Close premium finance shocker

GoonerGregg

I have been charged £40 admin fees a few times by Close Premium finance, and asked how they can explain £40 for admin being a fair fee to pay for a returned DD, they have no answer, just that you have to pay it!
This company are ruthless! They bully you every which way when they no yours hands are tied.

Can I mount a challenge to previous fees that they have charged me similar to what the banks have done with some people?

£40! It's scandalous in the extreme.

I remember my car insurance premium being due on a certain day, and I phoned them on the day I knew the DD had bounced, I simply did not transfer funds from my savings account to my current account that day to make the payment in time, a mere oversight you might say. I phoned them with the funds on my card the same day the premium was due, and they said 'We cannot take card payments over the phone' and I was to wait for a letter that stated my DD had indeed bounced, and a £40 enclosed.
Too hear I could not rectify the problem the same day it was due was a massive stress to me at the time. I want to try and get my unfair fees back, could I possibly have a case?

Many Thanks!

Simulacraton

I work in the insurance industry and we are forced to use Close Premium Finance due to a wholesale broker working them into their backend system for the DD payment option.

For commercial stuff we never have a problem (I think it's a different admin system), but for personal lines (home insurance etc) they are total crap. We have a NIGHTMARE with them, it's like beating your head against a brick wall when you are trying to sort out a problem or find someone there that is able to take responsibility or think outside the box to solve issues.

There is also a lot of negative feedback from customers when they have contacted us..

plumapples

i set up motorcycle insurance through bennets who use close premium finance and after i paid my deposit and set up my direct debit i thought it was all sorted as these things usually are how wrong was i !!!!!!

it all started when they where due to take the first payment i kept an eye on the bank to check it had been took and after 5 days after the agreed date i got worried so rang bennets,they gave me the number to close premium finance who i rang only to find i had a 20 pound charge for default as it had according to them been returned by the bank

i explained that i didnt know what had happened as i always use direct debits from this account for all my bills,they went through the account details and agreed to waive the charge and i paid the missed month's payment by credit card they also said they would re send the direct debit instruction

halfway through the second month i rang them just to check it was all set up

they told me from there end it was ready to go,so i told them i would check with my bank to find out what the problem was (to make sure the charge would not happen again) they gave me a mandate number to give to the bank

at the bank they told me there had been no direct debit set up and there was no problem there end and the mandate number was useless as they had not put a request in ?????

so back on the phone to close premium finance and told them what had happened at the bank they told me every thing was set up there end and offered me a mandate number (again), i explained the bank said the number was useless ''but this is the number for the direct debit'' she said so i explained (again) what the bank had said,they assured me again that it was all set up there end and its ready to go so i asked what if it defaults again as i dont want another charge there reply was''well as its exeptional circumstances im sure it would be waived ''

so the payment date comes and goes again so i ring them (again) there reply was it can take a couple of days for a direct debit to go through,so i wait (again) still no money taken from my account so once again another call to close premium finance who told me it was a fault with my bank account (which takes all other direct debits)

ok i said this is daft can i use my wifes account for the direct debit ''of couse'' she said so i gave her the numbers
so thats your payment plus the 20 pounds charge '' whoooh hold on'' what do you mean charge, i was then told the charge was for defaulting the payment ''you gotta be f*****kin kiddin me'' i was then told she would speak to the supervisor to waive the charge but apparently there policy is to only waive one charge so the conversation went like this
''are you takin the p*ss i was told i wouldent get charged''
''by who''
''by you''
''oh yes i do remember your account when you rang last week''
''yes and you told me i would not get charged''
''no what i said is you would not get charged in exeptional circumstances''
''what do you call this then''
''well its your problem not ours because its your account at fault''
''no its not i have direct debits come out every month''
''well thats not my problem you will have to pay the amount owing or you will default on your insurance''
''oh i see your just covering your own back now''
''yes sir that is exactly what i am doing''
''you will not get a penny from me''
''well thats up to you sir but thats where we stand''

i could not believe what a joke this company was and how rude the staff where

as a last resort i ring bennets who explain its out of there hands unless i pay the amount in full to them for the insurance and i cannot afford that!!!

close premium finance are the biggest bunch of scammers i have ever delt with and looking at this site just proves this i am determined not to let this go as i am fuming they will NOT get another penny from me and i will go to court over it if i have to

smgreen1969

Close premium Finance have just sent my sons DD mandate letters for his bike insurance...

I'm paying it for him through my bank account.

3 errors were evident on the letter

His name (Wrong Initials)
his address (incomplete)
My name (bank details) - incomplete

Upon calling this cowboy outfit I'm told it's not their fault - It's equity red star not passing the correct info -

This is a load of Crap - ERS have forwarded details of his poilcy and all information held and it is 100% correct.

