F&Fsecured loan with Elderbridge - coerced debt and selling house

[Surfer01]

SAR probably will not should a recent statement and only the last statement that they sent you.

 

You need to ask them for a current statement otherwise you will not get one.

 

Unfortunately this is an industry with very few regulations as the laws were drawn up when a top mortgage was £25,000 and a new BMW cost you £10,000!

 

It was anticipated that only the very wealthy would be asking for loans in excess of £25,000.

 

I have the account details for paying direct into their bank by BACs,

 

but unsure if you could use same details by inputting your account number.

 

I suppose the only way would be to set up the account,

pay in £1 and then phone a day later to ask if they got the payment.

 

It may be better to run this past site admin first for a decision and further advice if you want to go down this route..

[dx100uk]

checl the first plus are not listed under your internet banking site payments listing

 

many are.

 

dx

[Myfamily]

Thanks Surfer and Dx I will check my online banking.

Surfer - Is it strange that after being with them for 6 years I have NEVER had a statement? - not a single one!

I get statements from my mortgage company but have never had one from First Plus.

Should I add to the SAR letter that I would like all statements?

I've checked my internet banking payments and cannot find First plus, checked under Barclays and firstplus but nothing comes up.

[dx100uk]

you must get a statement at least once in 12mts. by law i'm sure.

 

the sar IS for statements..

 

to be honest something smells here...

 

or is this just first plus's normal MO?

 

dx

[Surfer01]

Essential and ask for an up to date statement and also a settlement figure.

In addition to the normal bumff, you also want all transcripts of all phone calls, communication etc to FP plus any emails and notes.

The notes relate to any notes they may have made concerning your account.

Regarding the phone transcripts, I am not sure if you can ask for copies of the original phone calls on DVD so you can listen to them, but I think you can.

Send SAR registered mail for a signature plus the £10 postal order.

Until the SAR is received, I think everything is put on hold,

but hopefully someone can confirm this however continue making payments even if they are not the full amount?

They should still accept cheques but if you send a cheque photocopy it and get proof of posting!

[Myfamily]

Can absolutely say without any doubt at all that I have NEVER had one,

we only ever got a letter from them saying when payments were changing etc,

and obviously more recently arrears letters and now a default notice,

and I have just had a look at their website and it seems that they charge for everything £25 each tme

they send me an arrears notice and £40 for the default notcie! -

 

Can I claim this back?

 

And yes I believe something is not right here,

but I would have thought they would rather get some money from me rather than take me to court and possibly have anything dodgy get brought up in court

- but then again they haven't got my SAR yet so maybe they think that they'll just scare me enough!

 

I don't know!

[Surfer01]

In this case you will not get a statement unless you specifically ask for me.

The regulations for loans of more than £25,000 are not covered by Consumer Law

and Barclays FP have taken full advantage of this.

I am not even sure if the Unfair terms in Consumer contacts could be used.

FP are a law unto themselves.

We claimed ours back and they paid but this was back in 2006.

Our argument was that it should not be added to the outstanding balance as that is not legal

. I cannot remember the argument we put but it was with help from CAG.

[Myfamily]

Hello Everyone,

 

O.k. now I am totally confused.

 

I have just received a letter from Gothia/Redcastle, saying that with immediate effet they will no longer be processing payments or servicing our account on behalf of FirstPlus.

 

And that we should ensure that all future payments are sent directly to FirstPLus.

 

If we have any queries we should call FirstPlus.

 

But they told us to talk to Gothia.

 

Now what do I do!!!!????

Edited November 19, 2012 by Myfamily

[Surfer01]

That would be correct if Gothia got wind that you are disputing the issue.

[Myfamily]

But FirstPLus don't have the SAR yet, It's being sent this morning,

all I did was send them the same letter that I sent to FirstPlus asking them to accept lower payments for a while as they said that Gothia were dealing with my account.

So it looks like FirstPlus response to this request was to send me a default notice and threaten to re-possess.

I am just devastated now, scared and worried.

They have not even tried to help me!

Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do now,

Should I re-send the offer letter to FP?

I don't know but I am so worried, please help

Edited November 19, 2012 by Myfamily

[slick132]

I'd send off the SAR without further delay (if you haven't already done so).

 

Also send the offer letter to FP and see how they respond to it.

 

Maybe also enclose with the letter a cheque for the amount you want to pay. It shows you're willing to do your best to at least pay them something.

 

[Myfamily]

Well I decided to call FP and see if they were planning on responding to my offer letter, or if the default notice was their response.

 

They said that now that they have sent the default notice they can't consider reduced payments now.

I told them that the offer letter was sent on 31 Oct and their DN was dated 11 Nov so sounds to me like they sent the DN as soon as they could

so they could not consider our circumstances - she of course denied that this was the case.

 

She said she could nto see the details of my offer letter as that goes to Head office, but asked me to explain the details of it and why we were unable to make full payment,

 

I explained all but als mentioned to her that their interest rates have never decreased but only increased,

she said she would put a note on my account to say that I was un-happy with the interest being charged.

 

She said that after the default notice has expired 2/12 that i twould go to their solicitors and I should contaqct them once I've recieved a letter from them.

