Not upheld: Irresponsible lending complaint against Salad Finance Limited trading as SaladMoney

Decision detail

Summary

Mr W complained that SaladMoney lent irresponsibly when approving a £1,200 loan in March 2025. He argued the loan was unaffordable given his existing credit commitments and that SaladMoney improperly included his wife's income in the affordability assessment. The ombudsman found that while SaladMoney should not have included the wife's income, the loan was affordable based solely on Mr W's verified employer income of approximately £3,000 per month shown in Open Banking data. The proportionate checks conducted were reasonable, and the lending decision was fair. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that SaladMoney's proportionate checks were reasonable and the lending was affordable. While SaladMoney incorrectly included the wife's income in their assessment, using only Mr W's verified employer income of approximately £3,000 per month would still have shown the loan was affordable with sufficient disposable income remaining. The regular, consistent payments from his declared employer were clearly identifiable in the Open Banking data and properly relied upon. The size of the loan and verified income did not warrant deeper investigation into the source of other transfers.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website