Capital Finance One - help with contacting them please

jep76

I borrowed from CFO at the end of Dec, then just before it was due to be paid back my circumstances changed and I was unable to pay it back in full. I came to an agreement(I have all correspondance) to pay £35 a month. THe staff member who confirmed this also assured me in an email that no other amount than the £35 would be debited from my card, she even email me on 28th to let me know the £35 had gone through and my next payment would go through on 25th March for £35.00.
I go to the bank to day to pay my rent and from 3am onwards CFO have taken £447.50 in 6 different transactions from my account - leaving my account just about empty. I have emailed all contacts plus the general customer service email I have been ringing the 2 numbers I have all day and they just ring out, the bank can't do anything until the funds have officially clear from my account. Does any one have any suggestions, how do I get hold of CFO, do the fact the agreement was only done via email and not on a formal contract with all terms & conditions on mean that they still have the right to ignore the agreement made? they have still taken more than was originally owed and even more so with the fact I was paying the new agreement amount each month.

Please help as I'm not sure what to do and until they refund this amount I can't pay my rent so risk losing my home to.

Thanks

Flash-bang

This bunch of sharks did exactly the same to me, the bank said there was nothing that could be done. I have cancelled my card and refused to give them the new details. Luckily I did not have as much as you available. I had made a payment arrangement with them of £30 and they took £180. Look at saltnvinegars thread on dealing with payday companies - it is really helpful.

jep76

Flash-bang wrote: »

This bunch of sharks did exactly the same to me, the bank said there was nothing that could be done. I have cancelled my card and refused to give them the new details. Luckily I did not have as much as you available. I had made a payment arrangement with them of £30 and they took £180. Look at saltnvinegars thread on dealing with payday companies - it is really helpful.

Thanks - they have taken much more than was borrowed they have taken 5 times the interested on the agreement. I can't get hold of them, so I can't even speak to them to try and get some soet of explanation - were you able to call them or did they call you? until today they have always answered my emails within 15 mins or less, but they are all not responding by email or phone.

BigCraigJohn

For future reference never hand out debit card or bank numbers.
Ask them for there details and make it manually online or in the bank.

Have a read around teh site, theres bound to be advice.

jep76

BigCraigJohn wrote: »

For future reference never hand out debit card or bank numbers.
Ask them for there details and make it manually online or in the bank.

Have a read around teh site, theres bound to be advice.

They refused to let me pay by standing order or by paying cash into their account each month and so as soon as I had confimration no other amount except the agreed £35 would be debited from my account I gave them my card details but specifically said I only authorised a £35 per month payment to be debited from that card. SO why they then took way over the outstanding amount the following day and are not contactable is beyond me.

I have used other payday loan companies at various times over the last year and have not had any issues until now. I just want my money back and a company that won't answer the phone or has a receptionist or answerphone does seem very odd.

jep76

jep76 wrote: »

They refused to let me pay by standing order or by paying cash into their account each month and so as soon as I had confimration no other amount except the agreed £35 would be debited from my account I gave them my card details but specifically said I only authorised a £35 per month payment to be debited from that card. SO why they then took way over the outstanding amount the following day and are not contactable is beyond me.

I have used other payday loan companies at various times over the last year and have not had any issues until now. I just want my money back and a company that won't answer the phone or has a receptionist or answerphone does seem very odd.

I have contacted the financial services onbudsman and they have took a complaint and are writing to CFO but I have to allow 8 weeks for them to refund me.

Flash-bang

Have they taken more than was owed - total, not just what was due that month? If so, I think it would be classed as fraudulent so speak to your bank. If it is within the amount owed the only way is via the FOS. I found they were much more keen to speak to me when I withdrew my card details.

jep76

I emailed them and pointed out that they had taken more than the outstandinf balance and also gave them the referebce number from the FSO and suddenly I get a reply telling me they were quite happy to stick to the monthly agreement but the sysyem automatically recognises if there is funds in the account and takes the payement - and not even a manager can do anything about it.

I would advise that no one gives card details, atleast with a DD you can see online that day and as long as you have it stopped before the close of business the DD won't go through.

I pointed out to them that I requested to pay by standing order as I was concerned that more than the agreed amount would be debited and I have a reply promising me that no more than the £35 per month will be taken, but still they say they can't fo anything so basically any agreement you make is worth nothing as they lie to you to get you to give them your card details.

I have pointed out that they have still over charged me and what are they going to do about it but I am still awaiting a reply.

I was even declined for a new loan even though thishad been paid in full on its due date - well 1 day later so I wasn't even in default.

I wouldn't recommend anyone using this company even if you are certain you will be paying the full amount back - they still can't give me an explaination how an automated system can take 6 payments, starting with small ones and getting bigger, if I had had more funds available would they have got away with a 5th payment of more than thr 6th amount of 250.00 - I will have to ask the bank if there was a declined transaction on that day to them.

saltnvinegar

Hi Jep76

The reason why they can do this is you have given them permission to set up something called a 'recurring payment authority'. It is a totally lawful payment mechanism though you could argue it shouldn't be or should be subject to much tighter regulation.

Unfortunately payday loan companies (and others!) abuse this payment mechanism to take money from your bank account at will.

The quote "the system automatically recognises if there is funds in the account and takes the payement" is complete brown squishy stuff. They just didn't cancel the recurring payment authority.

In fact, if you have had several smaller payments taken, rather than one large one, someone has had to specifically ensure this happens. It is not 'automatic' at all, the complete opposite of what you have been told. Someone will have had to instruct their systems to take these multiple smaller payments.

You can read more about this on a thread I started here:

Dealing with Payday Loan Companies

If you don't mind I would also like to provide a link in my thread to your story in this thread as another example of payday loan companies abusing this payment mechanism and a warning for others.

Best

SnV

jep76

@SnV

feel free to add a thread , you have helped grately and if I quote this back to them I'm sure she'll be stuck for words.

Thanks again J

saltnvinegar

jep76 wrote: »

@SnV

feel free to add a thread , you have helped grately and if I quote this back to them I'm sure she'll be stuck for words.

Thanks again J

Thanks J

I have added a link to this thread. I hope to show through evidence of people posting here on DFW that this practice is not 'isolated' but is, in fact, common practice among a large number of payday loan companies.

Best

SnV