Halifax Credit Card problems - Blair Scott Oliver

[Anna20]

Hi All,

 

I'm new and just wanted to ask a bit of advice please? I had a Halifax Credit Card upto 2006 when I got into arrears to the tune of £5400. At the time I was in quite a mess as my father died and it was all quite a horrid situation and took me a long time to get myself back on my feet.

 

Anyway, I got in touch with the debt collection side for the credit acrds and was told that my outstanding balance was £5400 and I agreed a re-payment plan of £70 per month which I have managed to stick to. All these years I have paid it back thinking - 2012 will be the year I am free. Only it seems not.

 

I called Blair Scott Oliver today to ask for a statement as I have never received one from them - they say they have had post returned from my address which I don't think is true as I have never had problems with post at this address. They then gave me the shock of my life by saying I still owed over £1000 and that my outstanding balance had actuall been something like £6200 (I don't remember the exact figure as I was in shock).

 

They then said they wanted me to pay £80 per month. I refused as a). I don't believe I owe that much at all and b). I simply couldn't afford even if I did.

 

I pointed out the amount I was told I owed at the time of agreeing a repayment and also that that same figure was in black and white as my credit limit when I checked on the internet banking. I said I wanted a statement and letters from the time and they told me the bank doesn't hold info going back that far and they might have to write me a letter about the figures. I said this wasn't acceptable as anyone can make up figures in a letter and I wanted proof as to how the £5400 I had been told at the time shot up over another £1000 for no apparent reason

 

They have apparently sent a request to the bank for some explaination but didn't seem too hopeful that I would get one. I am truly gutted.

 

I have taken a screen shot of my internet banking page which clearly shows the credit limit on the card. They also said the person I spoke to at the time wouldn't have upto date information? How could it be out of date by over £1000 when I was not even using the card at the time and hadn't for quite some time.

 

I also no longer have my paperwork as it was lost when moving 4 years ago. I don't know what else to say......I am devastated. I was so happy this morning thinking it was nearly all gone and now this. If anyone has any advice or been in a similar situation I would be very grateful.

 

Thank you

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Blair, Oliver Scott BOS originally Bank of Scotland inhouse leagal now covers HBOS.

 

You need to send a Subject Access Request SAR to the bank to get all the data on the account, there is a template in the Cag librairy you can amend to sui.

 

There is a £10 fee to pay for this the bank has 40 days to comply.

[Anna20]

Right will do that, thanks. The guy i spoke to on the phone said it could be charges - interest maybe and that whoever i spoke to at the time i made the payment arrangement probably didn't have the up to date balance which i don't believe. I had not used the card for ages and how could they get the balance out by over £1000.

 

If it is interest and charges can i do anything about that? I worked all this time paying it off thinking this year was it just to be told i now owe over a £1000 more. My partner said to pay up to the £5400 that it says on my limit and refuse to pay a penny more but i wanted the account paid off and gone from my credit rating. I have also been advised to change banks too as apparently there is nothing to stop them trying to take what little i have in my account regardless of any payment arrangement. The arrangement was agreed in 2006.

 

TIA

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

It does look like interest and charges the SAR will show them up, and it will be easier to judge what needs doing.

[Anna20]

Hi, I have made a SAR and in the meantime managed to obtain a couple of print outs from them. The extra money clearly is charges and interest. Interestingly, there is also ppi charges on there that i don't remember:/

 

The print outs are from 2005. In October 2004 i was made redundant and then with the death of mt father which knocked me totally off my feet i didn't work again until january 2006. The charges and interest are all from 2005 and thers about £1200 of them in total. For a period of that time i actually had no income at all not even benefits as to be honest i was in a total mess and could barely get out of bed some days.

 

I had an overdraft on my normal bank account that when i did manage to start getting back on feet, the bank made me pay back because i had defaulted on the credit card. I explained the situation to them at the time over the phone but it made no difference. To pay back the overdraft i had to go without electric for some weeks as ridiculous as that sounds but thats the hole i was in at the time.

