Loans 2 Go Unaffordable Lending Complaints
Loans 2 Go is one of the longer-established UK high-cost lenders, operating since around 2002. It stopped offering new logbook loans on 9 January 2021 but continues to offer unsecured personal loans of £250-£2,000 over 18-24 months at very high APRs (up to 815.6%). Loans 2 Go Limited (FRN 679836) is FCA-authorised and active, so complaints about both historic logbook lending and current personal lending can be brought through the standard CONC and FOS route.
Check your agreements on Recoup, our claim partner’s site
About Loans 2 Go
Loans 2 Go Limited (company number 4519020, FRN 679836) is a UK direct lender based at Bridge Studios, 34a Deodar Road, London SW15 2NN. The company has helped over 2,000,000 customers across more than 20 years of trading. In 2015, Loans 2 Go merged with the competitor Logbook Loans, expanding the business.
Current Loans 2 Go product range:
- Unsecured personal loans £250-£2,000 over 18 or 24 months.
- Representative APR around 611.74% — maximum APR up to 815.6%.
- Repayments collected by continuous payment authority (CPA) on a debit card.
- Top-up and refinance loans available to existing customers after at least 5 months of on-time payments.
Historic Loans 2 Go logbook loans — issued before 9 January 2021 — remain serviceable and complaints about them are subject to the same complaint route as the personal loans.
The “loophole” 18-month structure
A specific feature of Loans 2 Go’s personal loan is the 18-month minimum term. The FCA price cap on high-cost short-term credit applies to loans of 12 months or less with an APR over 100%. By structuring loans at 18 months, Loans 2 Go falls outside the price cap rule, despite the very high effective interest cost. Debt Camel has described this as one of the worst loan structures in the UK on a cost-per-pound basis — for an 18-month £550 loan at 168% per annum flat rate, the total cost is substantially higher than a comparable 12-month payday loan.
For affordability complaints, the structure raises specific questions:
- The Consumer Duty (in force from 31 July 2023) requires firms to ensure their products represent fair value — this is a relevant consideration for very high-cost long-term lending.
- Where the borrower could not realistically sustain the high repayments over 18-24 months, the affordability assessment was inadequate.
- Where the loan was taken out by someone with obvious financial distress on file, the proportionality threshold was not met.
Common patterns in Loans 2 Go complaints
FOS decisions on Loans 2 Go have highlighted recurring issues:
- Borrower already in distress at the time of the loan — recent payday loans, gambling activity visible on bank statements, multiple credit searches in the last month indicating recent need for credit.
- Affordability checks not proportionate to the cost — at 600%+ APR over 18 months, very thorough scrutiny is required. Light-touch checks have repeatedly been found inadequate.
- Income and expenditure declared rather than verified — declared figures used without further checks, when bank statements would have shown a different picture.
- Repeat lending and top-ups — loans taken to repay earlier Loans 2 Go borrowing, with the wider position not properly reassessed.
- Vulnerability indicators missed — including in some cases serious health conditions disclosed by the customer.
How a claim works
- Eligibility check on the loan and your circumstances at the time.
- Subject Access Request to Loans 2 Go covering the lending decision data and account history.
- Bank statements (3 months before and 3 months after the loan) — these are the best evidence of unaffordability.
- Statutory credit report.
- Complaint to Loans 2 Go — eight-week response window applies. Loans 2 Go is a member of the Consumer Credit Trade Association (CCTA), which offers an additional conciliation service.
- Escalation to the Financial Ombudsman if the response is unsatisfactory.
- Redress if successful — refund of interest and charges, 8% statutory interest, removal of adverse credit-file entries, balance offset.
Continuous payment authorities
Loans 2 Go collects repayments by continuous payment authority (CPA) on a debit card rather than direct debit. This is relevant to the complaint picture in two ways:
- Customers can cancel a CPA through their bank — this stops further automatic collection but doesn’t cancel the underlying liability.
- CPAs taken when the borrower had insufficient funds can compound problems if the bank charges return fees.
Frequently asked questions
I had a Loans 2 Go logbook loan before January 2021 — can I still complain?
Yes. Loans 2 Go remains FCA-authorised and continues to handle complaints about historic lending. The standard route applies — complaint to Loans 2 Go, eight-week response window, FOS escalation if needed.
Is the 18-month loan structure illegal?
No — it falls outside the high-cost short-term credit definition (over 12 months) so the price cap doesn’t apply. But the affordability rules under CONC 5.2A and the Consumer Duty fair-value rules do apply, and complaints about unaffordable lending succeed where the assessment was inadequate.
Related guides
- Logbook loans claims hub
- The CONC rules on affordability
- How the Financial Ombudsman handles unaffordable lending complaints
- How far back can I claim?
- Do I have an unaffordable lending claim?
Check If You Could Be Owed Compensation
You may be eligible to complain if a lender gave you credit you couldn’t afford. Start a free check in minutes — no paperwork needed. No win, no fee if you choose to proceed.
