How to apply for CFO Lending settlement

One of the largest payday lenders in the UK, CFO Lending, is being penalized by the Financial Conduct Authority. The company was overcharging customers, they sent threatening letters about repayment of the loans, and had a number of other serious, unfair practices that were being used.

CFO operated under several different names, including Payday First, Money Resolve, Flexible First, Paycfo, Payday Credit as well as Payday Advance. It is estimated by the FCA that as many as 91,000 customers were impacted by their aggressive lending as well as debt collection practices. The total penalty being placed on CFO Lending will be almost £35m, which comes to an average of £350 for each borrower.

This is just another example of a UK based payday lender being penalized by the government due to serious failings. It follows on the heels of penalties given to Wonga and other companies. The fact is that these predatory lenders have taken advantage of hundreds of thousands of families that were in dire financial straights, and now the Financial Conduct Authority is finally catching up to them and forcing these companies to return money to tens of thousands of borrowers.

CFO Lending, as well as the operating companies such as Payday First, had many practices that were either unfair or illegal. One big concern of Financial Conduct Authority is that CFO issued loans that a borrower would never be able to afford. The monthly payment was beyond their income due to some form of financial hardship, but the person was still given a loan. So there was never a assessment done of the applicant’s situation.

Another concern was the companies refusal to help the borrower by given them an affordable, monthly repayment plan. So even if the borrower was struggling, and was unable to make the payment on the payday loan, CFO Lending did not offer them any solutions.

When it comes to the over 90,000 people impacted by CFO Lending and the companies it operated as, these customers can file to get money back as part of the settlement. Or the company may contact them directly. Depending on the circumstances of the borrower, they can either have the debt written off or a checque will be mailed to them as part of a refund. So there are two different ways in order to get assistance from the lender. If you want more tips on steps to take, find other debt reduction services.

It is estimated that almost £3m will be paid out to customer in refunds. The balance of the £32m in the settlement will be issued to customers of as a write off. This means that is a person has a balance on an account with Payday Credit, Money Resolve, or anther lender, then the balance that is on the account will be completely wiped out.

This debt reduction will allow the customer to no longer have to worry about making the monthly payment to CFO Lending and it will free up their income for paying other bills. Between these two forms of assistance the average customer will be given as much as £350 is assistance.

How to apply for relief

CFO Lending should be contacting each customer by March 2017. They will go over the terms of the settlement. Some people may be given a refund, some borrowers may have their debt reduced, and a small number of people will get both forms of assistance.

If there is a concern that CFO has not contacted you, or if you want to contact them directly, the phone number to ring is 0203 583 6303. Or a borrower can send an email to collections@cfolending.com.