Not upheld: Irresponsible lending complaint against East Lancashire Moneyline (IPS) Limited trading as Moneyline

Decision detail

Summary

Mr T complained that Moneyline irresponsibly lent him £400 in April 2024 by failing to carry out adequate affordability checks, claiming the loan was unaffordable. Moneyline verified Mr T's income through Open Banking data (£1,178 monthly) and cross-referenced his expenditure (£694 monthly), resulting in £484 disposable income after loan repayments. The credit search showed no insolvencies or defaults, and Open Banking data revealed no obvious financial difficulties. The ombudsman found Moneyline conducted proportionate checks appropriate to the small loan size and first-time lending relationship, and responsibly assessed affordability based on the information gathered. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied FCA CONC rules on responsible lending and determined that Moneyline took reasonable steps to verify Mr T's income through Open Banking rather than relying solely on his declaration. The firm gathered proportionate information given the small loan size, short term, and first-time lending relationship. The affordability assessment showed £484 monthly disposable income after loan repayments, and the Open Banking data revealed no obvious signs of financial difficulty such as returned Direct Debits, reliance on high-cost borrowing, or account difficulties. While Mr T claimed his financial situation was worse than the data suggested, the ombudsman found Moneyline reasonably relied on the information it obtained which did not alert it to problems.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website