Lloyds Loan - Default Notice & Solicitors Letter

[JRP1414]

Hi all,

 

I am after some help with my other half's personal loan from Lloyds TSB if I can please? We have come across a problem with it and are now struggling to work out the next step.

 

The loan is a few years old and everything was running smoothly until my other half went on maternity leave in Feb 2009 and struggled to make the monthly £230 payment. She spoke to Lloyds who agreed to accept £30 per month for the duration of her reduced income.

 

This started off well but after a couple of months, without warning, Lloyds suddenly increased the monthly Direct Debit to £230. There was insufficient money in her current account to cover this and consequently the figure was returned unpaid and a charge of £30 levied by Lloyds. My other half contacted Lloyds, who after a lot of passing around departments agreed it was a mistake, cancelled the £230 direct debit, refunded the £30 and set up a new direct debit for the agreed £30.

 

For the next two months, exactly the same happened again and £230 was debited from her account, but this time, along with the agreed £30. At one point, despite cancelling the direct debit, Lloyds actually forcibly set up a new one without my other half's permission. This time I wrote to them to complain about breaches of the direct debit guarantee. Lloyds upheld the complaint, apologised for their mistake and awarded £75 compensation.

 

As we had completely lost faith in Lloyds being able to manage a direct debit, my other half insisted that she pay manually in future and after some negotiation, Lloyds furnished some account details for her to make payments to.

 

Unfortunately, however, in November 09, she was taken into hospital and missed the £30 payment. She received a call from Lloyds who said that she had broken the agreement and that they now required in excess of £110 per month from her. She explained she couldn't pay that much and asked to be put back on the agreed £30. Lloyds said that they needed her incomings and outgoings to make this decision, which she gave over the phone. The man did some calculations and agreed that she could stay on the £30 and the call was ended. 10 minutes later, he called back and said he had made a mistake and they could not accept less than £110. She again said she could not pay this much and was told that she would therefore be hearing from their collection agents.

 

On 17th December 09, my other half received a default notice, dated 14th December, demanding the full outstanding balance on the account of over £6600 and giving her until 4th January 2010 to pay it. I have attached a scanned copy of this notice here, pages 1 & 2:

 

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp192/JRP1414/LloydsLoanDN1.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp192/JRP1414/LloydsLoanDN2.jpg

 

On 5th January 10, she then received a letter from SCM Solicitors also demanding the outstanding balance in full:

 

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp192/JRP1414/LloydsLoanSCM.jpg

 

We have checked her credit file on Credit Expert and there is no default registered. It does however say that she is 6 payments late, which cannot be correct.

 

I did request a copy of the Credit Agreement a little while back, which is attached here:

 

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp192/JRP1414/LloydsLoanCCA1.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp192/JRP1414/LloydsLoanCCA2.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp192/JRP1414/LloydsLoanCCA3.jpg

 

and going through the FOS, successfully managed to get the PPI refunded.

 

Since looking through the statements that were sent with the CCA, I have spotted a couple of inaccuracies with the account, where it seems that they have charged back the returned £230 monthly payments more than once, thus incorrectly increasing the debt. They have also charged some fees in relation to this that have not been refunded. So its possible that the amount in debt is disputed too.

 

We have not yet replied to the Default Notice, nor the Solicitors letter and really do not know what step to take next. Should we consider a complaint to Lloyds that cancelling the voluntary agreement after missing one payment, when they took incorrect amounts several times seems quite unfair? Or should we simply contact the Solicitors to see if they will be reasonable and accept the agreed £30?

 

Any help would be gratefully received!

[mills1]

eric.daniels@lloydsTSB.co.uk

 

That would be my port of call, CEO Office.

I can truly appreciate what you're going through, having problems with a similar issue ourselves, just awaiting a response from eric

Well his secretary

Somebody else may have alternative suggestions, but that would be mine for starters.

Just explain everything to mr daniels that you have here, and you should have a reply rather sharpish.

 

Best wishes.

[JRP1414]

Thanks Mills, that's certainly worth a try. I hadn't even considered complaining to the top. You just get to the point where you simply cannot see an end to the ridiculous situation!

[mills1]

Has to be worth a try JRP and good luck

 

Best Wishes.

[landy_alert]

Hi JRP:)

 

It is definitely worth a try and I do wish you every success. From my own personal experience of sending both an email and a letter to Mr Daniels, I would say the chances of a response from his office are slim. A similar complaint with the added bonus of referring to apalling verbal abuse on the telephone by a LTSB staff member met with my complaint merely being passed to Customer Service Recovery in Hove. The response received (from a 'Senior Officer') stated that it had been passed to them for 'special attention' and then proceeded to inform me that they had nothing to add to any previous letters I had received in relation to my complaint:(

 

However, let's just hope Mr D and his staff have made New Years resolutions to be more sympathetic to their customers and you receive a more positive reply. Let us know how you get on!

 

Best wishes,

 

Landy x

[JRP1414]

Thanks Landy. I just don't know how these guys excuse their behaviour. I can't imagine a customer writing to the Chief Exec at my work and not receiving a thorough reply to their concerns! What a way to run a business.

[landy_alert]

Thanks Landy. I just don't know how these guys excuse their behaviour. I can't imagine a customer writing to the Chief Exec at my work and not receiving a thorough reply to their concerns! What a way to run a business.

 

Ah yes, but this is LTSB we are talking about and I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them:eek:

[hatesdebt]

JRP,

 

There's something not right about the default notice.

 

How can the ARREARS be over 6000 when you've only missed a few payments?

[ltc1607]

I wrote to CEO and got a reply from the complaints dept

[hammyhound]

Personally, I would not alert them to the problem with the DN - they have certainly ballsed it up arrears must be the arrears and not the total balance.

 

This would become very useful in court if it gets that far.

 

If you alert them they could easily come back with the correct DN and then you are stuffed so to speak I would not contact them regarding this but this is my personal opinion.

 

HH

[hammyhound]

Oh yes and Howard Coward can certainly not be trusted.

 

HH