A POPULAR payday loans firm has double charged hundreds of borrowers after a technical error.

Customers who previously took out a loan from The Money Platform have faced a further charge – despite repaying their loan months ago.

Around 300 customers of the payday lender are affected and have had repayments take again in error, in some case adding up to hundreds of pounds.

The Money Platform offers loans of up to £1,000 with representative APR of 839.20%.

Those affected have complained of being left out of pocket and the lender has promised to make refunds and pay compensation.

A spokesperson for The Money Platform said: "We were informed this morning that our payment services provider, Mangopay, reprocessed, by a technical error, a number of payments originally made in February and March.

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"This was done erroneously and without our knowledge. We believe around 300 customers have been impacted.

The Money Platform has said it is working with its payment services provider, Mangopay, to ensure that customers are repaid as soon as possible.

The firm said: "Mangopay have told us that they are making the repayments to customers' accounts this afternoon (July 25)."

The Money Platform told The Sun it is planning to compensate those customers affected but has not said yet how much that will be or how people will get the money.

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One customer affected by the issue said on Trustpilot: "Like others on here, I have had an unauthorised payment of £362 taken out of my bank account on August 22.

"I have no current loan or agreement plan so was shocked to see this amount randomly charged to my debit card."

Another past customer said: "They took £139 out of my account on Friday when loan was paid off months ago."

This is not the first time payday lenders have come under scrutiny. Many other firms have had to pay customers compensation in the past for technical blunders, overcharging and the closure of business.

How to get your money back

You should be refunded automatically if you've been effected by the glitch.

If you've not or you'd like to make a complaint you'll need to write to The Money Platform.

You can do this by filling in their online form. Make sure you use evidence to back up your complaint. This could be proof that a payment taken by the firm has meant you've missed a bill and a screenshot of your bank statement would suffice.

Loan providers are required to have a written complaints process that tells helps customers how to make a complaint.

You should be able to find the information on their website but if you don't, ask them to send it to you.

Once you've sent in your complaint, the firm needs to give you a response within eight weeks.

If you don't get a response within eight weeks or you're not happy with the one you do get, you can take your complaint to the free Financial Ombudsman Service.

To get in touch, you need to fill in a form, which you can find on the FOS website or simply complete the online complaint form.

If you'd prefer to talk it through with someone, the FOS can help you do this if you call 0800 023 4567.

Don't run to payday loans firms if you need to borrow

If you're struggling and need extra cash there's a number of cheaper and less risky ways to borrow.

And remember – only think about borrowing money if you really need to.

Cheap credit cards – first you need to think about what the card is for. If it's for purchasing then you need to look for a 0% purchase credit card. If you want to pay off debts then a 0% balance transfer card will be best, although you will pay a fee to move your money onto the card.

Cheap personal loans – personal loans are usually best for bigger purchases or if you need to consolidate debts and pay them off. Use an eligibility checker like MoneySavingExpert's to find out which loans you could be accepted for, without damaging your credit score.

Credit unions – credit unions are locally-based organisations where members pool their savings to lend to one another. This often allows them to offer low cost products.

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