Irresponsible lending

lee88

I initially got an amigo loan whilst only working less than a year for current employer I had over £5000 in debt to payday loans and a credit card, I only took home around £1100 I then got a top up loan which meant I then had Nearly £12,000 debt. Although stupid on my behalf does this give me a case for irresponsible lending? It is a guarantor loan so don’t know if they cared more about what my guarantor earned

[Deleted User]

Definitely irresponsible borrowing, but you can always put in a complaint if you want.

However they knew you wouldn't repay, hence the guarantor.

[Deleted User]

@Deleted_User sums it up nicely, nothing more to add.

Fighter1986

If you feel that a lender hasn't exercised due diligence when assessing your ability to repay, then you are indeed entitled to raise this as a formal written complaint to the lender. 

If you feel you have been dishonest with the lender when applying for the loan, tread very carefully. As part of an irresponsible lending complaint the lender will ask to see bank statements surrounding the time you took out the loan. If it is found that you provided material inaccuracies on your application this could result in a CIFAS marker against you for application fraud.

The lender is obliged to exercise due diligence when scrutinising a borrowers ability to repay; if they haven't, then you stand a good chance of success, as long as you haven't provided material inaccuracies in your application to them. 

Amigo have been found time and again to not exercise due diligence in their lending assessments, failing to recognise when a borrower is not able to meet existing repayments and offering them more money anyway... lending to borrowers who've previously had a loan which their guarantor had to pay off... the list goes on.

You'll find some forum members here look down their nose at Amigo borrowers rather than try to help. Take no notice. There are those of us who have made mistakes, who have found themselves in rough waters, and have not been in an environment conducive to finding a productive way out. People only know what they're taught and what they witness. Some firms prey on this to try and make a quick buck, or to artificially inflate their companies worth - like Amigo, who freely admit loosening their criteria during their "Pilot phase" to increase market share, after which they floated on the stock market and their founder made £200M right off the bat increasing his NET worth to £1bn. 

He's now ragequit and vowed to sell his remaining shares in the firm following the other board members' court injunction against him voting on who should be on the board yesterday. 

The FOS rulings and current news all over the Financial Times about Amigo's power struggle at the top and current, ongoing FCA investigation speaks for itself about how this company conducted itself. 

enthusiasticsaver

Amigo is all but another payday lender so definitely irresponsible but as zx81 says they were ok as they have a guarantor.  If you default it comes down to whoever guaranteed the loan.  I doubt you will get anywhere claiming irresponsible lending though.  I don't think you will get anywhere with the working for less than a year  but affordability may have been an issue. Were you honest on the application form? 

Fighter1986

enthusiasticsaver said:

Amigo is all but another payday lender so definitely irresponsible but as zx81 says they were ok as they have a guarantor.  If you default it comes down to whoever guaranteed the loan.  I doubt you will get anywhere claiming irresponsible lending though.  I don't think you will get anywhere with the working for less than a year  but affordability may have been an issue. Were you honest on the application form? 

You should read the financial times my friend, amigo are currently under investigation by the FCA and 94% of the irresponsible lending complaints brought against them by the FOS have been upheld. They've set aside £35m for complaint settlements this year, and have themselves freely admitted that they didn't adhere to their own lending criteria during their "pilot phase", in order to gain market share. 

enthusiasticsaver

Fighter1986 said:

You should read the financial times my friend, amigo are currently under investigation by the FCA and 94% of the irresponsible lending complaints brought against them by the FOS have been upheld. They've set aside £35m for complaint settlements this year, and have themselves freely admitted that they didn't adhere to their own lending criteria during their "pilot phase", in order to gain market share. 

I know they are under investigation and they have always had the reputation of being a sub prime lender.  The OP has a case if they can prove that they did not follow their lending criteria to assess affordability.  I asked if he or she was honest on the application form as only being in a job for a year or having a low wage or even having other debt is not in itself enough to prove irresponsible lending otherwise many more would be claiming it. The OP had £5k of debt on presumably around £13k salary so that in itself would not ring bells with lenders and render them unable to take out a further loan.  

MinuteNoodles

Fighter1986 said:

You'll find some forum members here look down their nose at Amigo borrowers rather than try to help. Take no notice. 

Bit of a chip on your shoulder?

Fighter1986

MinuteNoodles said:

Fighter1986 said:

You'll find some forum members here look down their nose at Amigo borrowers rather than try to help. Take no notice. 

Bit of a chip on your shoulder?

Just a factual observation of an unfortunate situation. 

I'm here to help those who come here, not ridicule and present misinformation. 

enthusiasticsaver

Fighter1986 said:

MinuteNoodles said:

Fighter1986 said:

You'll find some forum members here look down their nose at Amigo borrowers rather than try to help. Take no notice. 

Bit of a chip on your shoulder?

Just a factual observation of an unfortunate situation. 

I'm here to help those who come here, not ridicule and present misinformation. 

Nobody has ridiculed the OP on this thread. Your comment about people looking down their noses at those who take out Amigo loans has no foundation.  Amigo is a sub prime lender.  That is fact. 

[Deleted User]

Fighter1986 said:

MinuteNoodles said:

Fighter1986 said:

You'll find some forum members here look down their nose at Amigo borrowers rather than try to help. Take no notice. 

Bit of a chip on your shoulder?

Just a factual observation of an unfortunate situation. 

I'm here to help those who come here, not ridicule and present misinformation. 

Long term posters on here get annoyed when people try to blame everyone but themselves for their financial situation. Life can be tough sometimes, but no one makes people apply for loans; especially high interest guarantor loans. Its amazing how many people love companies like Amigo when they need the money but suddenly they are the work of the devil when repaying what they signed up for. 
Its the guarantors I generally feel sorry for - no doubt lied to by the applicant or naive about the loans. But even they cant claim they didn't know about the loans, as the money is always paid into their account.