Payday loan interest claim - Advice

TomCulley

Hi all.

Since 2012 I've been in a spiralling rut of payday borrowing. At one time I had loans with up to 5 payday lenders, Wonga, Sunny, QuickQuid, WageDay, Trusted Quid and Lending Stream. All of these also rolled over multiple months, in some instances up to 19 months.

I had a default from a phone contract that made it impossible for me to get any credit through regular means, and payday lending was the only route I could go down.

I'm now in a much better position financially (a lot more older and wiser), however going through my borrowing history, and seeing a number of posts on here about lenders operating irresponsibly, I feel that I have been offered credit repeatedly by these companies when I should have been declined due to the number of loans I had at the time and the nature of my borrowing behaviour.

I've gone through the history of borrowing with just Sunny at this stage, and I've worked out that I borrowed £12,500 over 19th months and paid a total of £11,313 in interest.

I wanted some advice on how to proceed and if people think I have a good enough case to pursue a claim against them for a refund of the interest charges and fees.

Many thanks,

Tom

Arleen

You don't have a case as you were an irresponsible borrower, knowing well that you couldn't afford the loans and yet ticket the "i can afford the repayments" box.

TomCulley

Thanks Arleen, however what's to be said for the numerous successful claims of people that I've seen in a much lesser position?

I went over to Debt Camel earlier and saw that they advise loans that were rolled over on numerous occasions and instances where multiple payday loans were taken out at the same time without the appropriate checks are all quite reasonable grounds for making a claim as it demonstrates that the borrowing was unaffordable.

Dobbibill

Welcome to the forum,

Their interest is clearly displayed on their websites so unfortunately you have no ground to reclaim something you agreed to pay for borrowing the money.

Well done on clearing them though and now being in a much better position.

Pay Day loans are an expensive lesson - you will hopefully remember that cost for years to come as a deterrent from high cost lending.

Robisere

Yes well done for clearing your debts and learning a hard lesson.

But your story is symptomatic of what is wrong in this country. A massive mountain of personal debt, and debtors who refuse to take personal resonsibility for their actions. As Arleen says, the interest rates are clearly shown, although that was not always the case until government intervention. Intervention which should have been followed up by legally limiting the amount of interest that can be charged.

I wince when I see the ads showing loans of 1,000% plus, why do people not perform a simple calculation and realise that such a loan will only get them further into debt? This is the "Want it Now!" culture of today's Britain, in action.

PeacefulWaters

Maybe there's some help in this thread.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5765780

-taff

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

Fireflyaway

I used to be in the same situation. I had 7 loans and at times was having to repay my whole salary so had to take out more loans just to pay bills. I got out of it by deliberately defaulting and entering into repayment arrangements.
Apart from wonga who wrote to me and told me I didn't need to repay, I didn't try to get anything written off / compensation etc from anyone else. I agree they were irresponsible but I never should have applied. When I was first in trouble I should have taken different action and thought of the bigger picture, not just a short term solution.
I would forget the whole episode. I mean I'm fat but I'm not about to sue cadburys! We have to take some responsibility.

Bazy

You absolutely have grounds for a complaint. You seen the interest rate yes, the first few loans possibly your problem (hence your 'irresponsible' borrowing) as this was no doubt clear on your credit agreements etc. However, when these companies seen you were rolling over/ deferring/ re-borrowing they should have realised something was wrong - especially when the amounts you were borrowing appear to have been quite large. This is the reason many of these companies have been penalised and cease to exist after intervention from the FCA - due to their 'irresponsible' lending. As someone who has in the past used such services (like yourself I had no other options available unfortunately), I approached a number of these lenders with the templates on debt camel and was successful, for much lesser amounts.


I suggest you go for it, review your credit reports via Noddle, MSE and clearscore and see which lenders reported to whichever agencies. Note the amounts they lent you and over what period. It will hopefully be black and white in your reports anyway. The format on debt camel is quite good also and allows you to get your issues across in layman's terms.


From the information you have provided I have no doubt you will be successful however be prepared to wait. Some of these companies will go the full 8 weeks for a final response and some possibly won't get back at all, however remember the Financial Ombudsman is there should you require them.


Good luck!