missold hfc account

[craig1897]

is there anything you can do if you think you was mis-sold a hfc account. i ask this because i had a buy now pay in 6mnths account with pc world. hfc rang me and said they could do a better interest rate account for me so i went in and had a chat and agreed to have a flex account with them. iv had it a few years and looking through the paper work iv just twigged that i was sold a credit card so iv been paying the min payment each mnth and the balance is still at what i started with.

[Scooby_Doo2]

is there anything you can do if you think you was mis-sold a hfc account. i ask this because i had a buy now pay in 6mnths account with pc world. hfc rang me and said they could do a better interest rate account for me so i went in and had a chat and agreed to have a flex account with them. iv had it a few years and looking through the paper work iv just twigged that i was sold a credit card so iv been paying the min payment each mnth and the balance is still at what i started with.

 

Yes. You can complain to HFC that they have sold you a product that was not in your best interests.

 

The Buy Now Pay Later agreements are fixed term, fixed rate agreements, meaning you're guaranteed to have the account settled after X number of payments (usually 48 ). Yours sounds like a 6 month option account meaning you have 6 months in order to pay the balance and not be charged any interest. If you don't pay the balance, the interest gets added and it's a simple loan where you pay a set amount each month.

 

Transferring the balance onto an open-ended, revolving credit facility may not have been in your best interests.

 

Did you borrow anything extra or did they just "flip" the balance of your BNPL account? Also, did they sell you PPI or any other insurance policies?

 

If you can post the details of what you originally borrowed and what HFC did when you went in to see them that would be helpful. Do not post ant personally identifiable information on this site though.

 

To start your complaint, you should write to the CEO at their head office address:

 

HFC Bank Ltd

North Street

Winkfield

Windsor

SL4 4TD

 

Write to the CEO first rather than the branch as I know from experience (I worked there) that it will be handled correctly. CEO complaints are given a higher priority than complaints received at the branches.

 

When writing a complaint you should explain why you are not happy and what you expect them to do to resolve the complaint. In your case, if you didn't borrow any extra, they should put you back in the financial position you would have been in had they not flipped your account.

 

If they do not offer a satisfactory resolution, ask them to provide a final response. Once you have that you can write to the Financial Ombudsman Service and ask them to investigate.

[jbeavon]

That's exactly what happened to me, although it was nearly 7 years ago now, so doubt there's much that can be done about it! I transfered a few other balances over as well, and was told that I would be put onto a competitive interest rate. I actually ended up with a "flexible loan" (a credit card by any other name) with an APR of 29.9%. Hardly a competitive interest rate!

 

Unfortunately, I was only 19 at the time, and wasn't wise to these sorts of things and fell for it! The original balances when transferred came £1200, after 7 years of payments, it's now £1000! Had I have continued with the payments for their respective loan terms, I'd be free of that particular debt by now!

 

Hindsight...it's a wonderful thing!

[Scooby_Doo2]

That's exactly what happened to me, although it was nearly 7 years ago now, so doubt there's much that can be done about it! I transfered a few other balances over as well, and was told that I would be put onto a competitive interest rate. I actually ended up with a "flexible loan" (a credit card by any other name) with an APR of 29.9%. Hardly a competitive interest rate!

 

Unfortunately, I was only 19 at the time, and wasn't wise to these sorts of things and fell for it! The original balances when transferred came £1200, after 7 years of payments, it's now £1000! Had I have continued with the payments for their respective loan terms, I'd be free of that particular debt by now!

 

Hindsight...it's a wonderful thing!

 

If you still have the account you can still make a complaint - particularly if you have PPI on it.

 

If the account was closed 7 years ago and you had no further accounts, any complaint would be hard to bring. But as you are still paying for this debt as a direct result of the advice they gave, you can make a complaint.

 

As with all complaints, give HFC the opportunity to put things right first - they may even agree with you. If you are not satisfied with their final response, you can take the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I've seen the links saying not to refer to the FOS as it's a waste of time but I disagree entirely - the FOS maybe swamped, but they'll get there eventually and they are impartial and fair from my own experience.

 

Plus, even if you lose the case HFC will be charged £450 (soon to be £500) for the pleasure. Given this cost and the possibility that the FOS may find in your favour, HFC may offer to settle without going to the FOS. Worth a try and you have nothing to lose - the FOS is free to consumers.

