Payday Lender ordered to refund £350 to its customers

Payday Lender ordered to refund £350 to its 100,000 customers. Which had had caused them debts and distress.

The parent firm of a string of payday lenders has been told to either write off debt or hand money back to 97,000 of its current and former customers.

People who took out payday or guarantor loans from Payday First, Flexible First, Money Resolve, Paycfo, Payday Advance and Payday Credit – all run by CFO Lending – are affected by the move.

"We discovered that CFO lending was treating its customers unfairly and we made sure that they immediately stopped their unfair practices," said Jonathan Davidson from the Financial Conduct Authority.

"Since then we have worked closely with CFO Lending, and are now satisfied with their progress and the way that they have addressed their previous mistakes."

"Part of addressing these mistakes is making sure they put things right for their customers with a redress programme."

In total, CFO lending will be provide some £34million of redress to former and current customers. The money will go to writing off customers’ outstanding balances and cash payments.

What they did wrong

A number of serious failings took place which caused detriment for many customers. Failings date back to the launch of CFO Lending in April 2009 and include:

• The firm’s systems not showing the correct loan balances for customers, so that some customers ended up repaying more money than they owed


• Misusing customers’ banking information to take payments without permission


• Making excessive use of continuous payment authorities (CPAs) to collect outstanding balances from customers. In many cases, the firm did so where it had reason to believe or suspect that the customer was in financial difficulty


• Failing to treat customers in financial difficulties with due forbearance, including refusing reasonable repayment plans suggested by customers and their advisers


• Sending threatening and misleading letters, texts and emails to customers


• Routinely reporting inaccurate information about customers to credit reference agencies


• Failing to assess the affordability of guarantor loans for customer.

"We are committed to putting things right for any of our customers who have been affected by one or more of these issues, both those who currently have an open account and past customers whose account has now closed," CFO Lending said in a statement on its website .

"CFO Lending LTD will over the next 6 months be making contact with all customer who have been effected by the unfair practices."

What you should do if you think you're affected

"CFO Lending customers do not need to take any action as the firm will contact all affected customers by March 2017," Davidson said.

You do not need to a claims management company, and affected customers do not need to actively apply for redress.

If you still have any remaining debts with CFO Lending, continue to make payments unless you are told to stop.

Anyone experiencing financial difficulty should contact CFO Lending to discuss their options.

You can find out more here , by calling 0203 583 6303 or emailing redress@cfolending.com

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