Thanks Hellhasnofury and Reidnet - your information has been valuable. We are going to pay off the loan on Monday and I have the address for the complaints department to hand. I assume that that is going to be the right address for my request. I was talking to my husband and he said that he recalls very clearly being told that we needed to take out the PPI because it was secured. When we took out the loan we were 24 and 22 and were very green about the whole thing. Well I will certainly be back next week for some additional advise. Also - when I called my local branch manager to cancel the PPI he asked me why I was doing it now and when I told him he said that it's your word against ours - and we will always win.......

Thanks people. I have just spoken with the head office who do 'car insurance' only (??!) and they told me that this is what I should be paying: Current balance: £12,171.40 With early repayment penalty (one month): £12,528.96 Minus interest rebate of: £2978.99 (approx) Minus PPI for reminder of the term: £2,138.75 (approx) Local branch who I have the contract with and who manage themselves and are audited regularly say: Current Balance: £12,528.96 Settlement figure with 'consession': £10,940 (made of £783.77 rebate from early payment penalty and another £700 odd from something else which he skimmed over) I was also told that I should consider myself lucky because there should be an additional ££7,666.26 to pay because that would have been the total of interest they would have had if my loan had gone full term. Something just doesn't ring true here. When I got my statement I called and said that the £13,500 odd repayment figure given back in Jan was wrong and they agreed and said that they could 'knock off' about £3,000. The head office don't seem to be able to do anything about it. The local branch who are a law unto themselves have now developed a threatening manner claiming that if I remove the PPI I will have more to pay back. I really don't know what to do or where to turn. I feel that I have been taken for a fool by some loan shark. I really could cry with frustration. Edited to add: The lady in the call centre (head office said that if they were to take back their offer of £10,940 I should seek legal advise...gulp!

We will be in a position to pay it off completely. But I am not sure if we can fight the PPI if they are giving us a 'concessionary rate'? I would like to know what we would have paid off if we didn't have the PPI and also WHY we have never appeared to pay off anything despite paying nearly £300 a month!

Thanks Barty. I am not sure if it is all down to the PPI or whether it's partly to do with the fact that we had 2 contracted payment breaks a year. It also appears that Black Horse don't want to let us go as customers as they are really dragging their feet when it comes to the new amount. Each day that goes by means another £30 or so in interest......

We were struggling financially back in 2004 and were desperate - so we took out a secured loan with Black Horse Finance. We were told we should take the PPI because our credit rating was poor and it would help our application - we did it. The total we ended up taking out was £13,592 including the insurance (loan alone was £10,000). We have made regular payments for nearly 3 years now - with the exception of our 2 entitled payment breaks per year. This month I requested a settlement figure and to our amazement we were sent a figure of £13,688.27 - more than we had originally taken out! Black Horse have had 28 payments of £294 during the term of our loan. To say the least we are devastated. The statement shows that at more than one occasion we were over £14,000 - we don't understand what has happened and Black Horse just fobbed us off each time we called. Finally they relented and said that they will give us a 'concessionary rate' but won't disclose the amount to us yet - is this acceptable?? We have never claimed on the insurance even though one month we went to but we found the money to make the payment......what can we do?? Any advise would be welcome as we are due to pay them off on Monday!

We were struggling financially back in 2004 and were desperate - so we took out a secured loan with Black Horse Finance. We were told we should take the PPI because our credit rating was poor and it would help our application - we did it. The total we ended up taking out was £13,592 including the insurance (loan alone was £10,000). We have made regular payments for nearly 3 years now - with the exception of our 2 entitled payment breaks per year. This month I requested a settlement figure and to our amazement we were sent a figure of £13,688.27 - more than we had originally taken out! Black Horse have had 28 payments of £294 during the term of our loan. To say the least we are devastated. The statement shows that at more than one occasion we were over £14,000 - we don't understand what has happened and Black Horse just fobbed us off each time we called. Finally they relented and said that they will give us a 'concessionary rate' but won't disclose the amount to us yet - is this acceptable?? We have never claimed on the insurance even though one month we went to but we found the money to make the payment......what can we do?? Any advise would be welcome as we are due to pay them off on Monday!

Hi all, My husband and I have 3 credit cards and 2 accounts with the Halifax. A while ago I was made redundant and so we got into some financial trouble. We entered an IVA and are now paying off our credit cards - with 0% interest because they have failed to notice that the agreement ran out some time ago - and the two accounts have had their overdrafts taken back to 0.00 so we are paying those off too (we don't use them for our personal banking anymore). So the question is - do we rock the boat and claim back our charges. I can safely assume that we have around £2k of charges in total from all accounts - but that's if we can claim back late payments and over the limit charges from the credit cards......can anyone help direct us? Many thanks, DottieMinstral

Hi there. I buckled and accepted £900 odd as I had a load of claims coming out of my account that month so they agreed to cover them too. I am hoping to start on the Halifax next!