It seems that the ham fisted monkies at Close Premium Finance are unable to transcribe correctly and this does not bode well for the 1st DD payment due next month !!

For gods sake - you are a Finance company - and if you can't get it right there really is no hope..

Sure as eskimos live in Igloos - when/if the DD fails because of incorrect details - they'll charge me for the honour !!

Perhaps I should get in their 1st and get £60.00 out of them for the 3 schoolboy errors on a Financial agreement !!

What ever happended to premium credit ? - dealt with them for years for insurance (still do for home insurance) and had 100% service from them !

Peelerfart

This thread is three years old.

pennyjean

MR SJ HEATH - perhaps CPF employees should pay more attention to their work & stop trying to pose as customers posting on forums!

This is typical 'company speak' from CPF. They don't actually LISTEN to their customers & are more interested in making money by applying penalties.

They set up a DD with the wrong sort code, did not send any paperwork for me to check the details (by their own admission), then charged me a £40 default fee & £10 for not returning the credit agreement they hadn't sent to me in the first place!

Countless phone calls & emails later, I have got the £10 refunded, they've promised to refund half the £40, but a week later still haven't.

This means more time hanging on the phone whilst one of their staff doesn't understand what has happened - again!

They also mixed up my motorcycle insurance account with my buildings insurance. Initially almost shouting at me that I didn't have two accounts with them.

They admitting that they hadn't linked them together. Then they wrote to Bennetts Ins telling them that I owed them £500, when I actually owe them £48. They had actually mixed up the balance of my Simple Lanlords policy with the Bennetts policy. Unbelievable!

They are a joke of a company & I will never pay by instalments again as long as I live & recommend that unless you have a lot of time on your hands & are not too fussed about giving away your cash, that you all do the same.

TadleyBaggie

The person you are ranting to hasn't logged on for 2 1/2 years, don't expect a response...

specialh

I appreciate this is an old post but I stumbled across it as I was looking for a name at Close Premium Finance.

I am yet another 'victim'. I changed bank accounts back in February and Lloyds dealt with the DD changeovers. When it came to March's payment for my car insurance, everything was fine. April was a different matter. A week after the payment should have been taken I received a letter to tell me that I was in arrears as the DD was rejected due to account moving to another bank and that if I don't pay by X date then my insurance would be cancelled. And there was a £30 admin charge.

I called them, naturally. Explained that the DD shouldn't have defaulted unless they requested money from the old account. They claimed it was the right one and wouldn't back down on the admin fee and wouldn't take a payment for the arreared amount without it.

I called my Lloyds who confirmed there was no DD attempt made so I wrote a letter to CPF and enclosed a cheque for the missing amount (not inc the admin fee), explained what my bank had said and told them that I would consider the matter closed. I heard nothing back.

Yesterday I get another letter, this time from my insurance company saying I am still in arrears and that the insurance will be cancelled ont he 14th May (day before I received the letter!!). I called them straight away and he told me that he could see that my cheque was received and put against the account but CPF had CANCELLED THE DD FOR FUTURE PAYMENTS!!!

I was fuming. That means I had also defaulted on May's payment because I was NOT informed the DD had been cancelled and therefore they had risked my insurance being cancelled. The only way to rectify it was to pay off the full amount. I would rather pay the interest on a credit card than pay an admin charge for their mistake.

I want to write to them and make an official complaint but I don't really know where to go with it. I find it deplorable that they can cancel the DD like that without telling me and put me at risk of driving without insurance

olliebears

Close Premium Finance have just taken money from my account. I have never dealt with this company nor have I ever paid for insurance other than by a one off payment when I renew. How they got my bank details remains a mystery until the morning when I will call them. They seem like a scam company and I will be reporting them to the insurance ombusman. I only found out who they were because my bank gave me their number. The internet is full of stories about this company........Beware!!

Velleity

I've just renewed a company vehicle insurance and financed it through this shower.

Yesterday (Jan 31st) I received a letter dated Jan 22nd with a document that needs to be signed. The covering letter states that if they haven't received the documents within 14 days I'll pay £12 for them to send me a reminder.

Now I know the post can sometimes be slow, but nine days from Surrey to Hampshire is a bit...well...extreme. Add in that the return envelope is second class and you can see how tight for time I am to get this back to them (with a weekend coming up normal second class service will JUST get it back to them in time). I've returned to document with a covering letter stating that I won't be paying any "admin charge" if the document gets there too late. Unfortunately, the envelope does not have a date stamp, so I can't see if it was posted on 22nd.

I'm afraid this smacks of sharp practice at the very least. If I were cynical I might assume this is a deliberate attempt to increase their profits. Delay in sending the documents would result in plenty of "admin charges". I'm not saying they do this, of course, just pointing out that it would be profitable for them to do so.

I'll avoid this bunch next time.