Are you owed money? Payday firm to refund £15MILLION to 150,000 loan customers
THOUSANDS of payday loan customers are to be refunded £15.4million after the dodgy lending practices of one firm were uncovered by the industry regulator.
150,000 customers are to be given redress
The Money Shop, Payday UK, Payday Express and Ladder Loans are among the brands owned by Dollar Financial UK, which were found to have lent more than borrowers could afford to repay.
The company's debt collection practices and other systems errors also meant that customers suffered distress at the hands of the lender, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found.
Dollar Financial must now redress more than 147,0000 customers and make changes to to its lending criteria off the back of the watchdog's review of the company.
Borrowers who took out loans between April 2014 and April 2015 could have borrowed too much, and customers of the firms between January 2013 and April 2015 were subject to collection issues, said the FCA.
As a result, 65,000 customers are to receive a cash refund and another 67,000 customers are to have their current loan balance reduced.
A further 15,000 will get both a cash refund and a reduction in their loan balance.
Customers are to be refunded money after being lent more money than they could afford to pay back
Customers were able to borrow more cash than they could afford to repay
Customers don't need to take any action with the exact amount refunded or write down to be assessed on a case by case basis.
Jonathan Davidson, a director at the FCA said: “The FCA expects all credit providers to carry out proper checks to ensure that borrowers don’t take on more than they can afford to pay back.
"We are encouraged that Dollar is committed to putting things right for its customers.”
Dollar is to start immediately contacting customers and redress should be delivered by early 2016 - this includes people tracked down by the firm who have changed their contact details or bank account information.
Customers were caused distress by Dollar Financial UK's practices found the FCA