DODGY loan brokers!!!

leady

So me and my partner had to recently start signing on at the job center, and knew we would be without money for a while, especially when dwp offered us a £45 short term benefit advance to see us through upto 4 weeks before we start to get paid. So we decided to apply for a small loan to see us through until then. There was multiple websites we had applied on that look like lenders, they advertise interest rates on their loans, periods of loan offers, instant approval, money in minutes e.t.c, all the speal you expect to find on a lenders website. After applying we started noticing they were infact brokers and not lenders. We managed to go through our history and contact multiple companys informing them of their false advertising and bad practices, and if any money is taken from my account I will seek action against them. Well last week I had £49.99 taken from my account, and today had £59.99 taken from my account. The first is by merlinloan.co .uk and the second is by therightloan4u.co .uk, 2 companies we seemed to have missed on our quest to cancel any payments.

So when we noticed this money was taken from our account, last wednesday I contacted merlin loan instantly. They said that as we had applied for a loan we would not be entitled to a refund. However then said we will pay £19.99 as a gesture of good will. When I mentioned this is no good, the money they took was my child tax credits and was meant to be used for shopping. I got the response, as it is for your son, we will refund £30. This will take upto 72hours(3 working days). It has now been 4-5 working days and still no money, I am getting absolutely zero response to my emails, and the telephone either does not get picked up or is put through to voice message, where the inbox is too full to recieve anymore messages. The 2nd company I do not recognise, and my partner seems unsure regarding it, however I have tried ringing them, and no matter which of the telephone options you select, they all refer you to using the website, I have contacted them via their website, which means waiting for an email response, but honestly I am not expecting one. My question is this, are these companies legit? The more i look into them, the less i beleive they are. I also did a few searches on company background and this is what I find for therightloan4u.co.uk http /companycheck.co .uk/company/04895891/THE-RIGHT-LOAN-4-U-CO-LIMITED/company-summary

It shows the company is dissolved, which to me does not make sense, unless it is an old company that used a similar name.

Anyway how can I go around getting my money returned ASAP?!?! we need to go shopping and now have no money to go with, and frankly a loan does not seem like a viable option anymore if there are so many of these companies lingering around.

[Deleted User]

Go to each of their websites, read the t&cs and follow the instructions in there for a refund.

It will almost certainly involve writing a letter.

Monkeyballs

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

In the meantime, follow the advice of ZX81 above and good luck in getting your refund!

MB

leady

Deleted_User wrote: »

Go to each of their websites, read the t&cs and follow the instructions in there for a refund.

It will almost certainly involve writing a letter.

I have done this, as I say, merlinloan said they would refund £30 however this was due yesterday at the latest, and has not arrived, they now do not answer my emails nore do they answer incoming calls what so ever, and their inbox is full. This is suggesting to me that they deal with customers until they have their money, at which point they ignore emails and do not answer the phone or listen to inbox messages, as nobody answers and their inbox is full.

The 2nd website has said to contact them to request a refund, which has been done, however this can take upto 30 days to process, well thats absolutely zero use what so ever, and the fact that their telephone number is an automated service, and no matter which of the 6 options you select, they all refer you back to using the website, so I am expecting the same treatment as I recieved from merlin.

BillJones

leady wrote: »

I have done this, as I say.

You did not say that you had written to them, you actually implied that you'd emailed them.

Are you certain that you wrote a letter on paper, put a stamp on it, and posted it?

I ask as you wouldn't believe the number of people on here who start out telling us that they've written, and then later decide that they'd actually emailed or called...

leady

Monkeyballs wrote: »

Hi,

I'm not having a dig when I say this as I can tell money is going to be tight but when you have very little to live off and only a small income to expect then you need to budget very carefully NOT look to borrow to tide you over as you'll either A) find yourself in the situation you're in now or spiral into payday loan hell!

Budget budget budget... Rent, bills and food come first and then everything else is a luxury I'm afraid

In the meantime, follow the advice of ZX81 above and good luck in getting your refund!

MB

How can I budget when we are waiting to start recieving payment? I was not applying for a payday loan, I was looking to apply for a short term installment loan, and had spent time working out monthly installments we know we could afford. Your response is honestly completely unhelpful in the matter so far.

leady

BillJones wrote: »

You did not say that you had written to them, you actually implied that you'd emailed them.

Are you certain that you wrote a letter on paper, put a stamp on it, and posted it?

I ask as you wouldn't believe the number of people on here who start out telling us that they've written, and then later decide that they'd actually emailed or called...

Concidering the only way of contact on their website is email/contact via website and a telephone number that does not work. Does the email contain writing? Therefore they have been written to, be it by hand or digital, they have still been written to.

[Deleted User]

Merlin's website seems to suggest they want a letter -

Cancellations and Refunds

Under the Financial Services (Distance Marketing) Regulations 2004 you have the right to cancel your agreement with us within 14 days of receiving these terms and conditions, you will be entitled to a full refund which will be made within 14 days of receiving your request. If you would like to cancel You must Inform us by writing to us at Merlin loans & Mortgages, 23 New Mount Street, Manchester, M4 4DE

leady

Deleted_User wrote: »

Merlin's website seems to suggest they want a letter -

Cancellations and Refunds

Under the Financial Services (Distance Marketing) Regulations 2004 you have the right to cancel your agreement with us within 14 days of receiving these terms and conditions, you will be entitled to a full refund which will be made within 14 days of receiving your request. If you would like to cancel You must Inform us by writing to us at Merlin loans & Mortgages, 23 New Mount Street, Manchester, M4 4DE

They have been contacting me via email, and told me on the 26th June, £30 would be in my account within 3 working days. However it has been 4/5 working days and still no payment. The 2 members of staff who were emailing me, are now ignoring my emails, and as mentioned the telephone just does not get answered by them. A letter in my honest opinion will make no difference if they have already been replying to my email's and are now choosing to ignore them.

MB I appreciate what you are saying, the money we had coming in was not enough to cover food bills, gas, electric, water rates, tv licence and council tax contributions, hence why we needed a little bit extra to help us cover the costs of what we needed to pay.It was not a huge loan it was a small loan we were looking for and the monthly installments we were aiming for were easily affordable for us to pay back.

The issue is not with a loan, we never recieved one, instead we got messed around by companies such as these. Now we think we have stopped them all, but these 2 still took money from our account. We have spoken to the bank just now, the guy told my partner he has stopped any money being taken from any loan company that has done so far, and is going to speak to his manager regarding our money and if they can put some money in to help us until it is resolved. He agrees from the information and details we have given him that these companies possibly need investigating and advised us to forward their details on to UK Watchdog. We are waiting for the bank to ring back but hopefully he can sort the issue for us, as frankly i am wondering if the only intention of these companys is to take money and nothing else.

[Deleted User]

You need to follow their refund terms.

By entertaining you on email, all they are doing is getting you outside of the 14 day cancellation period, after which they can keep £5. And ultimately, hope you will lose interest and they can keep the lot.

Whether you think a letter will help or is neither here nor there. If you want your money back, send them a letter. If you don't, send them another email.

DevCoder

You cannot escalate to the FOS (or expect your money back) unless you follow their T&C exactly.
That means writing to them, not email, carrier pidgin, pony express, smoke signals etc.
Otherwise you will exceed the time period in which you can get a refund which is what they are hoping and why you shouldn't correspond via email when it says to write to a snail mail address.