Amigo loan scheme claim rejected

chrispen11

Hi I complained to the amigo loan scheme that my loan was unaffordable. It has now been rejected by the scheme. Is there anything I can do or is that the end of it and I have to accept this?

This is what they have said 

When reviewing your claim, we have reviewed the above, and taken a range of factors into consideration

to make our decision. We have found that:

● A review of your credit file along with a satisfactory ‘buffer’ of disposable income supported

Amigo’s decision to lend;

● The financial commitment agreed with you was clear, and Amigo carefully considered your ability

to sustainably maintain repayments at the agreed level;

● You were aware of, and appropriately informed about, the financial commitment you were

entering into, and

● Our assessment that Amigo should enter into this loan agreement with you was not unreasonable,

unaffordable, or unfair, considering the circumstances.

Due to this, and based on the information we have reviewed, this is confirmation that your claim has been

rejected. This means that no redress is due to you, within the Scheme.

molerat

Is what they have said not true then ?

Just because for some reason you could not afford to pay back the loan does not mean it was unaffordable at the time you took it out.

MalMonroe

Hi, if it were me - and I am not saying you should do this but there would be no cost and it's not harmful in any way - I would now take this matter to the Financial Ombudsman.

You have received your final decision from the Scheme and so you can submit your complaint via the link below -

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact-us

I may be wrong but I think it's a bit dodgy that Amigo Loans is investigating its own practices via its own Scheme. Doesn't seem that there's going to be a good outcome for any customer.

Anyway you can try the FOS, see what advice they have for you. It's worth a shot?

This is all my own thought and opinion and obviously I am unable to guarantee any outcome one way or the other but you don't have to pay for the Ombudsman's services.

Good luck with it all - I hope it all works out in your favour.

MorningcoffeeIV

MalMonroe said:

I may be wrong but I think it's a bit dodgy that Amigo Loans is investigating its own practices via its own Scheme. Doesn't seem that there's going to be a good outcome for any customer.

Yes, you are wrong. 

It's not dodgy at all for a company to review a complaint made by a customer.

Casskale

MalMonroe said:

Hi, if it were me - and I am not saying you should do this but there would be no cost and it's not harmful in any way - I would now take this matter to the Financial Ombudsman.

You have received your final decision from the Scheme and so you can submit your complaint via the link below -

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact-us

I may be wrong but I think it's a bit dodgy that Amigo Loans is investigating its own practices via its own Scheme. Doesn't seem that there's going to be a good outcome for any customer.

Anyway you can try the FOS, see what advice they have for you. It's worth a shot?

This is all my own thought and opinion and obviously I am unable to guarantee any outcome one way or the other but you don't have to pay for the Ombudsman's services.

Good luck with it all - I hope it all works out in your favour.

If you want a complaint reviewed by an independent third party only, take the matter to court.

Don't be too upset if they refuse to award costs because of refusal to give the defendant the opportunity to deal with it themselves. And don't be too upset when it comes to "irresponsible lending" that they don't find in your favour because courts look at the law, not "fairness" as firms are obliged to.

mcpitman

chrispen11 said:

Hi I complained to the amigo loan scheme that my loan was unaffordable. It has now been rejected by the scheme. Is there anything I can do or is that the end of it and I have to accept this?

This is what they have said 

When reviewing your claim, we have reviewed the above, and taken a range of factors into consideration

to make our decision. We have found that:

● A review of your credit file along with a satisfactory ‘buffer’ of disposable income supported

Amigo’s decision to lend;

● The financial commitment agreed with you was clear, and Amigo carefully considered your ability

to sustainably maintain repayments at the agreed level;

● You were aware of, and appropriately informed about, the financial commitment you were

entering into, and

● Our assessment that Amigo should enter into this loan agreement with you was not unreasonable,

unaffordable, or unfair, considering the circumstances.

Due to this, and based on the information we have reviewed, this is confirmation that your claim has been

rejected. This means that no redress is due to you, within the Scheme.

On what basis do you believe the loan was "unaffordable".

How long did it take you to realise the repayments you had signed up to, and agreed to, were no longer affordable for you?

Was it a guarantor loan? Who was that? Do they realise they are the ones actually liable for the debt?

ManyWays

You cant go to the Financial Ombudsman as this is in a scheme but you should have been told how you can appeal this decision in the scheme. If you have bank statements from the time the loan was given that would show how unaffordable the repayments are. 

chrispen11

The guarantor was my partner. I realised pretty much straight away it was unaffordable. We were left short most months and had to reduce costs on other things like TV internet mobile to make sure we had enough for food and travel etc. Eventually I had to sell the car that I got the loan for and used that money to pay off a big chunk of it to make the payments go down and become affordable.

Herzlos

chrispen11 said:

The guarantor was my partner. I realised pretty much straight away it was unaffordable. We were left short most months and had to reduce costs on other things like TV internet mobile to make sure we had enough for food and travel etc. Eventually I had to sell the car that I got the loan for and used that money to pay off a big chunk of it to make the payments go down and become affordable.

So did you give them an honest view of your finances where it obviously wasn't affordable, but they lent it to you anyway? Or were there any changes in circumstances where it became unaffordable?


Amigo Loans were quoting something like 50% APR so that'd have been crippling on the purchase of most cars.

chrispen11

They asked what my income was and asked how much my mortgage and some other bills were. But I think they asked for all my outgoings and I never had to give them any bank statements 

Wonka_2

chrispen11 said:

I realised pretty much straight away it was unaffordable. We were left short most months and had to reduce costs on other things like TV internet mobile to make sure we had enough for food and travel etc. 

So the reality is you gave them your income/outgoings, from the numbers you gave them it showed you had the disposable income to afford it but then you realised that either a) you hadn't been honest with outgoings/disposable income or b) you were already spending that on other 'nice to have' things and didn't want to cut back

I can't see that either of these are cases for mis-selling - more about your prioritisation of spending