Payday Loan Ombudsman Victories - Large Refunds!!!!

simonp96

Hello All,

I am posting this to maybe help others who have been in similar situations to me. I know some may come on and say it is wrong what is happening but hey ho.

Anyway, heres my story.

I am a compulsive gambler and have now just gone two years without a bet having attended gamblers anonymous every week for this period. My last bet was the 1st April 2012 and it was a day when I had my wake up call.

I'm 35 now and for all of my adult live i have gambled and this has caused me to fall in debt with a lot of companies.

This led to me been unable to gain any credit apart from payday loan companies.

I started out borrowing from quickquid back in 2010 and was borrowing the maximum i could to fund my gambling and also to get by for the month. Within a few months i ended borrowing from 9 differrent payday loan companies. I earn £1700 after tax and i was due to pay back £5000 each month. I managed to get around this by paying one off and then taking out another and juggling all of them about.

In april 2011 I realised the trouble i was in and turned to my mum who lent me £4000 and I paid them off saving on interest on a few of them.

I didn't learn my lesson and by October of that year i borrrowed a further £4000 from my mum as i had got into the same trap again.

I was gambling hard and managed to hide this from my mum who thought i'd just got in to money troubles.

Looking back now i wish she'd not bailed me out but this is all done with.

I continued to juggle the 9 payloan companies and with the stress of this and also thinking 24/7 about gambling i rarely slept. I was nasty to people and horrible to my then girlfriend.

I then began stealing with my loved ones and even from my girlfriends son's moneybox.

She confonted me about this and I now thank her for that as she said she would stand by me if i got help.

Within a week I came clean about my gambling and started to attended GA.

My mum would now no longer lend me anymore money which is what i needed so my only option was to set up a DMP with CCCS (now step change).

I owed £6500 and agreed a monthly settlement.

This was all in April 2012.

By November 2012, due her support I proposed to my girlfriend and we then booked a wedding for July 2013.

I was still on my DMP but felt under pressure to contribute towards the wedding even though we got a lot of help from our parents.

I sold loads of stuff on Ebay but I still ended up paying more than i could afford for things and as a result i couldn't pay my DMP (Stupid mistake)

Because of me ignoring their correspondence i was then kicked off the DMP and the debt letters started arriving again. I hid these from my now wife who then eventually found out as they always do.

After 4 months of marriage and after everything that had gone on before she left me. Walked out. I only have myself to blame anyway.

Well, in that month, I then decided to do something about all the payday loans and so lodged a complaint with the ombudsman against each company for irresponisble lending.

I had paid back about £4000 of the amount i owed.

The companies were

Quickquid
Wonga
Payday Uk
Payday Express
Wageday Advance
Speed e loans
Pounds till payday
247 Moneybox
Early Payday Loan

Pounds till payday - I wrote to them using a template i found on here and slightly adjusted it. They wrote back advising that they would agree to write off the remainder of the outstanding debt. Case closed.

Speed e loans - they went into adminstration last year and SLL capital took over. They have agreed to remove all interest and any charges so i now only have to pay the remainder of the principle amount loaned. I have now agreed a monthly settlement to pay this off.

The rest are with the ombudsman.

Quickquid - I had taken out a total of 26 loans and rolled over these a number of times. The ombudsman found that they were guilty of irresponsible lending and have ordered them to refund me all interest + 8% simple that i have paid but still need to pay the principle amount owed. I have now agreed settlement with them and they have transferred a refund of £5000 to my bank account - I can now pay off all outstanding debts and will be finally debt free!!!!

Wonga - The ombudsman have again found in my favour and have instructed them to refund me all interest i have paid + 8% simple. Just negotiating settlement.

Wageday advance - Same as Wonga.

247 - Same as Wonga.

All the others the ombudsman is still investigating but it will be expected that they will also go in my favour.

So far i've had a refund of £5000 and i have worked out the others. I expect to eventually receive somewhere in the region of £10,000 - £12,000!!

My message to others is that if you have taken multiple payday loans out and with various companies and are struggling, it may be worth issuing a complaint letter and then taking it to the ombudsman.

I never want to get into the state i did and ive finally learnt my lesson.

I am still having to pay back the principle amounts borrowed but i'm finally debt free and will have some money left over to start saving.

Just want to share my experience with others.

Cheers

Simon

simonp96

The PDL companies were found to be guilty of irresponsible lending as they did not make the appropriate checks when giving me the loans.

I understand that there is still responsibility on my part but my debts wouldnt have been as much if id have been turned down for some of these loans.

They should carry out the same checks as mainstream banks do when lending.

None of them asked me for details of my outgoings, bank statements etc when i applied for the loans. I didn't lie on my application but maybe as a result of something like this may make them sort out their process.

