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 posted this yesterday, but nobody has replied - come on you clever lot, someone MUST have an opinion!!
WHAT should I ask for from CAHOOT?
On Dec. 6th I got an e-mail from Cahoot saying that they were stopping their "Flexible Loans" and because of that (and to reflect "current market rates") they were increasing their interest rate to 14.9% in two increments, the first one coming into effect on......Dec. 6th! This was, I believe sent to all customers, and whilst everyone was previously paying slightly diferent interest rates, this was still a huge hike for most people. Also last year, they e-mailed me saying they had "reviewed my account" and were reducing the upper limit on the flexible loan. I have never, ever missed a payment, the payments are made by DD and always on time.
I wrote to them pointing out they were in breach of T & C's regarding the notice period for interest increases, (and the Banking Code) and also that their T & C's give a load of reasons why they can reduce your limit - none of which applied to me - plus a final catch all of "any other valid reason". So I also asked them to clarify the valid reason they had in reducing my limit. They e-mailed me back saying they would respond in 5 working days, and that is up tomorrow and haven't heard back from them yet- but now I've got to this stage, I'm not sure what I should be doing next!! Any ideas?
I'm absolutely no expert on this, but from what I've seen from other posts on this site, the banks can pretty much get away with whatever they want in these cases. They'll probably just ignore you, and there are no real damages that you can claim from them in court. Your best bet is probably the financial Ombudsman, but they seem to be a bit useless and it will take a long time.
Sorry I can't be more upbeat about it! Unfortunately, all they're doing as far as contract law goes is not fulfilling their side of the contract by not providing a service, and all that you could really claim financially would be the amount that you paid for that service which in this case is probably nothing. Therefore, its the ombudsman who can help you more than the courts.