Hi, I took out a loan with this company (CFO Lending) about 2 and a half years ago for £300. To cut a long story short, I paid them back a few times, but kept taking out another loan and then rolling over the interest. This was cycling out of control, so I decided to default and pay back loan + interest for one month and rid myself of this company.

I did this, and paid back one month interest plus initial loan of £300 and told them this was settled. They wouldn't accept this and said the loans was in the region of £1700.

I then chose to totally ignore them from this point as they were impossible to deal with, I also changed my card. A few months later, they took about £600 from account unauthorised using my new card details (must have got them from another site or something).

I still did not want to contact them as knew it was a waste of time. Changed my card again, and instructed bank to not pay this company again, and any transaction to them would be fraud.

Two years later, I have not had any more money taken, but still receive sporadic texts of varying threats. Today I have received one stating that they will be coming round my house and specified a date and time.

Thought I would get some advice to see if should contact them or not. I have paid them back over a £1000 for a £300 loan, of which £600 was taken against my will using card details I had never provided them.

As far as I am concerned the debt is more than repaid and they are basically XXXXXXXXX.

I would love to stop receiving the messages and would like to clear this matter up properly, but can live with it if I know none of the threats to be true, and I really do not want to contract them in any way, as I feel this is asking for more trouble.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Scott

Hi and welcome to CAG. Sorry you were missed.

If anyone turns up on your doorstep, tell them to do one. They have as many rights as I have to approach your door. None!

Once you tell a person to leave your property, they must and if they refuse, call 101 and report them as trespassers.

If you want to stop them, send them the doorstep letter that is in our library.

I would double check with your bank that they have no companies chasing payments from your account. A shame you let the £600 lie as you could have got that back from the bank as it was an unauthorised transaction.

As for anything else they can do. I don't think there is. If they were to try the court route, they open themselves up to a claim of unfair practices.

If you have had any payday loan with any other company since CFO, make sure they are not linked in any way otherwise, your account details will be passed on.

Thanks for the reply. When the £600 was taken I was in a bit of a mess and also foolishly hoped/assumed that that would be the last I ever heard of them. It staggers me that they are so persistent 2 years later, when they have collected way in excess of the original loan and most of it by less than fair means. I don't believe they will take me to court as this would be costly and they would not have a leg to stand on. I would just like to be able to get rid of them once and for all, but at the same time I don't want to contact them or get involved with them in any way, so not sure of the best course of action. I am hoping that this threat of visiting my house is an empty one and just a standard message. I guess I will find out soon enough!

Sadly this is how cfo works. Please make sure you contact the regulators and issue a complaint.

Shall I submit everything to the Ombudsman, or the OFT? They must surely have already received a lot of complaints about this company?

Financial Ombudsman is the one you need to send your complaint to. The OFT will simply record that a complaint has been made they are unable to deal with individual complaints.

The FOS will investigate the complaint and decide if you are entitled to any compensation or other action. It will also cost the compay a heft fee for the FOS to investigate

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?399260-Feel-that-you-ve-been-treated-unfairly-by-your-Payday-loan-lender-COMPLAIN-TO-THE-FOS!!

Have a read of the link above so you know what you need to do.

I had a lot of issues a while back with Capital Finance One. End result was I changed bank account and decided to completely ignore all mail, calls, texts from them (of which there were many) etc.I have not heard a word from them now for over a year. I initially borrowed £100 from them, this escalated up to £400, which is the point when I stopped paying it back. I have recently taken a look at my credit file and there is an outstanding balance of £1745 to CFO lending (defaulted Jan 2013). I have not been chased for this debt in any way for a while and assumed that maybe they had disappeared or this had been debt had been written off. I just want to know if there is a way of getting this balance removed from my file - I would be happy to pay back the original loan if this meant removal from my file, but I doubt I will be able to deal with CFO in this way. Or, do I have to just leave it there till it disappears in five years. Am surprised that they have not continued to chase for this, and I don't really want to contact them again or stir things up.

I'd just ignore for now. If its the same debt, they stand almost no chance of enforcing it because it is made up of bogus charges which you can reclaim.

If you were to repay it, you would have given them money for nothing. Plus it is unlikely they will remove any entries as they are obliged to maintain an accurate record of the status of the account.

Thanks , Ideally, I would like to have a clean credit file in a couple of years. I don't really want this sitting on there as a default for another five years when I will have paid off most of my other debts in the next 2 years. Are they still trading? Will they write this off at some point do you think?

Well, you COULD contest the default, as if it occured and was added due to the charges levied, it would be invalid. Youd have to SAR the OC for that though.

The only way theyd write it off is if they felt kind enough after you paid them all their bogus charges, or a DCA bought it.

I would imagine at least 1100 of this amount is bogus charges, but not sure if I can really be bothered to contact CFO. They prob would not reply to an SAR anyway, or if they did, how would I contest a default, I did after-all default on some loan with them, but they made it impossible to pay it off normally. So all of this debt "in limbo" will just remain on file for 6 years?? Is that correct?

They have to reply to the SAR, or you can take them to court for disclosure.

I've had a couple of people tell me that CFO have put defaults on their credit file for over a £1000 more than the original loan + interest. If you are willing to pay back the original amount it might be worth trying to negotiate that they correct the credit file - although I expect they would only change the amount, not remove the default altogether.

I wonder if CFO are dishing out these inflated defaults spitefully as people have come to their senses about not paying ridiculous interest and charges, so they've decided to ruin their credit reports.

If the default was added incorrectly, it can be contested and removed, then theyd have to go through the default process again, which allows the debtor to pay. However if a substantial period of time has elapsed, couldnt the debtor contest it was unfair?

The fact remains that CFO have added incorrect defaults to the credit files.

If I remember correctly my default should be for around £600 max, which was the contractual balance + plus interest. Its £1745 on the file. I doubt I will ever get chased for this, but If I want to clean up my file, then you think it is worth an SAR. Who would I then contest it with? The CRA?? I am not sure I would even want to give CFO £600 to clear off the default either as they were so unreasonable and operated very badly when I dealt with them.