Ok, now things have got interesting. We received a termination notice yet no response to my customer complaint sent to them within the time-scale of the default notice. Not long after, we received a phone call from Clear Style Finance asking for payment on behalf of Santander or for us to voluntarily return the car to them. We refused both requests citing the fact that 1. we have never had a response from our official complaint and 2, the default was was defective. They said that Santander had not received the letter to which I then faxed through the letter with the timed and dated delivery stamp. Clear Style called back today to advise that Santander have disputed our statement that the default notice is defective as they gave a clear 21 days and if the post delayed it, it isn't' their fault. Further, this has been tested in court and has always found in their favour so they have no worries. I asked for this to be confirmed to me in writing even though it sounded as they he was reading verbatim from an email. Santander have offered to reduce the fees by half but want the outstanding arrears paid off. Clear Style then advised that if we did this, the account would be passed back to Santander to continue with the contractual payments under the agreement. Should we get into difficult again, then Santander would have the right to re-terminate the agreement and start the legal process again. I asked how could they re-terminate something that has already been terminated for him to reply 'Apparently Santander allow this' At the beginning of the conversation he made a point of stating the conversation was being recorded. I asked after all of the above was it still being recorded, to which he responded yes it is. So I am not going loopy can someone please answer the following for me 1. If a DN dated 29th March is sent by TNT post, with a bank holiday on Monday 9th April, what is the remedy by date IYHO? 2. Do the courts allow OC's any wiggle room on defective DN's or are rules, the rules? 3. Can terminated agreements be re-terminated or is Clear Style, clearly talking out of their bottoms? 4. As I had proof that Santander had received my official complaint before the end of the remedy period of the DN, should the agreement have been terminated and should they have continued with the existing DN without first concluding my complaint. 5. As they haven't officially responded or completed my customer complaint, can they legally allow Clear Style to continue to chase us for payment 6. What are your thoughts on the above? Cheers, Bel

Yes we have statements but the information is very basic and to be honest, not very clear. You can tell how long it has been since I have had to do this but I think I will also send off something whose name escapes me - where they supply me with absolutely everything that they have on file, payments, communications, the original agreement etc - what's it called again?? That should allow me to complete the compound interest spreadsheet in full and correctly. Good course of attack? Bel

In all my time on the CAG I have never heard of a soc!!! What exactly is that?? Also, I have no idea for sure if they are charging interest on the penalty charges - it doesn't say that they are or aren't but from my quick calculations it would appear that they are. Bel

It was termed as Lease Purchase but the DN says The Agreement:- Conditional sale Agreement Date of notice 29th March 2012 Action required: to pay the arrears of £xxx.xx before 18/4/2012 so even their notice doesn't allow for 14 days! I will write to them claiming back the fees and interest and again remind them that the DN is defective and therefore can't/shouldn't be terminated and see what happens or do you suggest that we do anything else?? Thank you DX, bel

Hi DX, We have three months left on a 3 year agreement and had £xxx to pay at the end of it to either keep the car, hand it back or trade it in for something else. We believe that they have ballsed up on so many fronts but just want something to stop them in their tracks now without any further action so that we can at least try to get the money together to pay it off in three months time. In addition, the date of service etc did not allow for the bank holiday weekend so as TNT mail is classed as 2nd class post, date of service from 29th march should have been 5th April?? Fourteen calender days not including the bank holiday should have taken the date to 19th April, not 18th. Tight I know but still not the 14 days by law. Then add to the equation I got the postman to sign the envelope on the 11th doe that not carry some weight. Also I thought there were standards that they had to adhere to if there was a customer complaint outstanding as our letter dated 17th clearly stated that it was a customer complaint. What would you do DX?? bel

Hi All, Am ripping my hair out with Santander Consumer Finance. We are behind on our car loan with them and they keep on charging two lots of default fees each month. They issued a default notice which was dated 29th March with a comply date of 18th April. The letter arrived at our property on 11th April and as we were talking to the postman at the time, we got him to sign it to say, that it was delivered on that day. We immediately wrote to SCF advising them of this and that we believed the DN to be defective for the following reasons. 1. We didn't have a full 14 working days with which to comply 2. Because they had overcharged us fees (which they had done before and refunded), the amount on the default notice was incorrect because it comprises of unlawful charges, incorrect charges and interest. The letter was headed up - Customer Complaint and was received at their offices on 17th April. Today a termination notice has arrived dated 20th April saying hand the car back or they will go to court. How exactly do you suggest that we move on with this especially as there was no acknowledgement to our letter of complaint. many thanks, Bel

