Mis-sold PDL - Claim back interest fees - any experience?

[Megan99]

please keep us updated with your progress as I am interested in persuing 3 PDL complanies

[mummyfightsback]

Hi everyone

 

I thought that you might like to be updated on my complaint.

 

The FOS adjudicator has upheld my complaint and recommended the following from the six payday lenders I raised concerns about:

 

• that I be refunded all payments made (plus 8% interest per year from the date of payment) less the loans received
  
• a note of 'satisfied' being added to my credit file
  
• that I receive payment of £250 compensation for distress and inconvenience
  

 

Four of the businesses in question have agreed to the above, one (Wonga) have refused to accept them and the case has now been forwarded to the Ombudsman, the last one (WageDayAdvance) have not responded yet so that will also be forwarded on.

 

I am both surprised and thrilled by the outcome and hope that my experiences will spur on those of you who are also considering making a complaint. I also hope that it strengthens the argument for there being an investigation into the mis-selling of PDLs.

 

Good luck everyone

[swanleyboy]

Wow. Well done you! I can hear hundreds of little fingers now typing to emails to all the PDL's!!

 

How much will you get back??

[mummyfightsback]

Thanks for your response. Yes, I do hope that my victory will inspire others to take on the PDL companies... that's my main reason for posting about it on here

 

I will get back around £15,000 when I realised how much interest I had paid back!

[2ltr16valve]

So if I read this right .... If you are forced to take out another loan because you can not afford the repayment in full we could follow your complaint and get the interest and charges back ?

[renegadeimp]

Nobody forces you to take another loan out, but they do use pressure tactics. CFO being a prime example.

[A girl called Flow]

The wording 'recommend' would worry me, a bit like you can pursue a court claim

but not be guaranteed a payout, yes guess it will just see the PDL's invest in solicitors and the like to fight 'spurious claims'

 

Wouldn't surprise me if it is just because the change of chief exec to the FOS... that's the cynic in me

or we're just not being told the whole truth for the benefit of a wider audience?

 

Strange how there has been no update from the actual originator of this thread...

As someone who worked in PPI claims in a past life, that was hard enough and victims of that proven scandal were not given top up's of £250 so easily

I don't foresee anything more then an exceptional 1 or 2 cases, please don't give people false hope

I feel for the people having problems paying who then can't set up repayment plans because a PDL's attention is elsewhere, that's the travesty of this

or someone losing their job

lets hope a victory is worth it - NEVER thought I'd say that but I've grown up a bit and compo of monetary value isn't everything

[mummyfightsback]

Hi 2ltr

 

There were two aspects of my complaint that the fos saw as evidence of irresponsible lending - lending to me in the first place when I was already in a large amount of unmanageable debt (clearly evident from my credit file); and then continuing to lend to me (often increasing amounts) on a monthly basis for nearly two years, which resulted in me taking out further loans from other companies.

[mummyfightsback]

Hi Flow

 

I have read an re-read your post and am still not quite clear how much of it is directed at me. I have been very clear to say that this is an adjudicator's recommendation (which is not binding) rather than an ombudsman's decision (which is) and I am happy to post again once the ombudsman has looked at the two outstanding complaints.

 

I have shared my story openly with good intention and I am in no way attempting to give false hope, quite the opposite. It is not clear from your post who is not telling 'the whole truth', if you are referring to me then I have to take exception at your comment as my posts have been genuine and do disclose my whole story.

 

I, like you, also feel for the people having problems paying and struggling to set up a repayment plan because that was the position that I was in, which is why I am telling my story of fighting back. I agree that PDL behaviour on setting plans up is often a travesty, which is actually why so many people like me ending up borrowing from others.

 

I am not sure who you are referring to as 'losing their job', would you like to elaborate?

