What Evidence Do I Need?
You don’t need a complete paper trail to make an unaffordable lending complaint. The lender holds most of the records, and you have a legal right to access them. Bank statements from the period in question and your credit file fill in the rest. This page sets out what helps a claim, what you can ignore, and how to obtain anything you don’t already have.
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What actually matters
The Financial Ombudsman is interested in two things: what the lender did at the point of giving the credit, and what your actual financial position was at that point. The evidence that proves these is:
- Lender records — what checks were carried out, what information the lender had, what credit-file searches it ran, what it concluded.
- Bank statements — your actual income and outgoings at the time, including any other credit being used.
- Credit file information — what your credit file looked like to a lender at the relevant date — defaults, arrears, other open accounts, balances.
- Your own context — what was happening in your life that affected affordability — illness, redundancy, gambling, vulnerability, being in a debt management plan.
Records the lender holds
Under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have a right to make a Subject Access Request (SAR) to the lender. A SAR is free, must be responded to within one month (extendable by two further months for complex requests), and entitles you to receive a copy of the personal data the lender holds about you. For an unaffordable lending complaint, the SAR will typically produce:
- Your application form and the data you submitted.
- The credit reference agency search the lender carried out at the time.
- The affordability assessment outputs — declared income, modelled expenditure, disposable income calculation.
- Account statements showing the full history of the borrowing.
- Records of any credit limit increases and the data underlying them.
- Internal notes, complaint correspondence, and any communications with you.
Most lenders have a SAR portal or a dedicated email address. A claim partner will usually handle the SAR for you as part of the case.
Bank statements
Bank statements for the period of the lending are the single most useful piece of evidence. They show:
- Your actual income, as opposed to whatever you declared to the lender.
- Your committed and discretionary outgoings.
- Other credit being repaid — payday loans, other personal loans, other cards, doorstep payments.
- Returned direct debits, missed payments and other strain on the account.
- Gambling spend, if relevant.
- Repeat use of overdrafts.
UK banks are required to provide statements for at least six years from the date of the transaction, and many will go further. Online banking history is often the easiest source — most banks let you download statements as PDFs at no cost. For older periods, a written request may be needed; banks sometimes charge for older paper records.
Credit file information
Your statutory credit report is free from each of the three main UK credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion). The free statutory report is enough for most affordability complaints. It shows the open and closed accounts on your file, default markers, CCJs and bankruptcy entries, and a summary of your borrowing history.
For older information, credit reference agencies typically retain data for six years from the date of closure or default. Older information may not appear, in which case the lender’s own SAR response and your bank statements will fill in.
What you don’t need
You don’t need:
- The original loan agreement or paper credit card statements — the lender has electronic records.
- Every bank statement from the relevant year — a representative sample around the time of the lending is usually enough.
- Documentary evidence of every event in your life — the financial picture from the bank statements and credit file usually does the job.
- Receipts, invoices or anything from the merchant — affordability is about your finances, not what you spent the credit on.
If you have nothing
Can I claim without old loan paperwork?.
Your own account of what was happening
A short factual description of your financial situation and what was happening at the time is helpful. This is not a legal argument and you don’t need to use technical language. The Financial Ombudsman is used to people describing what life was like — coping with a reduced income, trying to keep up with rent, taking another loan to pay off the last one, not realising the lender had failed to check affordability. If a debt adviser, debt charity, GP or other professional was involved, mention them.
Related guides
- Can I claim without old loan paperwork?
- How a claim works step by step
- Do I have an unaffordable lending claim?
- What affordability checks should a lender carry out?
- How far back can I claim?
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