Hi Too Grumpy, Thanks for getting back to me. The amount owing isn't in question. The original debt was around £200 and with court fees and costs etc this too it to approximately £600. Over the period of time, I had forgotten how much was owing other than we had agreed to pay it off at £5 a week. When I logged into 'my account and saw the' balance' going down, I automatically assumed it was correct and didn't think any more of it. To then have two people tell me verbally, another two in writing and even the man who took the pre-payment metre away that the balance was now paid off you can understand my thought process that this many people can't be wrong especially as I have it in writing where I asked them to go and double check their figures and they still came back and said I owed them nothing! Correct enough for them to come and take out the prepayment meter! However when you times the number of weekly £5 by the number of weeks the meter was installed and then take it away from the original total debt, the amount now outstanding on the account is correct. Having confirmed in writing to me how much was owed and then to confirm again that nothing was owing and that the debt was paid off, do they have any legal right to demand or take action for me to pay the balance that they have now correctly calculated? We are now usung that money and a little extra to pay off another debt so having to pay this again would have an impact on our disposable income. They have made a concession of a 20% discount - I don't feel that this enough (if we do have to pay it) especially due to the continual misinformation and the fact we will end up with even less disposable income because of their cock up. Hope that that makes sense? Thanks Bel

Hi, Would be grateful to hear of your comments, thoughts and/or suggestions.... Thanks, Bel

Hi, We had an EDF prepayment metre installed in December 2010. We had agreed to £x a week to be paid off and we duly charged the key with no problems, receiving statements confirming how much had been paid that month. At the back end of last year, I had checked our account online which was showing the balance being quite low. I had lost track of how much we had originally owed so emailed EDF to confirm when the metre was installed and how much was owing. They confirmed the amount showing in the system was the amount that was owing by email. I responded to the email asking them to double check something and they confirmed the amounts again. I then telephoned them a few weeks later to ask what process I needed to go through to have the metre taken out. The advisor told me and also confirmed my balance outstanding at the time. I then called back a few days later intending to pay of the small amount outstanding and ask for the metre to be taken out. When I got through to an advisor, she confirmed that my account was actually in credit and this was reflected in my My Account on their own website. She then asked me to go to the metre and press various buttons to tell her what was on their and she confirmed that the meter was saying the amount was paid off so yes, I could have it removed as the debt was paid off. The meter was replaced last month and today I went online to set up a DD. Two account numbers were showing - one for the prepayment account and one for the credit account. My prepayment account showed a credit balance so I went to the credit meter account to set up a DD. It wouldn't let me. When I clicked back on the prepayment account meter it now showed a debit balance of over £400! I called EDF who went and checked their systems. In short, I had been misinformed on numerous occasions. The amount showing online in My Account was the amount I had paid off against my annual estimated usage, not against our debt. The advisors had not done their due diligence in the information that they have given me and they can offer no explanation as to why the meter was saying the debt was paid off when it wasn't. I used the analogy that if EDF was a shop and they had mislabelled something with the wrong price, I had asked them to confirm and double check that and bought it on their say so and they then turned around and stopped me at ths door to pay the full price, that they wouldn't have a leg to stand on. Their response was that yes they have cocked up but I still have to pay, albeit with a 20% discount for the inconvenience and allowing me to pay the outstanding amount off at the prepayment metre rate of £x per week. What exactly are my rights here as my initial response is to say 'your mess up - deal with it' Thanks, Bel

Hi Dx, 2008 was the last time a payment was made. They filed a default pretty much strait away when we wrote regarding unenforceability. Removed it when kicked up a fuss but I can't remember what we quoted at the time and then out it back (the default) in April/May 2009 Bel

Hello again CB! and thanks Stevo too. I'm not too worried about the SB date I was more concerned that the default 6 year date clock had started again from the new DCA buying the debt this month. Have only had a chance to scan Pipster's thread CB - but am I reading between the lines that the fact that I have it in writing that they don't have a signed agreement is a good thing?? bel

Morning All, Just received notification from a new DCA that they have bought a debt from HSBC and they are now classed as owning the debt not HSBC. HSBC couldn't enforce as they admitted in writing that they did not have a signed credit agreement. They confirmed this in writing and defaulted the account in 2009. Now it has been sold on, does the 6 year clock continue from 2009 or has it now been reset to start from 2012? Thanks, Bel

Thank you!

