CO-OP Bank Letter Not Acting in accordance with Credit Act (compensation?)

loopdaloop · 15 January 2014 at 7:54PM

Dear All,

Received a letter through the post from Joanne Mayer Head of Banking Operations stating:

--
Dear MR X

The Following letter is reference to your loan account.

AS you may be aware, we send you periodic statements at least every 12 months to keep you updated on activity relating to your loan account. This is in accordance with the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (which will not be referred to as the act).

Since we produced your last statement we have noted that some of the wording that is required in accordance iwth the ACt was omitted in error.

We are currently working through the detail of this omission to identify individual customer impacts and we will write to you in again in due course once the review has been completed with further information about what this means for you. As part of this process we have notified the Office of Fair Trading, the organisation responsible for regulating compliance with the Act.

No action is required by you at this time but if you have any questions in relation to the content of this letter, please do not hesitate to contact us on the following number and we will be happy to help you.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience the above may have caused you.

Yours sincerely

Joanne Mayer
Head of Banking Operations

Now, I just rang to speak to the customer service rep about this and it appears to be a really big think as they offered a big apology about what happened and they have a dedicated team that he said I could call to talk about this further.

MY question to the good users of MSE is:

Do you think this means that as they were not acting in accordance with the act that the Loan is not actionable / claimable back from them and that customers no longer have to pay it back due to them not working in accordance with the law?

Or at the very least do you think that there are grounds for compensation here?

If so, what grounds do you think I (or we) could make a claim on.

Thanks.

mrginge · 16 January 2014 at 9:38PM

If you're expecting a loan to be written off you're one sandwich short of a picnic.

dunstonh · 16 January 2014 at 10:13PM

Do you think this means that as they were not acting in accordance with the act that the Loan is not actionable / claimable back from them and that customers no longer have to pay it back due to them not working in accordance with the law?

a failure during the loan is unlikely to be an issue.

Or at the very least do you think that there are grounds for compensation here?

What losses have you incurred?

loopdaloop · 17 January 2014 at 2:25PM

I've been informed by the bank that they are treating this with the highest priority as they have not been acting in accordence with the Act which was designed to protect consumers.

They have sent letters to everyone and have a dedicated hotline. This is therefore a big issue as customers have been treated unfairly through the omission of this words.

Is this not an opportunity to hold the bank to account?
I did think that if it constitutes unfair terms and conditions of s contract that it might not be valid.

The bank confirmed that for those affected they would be looking into a way of remedying the situation. I mentioned a gesture of goodwill and it is not off the cards.

You dont have to be 'a sandwich short of a picnic' to recognise through the way they have been acting something major is up.
I was hoping that collobratively we could all pool our knowledge to get the best outcome for customers.

jacques_chirac · 17 January 2014 at 2:32PM

loopdaloop wrote: »

I've been informed by the bank that they are treating this with the highest priority as they have not been acting in accordence with the Act which was designed to protect consumers.

They have sent letters to everyone and have a dedicated hotline. This is therefore a big issue as customers have been treated unfairly through the omission of this words.

Is this not an opportunity to hold the bank to account?
I did thin that if it constitutes unfair terms and conditions of s contract that it might not be valid.

The bank confirmed that for those affected they eould be looking into a way of remedying the situation. I mentioned a gesture of goodwill and it is not off the cards.

You dont have to be 'a sandwich short of a picnic' to recognise through the way they have been acting something major is up.
I was hoping that collobratively we could all pool our knowledge to get the best outcome for customers.

How have your been treated unfairly, what detriment have your suffered as a result of the omission of a few words?

Mallotum_X · 17 January 2014 at 2:45PM

Like anyone reads the blurb on annual statements anyway. You have suffered no loss, so stop being a chancer as it only puts costs up for everyone else. Leave it be and let them send the missing blurb, which you read over and over again as its so important to you.

dunstonh · 17 January 2014 at 3:56PM

Is this not an opportunity to hold the bank to account?

