Did Plata take enough information to make a proper decision?

BrotherUuurgh

I found myself in a very tricky situation a few weeks ago, and felt that I had to take out a loan to cover the household bills and my own. I mean, it did the job, the bills were paid. However, having come back to the forum and trying to learn and get my head round a few things, and obviously try to get debt free as quick and cheap as possible, I'm wondering whether Plata took enough of my information to be able to make a well informed decision about my affordability. 

I am able to make the repayments, I'm comfortable enough and take full responsibility for my actions, I'm just exploring ideas.

It was a bit of a stressful situation so specific details are a bit of a blur, but I don't believe they took much more than my income, rent and gambling habits into account. Is that really sufficient? Would there be grounds for an affordability complaint? 

kaMelo

How much did you borrow?
I would, for example, expect a more detailed assessment if you wanted to borrow £5,000 than what would be appropriate if you wanted to borrow £500.
Given that you take full responsibility for your actions what ideas are you trying to explore?

ManyWays

It sounds as though you are thinking of an irresponsible lending complaint. To win one, the lender has to have not made adequate checks and adequate checks would have shown that they should not have given the credit. In your case you could win on the first point but not on the second if the loan is actually fine for you? 

BrotherUuurgh

kaMelo said:

How much did you borrow?
I would, for example, expect a more detailed assessment if you wanted to borrow £5,000 than what would be appropriate if you wanted to borrow £500.
Given that you take full responsibility for your actions what ideas are you trying to explore?

I borrowed £2,000 over 18 months, but it was (I saw it as) a necessary evil. I read on another post that someone submitted a complaint and had their interest and charges dropped as their lender agreed I'm their case it wasn't affordable. The idea I'm exploring is whether there may be grounds in my case, in order to pay off the debt as quickly and cheaply as possible. Think of it like someone who has a disability, is entitled to benefits but wasn't aware of it.

ManyWays said:

It sounds as though you are thinking of an irresponsible lending complaint. To win one, the lender has to have not made adequate checks and adequate checks would have shown that they should not have given the credit. In your case you could win on the first point but not on the second if the loan is actually fine for you? 

It's fine for me from the point of view that I can pay each month, but it does make it tight and without wiggle room. I've already had to strip back my budget, things like hair cuts, car maintenance costs, clothing etc have no amount budgeted as it would start to mean payments toward debts might not be made.

fatbelly

No-one here has a crystal ball that will show how the FOS might ultimately view your situation. We know that you have been borrowing from family and high interest lenders and that your soa is tight with lots of lines showing zero where they should really have a figure

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6566572/when-its-good-its-fun-when-its-bad-its-funny/p1

I posted a link to help you with the process. I can't see a downside for you and unless you can find a wzy to kill that interest you will struggle to get debt free

ManyWays

As @fatbelly says, we cant be sure how a FOS case would go but "it does make it tight and without wiggle room. I've already had to strip back my budget, things like hair cuts, car maintenance costs, clothing etc have no amount budgeted" sounds as though it's unaffordable. It's unlikely you can manage to repay that for the lengthth of the loan without borrowing more and if you have had a gambling habit in the past, this can be more temptation to restart which would be a disaster.

What other debts do you have? 

kaMelo

Having just read your other thread I'm minded to think differently than just going off the information given in your original post. £2,000 is not an insignificant amount and, given Plata state every application is credit checked I would have expected them to notice your other high interest loans. If you don't include the debts to family your repayments look a lot more affordable than when you include them but as they obviously wouldn't show up on a credit check, Plata will have no knowledge of these debts unless you told them so when you applied.

Given it's only a few ago when you took the loan out it may appear like chancing your arm but I'm minded to agree with @fatbelly in that you've nothing to lose, 

BrotherUuurgh

Thanks fatbelly for the link in my diary, and others for replying. Purpose of this post was to try to understand a bit more about it.

One of the things that concerns me about drawing attention to an affordability complaint, is that I was on garden leave at my old job when I took the loan out. I was technically employed and answered that question correctly during the application process (or am I being facetious? Is it a technicality? I sometimes struggle to communicate especially on forums, coming across the right way). I also had an offer and signed a contract for a new role with a new company so wasn't expecting an overall change in my income, if anything it was going up - I believe that was also a question asked. I'm not sure if these are technicalities but I felt my answers were honest. 

I may just tick along for a couple months and see what the actual impact is going to be like on our lives. I understand this may not affect my credit history if a case is won, but I really don't want to risk a bad mark. 

BrotherUuurgh

kaMelo said:

Given it's only a few ago when you took the loan out it may appear like chancing your arm but I'm minded to agree with @fatbelly in that you've nothing to lose, 

This is what I'm nervous about. I did what i felt I had to do at the time to get the bills paid - I perhaps didn't think we'll enough about the future cost but perhaps a lender should've been able to gauge this scenario better than I? 

sourcrates

Lenders can only do so much checking on affordability etc, and will rely a lot on what you put in your application, they won`t know your income if it differs from what you tell them, some lenders get around this by asking for payslips, but that can slow down the process, or more recently access to open banking, in order to make a decision, but that is seen as invasive, which some debtors don`t like.

High interest loan providers are in it for the money, you don`t normally go to such lenders unless you are desperate, hence the high interest rates, if people looked more carefully at their situation and opted for a debt solution sooner, instead of high interest borrowing, a lot of these issues could be avoided, but that perfect world doesn't appear to exist.

fatbelly

Did you declare that you were borrowing to pay (zero interest) household bills? That would be a red flag, or should have been.