 

Also, using the FOS service will not prejudice any court action you may want to take.

[jbeavon]

If you still have the account you can still make a complaint - particularly if you have PPI on it.

 

If the account was closed 7 years ago and you had no further accounts, any complaint would be hard to bring. But as you are still paying for this debt as a direct result of the advice they gave, you can make a complaint.

 

As with all complaints, give HFC the opportunity to put things right first - they may even agree with you. If you are not satisfied with their final response, you can take the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I've seen the links saying not to refer to the FOS as it's a waste of time but I disagree entirely - the FOS maybe swamped, but they'll get there eventually and they are impartial and fair from my own experience.

 

Plus, even if you lose the case HFC will be charged £450 (soon to be £500) for the pleasure. Given this cost and the possibility that the FOS may find in your favour, HFC may offer to settle without going to the FOS. Worth a try and you have nothing to lose - the FOS is free to consumers.

 

Also, using the FOS service will not prejudice any court action you may want to take.

I've got PPI on there, am in the process of trying to claim that back. Is my best course of action in regards to complaining to HFC to detail the situation in a letter to them? I've still got my original agreement somewhere so can find out the exact dates the account was started.

[Scooby_Doo2]

Yes, do everything in writing where possible so you have a full record of what transpires.

 

You don't mention what type of accounts you had previously or what types of firms they were with (e.g. credit cards, buy no, pay later store credit, loans etc). But flipping fixed term, fixed rate credit to revolving credit is not good, unless you have plenty of disposable income to clear the debt quickly, but that said 29.9% APR is a very high rate.

 

If they have flipped any fixed rate agreements onto revolving credit and sold you PPI, it will take a long time to clear if you only pay the minimum payments.

 

What the FOS will look to do in my opinion (if they find in your favour), is put you back in the financial position you would have been in had HFC never sold you this product. That could mean refunding to you any over-payments above the total sum payable under your previous agreements.

 

The fact that they flipped fixed credit to revolving credit and you have only paid £200 off your total debt shows that they haven't considered your interests or treated you fairly.

 

Remember, these are only my opinions and only you should decide what you want to do if you are unhappy with HFC.

[jbeavon]

Yes, do everything in writing where possible so you have a full record of what transpires.

 

You don't mention what type of accounts you had previously or what types of firms they were with (e.g. credit cards, buy no, pay later store credit, loans etc). But flipping fixed term, fixed rate credit to revolving credit is not good, unless you have plenty of disposable income to clear the debt quickly, but that said 29.9% APR is a very high rate.

 

If they have flipped any fixed rate agreements onto revolving credit and sold you PPI, it will take a long time to clear if you only pay the minimum payments.

 

What the FOS will look to do in my opinion (if they find in your favour), is put you back in the financial position you would have been in had HFC never sold you this product. That could mean refunding to you any over-payments above the total sum payable under your previous agreements.

 

The fact that they flipped fixed credit to revolving credit and you have only paid £200 off your total debt shows that they haven't considered your interests or treated you fairly.

 

Remember, these are only my opinions and only you should decide what you want to do if you are unhappy with HFC.

There was a 3-year fixed credit agreement from PC world, which is how HFC got my details initially, they also transferred a balance for me from Index as it was then. Both of which would have been on 3-year fixed repayment plans. At the time it was definitely sold to me as being a fixed term deal, but with a lesser interest rate than I was paying. However, I'd already signed on the dotted line and the balances had been transferred when I recieved the statements and realised it was more like a credit card than a loan (which is how it had been sold to me).

 

I seem to remember being told to expect an interest rate of approximately 10% when taking the initial phone call. Stupidly, I didn't check this on the documents, when I went into the branch to sign the various forms, I didn't expect that I would be mis-sold a financial product! It was also mentioned as being a loan that would take me 3 years to clear. They did ask me how much I was likely to pay per month within the initial phone call, so maybe they were predicting how long it would take presuming I paid that amount, but that certainly wasn't made clear to me at any point.

 

Thankyou for your helpful advice, and for making me consider doing something to put right this wrong. I had just hoped it was a one off, and that I was just unlucky, however, upon seeing this thread posted before, it just made me angry that they're still at this dodgy selling tactic! Anything that can be done to stop anybody else being mis-sold an account with them has got to be a good thing!