Ok. lets say you decide to go to court as that is the only way it will be decided. How would you persuade the judge that the omissions on the annual statements have created a financial loss to you or would have changed your decisions had they been there.

I did think that if it constitutes unfair terms and conditions of s contract that it might not be valid.

Put your money where your mouth is and test it in court then. Remember all those claims companies that said you could get your debt written off due to mistakes in agreements and things not documented etc. They all went on to fail and the whole thing fell flat on its face. One key reason was that even where a debt is deemed unenforceable in court, the lender can still retain it on your credit file and show it as defaulted/in arrears if you cease to pay it.

I was hoping that collobratively we could all pool our knowledge to get the best outcome for customers.

A sad reflection of the greed that exists in the UK nowadays. Still, if you are willing to go to court to have your views tested, then fire away. No-one here can stop you and only a judge can decide if the law agrees with you or not.

p00hsticks · 17 January 2014 at 4:33PM

loopdaloop wrote: »

I was hoping that collobratively we could all pool our knowledge to get the best outcome for customers.

I agree. However, I'd argue that the best outcome for the overwhelming majority of customers is that the banks do not give in to, or are forced to spend large amounts of money defending, spurious claims from those who have not actually been affected by minor errors but are just looking for a quick buck.

Whilsy I am all in favour of people who have genuinely suffered financial loss due to the wrongdoing of the bank being adquately and fairly compensated, some of these 'claims for comp' are getting beyond a joke, and if the banks pay out it's the other customers who end up paying for it in the end in things like reduced interest rates for savers and more/higher admin charges for things like extra statements

loopdaloop · 22 January 2014 at 7:24PM

If a tree falls in the Forrest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound.... ?

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with some of these responses considering this is the same forum where they have hundreds of people jump upon mistakes in pricing made by shops online and in store.

The bank has broken the law.
I really feel we should be compensated.

The detriment to myself I can't actually say.
But just because I am unaware of the intricacies of finance does not mean that a wrong has not been committed. The organisation admits a wrong has been committed and is 'treating this with the highest priority'.

I don't buy the idea that by receiving compensation it puts the prices up for everyone else. These are banks and are not set out for the public interest or the public good so sod them : )

As a side issue when you hear the news talking about 'what the markets think', well sod the markets

Banks are run by the greedy. There are pages of pages on here of people who have wrongs committed against them by banks and terrible customer service. If this is an occasion where we can hold them to account and get the dice back in our court for a change then so be it.

[Deleted User] · 22 January 2014 at 7:27PM

loopdaloop wrote: »

The bank has broken the law.
I really feel we should be compensated.

You should only be "compensated" if you've actually suffered material loss. You clearly haven't.

loopdaloop wrote: »

If this is an occasion where we can hold them to account and get the dice back in our court for a change then so be it.

It isn't such an occasion. Sorry.

StirlingDave · 24 January 2014 at 5:56PM

I’ve had this letter as well and was hoping to see some informed opinions on it. Sadly, this thread doesn’t seem to be the place for that.

The situation, potentially, is that the Co-op have provided loans but are not legally entitled to receive interest given the agreements that were made. If this does turn out to be the case, I would imagine the interest rate would be dropped to 0% for the lifetime of the loan, all our payments would do towards the amount loaned and we would either complete the loans much earlier or reduce our monthly payments massively. I suspect if people have paid the original loan amount they would be entitled to receive interest on any money paid back to them as well.

This isn’t about trying to gain compensation for a typing error which wasn’t read, this is potentially about a company trying to receive payment for something they are not entitled to due to their error. If I am eligible to unexpectedly drop my interest to 0% that’s nothing something I overly deserve, but it’s something I’m entitled to in the same way that if a supermarket accidentally undercharges me for a product I’m not obliged to pay the full amount regardless.

It’s a shame there is no expected dates for when the investigation will be finished. It might well be that nothing is wrong so there is no point in expecting nice news. But it would be useful to know if this is something which will be resolved in 3 months, or still ongoing in 3 years time.

CO-OP Bank Letter Not Acting in accordance with Credit Act (compensation?)

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