 

Also, years previously as mentioned before, i took a loan on the same day that they sold me the card. That did have ppi that i knew about but it turned out that when i was sick for a period of time, they wouldn't pay when i phoned to tell them as they said i wasn't covered even with the doctors note. To pay the loan payments i had to then use my credit card :/

 

Then in october 2004 through to 2005 is when i really got into trouble. The loan had been paid off, it was the credit card that was the problem. What do you think, should i claim for the ppi that i don't remember on tha card, though surely it would have been on a statement....or would i bargain to pay up to the original amount of £5400 on the card and ask them to wipe the charges and interest that accumulated in 2005 as obviously i had no income. They can see that from my account. *sighs* What a bloody mess

 

TIA

[Anna20]

Hi, an update on this. Well I went to a branch and lodged a compliant about the PPI for the credit card. They said that if someone had spotted I had PPI at the time I was made redundant all those years ago then those interest and charges wouldn't be now payable. Basically, it has taken numerous complaints to customer services since then (Novemeber 2012) to actually get this dealt with. They paid me £75 for any stress caused which I hadn't asked for, however just ggot a letter this morning saying they weren't upholding the PPI claim as they were satisfied I knew about it?????

 

Erm - No! If I had known about it I would have made a bloody claim when I was made redundant in October 2004 and ended being out of work for over a year.

 

Presumably they think I am to continue paying for credit card charges that I shouldn't even be paying for now as there was bloody PPI on it to cover me. How can this be right???? No way I am continuing to pay! They need to go back to October 2004 and treat it as though a claim were made surely? And adjust everything accordingly. In fact, they need to bloody pay it me back the cheeky gits!

 

I knew it was on the loan I got without doubt - I'd even tried to claim on that only to find they'd lied when they said a doctors note would cover me.

 

I didn't however know that it was on the credit card I took out on the same day. They are talking about a "cross in a box" so I must have known. Clearly, I didn't or I would have claimed.

 

Any thoughts? My first instinct is to fire a very rude letter off. I am sat here shaking I am so angry.

 

Can anyone help?

[lexis200]

Hi

 

Personally I'd hold fire on a rude letter. When I get something in the post that incenses me, I bash out a response full of venom and sarcasm, then give it 24 hours and look at it again when the anger has died down a bit. Usually I'll find I can get the same point across without the venom and with a touch less sarcasm (not much though;)), which I feel will get me further than just spitting feathers at them.

 

I can't claim to know much about PPI - in fact I have probably 10K tied up in my OH's Halifax card which I have let languish as I'm so unsure of it - but I do know if you don't succeed with the creditor it's time to trundle off to the FOS with your claim. Looking at your last message I'd guess you can state they reneged on the insurance on the loan.

 

Have you received the SAR back yet? This should show what they mean by their 'cross in a box'. Is it possible it was pre-ticked? If so I believe that's trouble for them. Again, I'd probably go down the FOS route with that one too, because as you say, it would seem fairly clear that if you know you have an insurance product that will help you that you would use it, not struggle on without trying to claim - especially when you did try to claim on the loan.

 

The forms for it can all be downloaded (probably from the libraries here, but also I think from the FOS) so you don't have to go writing letters to the FOS, you're simply answering set questions.

 

Try and keep calm though; I know it feels like they are trying to mess with you personally, but honestly they treat everyone with the same level of contempt and ignorance, and they'll insist black is white if they need to in order to get money from you.

[Anna20]

I am definately taking it to the FOS now. Even the people in the branch i lodged the original complaint with said that if it had been pointed out to me that there had been PPI in the credit card then basically all the interest and charges that they want me to pay would not even exist as clearly I would have claimed. No one deliberately gets themselves into debt if there is a way out like you say.

 

The fact stands, that there was PPI regardless of whether I knew or not so they need to be looking at that and the fact that i shouldnt owe them anything now because of that. I knew about the ppi on the loan only and that was because the woman pushed it continually by saying that if i was ever off work, as long as i had a doctors note then i would be covered, the liar.

 

I didn't ask for it on the credit card as when I took it out I never intended to use it but she said it would be good for my credit rating! Oh how naive was I? Strangely, I remember thinking that if I let her sell me the credit card too when she was banging on about it then I might be more likely to get a loan from them (I'd never done it before and didn't know how it worked!). If I could go back I'd give myself and her a slap.

 

They can stick their bloody charges where the sun doesn't shine. There was bloody PPI on that card so they can sort it. No way am I paying.