Amigo loan scheme claim rejected

CliveOfIndia

chrispen11 said:

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 

As long as you were honest in your replies to their questions, there's no need for them to see your bank statements.  They assume that you're giving them an accurate picture of your income and outgoings, and based their decision on those figures.

chrispen11 said:

I realised pretty much straight away it was unaffordable.

Did you not realise that it would be unaffordable once you had been given the details of the loan you'd been offered (i.e. what the monthly repayments would be)?  Or was it affordable initially, but your circumstances changed shortly after agreeing to accept the loan?

sourcrates

A lot of these loans were taken out by one partner, under duress from the other.

Now that may not be the case here, but this is where a lot of affordability cases stem from.

It has also been an attempted method of debt consolidation for many as well, which 9/10 doesn't work.

What you have to keep in mind is Amigo`s target audience were all going to be vulnerable in some way, which is why the lender chose to target that particular market, because it was lucrative, no more reason than that.

You have to be desperate to borrow money at such eye watering levels of interest, and that come with such a responsibility that denotes being a guarantor.

I`m sorry that Amigo did not find in the OP`s favour, most affordability complaints have at least some merit, I`m hoping this may be the end of Amigo, as they will require FCA approval to continue in business, which may or may not be granted.

johndawgylt

I got rejected too and have appealed. No response yet

Fighter1986

As an example of a successful affordability claim against Amigo loans:

I was given three loans by Amigo over the years.

The first loan, I was encouraged to alter my figures entered on the form to make it "look more affordable". They agreed the loan despite my having outstanding defaults and CCJs at the time, a big sign that I had been failing to manage my current commitments for a long time, let alone having the scope for a new commitment.

Ultimately, the first loan was paid off by my guarantor.

Second loan was given a year or two after the last one had been settled by the guarantor; I still had outstanding defaults and CCJs. Third loan was a top-up and the amount was agreed as I had made three on time payments; but no notice was paid to the fact that I continued to have outstanding defaults and CCJs on my credit files who's balances were not reducing. I was encouraged to enter payments of just 1% of the outstanding balances per month against the other debts / defaults / CCJs I had.

Six months after that I declared myself bankrupt, and the guarantor paid off the remaining balance.

Both myself and my guarantor filed a formal complaint regarding the three loans with detailed explanations of my other adverse credit history that was ignored by their underwriters, the fact that I was encouraged to "Manipulate" the figures being entered on their forms; and the fact that ultimately my crippling debt situation ultimately lead to bankruptcy.

Thankfully this was long before Amigo considered entering into a scheme of arrangement, so my guarantor was refunded in full for all of the payments they made, plus all of the interest I had paid, plus 8% PA statutory interest on the balances therein.

 (My guarantor was entitled to the interest I had accrued as I was not - due to my bankruptcy).

... Thankfully I live in a very different world now, in a far more prosperous part of the country with no outstanding debts (besides a mortgage) and am a homeowner.