Cahoot Rip Off (merged)

[Deleted User]

glaspole wrote:

Can anyone tell me how I can transfer the balance of my cahoot flexible loan to my Egg money account? I just opened it for this very purpose - but it looks like I can only feed money INTO my egg money account. Stupid Cahoot only allow bank sort codes and account numbers as one off payments and that has to originate with the holders account. They clearly want to make it difficult to close the account.

Is there a way I have not noticed? Do I just phone Egg up and give them the sort number and account and they will do the transfer?

Thanks

Stewart

To repay the cahoot loan, you could enter the loan sort code and account number as a balance transfer from egg money - you can do this online.

HammersFan

Haven't read the thread all the way through, but it took me a while to close my Cahoot loan. Tried twice online, but their system rejects any payment over the total amount outstanding (despite being told this was not the case by the call centre) and takes the minimum amount instead. Eventually cleared it by sending a cheque to their clearing house (got the address (its their London head office I think) from the call centre) and cleared the account in 5 days. This company will do nothing to help you I am afraid.

grecian9

Below is my latest email to Cahoot (service.relationship.team@cahoot.com) and below that are the results of their "inquiry". I'm in the mood to take this all the way!

Dear Cahoot

Thanks for your swift response to my complaint. Unfortunately there are several things about your response are unsatisfactory. Firstly I did not receive any emails from Cahoot on December 5, 2006. I have a gmail account which saves all my emails. I have every single email I have ever received to this account since I opened it in August 2004 and there is no email from you on that date. I have never received any documentation warning me of any impending rate rises. I saw that you were doing this to other customers on moneysavingexpert.com and religiously checked my cahoot message box as well as my email but the first I've heard about it was last week.

Secondly, I have checked my welcome email, my credit agreement and all other initial sign up documentation and there is no mention of the 'one year promotional rate' that you mention as the justification for increasing my rate.

I have read in your terms and conditions that you can increase interest rates for any valid reason but I do not feel that a 0.75% base rate increase justifies a 7.9% increase in the rate I pay to you.

Thus, in summary, you haven't warned me about the rise, you have given me a false reason for increasing my rate and you do not have a valid reason for the level of increase you are intending to make.

Please be assured that as a journalist I will be taking this as far as I can and seeking as much publicity as possible.

Yours sincerely

Nick Lavigueur



On 01/03/07, {cahoot}: Service Relationship Team <service.relationship.team@cahoot.com> wrote:

Dear Mr. Lavigeur,

I'm contacting you following your recent email regarding your cahoot Flexible Loan account.

cahoot has recently undertaken a significant review of the cahoot flexible loan account, part of this analysis looked at the rates on this account against the rest of the flexible loan market and the increased costs of a flexible loan account. The cost of lending money has increased not only because of the increases in the Bank of England rate but also because of the increased risk costs on a flexible loan account.

Your Flexible Loan APR was 6.9% (variable) when you opened the account in 2005. With regards to notifying you of the APR changes we sent you two e-mails on 5 th December 2006 advising of the two increases.

Having considered your complaint I appreciate your sentiments regarding the increased APR although I do feel that cahoot have been fair in the way that we've administered our Flexible Loan rates. We state on both the credit agreement and the on-line application that the APR awarded is variable. I've reviewed the wording of our advertisements at the time and do feel that they were clear:

"*Typical 6.9% APR (Variable) special limited offer. The rate you get will be based on the amount you request, your credit rating and your credit history. The typical rate reflects a rating we anticipate offering to the majority of new customers. The rate you will pay after one year will be the rate then applicable to the cahoot flexible loan. The rate is variable but currently the equivalent rate is 8.5% APR."

I can confirm that when you signed the credit agreement for your account it did state that the rate was flexible and could increase or decrease at anytime. In view of this I regret that I'm unable to uphold your complaint and the increases will apply to your account. This is our final response in relation to this matter.

If you wish to escalate your complaint you will now be required to write to Abbey's Stage 2 complaints team. This department is an autonomous body within Abbey who will review your complaint on an independent basis. If you decide to write to them please state that cahoot has issued its final response in relation to this matter and please quote my name so that the relevant paperwork can be quickly obtained.

Eupho

Well done Nick.. thats a great letter! :T

Cahoot.. grrrrrr :mad: Im so mad with them. I started with a loan at 6.9%. It has crept up and up and UPPPPPP... until its most recent HIKE to 19%! :mad: :mad:


Keep us posted if you do decide to take it further.
Eupho

smessom32

Has anyone had any succes in geting the APR down form 14.9 or is it just best to move the loan as soon as possible?

If so where heve you moved yours too?

I owe Cahoot £1625 what are my best options?

I want to complain to cahoot about doubling their APR but I am unsure of what to write and if it is worth the effort.

I feel like I have been robbed by a back street loan shark not a so called big company.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

savingallthetime01

Just looking at BBC Watchdogs website and wondering about sending a link to this posting, and seeing what response we get off them - WHAT DOES EVERYONE THINK

smessom32

Sounds Good

Something has got to be said to sort this issue out.

Keep us informed

mikiex

Yup watchdog should ask them questions.
They are obviously doing it to get people out of the accounts
not a legitimate reason or is it?

disgruntledcahootperson

mrke wrote:

Abbey the owners of Cahoot have withdrawn it from the loans market and I guess they want everyone to leave so that Cahoot can be closed down.

As someone with a bit of insider knowledge I'll give a few home truths about the flexible loan and Cahoot in general:

It is a brazen attempt to get customers to leave cahoot. The calculated gamble they're taking is that people might go to Abbey for a loan instead; that's why the emails you received had a convenient plug for an Abbey loan on them.
Additionally, loans and credit cards are no longer offered, and the interest-free buffer on the overdrafts was dropped to £100. Sounds like an effective way to alienate your customers to me!

The simple fact is, Cahoot as a company has gone to pot since Banco Santander took Abbey over a couple of years back. Over a hundred staff have been laid off, and most back office and general banking tasks outsourced to Madrid (except they won't tell you that because people apparently prefer a Brit to do the work).

You now have the situation that if you call Cahoot in Coventry about your current account that has taken 2 weeks to get set up, your call will be taken by someone in Coventry, who will have to send an email form to someone in Bradford who might look at it in a few days if you're lucky. That Bradford person will find your documents, decide everything is OK (by no means certain!), then send the details to someone in Madrid to set your account up. :mad:

You couldn't make it up! Needless to say, I do NOT have a cahoot account!

samanthag

hi
i have a abbey load for £7000 and a cahoot load for 5000 what are my chances of transfering my cahoot loan to my abbey loan ? is this a possibility without me having to apply again for a new loan ?
any advice would be appreciated
sammy