Thanks CB, so I ask for a SAR and that's it or a SAR and also all infirmation they hold on my accounts subject to s7 (DPA 1998)? Cheers, Bel

Oh thank you so much! That would be really good of you if you could - thanks Depressed. Do you know what it is now with cahoot that why they don't even send a letter when they bung on a charge - they just send one letter on your statement date each month advising you, not at the time the charge was levied. Also, do you know why you can check your account and everything looks ok and then when you check it after 6pm, you can see that they have bounced payments. In the past, it would clearly show that you had gone over your overdraft limit because of DD's, cheques etc and would even give you a little wiggle room to transfer funds across to cover them if you did it early enough in the morning. Now you don't have a clue until after the event so you can't even transfer funds across. Thanks Dee (calling you Depressed is making me feel it! Sorry ;o)) Bel. PS. I'm assuming your female!

Hi depressed, It's with cahoot not Santander. Will that make a huge amount of difference? Do you really work for them or were you joking? Thanks, Bel PS. CB - did you get to ask about the SAR?

Thanks CB, I think I will. To start with, shall I get a copy of my statements back to January 1st 2009 or whenever the act came into force? Is there anything else that I should ask for with which to use for writing my letter to them? Are they likely to get stroppy and ask us to close our account? Cheers, Bel

Hi All, Firstly, a happy new year to all of you. Having just read the latest newsletter from the CAG, as these charges were levied post 2009 and at a time when it was obvious the cash flow into our account was pittiful, do you think that I have a strong argument to write them under BCOBS? Bouncing 10+ direct debits of £1-£2 with charges of £25 is obviously going to bring them more money than simply paying them. In doing what they have done, they have charged £25 per unpaid DD, charged me unauthorised interest, an over limit fee and I'm assuming, interest on the fees. Thanks guys, Bel

Have I totally lost the plot but am I right in thinking that chasing for debts on a Sunday was a no-no? We have had 4 calls today from Santander on our home phone, the latest at 4.10pm and 6 on my mobile. We have also had them up to 5pm on Saturday. Does anyone know any different? Bel

So the MetroBank cash account gives a debit card that can be used at any cash machine and obviously at a till? I ask as I know that if you have a Lloyds bank basic account, you can only use Lloyds atm's which is a bit of a pain.

Hi, Having banked with cahoot for a number of years, we have had cashflow problems which has meant that over the last month, we have had a number of returned payments/dd's etc There have been a number of anomalies with cahoot's system in that I can check the account in the day, and everything appears in order. Yet when you check it the following day, you will see that a dd wasn't paid, however it did not appear on the screen at ll the day before. We have also had dd payments of £3 or £5 returned and have been charged £25 for these. There is also the lack of consistency. One week, they will return a dd or cheque as refer to drawer. The following week they will return it as refer to drawer please represent. When this has happened, I had already made alternative arrangements to pay the money, but then incurred extra charges when the cheques were represented. On one account, they returned 22 items last month, of which 20 were under £15. Yet they are levying charges of £550. It doesn't seem fair at all. Are there any OFT guidelines or is there an upper limit as to how much that they can charge? If the cost of bouncing payments is around £2, I no longer even get a letter when a payment is bounced now surely I must have some form of redress? I'd really appreciate your feedback on this. Thanks, Bel

Hi Jon, Thanks for your detailed response! How's life at the Nationwide? I have actually sent of my letter and SARs today as it happens. I am querying the rate of interest as there is a huge differnce between what the Flexible Loan and the now fixed loan that I am on. There have been people of CAG that have had this refunded/credited to their account when they have taken this up. I have also queried the fact that I did not get anything via email or in writing giving me the exact T&C's of the fixed loan as it is vastly different to the flexible loan in that my payments are fixed and do not come down whereas with the FL they did. I was also not sent a copy of the new T&C's or a new credit agreement either. Finally, I had asked for my PPI to be cancelled via the account manager and was told that I couldn't. I subsequently put it in writing but have still been charged it. I didn't need it any more as I had taken out another policy that gave me better protection. I did send it special delivery so we will see what comes out of the wash. I loved cahoot but Santander are ripping the soul from it! Bel

Also, aren't the T&C's/CCA different for flexible/revolving credit agreement and fixed credit? Should cahoot got us to sign a new agreement when it was transferred to Santander?

Also, aren't the T&C's/CCA different for flexible/revolving credit agreement and fixed credit? Should cahoot got us to sign a new agreement when it was transferred to Santander?

Hi Jon, if that's the case, as the account has changed from a flexible loan in which you can pay the balance down and your payments change accordingly to a fixed loan with fixed payments, shouldn't cahoot have done more as in get permission or swapped it over to Santander on the same basis allowing you payments to be flexible as you pay off your balance. As with all people here, even though I got an email saying it was being transferred, I was also informed I would get something in writing, which I never did. I then didn't hear anything for months, then started getting statements but no official documentation supporting the change or giving me an option to do anything about it. Not impressed! Bel