 

Finally, thank you for your concern but I can confirm that I have 'grown up' a great deal through this and learned a lot about myself and can say without reservation that the victory is well worth it! Both on an emotional level, having a sense of pride and achievement in taking on the PDLs and winning and having my voice heard has been really important for me. And, whilst I agree that money isn't everything, the money I have already received means a huge amount to me and my family and has enabled me to thank those that have supported me through my struggle - it has already paid for holidays, home improvements, a better car and, most importantly, allowed me to set up saving accounts for my two little ones (hopefully to give them a good financial start).

 

I am more than happy to respond to any further comments/questions from you or anyone else.

 

Thanks

[DarrenAs]

Hi mummyfightsback

 

Just to say many thanks for sharing your experience and congratulations on what you achieved.

 

I've been in very much the same position as you and the original poster (wouldn't it be good to have an update from him/her?)... And I also saw this thread on Moneysavingexpert http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4965788 which maybe suggests that real momentum is building around this issue?

 

I would love to begin the process of challenging the companies that loaned to me month after month (even after I had defaulted and completed repayment plans) - it was a horrible trap to be in. I just find the whole idea of taking them on very daunting - and I really don't know where to begin. Did you complain to them, or go straight to the FSA? And is your case on the FSA/ombudsman website yet? It would be great to read their ruling in full. I'm assuming there are no templates/guides to lodging a claim like this?

 

Anyway many thanks again!

[mummyfightsback]

Hi Darren

 

Thanks for your message, I apologise for the delay in responding but have been on one of those holidays I mentioned

 

Thanks too for posting the link to the MSE thread, I hadn't seen this so was really pleased to read that both Simon and the person in the case from the FOS site have had similar decisions to mine. As you say, this suggests that there is real momentum building as the FOS staff are clearly singing very much from the same hymn book. I know that there is a movement towards seeing PDLs as the next mis-selling scandal so it is helpful to see where the Ombudsman sits with this right now.

 

You have to complain directly to the companies in the first instance as the FOS want to see the outcome of this before they will take it on. Once I had the (mostly laughable) responses from the companies I was complaining about I then took it to the FOS. I don't think my case is on the website yet.

 

I'm not aware of any templates, I put together quite a concise complaint on two points - irresponsible lending (I had already defaulted on a high level of debt prior to taking out the loans - something that the ombudsman reiterated in her findings) both initially and on an ongoing basis; and on mis-selling as these are designed to be short-term products so lending every month for over two years is not selling them as they are presented.

 

Hope this helps and I wish you luck with your own complaint. Please don't be daunted by it. The sense of empowerment I felt in just making the complaints was huge, I wasn't expecting the outcome I got and in terms of me finding my voice it actually didn't matter whether they found in my favour or not.

 

Thanks

[DarrenAs]

Thanks! If your case does appear on the FOS site it would be great if you could let us know on this thread? I think that being able to read their full findings would really help a lot of people.

 

Thanks again for your information and encouragement. If I make any progress, I'll put it here.

[freeofdebt]

Hi,I too was lent money by numerous payday loan companies even after I defaulted with others and some even lent again after I defaulted with them and paid them back. I realise it was my own choice to take these loans out. Is it realistic to assume these companies would actually agree to compensation?even get a few pound of them would be almost impossible. Any advice please?

[Kay159]

PDL Victim

Hi there

I was wondering what the outcome was with northway

I had a payday loan with them for 21 months which amassed over 3k of interest. I defaulted with a balance of 900 3 years ago. I wrote to them claiming irresponsible lending and they wrote back saying although they did not credit check at the time they did nothing wrong

I sent yhe final response to the FSO whodirected me to the one in Malta

Within 3 days I had a revised letter from northway denying irresponsibility but writing off the balance as a gesture of goodwill

Im not sure if the Maltese FSO would be in a position to uplhold my claim or rescind the offer on the table atm

What happened in your case. Did you ever recover interest charges

I tend to think such a fast turnaround in the offer means they are running scared if the cases passes through sdjudication

Any advice?

Thanks

Andrea