HELP!!! Should I accept or not???

kelswals

I need help in deciding if I should take the offer or not accept it and ask for a refund plus the interest. As I have £1994.00 left which will be over on July 2021. 

Please see the letter from Likely Loans below. Please, please let me know your thoughts. Much appreciated. 👇🏾

Your complaint
 
You are making a complaint to us about irresponsible lending.
 
In support of your complaint, you have declared that you have been struggling with debts since 2015. You therefore believe that you have been mis-sold our loans because we should never have lent you the money in the first place. You have stated that you even had to take on a top-up loan in order to stay afloat. You also state that you have suffered from anxiety and depression as a result of our loans having been granted.
 
In resolution, you have asked for us to refund the interest and any charges you paid, plus statutory interest, and to delete any negative information from your credit record.
 
My findings
 
I confirm that in line with our internal processes at the point of application, a standard credit assessment was conducted, which included a review of your Credit Report with the credit reference agency, Experian. As a part of our evaluation, any financial commitments, insolvency records, delinquency records, County Court Judgments, and credit enquiries were analysed. Additionally, we obtain information from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in order to assist us with our lending decisions.
 
All the information gathered is input into our internal credit scoring model. If the generated score does not meet our minimum approval threshold score, then the loan application is declined. If there is negative information on a credit report, this does not necessarily mean that an application for a loan will be declined.
 
Our records show that you have held two loans with us.
 
My assessment of your loan applications revealed the following: -
 
1/ Loan agreement 

• Application for a loan in the amount of £3,000.00 was received on the 27th June 2019.
• Our records show that upon application you declared you were employed with an annual income in the amount of £18,256.00. You declared a loan reason of “other” and gave your residential status as “tenant”.
• We verified your monthly net income as being in the amount of £1,225.67.
• Using information supplied to us by the ONS, we were able to estimate your average monthly cost of living expenses.
• Your application was accepted on the 28th June 2019 with the sum of £4,797.90 repayable by 18 monthly instalments of £266.55; as this was considered affordable for you from the information available to us.

 
On the 30th December 2019, this account was closed following successful application for a top up loan in the amount of £1,800.00.
 
2/ Loan agreement 

• Our records show that upon application you declared an annual income in the amount of £27,636.00.
• We calculated that your monthly net income had increased to the amount of £1,860.84 and once again estimated and average of your monthly cost of living expenses.
• Your application was accepted with the sum of £6,998.94 repayable by 18 monthly instalments of £388.83; as this was considered affordable for you from the information available to us.

 
To date, you have made all of your monthly contractual instalments on time and in full via Direct Debit. You have not contacted us at any stage to discuss financial difficulties.
 
As part of my investigation, I undertook a manual assessment of your credit file. This showed me that all of your existing creditors are reporting you as being up to date and within agreed credit limits. I was also able to see the defaults and CCJ’s.
 
My decision
 
I conclude that will be upholding your complaint that your first loan account was granted irresponsibly. During the course of my checks it became increasingly apparent that you were not in a position of affordability and that had we completed additional checks, this would have been clear to us.
 
However, with respect to your top up loan, I will not be upholding your complaint that this was granted irresponsibly. Your annual income, along with your monthly net income, had increased, and my assessment of your credit file showed that a significant amount of disposable income remained to you once all of your monthly credit commitments had been met. As a responsible lender we have a responsibility to assess whether the loans you are applying for are affordable. Considering the nature of our loans, that they are unsecured and low value, and the numerous other checks that we undertake, we believe that these are sufficient to satisfy our obligations to conduct a proportionate affordability and creditworthiness assessment. We took into account multiple factors, including the amount of credit, the level of repayments, bureau data and the information you provided on the application. These checks must be proportionate, and we do feel this was the case in relation to your top-up account.
 
My calculation of how much remains owing on the loan has shown that you have overpaid on the amount that would be due to us. As such, I will be issuing the following redress to you: -
 
TOTAL AMOUNT OWED (MINUS APPLICABLE INTEREST FROM LOAN 1): £5,878.75
TOTAL AMOUNT PAID TO DATE: £6,387.54
OVERPAYMENT: £508.79
PLUS 8% STATUTORY INTEREST: £2.07
MINUS 20% HMRC TAX: £0.41
TOTAL REFUND DUE TO YOU: £510.44
 
Please be aware that the interest paid is subject to tax under HMRC legislation and as a result, 20% tax has been deducted from the 8% interest applied to your settlement amount. If you do not pay tax, you may be able to reclaim some or all of this from HMRC. However, if tax is paid at a higher rate, you may have to pay additional tax via your tax return. If you have any queries about your tax position, you may wish to obtain professional tax advice or visit the following website: https://www.gov.uk/income-tax.

Moving forward

Please confirm that you accept this offer in full and final settlement of this complaint by replying to this email with the following information: -

• Name of your bank
• Account number
• Sort code

 
Please note that no balance will remain payable on your loan.

brettcta

That’s some jump in income between June & October 2019. I can see from their reasoning why they’ve upheld the first and not the 2nd as your income’s jumped £9.5k in 4 months.

it seems a reasonable offer given their explanation but you made the complaint, you decide if you’re happy with it. What else would you be expecting to be refunded if you held out for more? That increase of almost 50% on your salary isn’t really going to do you any favours in saying you couldn’t afford the 2nd loan. If it was a drop In salary, fair do, you’d have a point in asking why they hadn’t upheld that aspect but it wasn’t.

*edit*

The last line of the letter - it sounds like you’re getting £500 AND the balance of your top up loan is being settled? If that’s the case, I’d definitely take the redress and move on with your life.