 

SAR has gone now.

 

will this put the account on hold for 40 days untill they comply?

[dx100uk]

no sar is not a dispute criteria.

 

but as FP are just coming out with several rubbish quotes

 

[that are all on the phone - you really need to either record there calls - or NEVER phone them]

 

there is no guidelines that even HINT that they are not allowed to make an

'arrangemrnt to pay' once a DN is issued.

 

thats total bowlarks.i think in all this though you need to pay SOMETHING

 

not saying you are but, using all this talking/typing with them

is not an excuse to not continue paying.

 

you just need to crack the sort & account number.

 

let me go have a nose around somewhere.

 

dx

[Myfamily]

Hi DX,

Yes you're right, I want to pay something, I'm not trying not to pay, I just want them to understand that this is all I can pay for the time being and it's more than half of what they want.

She implied that I MIGHT be able to make an arrangement via their solicitors but i assume this will be the full amount plus extra for arrears which I just don't have

But I see light at the end of the tunnel if they can cut me a break for a while, We live near crossrail (significant increase in house prices to come!) eldest son of my partner will be 18 so no more Maintenance payments, that alone will mean that we will be able to afford the full amount again.

I'm just scared, I'm desperate to pay them something but I would prefer bank details to sending a cheque.

Any Luck with bank details DX, I've looked all over and can't find any!!

[dx100uk]

not as such

 

i've asked someone with specialist knowledge with Barclays to pop in though.

 

dx

[slick132]

Hi MF - I think DX is referring to me

 

I have no such info about an account number and sort code for payments. You must surely have something from them with this info though - copy of the DD mandate, details from your bank statements, or something else?

 

Otherwise, try calling them and, without identifying yourself or your a/c, ask for their payment account details so you can make a manual payment.

 

Only don't get involved in discussing your situation like you described above as it'll get you nowhere.

 

[dx100uk]

ta slick sri

 

dx

[Surfer01]

The easiest way is to ask FP for the bank details.

State you need them to make the occasional extra payments over and above the DD directly from your bank account.

Once you have the details cancel the DD and pay as you go along, but pay before the due date.

[Myfamily]

Hi Guys,

 

Well things are not good here now, had a huge row with my husband last night about this,

he's says I've been playing games with Firstplus and writing silly letters when I should be talking to them,

 

I feel physically sick with worry, I'm just terrified.

 

He wants me to call them and get it sorted out, but am I too late to give in and and pay the full contractual payment to them, I'll have to beg and borrow to get it.

 

The lady said yesterday that i would hae to pay the arrears by 2 Dec there's no hope in that, what can I do??

 

please help I'm so upset and I don't know where to turn and my husband is not very supportive.

[Surfer01]

Although not really relevant, not sure why he has no interest in getting it sorted as surely he pays something towards the mortgage? If you only paid essentials like CT at the end of the month and skipped paying utilities etc for one month, would it help?

[Myfamily]

Sorry Surfer, I think you've lost me!

Hi All,

Got the account details.

Is it o.k. to post them here so that other can use them, I have seen other threads with people looking for them!

Thanks

[slick132]

Hi MF,

 

Sorry to hear this has caused problems at home for you but this happens all the time when folk are under pressure without clear ways out of trouble.

 

Have you sought advice from the usual Debt Help sources like National Debtline - http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/ or others.

 

I see no reason why you shouldn't post the bank paying-in details on thread.

 

[Myfamily]

Hi Slick,

 

Yeah I know, he really does panic (sometime more than me if that's possible!!)

 

Well I called FP yesterday and got their account details, I'm about to make a faster payment to them.

 

Details are

 

Sort code

20 18 15

 

Account number

50664944

 

Use your FP account number as your reference (leading zeros are fine to leave in)

 

I also spoke to the arrears dept who sent the DN and asked them if they were going to respond in writing to my letter requesting reduced payments and explaining our situation, they said no they wouldn't do becasue of the DN that has been issued, I explained that they had my letter for at least 10 days before they sent that DN, she said they normally try and ring me, I told her that was no good to me as I would not be able to record this call and so have nothing to prove what was said (although I was actually recording this call!) So I told her that I wanted a written response and asked again if I would get that, she said "No" .

 

I have a friend who is a finanical advisor who said it was very bad that they are refusing to respond to my request, and will not look good on them in court. He has told me to make a formal complaint and tell them that I do not believe that they are treating me fairly, go through their complaints procedure and then pass on to the FOS.

 

Any thoughts on this?

[Surfer01]

FP are notorious for not putting anything in writing. We reached the stage where they have been warned by FOS to only correspond in writing and because they did not comply a few months ago, they sent us a compensation cheque for £150 on instructions of FOS.

[Myfamily]

Hi Surfer,

 

It's so wrong of them to do that, they must know that most people would not be recording calls and also a lot of people would still trust them to keep to their word which they clearly don't!!! So unfair, which is why I recorded them.

 

I'm going to write them a formal complaint and tell them that they are treating me unfairly by not responding and advies them that I recorded the call and the lady telling me they will not reply to my letter (so basically ignoring me!!) and also tell them that I am tranfering my recording to a CD to send to the FOS.