MORE than 4 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 prior to the February 28 deadline.
You could get refunds for any mis-sold loans, even though you paid the debt back years back – so it's well worth checking.
Customers could possibly claim for loans from four different brands:
- Doorstep loans made by Provident
- Doorstep loans produced by Greenwood
- Payday loans through Satsuma
- Guarantor loans through Glo
These loans received between 6 April 2007 and 17 December 2023, so if you bought a product between those dates you could be owed cash.
Regulators discovered that these products were unfairly sold to people which the providers didn;t carry out the right affordability checks.
Ex-customers can get a share of a lb50m pot, that has been put aside to refund anyone who has a successful claim.
But borrowers could still get cash worth countless pounds and if you don't claim you won't get anything back whatsoever.
If you're successful, you could also get bad marks taken off your credit record, which is really important since it impacts everything from getting a mortgage towards the interest you pay on credit cards.
Sara Williams from blog Debt Camel told The sun's rays: "Provident loans were only meant to be employed for temporary borrowing – that's why the eye rate am high.
"But Provident did not make proper checks on borrowers. Thousands and thousands of people borrowed continuously from Provident for years.
"They have a good chance of getting a claim for 'unaffordable lending' upheld – even if they made all the repayments promptly!
"Should you win you're going to get back some of the interest you paid – this is worth applying for."
Anyone who took out financing with Provident, Satsuma, Greenwood and Glo between April 6, 2007 and December 17, 2023 might be entitled to reimbursement.
If the borrowed funds was unaffordable it's worth applying, for instance, should you struggled with repayments or needed to take a loan to maintain them and also got into debt.
How much you receive back will depend on how much you borrowed as well as for just how long.
Yor payout will also depend on what other people claim successfully while there is a collection pot of cash to be split.
The refunds will be dished out following the scheme closes at 5pm last month 28, 2023.
Money won't be paid immediately though, as each claim needs to be assessed and the amounts owed worked out.
How to claim reimbursement
If you believe you had been given an unaffordable loan from Provident, Satsuma, Greenwood or Glo you can easily claim.
First, you have to go to scheme.providentpersonalcredit.com.
You can then fill in a form online or claim by calling 0800 0568936. You may also download an application to send off.
Submitting claims is free so long as you do it yourself, if you are using a claims management firm they'll have a cut from the money you get back.
You'll require a scheme ID, which you should have been sent via email or letter, however, you can call the amount above if you have lost it.
You won't need information on the loan to help make the claim, but you may need to show evidence of defaults or CCJs.
You will find these in your credit report if the missed payments were within the last six years.
If you took out several product with one of these companies, you'll have to contact the borrowed funds provider.
Sara says: "If you feel you may have 2 accounts – perhaps you moved, or changed your email, as well as other reason – tell Provident about this by emailing [email protected].
"If you do not obtain a helpful reply in a couple of weeks, phone them up and ask.
"This is very important. You'll need a claim submitted for both accounts. And you want both your accounts to be considered just one account, not two separate ones, as this may mean you receive a larger refund."
It's easier to make a claim sooner rather than later – just in case there's a problem submitting information near to the deadline.
You can even make claims again if you were turned down for any refund before, or accepted a minimal amount.
The company was found to possess rejected a lot of complaints, so lots of people who have been averted could get money-back.
Sara advises that you can make a claim whether you paid the borrowed funds on time, defaulted, or maybe the borrowed funds was sold to a debt collector.
If your loan was sold to some collector, Provident will try to purchase back the loan and settle it inside the scheme.
None of the four firms are currently lending to new customers and Provident has written off outstanding doorstep loans by December 31, 2023.