MORE than four million Brits could be owed cash after taking out unaffordable payday and doorstep loans.
Customers of Provident Financial, Greenwood, Flo and Satsuma have just one month left to make their claim before the February 28 deadline.
1
You could get refunds for any mis-sold loans, even if you paid the debt back years ago – so it’s well worth checking.
Customers might be able to claim for loans from four different brands:
- Doorstep loans made by Provident
- Doorstep loans made by Greenwood
- Payday loans through Satsuma
- Guarantor loans through Glo
These loans were given between 6 April 2007 and 17 December 2020, so if you bought a product between those dates you could be owed cash.
Regulators found that these products were unfairly sold to people and that the providers didn;t carry out the right affordability checks.
Ex-customers can get a share of a £50m pot, which has been set aside to refund anyone who has a successful claim.
Most read in Money
But borrowers could still get cash worth hundreds of pounds and if you don’t claim you won’t get anything back at all.
If you’re successful, you could also get bad marks removed from your credit record, which is really important because it impacts everything from getting a mortgage to the interest you pay on credit cards.
Sara Williams from blog Debt Camel told The Sun: “Provident loans were only meant to be used for short term borrowing – that’s why the interest rate was so high.
“But Provident did not make proper checks on borrowers. Hundreds of thousands of people borrowed continuously from Provident for years.
“They have a good chance of having a claim for ‘unaffordable lending’ upheld – even if they made all the repayments on time!
“If you win you will get back some of the interest you paid – this is worth applying for.”
Anyone who took out a loan with Provident, Satsuma, Greenwood and Glo between April 6, 2007 and December 17, 2020 could be eligible for a refund.
If the loan was unaffordable it’s worth applying, for instance, if you struggled with repayments or had to borrow money to keep up with them and got into debt.
How much you get back will depend on how much you borrowed and for how long.
Yor payout will also depend on how many other people claim successfully as there is a set pot of cash to be split.
The refunds will be dished out after the scheme closes at 5pm on February 28, 2022.
Money won’t be paid immediately though, as each claim needs to be assessed and the amounts owed worked out.
How to claim a refund
If you think you were given an unaffordable loan from Provident, Satsuma, Greenwood or Glo you can easily make a claim.
First, you need to go to scheme.providentpersonalcredit.com.
You can then fill in a form online or claim by calling 0800 0568936. You can also download a form to send off.
Submitting a claim is free as long as you do it yourself, if you use a claims management firm they will take a cut of the money you get back.
You’ll need a scheme ID, which you should have been sent via email or letter, but you can call the number above if you have lost it.
You won’t need details of your loan to make the claim, but you may need to show evidence of defaults or CCJs.
You can find these on your credit report if the missed payments were in the last six years.
If you took out more than one product with these companies, you’ll need to contact the loan provider.
Sara says: “If you think you may have 2 accounts – perhaps you moved, or changed your email, or some other reason – tell Provident about this by emailing [email protected].
“If you don’t get a helpful reply in a couple of weeks, phone them up and ask.
“This is very important. You want a claim submitted for both accounts. And you want both your accounts to be looked at as a single account, not two separate ones, as this may mean you get a larger refund.”
It’s better to make a claim sooner rather than later – just in case there’s an issue submitting information close to the deadline.
You can even make a claim again if you were turned down for a refund before, or accepted a low amount.
The company was found to have rejected too many complaints, so plenty of people who were turned away could still get money back.
Sara advises that you can make a claim whether you paid the loan on time, defaulted, or if the loan was sold to a debt collector.
If your loan was sold to a debt collector, Provident will try to buy back the loan and settle it within the scheme.
None of the four firms are currently lending to new customers and Provident has written off outstanding doorstep loans as of December 31, 2021.
I’m a self-made millionaire at 25 – here are my top tips for saving money, including a ‘secret’ Amazon refund hack
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The Sun Online Money team?
