Firstplus £52k secured loan , paid after house sale but £5k extra charges added? - reclaiming?

[Surfer01]

I sent a SAR to FP and got back the results. On checking my pre-application details it shows our joint monthly salary as £2610 and states that our disposable income is £2610! There were no deductions for PAYE, NI or pensions. Also deductions for mortgage payment, credit/loans or similar. Surely when supplying a 2nd mortage or secured loan thsi is the first thing that is deducted? They have this on the pre-application and I have only just spotted it.

Surely this proves that FP were acting irresponsible and not acting in our best interests? Could this possibly be aligned with UTCCR or some other act or regulation?

[Surfer01]

I sent off a SAR to Firstplus plc. They responded with minimal information but when FOS chased them they supplied a whole realm of documentation and well outside the 40 day parameters.

On checking it I noticed that they had not included letters which notified me of increases in the APR. Initially the APR was 8.9% but is now 10.5%. Should they have included these letters in the SAR as it does pertain to the loan? If they should have, I would really like to put another nail in their coffin and would like advice on what I should do next to escalate it. Thanks.

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Bump

[Surfer01]

Anyone?

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

After BUMPING your thread I had a closer look, I dont think they have acted irresponsibly a simple mistake took place, did you contact them to point this out.

[Surfer01]

I only found out about this the otehr day. At the moment I am investigating my options as their settlement figure is out by about £2000!

[Surfer01]

It seems that Toyota are not complying with my Subject Access Request even though I paid the £10 fee! As I have submitted a defence on my Allocation Questionaire I need the SAR which should also show the outstanding balance which is at least £500 lower than what the claimant has submitted. I also need it to identify various other issues which may or may not help in my defence.

Is there anything further I can do to force the claimant to comply with my SAR?

[Surfer01]

We wrote to FP about six months ago and asked for a settlement figure on an outstanding balance of £5700 in Feb 2006 after the sale of our home. They came back with a figure of £7600 although we had paid in excess of £3200 or more since Feb 2006.

We wrote again querying this figure and also how they had calculated the original settlement figure when we sold our home. We also again asked for a new settlement figure. They wrote back and told us that in Feb 2006 they has a used rule 78(?) to do the calculation and it was correct but they did not supply a new settlement figure. The reply took nearly 2 months to reach us.

We wrote again just over two weeks ago requesting a new settlement figure and also requested an up to date statement as in the past 6 years we have only had one statement and that was only because FOS contacted them.

Even though it is an unregulated agreement, shouldn't they be supplying statements at least once a year. If you request a settlement figure aren't they obliged to supply thsi within a reasonable amount fo time as the longer they delay it, the more interest accummalates and under the UTR this is detrimental to the customer.

I really would like to nail FP! Is there anything we can do to expediate this?

[Surfer01]

Bump please

[Surfer01]

Can any one advise please?

[Surfer01]

Still hoping someone can answer my question.

[Surfer01]

Very disappointed that no one has been able to supply an answer as we still have not received a settlement figure or any statements.

[Surfer01]

We had an secured loan with Firstplus for £53,000 taken in Oct 2004. We then sold our residence in Feb 2006 and as FP frontloaded the loan and used Rule 78 to do the calcualtion we were left with a debt of £5700 although we had paid something like £6000 off the debt.

FP refused to reduce the length of the contract without a huge penalty resulting in us paying £70 per month. Last year we requested a settlement figure and this was nearly £7400 despite having paid about £3500 off the debt.

As we have only received one statement on the debt since 2006 we did a SAR in 2008 for updated statement. We have not had another statement since. Should they be supplying annual statements?

We wrote to them in June 2010 querying the calculation done in Feb 2006 using Rule 78. We also asked for a current outstandng balance and settlement figure. FP wrote back and stated that they were correct to use Rule 78 in in Feb 2006 but they did not supply an outstanding balance or a settlement as requested.

We wrote again on 7th October requesting outstanding balance and settlement figure and requested they give us a breakdown on how they arrived at these figures. In addition, we asked for an up to date statement showing all payments etc. They have not responded.

We are now considering if it is worth us cancelling our monthly payment to FP with the hope that they will take it to court. In our defecne we are proposingt to use S5 & S6 of the Unfair Terms Consumer Contract regulations as they used Rule 78 for their calculations and front loaded the loan when making the calculation. This is in additon to them increasing the APR every time the BoE increased their rates, however when the BoE lowered their rates FP did not.

What would the consequences of us stopping payment and if the worst came to the worst and the courts ruled against us, we would be able to manage to pay several months arrears as we would have kept this mony aside? By the same token I am on pension credit and my spouse is on ESA and if we lost in court we would request the payment to be reduced to £10 a month!

