Irresponsible Lending FAQs

You may not know for certain but you may feel that you have debts which shouldn’t have been arranged or even approved by the lender. You may feel that you received poor advice when the credit product was sold and that the lender did not act with care when arranging your accounts and handling your debt. You may not have fully understood the contract you entered into due to poor explanations from the advisor. 

Whatever your concern EMCAS will investigate the credit and try to put things right.

Should your claim for irresponsible lending be successful, an offer of compensation will be made. The value awarded may consist of interest and insurance premiums paid, any type of charges made against the agreement or charges made on your current account. It may also involve a further reduction in your outstanding debt.

Please note that if there is money owed to the firm, the compensation value may be off-set against the outstanding balance in order to reduce the overall debt. In this instance, our fee would still be due and you would need to find funds for our fees from elsewhere. If there is no outstanding credit, then the compensation will be refunded to a bank account of your choice.

Get in touch so that we can establish whether or not you too may be entitled to compensation.

You can be assured that EMCAS will be acting in your best interests at all times and will always endeavour to maximise the value of the award being made. As we receive a percentage of the award value on a "No Win No Fee*" basis we will have naturally checked all calculations and ensured that the rules governing compensation payments issued by the Financial Services Authority have been correctly applied. EMCAS regularly dispute offers made by the companies liable and as a result have the offers increased.

*Subject to a fee in the event of termination if requested by the client or caused by the inaction of the client – see Clauses 3 & 7 of our Terms of Engagement.

EMCAS work on a No Win, No Fee* basis, so you will only be charged by EMCAS if your complaint is successful and you receive compensation as a result. If the claim is carried to its conclusion and is lost, you will not be charged for work carried out on your behalf.

The only occasion other than the above when a fee is payable is if during the course of your claim you decide to cancel our contract. A fee will then be payable to reflect the work carried out on your behalf and any expenses paid by EMCAS up to the point of cancellation.

EMCAS charge 25% + VAT of any compensation gained on your behalf.

 *Subject to a fee in the event of termination if requested by the client or caused by the inaction of the client – see Clauses 3 & 7 of your Terms of Engagement.

EMCAS charge 25% + VAT (30% inc. VAT) of any compensation gained on your behalf.

Compensation awarded in Irresponsible Lending cases varies as it is dependent on the individual complaint and its circumstances. This being the case there are various types of re-dress which can be offered:

• Your outstanding debt can be reduced by a full or partial refund of payments made towards the borrowing (at this stage usually interest is refunded but this could change).
• Your borrowing may be restructured with a new repayment plan making the repayments more affordable for you.
• You may receive a refund of any late payment charges/overdraft charges which should be awarded to you in cash.

Please be aware that if your loan is reduced and you do not receive a cash benefit, our fee would still be due. In this instance you would need to make arrangements to pay our fee from other sources.

Before returning our documentation you may wish to take time to seek further advice or shop around before instructing EMCAS to act on your behalf.

Once you have signed and returned our documentation you will have a 14 day ‘cooling off’ period in which you can cancel the agreement, however we will start the ball rolling immediately by contacting your provider in order to avoid any time constraints being applied to your case. EMCAS will:

• Write to you to inform you whether or not you have been subject to Irresponsible Lending and if you have been , that we are investigating your complaint.
• Perform a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) on your behalf in order to obtain all the documentation held regarding your account from the credit provider.
• Assign you to a claims handler who will start the internal investigation into your case as soon as the DSAR is received.
• Issue the first letter of complaint to your credit provider.
• Take your claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service if necessary, there is no extra charge for doing so.
• Inform you of the outcome of your complaint promptly. If you are unhappy with EMCAS’ decision you have the option of taking your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service independently.

Our agreement would come to an end and you will not owe us a penny.

During the process of your claim EMCAS will at all times endeavour to:

• Act fairly and reasonably in all our dealings with you.
• Ensure that any service offered is one that meets your needs.
• Ensure that all information given to you is clear, transparent, fair and not misleading.
• Advise you only to pursue a claim if it is in your best interest to do so.

At EMCAS we pride ourselves on making sure our customers receive the best possible service. If you are not completely satisfied with the service provided by EMCAS we would like to hear about it – that way we can do our best to put it right. If you have any complaints please contact our Customer Service Manager on 01803 697541 or by email at complaints@emcas.co.uk.

For full details of our complaints procedure please click here.

Yes you can. As with anything in life you can elect to 'do it yourself' in the same way that you can prepare and file your own tax return without the use of an accountant, or buy and sell your own property without the use of a solicitor. However, most people choose to employ the services of someone who is an expert in their field.

EMCAS is a professional, regulated claims management company. We are one of the longest established companies and as such we are one of the industry leaders. The whole purpose of our claims procedure is to take the burden of making a complaint completely off your shoulders. We therefore undertake to manage all aspects of your claim from start to completion, making the whole process as hassle free for you as possible.

Our track record speaks for itself. To date we have successfully secured more than £250 million in compensation and refunds for our satisfied customers. Currently more than 7,000 new clients a month choose to use EMCAS' services.