Can they do this?

louzi

Hi,

I was £100 short for my car repair after forking out my savings for a holiday. I went into a panic and applied for a loan through Mr Lender. After talking to them on the phone they offered me the automatically extend a loan option which I refused as I wanted to pay it off immediately. He said he was going to do a few more checks then call me back. In between him calling me back I came to my senses and decided not to go along with the lender as I was only 2 days away from payday and sucked up my pride and borrowed of my family instead. I usually don't keep an eye on my money (bad - I know! I usually do a balance check at the cashpoint) as I always have a surplus at the end of the month which just adds up. I've had a look through my online back today and have realised they have in fact given my the loan which I refused and I've been paying £42 per month to extend it!

I'm going to give them a call but do I have a foot to stand on? Or just suck it up, pay for it and actually get into the habit of looking at my online bank account!

MoneyMakesMeHard

It's strange that they gave you a loan after you refused. Are you sure you didn't accept first and then turn it down once they had sorted the loan?

If they have ignored your request to not extend the loan then you should be making a complaint. I would go straight to the regulator without speaking to the lender as they have acted incorrectly, they aren't meant to be coercing people to take out high interest short term loans for a longer period than the applicant wants.

louzi

MoneyMakesMeHard wrote: »

It's strange that they gave you a loan after you refused. Are you sure you didn't accept first and then turn it down once they had sorted the loan?

If they have ignored your request to not extend the loan then you should be making a complaint. I would go straight to the regulator without speaking to the lender as they have acted incorrectly, they aren't meant to be coercing people to take out high interest short term loans for a longer period than the applicant wants.

I actually remember saying on the phone that I didn't want it anymore. I needed to send them an email from my work address and didn't even do that!

Who would be regulator be? I've just done a quick Google search not been able to find out the name.

DCFC79

louzi wrote: »

I actually remember saying on the phone that I didn't want it anymore. I needed to send them an email from my work address and didn't even do that!

Who would be regulator be? I've just done a quick Google search not been able to find out the name.

You need to complain to the lender first then after 8 weeks (if you dont get the response thats satisfactory to you or they dont reply) take it to the FOS.

MoneyMakesMeHard

financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

add the www or copy paste into browser, i cant post links yet.

If you contact the lender first they will probably give you BS so you might aswel just go ahead and complain.

They coerced you into taking a loan out for longer than required even though you declined, with a high interest loan that is very bad.

MoneyMakesMeHard

DCFC79 wrote: »

You need to complain to the lender first then after 8 weeks take it to the FOS.

No, not first at all.

It's important that you complain first to the business you're unhappy with – and give them a chance to look into your problem. They have eight weeks to do this. We can help by contacting the business for you, and telling them about your complaint.

DCFC79

OP have a read of Mr Lenders complaints procedure here.

You need to get into the routine of checking your account on a regular basis.

Just to add OP, if you go straight to the FOS it could take weeks, months to get you your money back whereas if you complain to the lender you could get a refund within say 10 days.

MoneyMakesMeHard

Here's a review on mr lender, seems you aren't alone.

I applied for a same day loan before I went on holiday just for some emergency cash just incase. They left a voicemail saying they needed more information before they could process the loan. I didn't give them more information so decided to leave it. I came home 3 weeks later to see they had given the £250 (they deducted £17 so I only received £233) I had missed the 14 day period because I was away they had just changed their mind 4 days later and put it in my account and sent me a contract with that date on! They then charged me £180 interest for loan I no longer wanted.

MoneyMakesMeHard

DCFC79 wrote: »

OP have a read of Mr Lenders complaints procedure

You need to get into the routine of checking your account on a regular basis.

Yes, and if you open your eyes and read you will see what they want is for the op to phone them and most probably get the brush off, then they want them to contact a scheme they are a paid member of.

As they point out, you can just go ahead and contact the financial onbudsman, the onbudsman will make the complaint for the op, which will get taken more seriously.

I know how payday lenders operate, i send them enquiries for loans everyday and get the odd bit of feed back from disgruntled applicants.

louzi

Thank you for all your help! Just gave the FOS a call and they wrote & sent off a letter on my behalf. Need to wait 8 weeks for a response and if unsatisfied can send of a complaint form (and a kick up the bum?) which I already have! Set an alert on my phone to help my sieve like memory...

The lovely lady on the phone couldn't tell me if I could get on my high horse yet and given me the OFT number to call to query it.

Going to check my bank account on a weekly basis now.. Lesson learnt

DCFC79

Had no idea they would do that for you OP re the letter.