cahoot charges

[jomac9]

Hi I'm new to this forum & need some help. My son took out a loan from Cahoot over 4 years age. He is now a cadet with the Navy & asked me to sort out his loan as he can't get it cleared. NO WONDER. (I'll kill him when he gets home!!) 4 years ago he borrowed £9000. Since then he has paid back approx £8000 and he still owes £8018. (In the last 12 month's he has paid £1968 which has reduced his loan by £47 over the year!!. )Part of this stupidity was that he signed up for £62 PER MONTH flexible loan insurance. I am just about to clear his loan for him but does he have any redress to this. For the £8000 he paid out he has NOTHING to show for it. As there is no actual overcharging of interest rate (15.9%!?) is there anything can be done. Please help

Thank you

[rory32]

I have moved your thread to the Cahoot Forum where you should get a bit more help than where you originally posted.

[rory32]

The loan insurance I assume was Payment Protection Insurance. Is that correct? Do you know how it was sold as part of the loan? Do you know if there are any late payment fees on the loan?

[jomac9]

Thanks for quick reply. The insurance is simply called Flexible Loan (the type of loan) Insurance. It was meant to cover non payment due to ill health, redundancy etc. I don't know if it was sold as part of the loan or not but as it was all completely internet based and Cahoot no longer offer loans I don't know how to find out. No - there were NEVER any late or missed payments or fees for such as all payments were done through direct debit.I have a horrible feeling that he just ticked all the wrong boxes.

Any thoughts?

[rory32]

Okay you need to find out how the insurance was sold from your son. He may have a case for misselling but until you know how it was sold to him we have no way of knowing. Missold insurance can be reclaimed. These type of insurance policies are known as PPI.

[rory32]

Have a read here for reasons for reclaiming missold PPI http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/payment-protection-insurance-ppi/61081-ppi-some-notes-claimants.html

[jomac9]

Thank you for the above, Cahoot have told me that the payment protection was requested in the original online application made on 10/01/03 (so he's paid £9700 and only cleared just over£1000 off his loan).They also said I should be aware that the payment protection was optional. They are sending me a copy of the T & C applicable at the time of the application.

Really not looking good is it??

[rory32]

Was your son employed full time when he took out the PPI and if so was he self employed? Was he over 18?

 

I think really we also need a copy of the loan agreement to see exactly what was in it. It's highly likely that the loan itself is enforceable as it was only taken out 4 years ago and most loan agreement then would have all the prescribed terms required by the Consumer Credit Act, but it would be useful to see the wording of the PPI statement as well as the terms and conditions. Often you are not told that you can buy PPI elsewhere.

 

You can request a copy of the loan agreement by sending what is known as a CCA request (template N here ). Enclose a £1 cheque/postal order with it and send recorded delivery.

 

Obviously the PPI needs to be cancelled ASAP as it will still be mounting up. So if you haven't already cancelled it you need to make sure that that is done.

[jomac9]

Yes he was employed full time but not self employed. He was over 18. I have downloaded the template letter & will send it off tomorrow re the loan agreement. The t&c of the PPI have already been requested. I will email them for the wording of the PPI statement right now. I have already requested that the PPI AND the loan be cancelled immediately (Iwill sort out the outstanding balance meantime). They have acknowledged this & confirmed it will take SEVEN working days!

I will let you know when I receive any information.

I would also like to say thank you so very much for your help with this. I do appreciate it. What a fantastic Forum this is. I've been telling all my friends & colleagues (also reminding them that donations help to keep it going!)

[rory32]

You're very welcome. Most of the people who help others on here are simply repaying the compliment that once they received. Many of us have been in very dark financial situations and through the help of others have found our way out and really don't want other people to feel as helpless as we once did - hence the helping hand. That's realy what CAG is all about, ensuring that people who need help get it and that the banks in particular who see no one as an individual can not run roughshod over people.

[jomac9]

I've finally got a copy of the credit agreement signed by my son which basically tells me nothing. He signed the credit agreement but didn't date it. The section headed "have peace of mind with cahoot payment protection" states that "we strongly recommend you to protect your loan repayments for a monthly fee of just 72p per £100. Tick here only if you have not applied online........." He did not tick. But one of the emails from Cahoot states "this product is an opt-in extra offered on our website which the customer has to select. Once the insurance product has been selected, the full terms & conditions of the policy were then displayed & before you could proceed, you clicked on a declaration to say you had read & accepted the terms & conditions of the flexibe loan payment protection policy. Without selecting this confirmation that you had read & understood the terms of the insurance it was not possible to proceed with the application"

I've just looked at his monthly statements. He paid approx £164 every month of which £93 was debit interest & £62 was loan insurance. It may be legally correct but it sure is morally wrong. He wouldn't have cleared this for 40 years!! Is there ANY comeback on this. What makes me even angrier is that there was a time during all of this that he actually was unemployed but he never claimed!!!!