Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
I am having issues with Firstplus and eventually contacted the fos and outlined my problems and requested some asnwers to questions that Firstplus were not prepared to answer. Part of my complaint was about harrassment by Firstplus and this was added as an after thought but it was not the main thrust of my complaint.
Neverless the FOS chose to ignore my main complaints and latched onto the harrasment calls from Firstplus about arrears. IMHO FOS have no jurisdiction over harassment calls as it is not within their remit.
The FOS then contacted Firstplus and suggested Firstplus pay us £100 in compensation and deduct the arrears from the £100 and then send us the balance.
The arrears were created when Firstplus stated that we were not allowed to overpay on the account and then they credited our account twice in one month which created an even bigger overpayment. At that pointwe were nearly a month in advance with our payments. They then sent a cheque and when we rejected the cheque FP told us tough they would not accept it back. We have never missed a payment!
As for the other complaints FOS`stated that Firstplus were within their rights to reject overpayments and that when moving from a secured loan to an unsecured loan the same terms and conditons applied although in essence the product had changed. We submitted a letter to the FOS from Firstplus where Firstplus shortly after it became an unsecured loan stated that they wanted a higher amount and for this amount to be paid off over 5 years. The FOS conveniently overlooked this letter!
I will be writing back to FOS to point out the errors of their ways and in addition I think it is time I got the OFT involved as the new amount for the unsecured should now fall under the CCA. It is my belief that not being able to pay more to finish the debt sooner is now an "unfair" clause as we want to pay more but cannot.
Currently we are paying £69.76 over 12 years, the remainder of the original agreement, on an unsecured loan which was £5700 in March 2006 and is now £5440. In the space of 3 years we have only paid off about £300 of the debt. Approximatrley £45 is going towards interest charges at 10.5% APR as they increased their rate with Bank of England increases, but then did not lower it. FOS thinks this is quite fair and sides with Firstplus.
Maybe we should stop paying altogether and allow it to go to the county court as they can then only nail us for the settlement amount and the court should lock it at that amount plus fees. I am assuming that they can only claim for the outstanding amount and not future interest charges. Maybe cheaper in the long run as I am almost 60 years old and the chances fo us buying anything again on credit on pretty slim as at present due to redundancy I am on a DMP anyway whch has stuffed up my previously clean credit history.
Yes,welcome to the very unsatisfactory world of the financial Ombudsman service.
I noticed that quite recently even in the Building Societies Association have criticised the financial ombudsman service and have said that it needed reforms.
One of the reasons given for the need for reform by the BSA was -- the lack of transparency.
You may not get a good result from the fos, especially if your case is handled by an inexperienced Adjudicator (few cases reach the ombudsmen). In my case the Adjudicator wrote her first letter to me summing up what she thought were the main issues. As with your case, she missed crucial points, and mentioned two points I had not made in my complaint at all ! I had made these to the firm years before but dropped them as minor, but they were still to be found in the depths of the firm's evidence to the FOS.
The Adjudicator preferred the firm's evidence to mine in making her initial assessment of the issues. She missed several other points later, misunderstood the amount to be invested by £44,000, recommended the firm's offer, then could not explain how it was calculated.
If you dont like the FOS decision, don't accept it. Once you accept it there is no going back, even if mistakes are later found in the decision. There is no appeal and no one to complain to and FOS may choose not to explain their actions or reasons. The FOS Independent Assessor is too close to the FOS and has no real powers.
Yes I also had a strong feeling that they were bias towards the financial institution.
Firstplus are still phoning me at all hours despite the fact that I sent them the harassment letter template which they have received and the fos "fining" them £100(What a joke!)
This wasn't even a slap on the wrists. More like a kiss and lets make up.
Financial Ombudsman - avoid
and outlined my problems and requested some asnwers to questions that Firstplus were not prepared to answer. Part of my complaint was about harrassment by Firstplus and this was added as an after thought but it was not the main thrust of my complaint.
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