I just wanted to share my experience in the hope it might help others in similar situations.

FireWyrm

simonp96 wrote: »

The PDL companies were found to be guilty of irresponsible lending as they did not make the appropriate checks when giving me the loans.

What about irresponsible borrowing?

simonp96 wrote: »

I understand that there is still responsibility on my part but my debts wouldnt have been as much if id have been turned down for some of these loans.

Likewise if you had not actually applied for them in the first place.

Question : where do you imagine the money to write off your loans is coming from?
Clue : Not out the goodness of their hearts.

simonp96 wrote: »

They should carry out the same checks as mainstream banks do when lending.

Why. The customer is well aware of the terms and conditions when taking the loan. I assume you werent a child, or otherwise a person of diminished capacity?

simonp96 wrote: »

None of them asked me for details of my outgoings, bank statements etc when i applied for the loans. I didn't lie on my application but maybe as a result of something like this may make them sort out their process.

Why. You asked for a loan, it was given. You were happy enough to take the money when it was asked for but not to give it back when you were supposed to.

simonp96 wrote: »

I just wanted to share my experience in the hope it might help others in similar situations.

Dont get into the mess would have been a better message. This wasnt by accident or something beyond your control, it was misadventure.

simonp96

Thanks for your constructive commments.

just out of curiousity, what do you think the ourcome of the complaint for irresponsible lending should be with the ombudsman?

blisteringblue

Reads more like a gloating email to me I'm afraid. You've been rewarded for being totally irresponsible.

Marker_2

I had success with Quickquid writing off the debt, and partial success with wonga. Only outstanding payday loan is Moneyshop. Which were rolled over loans in and amongst all the others. Plus of course credit cards. One credit card company lent my husband £2000 despite me informing them of his gambling addiction and the various loans and outstanding payday loans he had. Needless to say the 2k credit quickly became a 2k gambling debt.

I have handed over responsibility and 'advice' to my husband regarding creditcard and payday loan companies, though i doubt he will do anything right now other than get further into doubt (obviously things not to great on the homefront right now).

But thank you for your post, something to bare in mind should he ever wish to treat his addiction and tackle what is clear in my mind as irresponsible lending.

Marker_2

I have to say my tolerance fir my husbands gambling addiction is beyond low right now. All the expletives describes how i feel about it. No pity party from me!!!!

However it is an illness. Difficult to understand (trust me i know), but it is an illness. Money is not the drive for addicts, it is the consequence, and it really does destroy lives.

simonp96

blisteringblue wrote: »

Reads more like a gloating email to me I'm afraid. You've been rewarded for being totally irresponsible.

That wasn't my intention.

I just wanted to share what had happened to me.

Yes, im pleased the way it has worked out. who wouldn't.

But i also understand the feeling of desperation and know about sleepless nights etc from this experience.

Yes i was irresponsible, i accept that but so were the PDLs in lending to me.

simonp96

Marker wrote: »

I have to say my tolerance fir my husbands gambling addiction is beyond low right now. All the expletives describes how i feel about it. No pity party from me!!!!

However it is an illness. Difficult to understand (trust me i know), but it is an illness. Money is not the drive for addicts, it is the consequence, and it really does destroy lives.

I wish you and your OH all the best. I was kind of pushed into accepting a problem but i was done in by that time and i was finally ready to accept the problem and actually do something about it. It's not been easy and my wife told me all about her frustrations. How she couldnt trust me etc.

Life is still not fantastic but life is a whole lot better without gambling in my life.

norsefox

Congratulations on staying clean, and long may it continue.

I trust you're going to pay your mum back with your refunds?

FireWyrm

simonp96 wrote: »

Thanks for your constructive commments.

just out of curiousity, what do you think the ourcome of the complaint for irresponsible lending should be with the ombudsman?

If it was truly 'irresponsible' then the customer would not have been aware of several key features and pieces of information in order to make an informed decision. As far as I know, no company you have listed is anything other than entirely upfront regarding fees and conditions of a loan. Therefore, there is no case to answer. The fact that you got away with it this time is immaterial. You, the customer requested money from an accredited and fully licensed lending institution after being made aware of all terms and conditions associated with that loan. Frankly, I fail to see where the PDLs have done anything wrong. Your lucky escape has done nothing other than set a very dangerous precedent for which, other customers will no doubt end up paying when further cases are 'upheld' on the basis of politics. Having debts written off should be the last resort when the customer is out of their depth through no fault of their own. There have been several cases on here of people who suffer life changing injuries, terminal illness and incapacity through no fault of their own...they are the ones who are deserving of such a stroke of luck, most other people are adults and know what they were doing.