Partially upheld: irresponsible lending complaint against Savvy Loan Products Limited trading as Tick Tock Loans
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-6271201 of 2026-05-08T00:00:00+00:00. irresponsible lending complaint against Savvy Loan Products Limited trading as Tick Tock Loans. Outcome: Partially upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-6271201 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2026-05-08T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | Savvy Loan Products Limited trading as Tick Tock Loans |
| Product | short-term loan |
| Claim type | irresponsible lending |
| Outcome | Partially upheld |
| Remedy | Savvy must: (1) Remove all interest, fees and charges applied to Loan 3 from the outset; (2) Deduct payments Miss Y made from the new starting balance of £300; (3) If Miss Y paid more than £300, treat excess as overpayments and refund them; (4) Add 8% per year simple interest on any overpayments from date paid to date of settlement; (5) If no balance remains, remove all adverse information about the loan from Miss Y's credit file; (6) If balance remains, arrange a suitable payment arrangement with Miss Y while maintaining accurate credit file reporting. |
Summary
Miss Y complained that Savvy lent to her irresponsibly across three loans between January 2024 and August 2025. The ombudsman found that Loans 1 (£300) and 2 (£400) involved proportionate checks appropriate to the lending relationship stage, with verified income and reasonable expenditure calculations supporting affordability. However, for Loan 3 (£300), Savvy made a critical error by treating a one-off backdated DWP benefits payment of £2,299 as regular monthly income, inflating Miss Y's apparent income to over £4,000 when her actual verified salary was £1,869. More significantly, Savvy's own credit search and Open Banking data revealed Miss Y had approximately £1,852 in monthly credit commitments (nearly equal to her net salary) across 9 outstanding loans and 25 buy-now-pay-later accounts, indicating she was obtaining further credit to service existing debt. The ombudsman upheld the complaint for Loan 3 and directed Savvy to remove all interest, fees and charges, refund any overpayments with 8% simple interest, and arrange suitable repayment terms.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
For Loans 1 and 2, Savvy carried out proportionate checks appropriate to the early lending relationship stage. Miss Y provided verified payslips showing regular income, declared reasonable expenditure, and had no recent adverse credit history. For Loan 3, however, Savvy failed to conduct adequate checks. The critical error was treating a one-off backdated DWP benefit payment of £2,299 as regular monthly income, inflating Miss Y's apparent income to over £4,000 per month when her actual verified salary was £1,869. The Open Banking data clearly marked this payment as a benefit, and a simple question would have clarified it was not recurring income. More significantly, Savvy's own credit search and the Open Banking data revealed Miss Y had approximately £1,852 in monthly credit commitments (almost equal to her net salary), was servicing 9 outstanding loans plus 25 buy-now-pay-later accounts, and was clearly obtaining further credit to service existing debt—all indicators of unsustainability and financial difficulty. A responsible lender should not advance further funds in these circumstances.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| Savvy Loan Products Limited trading as Tick Tock Loans, all decisions | 3 | 33% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website