Not upheld: Irresponsible lending complaint against Salad Finance Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr B complained that Salad Finance Limited irresponsibly lent him £1,000 in May 2025 with an 18-month term. Salad conducted affordability checks using Open Banking data covering three months prior to lending, which showed Mr B had sufficient disposable income for the £86.14 monthly repayments. Although the data revealed some missed payments and modest gambling transactions, and Mr B later disclosed mental health difficulties, the ombudsman found these factors were either not significant in context or unknown to Salad at the time. The ombudsman upheld Salad's lending decision as fair and reasonable, finding no evidence of irresponsible lending.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Salad's affordability checks were reasonable and proportionate for a £1,000 loan. The Open Banking data provided a detailed insight into Mr B's financial situation and showed sufficient disposable income for repayments. Although there were some missed payments and modest gambling transactions, these were not significant enough to suggest irresponsible lending. The ombudsman noted that while Mr B's circumstances deteriorated after the loan was taken, the assessment must be based on what was known at the time of lending. Since Mr B did not disclose his mental health difficulties to Salad, the firm could not have acted unfairly based on information it did not possess.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website