Cahoot Flexi Loan

[king123]

I'm another who has an old Flexi Loan on which the interest skyrocketed (from about 7% to 21% iirc) ultimately leading to my downfall. They also carried on charging me £30 penalties and interest while the CAB were negotiating with them. It's fair to say there's no love lost between me and Cahoot! This is my main thread: Another "please point me in the right direction" thread

What I'm wondering is:
*Is a flexi-loan a bank account, credit card or something else in terms of claiming back charges, i.e. how do I go about it and which letter do I use?
*I also want to find out if they have a valid CCA for this account. Which do I do first or can I do both at the same time? Will I have to pay £10 *and* £1 statutory fees?

Thanks in advance if you're able to help me.

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[king123]

Anyone?

[kstaplet]

Hi,
did both, but in seperate letters to cahoot regarding my flexi loan- cahoot seem to return the fee for CCA's - i had my fee returned around a week and a half ago, saying a CCA request is free... don't hold your breath though, i still haven't had my CCA (which was originally requested Nov 20). I sent the CCA to cahoot in coventry, but the reply returning the PO came from bradford...

[king123]

Excellent, thanks. And do you know if it's a bank account or a loan or a consumer credit thingie or what? I'm guessing it makes a difference as bank charge claims are stayed at the moment (although I will try to claim hardship).

	Hardship By and large the "harship" provision in the FSA waiver is a myth which is intended to create a sense that the banking industry is sufficiently well-intentioned to act fairly towards its customers even though their right of access to the courts has been blocked. In fact there are very few guidelines as to procedure and very little definition of "hardship". One unfortunate spin off is that many people in difficulty get their hopes up and go to considerable lengths to plead hardship to their bank in order to get a refund or partial refund of their bank charges only to be refused. Neither the courts nor the FOS have the power to order a bank to make a charges refund on the basis of hardship. We hear of some people obtaining a partial refund quite easily. Others have obtained money by being very persistent - but mostly we hear that people are refused. Even benefits claimants do not automatically receive hardship refunds. By all means try to get a bank charges refund on the basis of hardship - but don't bank on it!

[kstaplet]

here's the link to the CCA request template:
Creditors and DCAs - Letter Templates & Budget Planner
You'll need Letter N - Ask your creditor for a copy of your credit agreement under the Consumer Credit Act 1974

for the claiming charges, you'll need the Subject Access Request request template to get your statements first:
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...ction-act.html

taking advice from others on here, don't sign any of the letters, just print name. Remember to include the 10 pounds fee for the Subject Access Request and send both by recored post.

	Subject Access Request A Subject Access Request is a demand which you can make to any organisation to disclose any personal information which they hold on you. The right to disclosure of data is provided by the Data Protection Act. There is no time limit. The organisation is obliged to reveal everything they have about you - which you ask for - as far back as you ask for. There are very few exceptions. It does not matter whether the data is held on microfiche, in an archive, on tape, in a cardex system, in sound recordings or in screen notes. Some companies are saying that they do not have to disclose where it would be difficult to do so - "disproportionate effort". This is untrue. Disproportionate effort refers to something else under the Act. If you are seeking bank charges information then you should ask for "all data held on you" and you should make it clear that you want everything as far back as it goes. Do not be put off by excuses. Do not accept being fobbed off. It is not in your bank's interest to make full disclosure to you. This means that it is in your interests to get it. If you have not started gathering your bank charges information yet, then you should start now. There will soon be a big rush once the OFT test case has been settled. Get all of your bank account informtion as far back as possible. At least as far back as 1995. If your bank says that they don't keep data as far back as this, don't accept it. Be persistent. They've got what you need in some form or other.

[king123]

Thanks again. They've written to me over Christmas informing me of their intention to file a default as my agreed repayments are too low. Time to fire out the CCA request I think.

[hopkinson]

Go to the Financial Ombudsman. I have been given advice from the Ombudsman that this is a genuine complaint that they are prepared to deal with. I have written to Cahoot informing them that I intend to go to the Ombudsman. The terms to try are that you were "lured into an unsustainable debt" and that they have "taken advantage of your unsophisticated financial knowledge". The CCA protects us from companies like this - hopefully!

	The Financial Ombudsman Service For the most part, don't bother. The Ombudsman is an industry arranged service which is under-resourced, takes too long, lacks clear transparency. You have no idea what evidence the FOS has received from the bank or how your complain has really been handled. The FOS is the preferred complaints route for the banking industry. The county court is to be preferred by consumers for its speed, openness, the quality of its awards and also because it will award 8% interest on top of any damages won by you. The Ombudsman should normally be used to solving little technical difficulties or customer service problems which you have expereinced with your bank.

[king123]

I'm with you. I'll wait and see what response I get from my CCA request I suppose, and then think about doing the same. I certainly agree with your analysis.

Any extra help or advice you can give on how to go about this, and on your own case, would be most welcome Also, do you know how I can find out what rates I have been charged? The oldest statement I have is from 2004 and shows 8.9%, but I think I started off lower than that. The most recent I've found is 18.9. There are gaps in my records.

[hopkinson]

your agreement shows the rates and you must write using the templates on this site for the CCA request to get your up to date statements. In my case they did not send the statement until I chased.

[king123]

I've already done a CCA and I got back a signed credit agreement. I guess I'll have to do a Subject Access Request. I'm interested to know how your complaint is going and how you've worded it. Will check your thread now if I can find it

	Subject Access Request A Subject Access Request is a demand which you can make to any organisation to disclose any personal information which they hold on you. The right to disclosure of data is provided by the Data Protection Act. There is no time limit. The organisation is obliged to reveal everything they have about you - which you ask for - as far back as you ask for. There are very few exceptions. It does not matter whether the data is held on microfiche, in an archive, on tape, in a cardex system, in sound recordings or in screen notes. Some companies are saying that they do not have to disclose where it would be difficult to do so - "disproportionate effort". This is untrue. Disproportionate effort refers to something else under the Act. If you are seeking bank charges information then you should ask for "all data held on you" and you should make it clear that you want everything as far back as it goes. Do not be put off by excuses. Do not accept being fobbed off. It is not in your bank's interest to make full disclosure to you. This means that it is in your interests to get it. If you have not started gathering your bank charges information yet, then you should start now. There will soon be a big rush once the OFT test case has been settled. Get all of your bank account informtion as far back as possible. At least as far back as 1995. If your bank says that they don't keep data as far back as this, don't accept it. Be persistent. They've got what you need in some form or other.

[king123]

Update: I've now received my copy statements and a standard letter about the charges claims being on hold.