CFO Lending, a payday loans company banned from lending by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) earlier this year, has been ordered to repay £35m to its customers.
This is due to “unfair behaviour” and “serious failings” by the lender, such as sending threatening letters to its customers, charging more money than was owed, and even taking money out of their bank accounts without permission.
The payday loans company was banned from giving out new loans earlier this year, only being allowed to collect outstanding debts instead.
Now, 97,000 customers will be paid an average sum of approximately £360 by CFO Lending, as £2.9m in cash refunds is given out, with £31.9m of debts being written off.
Jonathan Davidson, of the FCA, said: “We discovered that CFO Lending was treating its customers unfairly and we made sure that they immediately stopped their unfair practices. 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.”
CFO Lending has agreed to get in touch with its customers before March 2017, so anyone who has been affected should not need to take any action, according to Mr Davidson.