Somehow I doubt if FP would want this to go to court, but just in case we want to know our chances and the worst scenario..Thanks.

[reallymadwoman]

In my opinion, worst case scenario is that you lose and get costs awarded against you which could substantially add to the debt.

 

On the plus side as you're on benefits the court is unlikely to order you to pay £70 a month, it could be as little as £10.

[Surfer01]

Thanks that is more or less what I was thinnking. I am very tempted to go all the way alsmost as far as the court date and then at the last minute pay the arrears to minimise costs. Obviously I will have to play it by ear as we go along and see how I can use the UTCCR to my best advantage.

I was thinking of sending them a letter stating that as we have had no resposne to our request for a settlement figure or statements and if we do not ehar from them within the next 14 days we have to assume that there is no debt anymore therefore no more paymenst are due.

[reallymadwoman]

Sounds reasonable to me.

[Surfer01]

I am trying to work out a early settlement figure for settlement in February 2006 not given by Firstplus plc who used Rule 78. I have the following figures;

 

Date taken out; 01/12/2004

Period of loan; 180 months

Original loan; £53300

APR; 8.9%

Monthly interest rate; 0.716%

Monthly payment; £527.74

 

Things went a bit pear shape towards mid June 2005 and we put the house on the market. Between 01/12/2004 and 20/02/2006 we paid £6280.85 on the loan. On 20/02/2006 a payment of £48411.79 was made making the grand total paid on the loan at that point £54692.64 however as Rule 78 was used we still had a deficit of £5773.64 on 20/02/2006.

 

If the current rule was used, can any one of you math’s geniuses please work out if we would have owed anything on the loan as of 20/02/2006, i.e. a residual mount? The APR remained constant during this period. Is the monthly interest rate correct as another calculation shows it should be 0.713?

 

I plan to challenge FP but I am no accountant and a lot of maths is beyond me especially when it comes to settlement figures. I downloaded a spreadsheet from http://www.creditlaw.co.uk/Refpages/Early%20settlement.htm but not sure if I did everything correct.

 

Thanks for any help that can be offered.

[Surfer01]

Is there any one good at maths?

[rebel11]

Hi surfer01

 

If you click the black triangle, Ask if Steven could kindly have a look at it for you.

[Surfer01]

Thanks. I have now done this.

[steven4064]

By 20/2/2006 you shold have made 14 payments of £527.74 which would have been £7388.36.

 

The closing balance on the loan in that case on the 1 March 2006 would have been £52025.98 (using actuarial rebate using Dualcalc and including the payment due on 1 March). To that you would have to add the arrears of £1107.51 (7388.36 - 6280.85) giving a total owed of £53133.49. You paid £48411.79, leaving a deficit of £4721.70.

 

The actual amount will be a few pounds different as you settled on 20 Feb rather than 1 March but it won't be a lot.

 

I hope that helps.

[Surfer01]

Thanks I will try and get my head around that one. They used Rule78 which left a deficit of £5773. Although we have paid off £3785 we still owe £5003. They refused to reduce the term and send back any overpayments we make. I am hoping that if I use the Unfair Terms regs I can get them to change their stance on the length of the term and also on a long shot get them to modify the Rule 78 settlement figure using DualCalc. Although I wrote to them back in June asking for a settlement figure they never supplied it. I wrote again in Oct and when they did not reply I contacted FOS who then chased them. Got a letter with statement but no settlement figure as they state they need a week to work it out?

I believe that if they cannot supply a settlement figure it si then in dispoute and they cannot enforce it, but the concern is the inetrest as for every £70 I pay they take about £43 in interest!

[rebel11]

Thanks Steven.8-)

[Surfer01]

Last year in June 2010 I contacted Firstplus plc by phone and then in writing about a secured loan we have with them and requested settlement figure. They did not supply it despite a reminder phone call. The loan is no longer secured on any property as that was sold but there was a deficit left.

We contacted FOS who suggested we write to Firstplus again. We wrote another letter in October 2010 and got a reply stating that we would receive a settlement figure within 14 days. We still do not have a settlement figure.

Surely Firtsplus are obliged by law to supply a settlement figure? I have tried reading up on the regulations but most is gibberish to me. As `far as we are concerned, we should not be charged any interest from the date of my first letter. We have continued to make the monthly payment but are considering with holding it until they respond however we do nto want a default registered against our names.

Is there anything we can do and what is our situaton regarding inetrest etc as thsi accummaltes every month that they do not supply a settlement figure. Should we stop paying them the monthly payment.

[raydetinu]

send Carol Vordaman an email, guilty by association!

Does sound strange that they have not responded, would of thought they would want their money.

Agree not paying installments would get their attention, soon hear from then!!!