Loan Company Charging For Their Error

[surprise]

Could someone please give me advice re a Citifinancial loan.

 

I missed a payment in December but paid January and at that time they said they would extend the agreement by one month. They sent me a direct debit form to fill in which I did and returned the same day. Payments due 28th of each month. Two days before due date in February I had a phone call to see if I was going to pay, I said "but I thought the direct debit had been set up". She looked at her screen and said " oh yes". I checked my bank and found it hadn't.

 

I wrote to Citi asking for a list of transactions but they say they are not obliged to as it is a loan. They said if I want this information I need to pay £30.00.

 

Letter from them dated 6th March first paragraph "We regret to inform you that your recent payment has not been honoured by your bankers." They have neither presented for payment neither have they set up a direct debit. This is at least 3 times this has happened that I can recall.

 

This is not the first time they have given me incorrect information, can think of at least 3 others.

 

charges for Recalled Direct debits £12, plus £25 admin for accounts overdue.

 

Also when they said I could tag the missing payment on to the end they said this would cost £20.00.

 

Citi keep phoning, I have just come off the phone to them they are refusing to give me a list of transactions without the £30.00 under FSA guidelines.

 

Is there anyone who can help please.

 

thanks

[Bookworm]

They're talking BS.

 

Use the template letter in the Library to make a Subkect Access Request under the Data Protection Act, make sure you include the £10 max statutory fee.

 

They can NOT refuse to let you have the data.

[surprise]

Thank you. They said to me are you refusing to pay I said no I just want the relevant information. She said not without the £30.00 fee. We will pass the debt to a Debt Collection Agency.

 

Assuming that don't respond within 40 days, what action is left open for me to take.

 

thanks so far for your advice

[lookinforinfo]

The telling factor is your own bank.

Either they have debited your account with the citibank, or if there was insufficient funds, you would have been charged.

If Citi are claiming that they presented the d/d and it was returned unpaid,

when it actually wasn't presented at all, and they are charging you, then

that amounts to fraud does it not?

[surprise]

They never set up the direct debit. This is why I want to see my charges. This is typical of Citi though they have given me misleading info before. They were suppose to set up a direct debit before and they didn't. I had the same letter last time and when I telephoned them they said we''ll set up for next month. Never happened though. I've been paying by debit card. There are no bank charges on my account.

[surprise]

Update and I am extremely worried and in need of some TLC. I have received some sort of statement from Citi only shows DATES, NARRATIVE, DEBITS, CREDITS.

Loan £6,000, £115.00 arrangement fee - I have paid £1108.26, but my credit report as at 4.3.07 is showing a balance of £6,076. Even with the £60.00 charges shown these figures do not add up. I make it a difference of £1,000- only started paying for the loan 10.8.06.

I did not take out any insurance. The loan was for 60 payments of £184.71 pm.

 

They have also charged for the direct debit for 28.2.08 which was never ever applied to my account and my bank can verify this. I have printed out a sheet with my direct debits on together with the sheet for 28.2.07 where it shows the funds were there if they had applied it and no bank charges.

 

The first loan with them was 8.7.04. I wonder what charges have been made between 04 to present.

Also, I have sent Harassment By Telephone to them so that I can get everything in writing.

 

I'm not sure which way to proceed.

[gizmo111]

Usually the CRA figure will show the amount owing including interest so 60 x £184 = £11082, less your payments - so even this figure is not correct.

 

Have you sent of your SAR yet?

[surprise]

This statement was a result of the SAR I sent which doesn't really give me much info.

[gizmo111]

This statement was a result of the SAR I sent which doesn't really give me much info.

 

Isthat all they sent you - waht about letters agreements phone calls etc?

[surprise]

Had a copy of the agreement already and as you say the CRA figure is £11,008.60. All they sent was one sheet of paper with dates, charges and debits.

What highlighted this problem for me was because I had missed December payment and I spoke to the local office in January they said what I could do was defer that payment to the end of the term and pay £20 admin fee and I also altered my payment date from 10th of the month to 28th of the month. I was told this could not take place until I had paid the January instalment. I did this and then a couple of days later a direct debit form arrived which I completed and returned to take effect from 28.2.07. This never happened. On 7th March I received a letter saying I was £409.42 in arrears. 2 x £184.71 doesn't make £409.42. This is what made me do the SAR.

Hope this makes sense.

[surprise]

Need to add a bit more. I have just been studying my agreement. You get a pre-contract information one and the figures are different to the Agreement. ie:

 

Pre-Contract

Total amount paid to borrower £1,122.90

refinancing £4,877.10

total £6,000.

