Central Trust Penalty Charges

[amtchris]

Hi all i would like some advice on my next course of action.

 

In Sep 2006 i took out a second mortgage for £16k with central trust and the payments are £237 per month over 10 years.

 

Between approx 2008-2010 i was off sick for a while and then in-between jobs and this resulted in me falling behind with all the bills.

I would sometime pay late by a few weeks and sometimes miss a month and catch up the month after.

 

 

This happened until January 2011 when i paid my arrears off and have never missed a payment since.

During the missed payment times i was never more than 3 months in arrears.

I am doing very well now with a good job and no debt.

 

As this loan finishes in sep next year i telephoned them to ask for a settlement figure as i have some savings now i wanted to pay it off early

(couldnt wait to get rid of this company with their excessive charges),

 

 

to my horror they have said when i have paid the loan up in sep there is going to be an extra £3900 to pay in charges..

....he then said don't worry though as when the loans finished they can sort an arrangement out to pay the charges off....FUMING!

 

It turns out the charges they hit you with every month (late payments, bounced direct debits etc) are added to the end of the loan..

this is quite bad but to make things worse they charge you whats called simple interest every month on the charges,

which has resulted in me being charge approx £16 every month in simple interest.

 

 

I did see the simple interest on the statements but just presumed it was the loan interest.

I don't think they have been clear on this at all,

i have looked back at a few statements and they don't give you a balance on the charges or even warn you that i am paying interest on the charges.

 

So i had a quick google and it seems this company is always at it so i decided to ring them again.

I told them i was disgusted by this and want to make a complaint,

 

 

i said i don't feel it acceptable that they should profit from me being in financial hardship.

i took a loan out, paid them interest as agreed and the loan is nearly finished,

even though i was a pain in the arse for 2 years it did not cost them nearly £4000 to send me a few letters.

 

 

They asked what i would like to happen to resolve my complaint and i said all the charges back and deduct them off the balance off the loan

at which point i will pay off my balance with my debit card.

They said they will look into it and get a manager to get back to me.

 

At this point i thought i was being fobbed off so i phoned FOS and explained,

they said they would log my complaint and send them a letter asking them to look into it

and send me a final response

(just to jeer them up a bit and to show them I'm serious).

 

 

As he was asking for the details f the company it appears Central trust have changed name many times

so he wanted the correct company details

 

 

i phoned CT back (while fos was on the other line) it was the same CT operator who answered my call,

i explained fos was on the other line and he wanted their licence number to send a letter to head office,

 

 

the operator gave it to me and totally changed his tune.

He said the manager has looked at it and has progressed it straight to the head complaints team,

he said they have 8 weeks to respond but would usually do it in 4 weeks.

 

Got my complaint ref from FOS this morning and confirmation a letter has also been sent to CT.

FOS say when i get the final response if I'm happy then have a nice life

and if not to send it to them and they will deal with it.

 

1/ Do you think i have a good case for these charges.

 

2/ Shall i pay the loan off minus the charges for now or just leave it collecting the direct debit as normal.

 

3/ After doing some research on here some people have no faith in FOS,

if i don't get anywhere with CT shall i just issue a CCJ claim against CT

and don't bother waiting for the FOS to get involved.

 

4/ At the moment i don't know the split between charges and interest,

i just know its approx £3900, can i force them to send me a statement revealing this.

 

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post, I'm getting annoyed again just typing it.

[dx100uk]

get an sar running to CT.

 

 

then went you have all the charges and their dates.

simply use the statint sheet

put each charge in on its own line

 

 

that will calculate what you should be getting back.

 

 

then dire that that off with a letter of complaint to CT..

 

 

This first spreadsheet is the latest version of the statutory interest calculator and is used for Single Premium PPI cases. It can also be used where rollover PPI is involved, i.e. a new loan re-financing a previous one and where PPI is included in one or more loans. It can also be used for S69 redress calculation on any sum, like on a closed/frozen interest PENALTY charges claim.

 

StatIntSheet v101.xls

 

 

the penalty charges are unlawful and reclaimable

 

 

dx

[dx100uk]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?296108-Hot-news-for-anyone-who-has-suffered-mortgage-arrears-charges-irresponsible-lending-or-other-unfair-lender-conduct

[amtchris]

Hi All

 

Ive had a response back from central trust and its along the following lines.

 

They say majority of the charges where pre Oct 2009 so are statue barred and i can't do nothing about them.

 

From Oct 2009 to Oct 2010 there was £350 off charges to the account and i brought the account up to date Dec 2010 and its been okay since then.

 

 

They say the charges they charge are what they cost them and no profit is made,

therefore they are in the terms and conditions and so are ok.

 

 

They say the simple interest is what they are allowed to charge and all lenders do it.

They have rejected my complaint but as a gesture of goodwill are willing to refund the £350 of charges (not statue barred)

+ the interest for these charges only but only if i sign their form and return to them saying i accept it.

 

Total charges on the account over the agreement are £2400 + the simple interest every month.

 

 

They can't give me the exact figure but its estimated when the term finishes in 10 months i will still owe approx £3800 (minus the goodwill if i accepted it).

 

Do you think i am wasting my time now referring it to FOS based on what they have said?

 

If i do refer it will i lose the "goodwill" refund payment if i ultimately lose.

 

Thanks

[dx100uk]

well if the charges are statute barred you shouldn't have to pay them either then and they should be removed from the balance.

as you refuse to pay them off

 

 

no don't accept it.

 

 

and don't give up on the first fob off letter either

 

 

dx