Not upheld: irresponsible lending complaint against Gain Credit LLC trading as Lending Stream

Decision detail

Summary

Mr F complained that Lending Stream lent irresponsibly by approving four loans totalling £1,610 between August and October 2024. The loans overlapped and Mr F subsequently fell into arrears, with default notices issued in April 2025. Mr F argued that Lending Stream should have identified his gambling problem through Open Banking access to his bank statements, which showed extensive betting transactions including a £1,785 payment to a betting company. The ombudsman found that Lending Stream used Open Banking only to verify income (£3,400-£3,500 monthly) and did not review expenditure data, and therefore had no visibility of the gambling transactions. With calculated disposable income of £1,677-£2,216 monthly, the loan repayments were affordable on paper, and the lender had no justification to conduct more extensive checks. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Lending Stream carried out proportionate checks appropriate for the early stages of a lending relationship. Income was accurately verified through Open Banking at £3,400-£3,500 monthly. Calculated disposable income of £1,677-£2,216 monthly was sufficient to cover all loan repayments even with overlap. The lender had no justification to conduct more extensive checks as there were no warning signs in the information it obtained - Mr F stated loans were for expenses/repairs, credit history was historic, and the lender only used Open Banking for income verification, not expenditure review. The ombudsman accepted Lending Stream's explanation that it did not review transactional expenditure data in error, and therefore could not have known about gambling without Mr F disclosing it, which was unlikely.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website