Not upheld: Irresponsible lending complaint against Lendable Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Miss L complained that Lendable Ltd lent irresponsibly when providing a £4,000 loan in March 2025. Lendable's affordability assessment estimated Miss L would have only £100 monthly disposable income after accounting for her £1,695 declared income, existing debts of £13,000, and the new loan repayments. The ombudsman found that while Lendable should have conducted further checks given the minimal margin and Miss L's recent £8,000 loan, a proportionate assessment using open banking data would have revealed Miss L actually had approximately £1,000 monthly disposable income (£300 after essential expenses), making the loan affordable. Although gambling transactions were visible in Miss L's bank statements, they were not individually significant or clearly identifiable as gambling, so reasonable checks would not have identified them. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While Lendable's initial affordability checks were reasonable, the ombudsman found they should have gone further given the minimal £100 disposable income margin and the recent £8,000 loan. However, using open banking data to conduct a proportionate check, the ombudsman calculated Miss L actually had approximately £1,000 monthly disposable income (£300 after essential expenses), making the loan affordable. Although gambling transactions were present in the bank statements, they were not individually significant or clearly identifiable as gambling, so reasonable checks would not have identified them as a concern. Therefore, Lendable did not lend irresponsibly.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website