS against payday loan companies. All but one adjudicator has happily shared the responses/evidence from the payday loan companies but one in particular has stated the company must give their consent to share the evidence they have provided. This seems contrary to how any typical arbitration or court process - only seems natural that both sides get to see the evidence. I appreciate that anything commercially confidential should be excluded but I very much doubt that is the case. The adjudicator has told me that I am aware of "salient points of the case" Before kicking up a fuss and possibly getting a vindicative reaction from the adjudicator, I am just looking to see if anyone else has had this experience? And what are the rights and wrongs of it thanks

def report to fca immediately, they have recently done a report in their website on payday debt collection practices

that sounds pretty nailed on with quickquid, you would imagine the need for a repayment plan indicates financial difficulty! most of my loans involved excessive rollovers ( in one case over 25) so that was the angle i took. you should give the credit file entries a shot- id put it as a condition on your fos complaint form on the basis that if the loans should not have been granted in the first place tben u should be put back in the position u would be in if you hadnt received them

well done oceanic, hope it all works out for you. as i said before my experience is that fos throws a few curveballs in despite some if the complaints being identical, it seems to depend on the adjudicator. are u asking for credit file entries to be removed as well?

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.

are u sure on that fletch? I have emailed Opos/Kapama to see what they are saying but I fear they will just have bought their debts and not be responsible for any of the actions of the company related to FOS complaints

bad news for anyone with outstanding FOS complaints against Minicredit - here is the reply I got this morning from FCA. AS expected these guys can just ride off into the sunset with their saddlebags full of cash Dear X Thank you for addressing your concerns to Martin Wheatley. He has asked me to respond on his behalf.I apologise for any delay in response to you previously.However, as stated previously, Minicredit has had its permissions with us cancelled on 29 December 2014. As such, they do not have any relationship with the FCA as they are no longer authorised by us. They appear to have ceased trading and this can be confirmed by the entry on the Companies House website, which states the firm has dissolved. You can search for this firm by clicking on the link here.Your second question relates to the liability of the firm when a case is upheld with the Financial Ombudsman Service and based on what appears from the website, the firms liabilities (including debts it owes [may have been reflected in the process of passing these accounts over]) may have been passed onto Kapama Limited, who now manage the majority of these accounts. As I would not be able to ascertain this information for you, you may wish to contact Kapama Limited directly via the contact details below to attain further information on who is responsible for any debts that may have been owed by Minicredit before they dissolved: Scott Dawsonsdawson@oposlimited.com I hope this answers your query and provides you with a platform for your next actions. Yours sincerely,

similar situation to thread in minicredit forum, you would have to be dubious about whether they would honour complaints or pay redress if they are going out of buisiness. there doesnt seem a way that either fca or fos can force them to set aside funds either

FYI of anyone with existing complaints with FOS against Minicredit- I've been in contact with FCA re the status of Minicredit and what if any arrangements are in place for them to honour existing FOS Complaints. Here is the latest email I sent (escalated to MArtin Wheatley) Hi X, Thank you for the prompt reply and I appreciate the effort and time you have taken to respond . However, as with the response that your colleague X provided, the form of words you have chosen does not really directly answer my question which is quite frustrating (hence my escalation to Martin) I understand your point about the complaints process in that I can lodge a complaint with FOS and have already done so. However, what I am not clear about is the honouring of any redress that arises from any complaints that are upheld. If Minicredit are under no obligation to pay redress for this upheld complaints, then the actual complaints process will be largely worthless and probably not worth the effort (particularly as Minicredit will have had the benefit of selling on their debts on so will exit the market with what I would imagine is a very lucrative outcome given the extortionate charges they have levied on customers) Perhaps answering yes/no to the following questions may clarify things: - Are Minicredit still trading and is there still have some form of relationship or arrangement with FCA? - Can Minicredit wind-down the company without honouring the redress that may be due to customers as a result of upheld FOS complaints? I'm sure you understand my concern - given Minicredits actions in the past, I would strongly suspect they will take the most cynical approach to whatever option is open to them

thanks oldrouge - yes her savings, job role and ability to get additional money from family would meet lending criteriawe would be on same address in a rented flat but that would not constitute financial relationship I would assume? e.g. no shared bank account or bills etc