Okay - well thanks to Bookworm my posts have merged so there is a little more of my history around now. So - 28th April - complained to Woolwich about the charges (over the phone) and told them that I wanted 6 years of statements - which they said there would be a £10 charge for. Ok'd it all. 11 May - Letter from Barclays 'Sorry you are unhappy with the charges incurred. Your comments are receiving attention and one of my team will be in contact with you again by the 6th June' 3rd June - 2nd letter (still no statements) 'Goodwill gesture of £800' Please sign the 'Full and Final settlement' blah blah. Called Jeremy Bigmore (who the letter was from) - after a week of calls he comes back to me. 'Well there is actually £1680 worth of charges we have taken from your account'. Request statements again. 13th June - Get fed up with waiting so send a 'Request for repayment of charges' to the tune of £1600. 29th June - Still no statements or response from the above letter. Call the bank - who never got the letter (learnt my lesson!) Resend it by fax with a 'Letter before action' - also mentioning that they are in breach of the 40 day deadline. 30th June - Letter from Rose Frimet 'I am sorry you have not decided to accept our offer (which I never stated in my letter!) which was made as a gesture of goodwill. I am unable to refund you the full amount and it is with regret that you will now be proceeding to the County Court. I appreciate this is not the response you were hoping for, but I hope I have clarified the Bank's position. I am happy to advise you that the statements you requested are being forwarded to you under seperate cover' (no mention of them being in breach of the deadline) 8th July - 18 months of statements arrive. There have also been numerous calls chasing people and statements between the written correspondance. So this is where I am - waiting for the remaining statements....and thinking that I don't want to go to court.

.....I don't know what to do. I am STILL waiting for my statements that I requested back on the 28th April. I did get a batch from 2004-2005 a week ago and have been chasing the rest since. I can't seem to get anywhere. I know that I am owed £1600 (I was told this by one of Barclays customer relations team) and so proceeded with the next stage asking for the full payment. I got a letter saying that they wouldn't pay it and that my statements are in the post..........I am very tempted to take the offer and run. The offer expires in 2 weeks and I don't want to lose £800........please - has anyone else been in a similar situation? Stressed x:-?

I started my complaint with the Woolwich on the 28th April requesting all of my statements. Shortly after I got a letter from Barclays offering me £800 - however I had not had my statements to see what I was actually owed. My officer dealing with my claim said it was £1600. So, I send a letter stating that I wanted FULL payment and that I trusted that the bank had informed me of the correct amount I was owed and that over 2 months later I am still waiting for my statements. Letter returned saying that they are not happy to give me a full refund and that they are sorry to see that I feel the need to go to court. Also at the bottom - your statements are being sent out in a seperate parcel........So, they are in breach of the 40 DPA response.........and now want to see me in court.......please - anyone I need some advice and reasurrance!

Hi there. Well I registered a complaint with the woolwich back on the 28th April and requested all of my statements to which they replied that there would be £10 charge - this was all done over the phone and was fine. I then got a letter from Barclays offering me £800 - I have not received any statements to date! So - I called my complaint contact and was told that they had calculated £1600 worth of charges and that the £800 was the final offer. I responded with the letter in templates that states that I am seeing a full refund and that they have 14 days to respond. This is the letter they claim they haven't received. Thing is - I know it's delay tactics.......they wouldn't acknowledge my voicemail messages and refused to believe that I had left any (I had left 6 over 3 days on machines and with colleagues) - so what do I do now?

Well I have just chased Barclays as they had 14 days to reply to my letter (declining their inital offer and asking for the remainder) and they have told me that they never received the letter! What a load of BULL! I am so angry! I am not sure what to do now.......

No we aren't. We found that even they couldn't get the Halifax to accept that we were in difficulty. Just seems like the Halifax are not interested in anything other than taking your money.

We were with Gregory Pennington - useless! Paid £75 for terrible service and they also failed to tell us certain important information! Anyway.......so we can claim any charges....that is a relief! Now - just need to get the letters out! Also - when my husband and I opened our account - he was the lead name. To get their platinum credit card he had to earn over a certain limit which he didn't but I did - and so they still sent us the card!

Hi there! My husband and I have had a tough 2 years with redundancies and lack of work. We lived off of our credit cards and we not able to keep up with repayments. The Halifax were not interested in helping us with payment arrangements and so we had to go to a debt management company. We now have the courage to take on the banks ourselves - however, what can we claim back? We have numerous LATE and OVER LIMIT charges and are not able to get out of the rut that they have helped us into. They are also going back on their recent arrangements that we have pushed for. Any advice? Thanks......Dottieminstral

Well now you put it like that - what harm can it do to write them a letter....... WISH ME LUCK!!

Back in April I made a complaint to the Woolwich about some charges that had been made to my account. I had been reading up on this website prior to my complaint and so was able to tell them what laws they were in breach of and also request my statements at a £10 charge. A couple of days later I got a letter stating that my complaint had been elivated to the Head Office because of it's nature. Soon after I had a letter from Barclays acknowledging my complaint and promising a response within a month. Last week I received my letter from Barclays offering me £800.....however, when I called them to discuss how they came to offer me this amount, it transpires that I have a total of £1600 in charges. Now, do I accept this or chase for my money. I never expected it to be quite as much and am happy to take the £800......I am honest enough to admit that I am scared of court proceedings. Please let me know your thoughts.... Thanks. DottieMinstral:?