Not upheld: irresponsible lending complaint against Salad Finance Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Miss B complained that Salad Finance irresponsibly lent her £1,200 in January 2025, citing her high existing debt (approximately £5,000 in credit cards), minimum repayments, accounts at credit limits, and energy supplier debt. Salad defended their lending decision based on proportionate checks using open banking and other searches. The ombudsman found that Salad's checks were proportionate and their lending decision was fair, as Miss B's income and disposable income after priority expenditure were sufficient to sustainably afford the new loan repayments. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Salad's checks were proportionate given the type and amount of credit involved. Although Salad did not obtain a full credit file, the open banking data provided sufficient visibility of Miss B's affordability, including her income, existing debt repayments, and absence of overdraft issues. The critical factor was whether Miss B could sustainably afford the new loan repayments after priority expenditure, which the evidence demonstrated she could, as her non-priority transactions far exceeded the monthly Salad loan repayment amount.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website