Partially upheld: Irresponsible lending complaint against Inclusive Finance Limited trading as Creditspring
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-6438989 of 2026-06-19T00:00:00+00:00. Irresponsible lending complaint against Inclusive Finance Limited trading as Creditspring. Outcome: Partially upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-6438989 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2026-06-19T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | Inclusive Finance Limited trading as Creditspring |
| Product | Other regulated product |
| Claim type | Irresponsible lending |
| Outcome | Partially upheld |
| Remedy | Creditspring should: (A) Remove all membership fees applied to the second membership and treat repayments as principal repayments; refund any overpayments with 8% simple interest from the date overpayments arose to settlement date; (B) If outstanding balance remains, agree an affordable repayment plan with Miss T; (C) Remove any adverse credit file information relating to the second membership. Creditspring should attempt to buy back the debt from the collection agency or liaise with the new debt owner to achieve these outcomes. |
Summary
Miss T complained that Creditspring lent to her irresponsibly by approving two credit memberships without properly assessing her finances. The first membership (January 2023) allowing £300 borrowing was not upheld as Miss T accepted the Investigator's findings. The second membership (February 2024) allowing £2,000 borrowing was upheld as irresponsible lending. Although Creditspring's initial affordability assessment appeared satisfactory, the credit search showed Miss T had 9 loans and 13 credit cards with £815 monthly commitments (45% of income), and bank statements evidenced missed payments to multiple lenders in the months before approval. The ombudsman found further checks would have revealed Miss T was already struggling with existing credit and could not afford additional borrowing. Creditspring was ordered to remove membership fees, treat payments as principal repayments, refund overpayments with interest, arrange an affordable repayment plan if needed, and remove adverse credit file information.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
Creditspring was required to carry out proportionate affordability checks before lending. While initial checks appeared to show affordability based on declared income and expenses, the credit search results revealed Miss T was already spending 45% of her income on existing credit commitments across 9 loans and 13 credit cards. The fact that Miss T had taken on additional credit since the first membership, combined with evidence from bank statements showing missed payments to multiple lenders in December 2023 and January-February 2024, meant further checks were warranted. Had Creditspring conducted more thorough checks such as reviewing bank statements, it would have discovered Miss T was already struggling to manage existing credit commitments and could not afford the additional lending. The ombudsman found that the second membership should not have been approved.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| Inclusive Finance Limited trading as Creditspring, all decisions | 13 | 35% |
| Irresponsible lending, all decisions | 30,675 | 37% |
| Other regulated product, all decisions | 47,449 | 30% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website