 

Agreement:

Total amount paid to borrower £1,283.71

Refinancing £4,716.29

total £6,000

 

I did receive the amount of the agreement.

 

Incidentally I can remember signing 4 forms. I thought it was 2 for the Loan Agreement, one for them and one for me, but have just noticed mine isn't signed.

Also the Insurance one again 2 copies were signed, but I've got an unsigned one.

One question is on my mind why did I sign two copies of the agreement and insurance and yet they give me blank ones. They put everything in a sealed envelop never thought to check.

 

Message to all Citi's customers check your documents.

 

I am stressing out here as I feel I could be in for a large amount of debt.

[lookinforinfo]

The difference between the two would probably be that you paid £160.81

off the previous loan.

 

it would be a help if you could post the agreement on the thread-erasing

your name, address etc. of course.

[surprise]

I have scanned two pages of the agreement in but can't please advise how to insert document. Tried copying and pasting this doesn't work. its in word format.

 

many thanks

[surprise]

I have just received another letter from Citi saying I am now £788.84 in arrears. This is worrying. should in fact only be £369.42. I would like to get a letter out to them today if possible. Can someone advise me please.

[surprise]

I could really do with some help on this one please. Charges seem to be escalating at an alarming rate.

[surprise]

Could someone just answer a quick question please. Once a SAR is issued should I continue making payments.

[ukaviator]

Oh yes. . keep making your payments as normal. There will be an adjustment when you get your refund. If there is money over ask for a cheque. If you don't pay they may file a default against you.

 

Ukaviator

[surprise]

Thanks for this.

[surprise]

Actually 2 parts: Firstly, the copy of the agreement I was given does not have the payment date inserted, neither is it signed by me or the company. Secondly, I recently changed the payment date should I have been sent a new agreement to sign.

[lookinforinfo]

Surprise, you are a little short of detail.

The copy of the agreeemnt you were sent-was it sent as a result of a CCA

request by you, or was it the pre application form for a new loan [especially

on a property]?

There is usually a clause that allows certain terms to be varied with the consent of both parties withouit the need to rewrite a whole contract.

[surprise]

Sorry. It is for an unsecured loan. The Agreement they gave me in the office was not signed by either parties nor was the date payments were due. They then sent me a copy of another agreement again unsigned but the amounts of the loan on this agreement differed to the one they gave me in the office. I have actually sent a SAR and a CCA to the company and I awaiting their reply. So in effect I have two agreements for one loan. The reason I asked the question re dates was I was curious that when you altered a payment date of a contract I should have thought a new contract should have been issued. Like an employment contract.

[lookinforinfo]

If you are talking about a recent loan ie after May 2005, I think [possibly April], then the

CCA has changed. Before signing the agreement, you MUST be given a pre

contract edition which clearly lays out the terms and conditions-no small print, and advises you that missed payments can seriously damage your

credit. If you don't get one of those first, your agreement will be unenforceable.

The agreement that you and they signed is the critical one from th epoint of

view of getting the loan amount and payments etc right. Do you know why

the details changed-did you ask to borrow more, or was their an interest rate increase between the time of the two agreeements?

 

Employment contracts come under a totally different Act. You can normally

change the date of payment on a loan by a few days either way without a problem, except where you move it across a month [say from 28th April to

the 3rd May] when you run the risk of being listed as missing a payment.

[surprise]

Took the loan out July 06. They gave me a pre-contract one in the office then gave me the first agreement. These two figures differed. She said it was the interest rate. The one that came in the post was the same as the pre-contract one. I am not sure now which figure they actually paid out on but I've got a feeling it was the first agreement. Will check what I received later.

[surprise]

Lookinforinfo. I have now checked the amount I received and found that they paid me on the pre-contract agreement which was lower than the loan agreement I was given at the time. I didn't notice silly me. I am having problems with this company this why I am trying to get together all my facts together. So far all they have sent me in response to my SAR is one sheet of paper showing dates, payments and charges. I have sent them another letter saying that they haven't so far complied with my request and gave them a list of what I expected to receive. They until 16th April to comply with this. I issued a separate CCA to them on 19th March 07 so that's due 3rd April. I am keen to see what they send as they have been naughty.

[surprise]

I signed and agreed to set up a direct debit for a loan, had confirmation that it would commence 28th February 07. 7th March had a letter to say that the payment had been returned by the bank. Funds were in the bank. I subsequently discovered that they never set up the direct debit on my account and have proved this. However, upto 27th March they are still maintaining the direct debit is active. The worrying part about all this is that the payment of £184.71 went up to £404.00 in arrears by 9th March from 28th February. As of the now the Direct Debit is still not set up. I'm not sure what else I can do.