I have a similar question although different circumstances so may be best in a separate thread?. I have a poor credit history but signifcantly reducing debt and reasonable savings. No defaults but a number of payday loans up to 2013. Was going to leave any application until 2016 to leave clear blue water. My partner has excellent credit record, substanital savings and very secure NHS employmentMy worry is that we do a joint-application that my poor history will "pollute" her excellent history (along with the other elements of embarassment with friends and family). I was thinking the best means may be for her to take out mortgage initially and then I could come on board at a stage where I am more likely to be accepted. Is this reasonable and do-able?

oceanic, i had similar deal with payday express based on rollovers and unaffordability. I needed the money so I did the deal early based on a similar figure. I estimated that it would be 6 months or by time it got to ombudsman and then whatever it took for them to pay up so I couldn't wait that amount of time. I was also interested in getting credit file entries removed so attached that as a condition of the deal which they accepted. based on similar decisions on the FOS website, you will probably win a full refund given the amount of extensions and the blatant lack of affordability checks but from what I have seen, the ombudsman can also throw the odd curveball so its not entirely a shoo-in The other concern I had is how many of these companies will exist in the next year or so - if you look at my post today on the minicredit thread, you will see i have had a result against them with the FOS but havent a clue if I'll ever see a penny of it!

I have just had word this morning that my complaint against municredit has been upheld by the adjudicator but as minicredit have not replied then it will have to go to go ombudsman for final determination. does anyone know whether i will have a cat in hells chance of getting my interest and charges back given that minicredit are on the wind down. i have written to the fca asking them what wind down arrangements they have in place do so that outstanding complaints are dealt with? dundeelaw, did u hear anything more about this?

thanks caro and sparkles for replies - yes i do have an overdraft so perhaps that is why my balance is being reported. good to hear that the CU are not solely relying on the credit reference agencies - the world has gone a little mad with this stuff I fear. Given how some payday loan companies were allowed to act in an almost criminal manner, it is galling that they have the luxury of recording their toxic loans on a credit file which is almost a double whammy

Many thanks citizen b and sparkles - very helpful replies. In relation to your q's - Were you asked to sign an up-to-date loan agreement, which would explain that they would carry out a credit search and that information would be shared in return? YES -yes, they did explictly ask if I agreed to a credit search which triggered my attention! They had never done this before - and actually refused me for the first time ever given my levels of debt which are quite high and to be fair was probably the first time they had a full view on them. After I pointed out my good repayment record and significant savings, they then did offer me a loan on the basis of consolidating debts which was fair enough although they insisted on paying the creditors directly ( this was a bit pointless as it was two credit cards of which I could have just went and withdrew the money again or spent again but I appreciate their thinking behind it was to help me) - You wouldn't be charged penalties if you want to repay some of the loan with savings, which would bring down your overall debt burden for referencing purposes. My local CU do prefer you to save whilst borrowing and think it is really six of one or half dozen of the other in that I believe my savings are security against the current loan and I couldnt touch them anyway - You could, although I wouldn't recommend it, ask for a note to be put on your file to say that 'the net amount is x' (others on here will be able to explain better than I, but notes on file are rumoured to linger long past the issue itself and can lead to a 'refer' which some high street lenders allegedly treat as a 'decline'). yes ill steer away from that course of action with notes on my file in case it comes back to bite me later! Having got into the payday lending trap, I am a big fan of credit unions and as I have said they have been my lender of last resort on a number of occasions. My only general concern is if they move into the realms of credit checks and the like with ALS method you describe for example, is this ultimately not more likely to disadvantage those people who don't have access to mainstream credit because of poor credit history/score? Appreciate bad debt and risk needs to be managed but quite a lot of people like myself were able to rely on a good repayment history instead of a good credit rating. Interestingly when they refused me initially on this loan, it was for an amount less than I had previously borrowed Caro, know what you are saying although my current bank accounts report positive balances on my credit report so seems a bit contradictory that a positive balance is not reported but perhaps because it is regarded as savings rather than a current account

well as soon as the account got added to the CRA my credit score went down substantially - just think it would be much better if it showed i owed 4k instead of 7k. the 3k is offset against the loan so not really the same as having separate savings

thanks citizen, well as i owe them 7k and have 3k of savings then it would make my oustanding debt look a bit healthier on my credit report! Do you see any downside reporting what the savings?. The 3k savings are secured against the 7k debt anyway via promissory note so not as if I can do what I want with them