Payday Loan refunds

med1cine

Due to myriad reasons, including the demise of my relationship with my fiance, impending homelessness, and my own poor mental health at the time, I found myself caught in the payday loan trap between 2011 up until very recently. There is no doubt in my mind that the additional stress of servicing these loans has has a detrimental affect on me emotionally and psychologically - I ended up signed off work with depression and anxiety at the end of 2015. I have now 'recovered' and am back at work, and hopefully my debt problems are behind me, although i still have a few things to pay off.

Anyway, I have heard recently that there are ways of re claiming unfair charges and sometimes loans that should not have been issued in the first place. How do I go about this? And would it be possible to claim damages with regards to my mental health problems if the loans can be proven to have been issued erroneously?

Many thanks
Adam

National_Debtline

Hi there and welcome to MSE,


First of all I am glad that you are doing better and feel ready to deal with your debts. There was a redress scheme done by Wonga in October 2014 and a lot of customers had their loans written off. However, you would have been told by now if this applied to you.


You can request a write off of the debt and highlight that you feel it was lent irresponsibility, however, this can be more complicated than it first appears. To say the loans were given in error means that it must have been reasonable for the lender to know you lacked the capacity to understand the legality of the contract and gave you the money regardless - very difficult to prove.


The best options would be to request a write off if you have no money available to repay (which may not be the case if you are back at work - but you can still ask), negotiate affordable payment (either yourself or with a DMP) or consider an insolvency option (like a Debt Relief Order to get the debts written off). Good luck,


Laura
@natdebtline

-taff

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5289150

med1cine

Thanks Laura,

That's very kind and helpful. I have actually in the past negotiated payment plans which is how i've managed to get out of the hole - however, my query is more related to whether or not I would have a case for refund, as several of these loans were rolled over and i was in a position, for several years if i'm honest, of having to borrow elsewhere to repay and to sustain myself.

I've avoided raising the issue in the past as frankly i've been so embarassed - but in retrospect i now see i was struggling with a lot of different things and i have essentially been exploited, There have definitely been repeat loans, rollover fees, and it must have been clear from my credit file at points that i was in financial trouble and had multiple loans outstanding, and yet loans have still been issued.

Although i eventually got wise when feeling better and managed to arrange plans myself and borrow from family to clear what i could, I feel quite strongly that this situation shouldn't have been allowed to develop. I have pretty good records luckily.

given all of this, do you think i may have a claim?

Thanks
Adam