Complaint

Legacy_user

Hi,
I am in financial difficulty and made a complaint against Tappily (Indigo Michael Ltd) for irresponsible lending and affordability. They have sent me their final response stating my complaint was valid and have offered to take off the interest, leaving me £493.77 to pay. I am currently paying them £1 a month on a repayment plan as that is all I can afford. Is there any template or way I could get them to consider writing off the outstanding balance of they have agreed with me? I have tried to offer a settlement offer of £250 but the lowest they will take is £450 and my mum can only give me £250.
Tia x

[Deleted User]

If that was their final response, you would need to go to FOS.

However, if you're paying £1 a month, it makes little practical difference, at least for the time being.

System

Hi,
Thank you for your response. This was what they put:
“The basis of your complaint is that we should not have lent to you as you could not afford to repay.
Having investigated your claim fully it is our view that your complaint is valid.
In circumstances where the Financial Ombudsman Service finds in favour of the complainant they normally propose that a full redress of interest plus an 8% statutory interest repayment is made to the customer, with the principal outstanding balance being deducted from this amount.
Therefore, we propose that we redress all the interest that you have paid (£2.65), plus statutory 8% interest (£0.04). In line with HMRC guidelines we will deduct 20% (£0.01) from your statutory interest and pay this to HMRC, meaning that you will not have to declare this redress in your tax returns.
We will also remove any interest that has accrued on your outstanding balance (£13.48) and then deduct the interest you have paid plus the statutory 8% interest from your principal outstanding balance (£496.12).
This will leave a principal outstanding balance of £493.44 which remains payable. This is the amount of money you have borrowed with all the interest removed. Any adverse markers relating to your Tappily account at this time will be removed from your credit file”

Tia x

sourcrates

Hi,

This is standard redress, writing off the outstanding balance is at the creditors discretion, as happened at Wonga for some customers for instance.

Your next step is to escalate this to the FOS, they may agree with the lender, they may not, however it costs nothing to find out.

Save your mums £250, before long this company will offload your debt to a debt purchasor, who may accecpt £250 in full and final settlement.
What other debts do you have, would a formal solution help you for instance ?

TommyTBFC

Hi,

Correct me if I’m wrong, is indigo Michael safety net credit?

If so, my friend had the exact same issue and they aswell wrote off the interest and just left them with what they originally borrowed just like you.

You’d need to take this up with the Financial Ombudsman service within 6 months I believe.

If you used a tool like resolver that should tell you the nexts steps if this is how you wish to move forward, failing that. The email/letter should state the same somewhere.

Good luck

WhenIam64

If you are able to go through the statements, separate items into 3 categories

1. Items you purchased so have had "consideration" for
2. Late charges / penalties
3. Interest

Can't see anyone agreeing to write off #1 as you've got something in exchange.

As regards #12 (charges and penalties) there is a key case, Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National plc, which confirmed that lenders should only charge what it cost for late payments - around £12/breach. So what extra did they charge

The interest (#3) is one where they can give up easily as it is all nonsense. Money doesn't cost 35% APR - more like 2% - 3%. So it doesn't cost them anything to write it off.

See what the numbers come out as and check to see if they have more room to give you a better deal. If they say no, they you have the numbers to back up any complaint to the FOS.

Debt is in many cases, just an illusion and what they think people will pay. The less you check, the more profitable you are to them.

System

Hi sourcrates,
Thank you for your reply. Do the FOS have the power to write off outstanding balances if they agree or not?

sourcrates

Confused990 wrote: »

Hi sourcrates,
Thank you for your reply. Do the FOS have the power to write off outstanding balances if they agree or not?

Yes they can instruct the company to do a wide range of things.

System

Hi,
Thank you. I was under the impression that they only instruct to refund only interest and charges and the 8% statutory interest. Thank you, I will pass it onto the FOS.