Not upheld: Irresponsible lending complaint against Evergreen Finance London Limited trading as MoneyBoat.co.uk
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-6397029 of 2026-07-07T00:00:00+00:00. Irresponsible lending complaint against Evergreen Finance London Limited trading as MoneyBoat.co.uk. Outcome: Not upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-6397029 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2026-07-07T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | Evergreen Finance London Limited trading as MoneyBoat.co.uk |
| Product | Payday / short-term credit |
| Claim type | Irresponsible lending |
| Outcome | Not upheld |
| Remedy | For Loan 3: MoneyBoat has already offered to remove all interest and charges applied (£181.70), waive future interest and charges, and offset the refund against the outstanding balance, resulting in a new starting balance of £652.90. The ombudsman found this offer fair and did not require the firm to do anything further. The ombudsman reminded MoneyBoat of its responsibility to treat Mr R fairly and with forbearance when discussing repayment of the remaining balance. |
Summary
Mr R complained that MoneyBoat irresponsibly lent to him by providing three loans (£500, £800, and £1,000) despite his bank statements showing sustained financial difficulty and reliance on high-cost credit. MoneyBoat accepted it should not have provided Loan 3 and offered redress by removing interest and charges, but maintained Loans 1 and 2 were responsibly lent. The ombudsman found that MoneyBoat carried out reasonable and proportionate checks for Loans 1 and 2, properly verifying Mr R's income of £2,500 through a credit reference agency and making reasonable adjustments to his declared expenditure. Credit checks revealed no concerning indicators - Mr R had manageable debt levels relative to income, no active arrears, and only historic payment problems from late 2023. With calculated disposable income of over £1,400 monthly and small monthly repayments, the loans appeared affordable and sustainable. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding MoneyBoat's redress offer for Loan 3 fair and in line with established FOS approach.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
The ombudsman found that MoneyBoat carried out reasonable and proportionate checks for Loans 1 and 2 given their small size and the early stage of the lending relationship. The firm properly verified Mr R's income through a credit reference agency and made reasonable adjustments to declared expenditure using statistical data. The credit checks revealed no concerning indicators of unsustainability - Mr R had manageable debt levels relative to income, no active arrears, and only historic payment problems from late 2023. With calculated disposable income of over £1,400 per month and small monthly repayments, the loans appeared affordable on a pounds and pence basis. While a more forensic analysis of bank statements might have revealed difficulties, the ombudsman concluded this level of detail was not proportionate given the loan characteristics. For Loan 3, MoneyBoat's own acceptance that it should not have lent was not disputed, and the firm's redress offer (removing all interest and charges) was found to be fair and in line with FOS's well-established approach to irresponsible lending complaints.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| Evergreen Finance London Limited trading as MoneyBoat.co.uk, all decisions | 10 | 5% |
| Irresponsible lending, all decisions | 30,770 | 37% |
| Payday / short-term credit, all decisions | 9,925 | 50% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website