Santander are now refunding interest payments on Cahoot flexible loan's

willsboy

trsisko wrote: »

FOS complaint rasied but i'm not holding out much hope for this one. I guess this debit will still be around when i die!

Stick with it. It will work out.

VanGoghsEarhere

Hi folks. Just sent my FOS form away on Friday. The main points I raised are listed below. Hope this helps someone. BTW, have I missed anything?

• A series of rate rises where, in the period 2006-07, the APR doubles.
• The rate rises were unfair/unethical with no specifically stated justification.
• Generic transfer email refers to fixed loan customers. How can I be subject to variable rates if I am a fixed rate customer or vice versa. My “rights and obligations under the loan agreement will remain unchanged” yet I am unable to drawdown funds or view the account online. The product has changed without seeking my consent via a new credit agreement.
• Santander unwilling to negotiate on APR. Advised me to apply for their fixed loan product for outstanding balance (OB), then stated I had to request OB +£1000 which was declined.
• Current interest rate cited on statements is 20%. Customer Service informed me that the APR was, in fact, 21.9%. A few weeks later I sought written confirmation which, again, stated 20%. If the 21.9% is being applied the statement is misleading (unethical/fraudulent).
• I know for a fact that Santander have made monetary settlements to many other flexi-loan customers in respect of these interest rate hikes, therefore a precedent has been set.
• Response to email complaint appeared to be a generic rejection letter in which they offered no corroborating evidence to suggest that they had specifically looked into my complaint. (Same also occurred on PPI complaint (Your Ref: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX)).

Inside_Job

I have been watching this thread with great interest over the past few months. I do feel Santander have treated it's Cahoot Flexi Loan customers in an appalling manner and I have had a 'dig' around to help answer a couple of your questions. In November 2004 Santander's acquisition of Abbey became effective.

Due to the lack of communication and answers from Santander I have registered to shed a little light on the whole fiasco. The information has been obtained from a very reliable source!


Q. Why did Santander increase interest rates from the period of 2006.

A. Up until 2006 you would probably have experienced interest rate increases tracking the Bank of England Base Rate (BoEBR) these rises fall within clause 13.2(b). From late 2006/early 2007 massive rate increases were introduced on the Cahoot Flexi loan product across the board above the BoEBR these rises fall outside clause 13.2(b). For these changes Santander relied on clause 13.2(a) and 13.2(c). This had nothing to do with your personal financial status or credit scoring. Santander claim the increase was implemented due to the growing number of accounts with arrears of £500 or more. In 2006 this figure stood at between 3.8% and 8.7% depending on the year the account was activated. ie: 2002 - 3.8%, 2003 - 6.5%, 2004 - 5.6% and so on. Unfortunately you were paying for the bad debt of others.

Q. Why was the ability to drawdown funds and online account servicing removed?

A. In March 2010 Santander moved it's Cahoot 'book' onto it's new IT platform (Partenon) They claim the new platform could not support the Cahoot product as it stood.

I hope this answers the two most important concerns many of you have.

Santander claim you could have moved to a fixed rate product with a typical rate of 5.8% APR. Why would the business volunteer to take more loss on the Cahoot product? Was anyone actually successful at refinancing at that rate?


Good luck to you all.

willsboy

Have you any theories about why Santander have been making "goodwill" payments?

oracleman

Inside_Job wrote: »

Q. Why was the ability to drawdown funds and online account servicing removed?

A. In March 2010 Santander moved it's Cahoot 'book' onto it's new IT platform (Partenon) They claim the new platform could not support the Cahoot product as it stood.
.

Found this link... for a Richard Wallond

http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/richard-wallond/1/3a0/884

IT Integration Manager Isban UK (Abbey Bank) </STRONG>

Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Information Technology and Services industry
May 2009 – September 2009 (5 months)
• Managing the UK elements of migration of cahoot fixed rate and flexi loans to Partenon (Santander global platform)

VanGoghsEarhere

Inside_Job wrote: »

I have been watching this thread with great interest over the past few months. I do feel Santander have treated it's Cahoot Flexi Loan customers in an appalling manner and I have had a 'dig' around to help answer a couple of your questions. In November 2004 Santander's acquisition of Abbey became effective.

Due to the lack of communication and answers from Santander I have registered to shed a little light on the whole fiasco. The information has been obtained from a very reliable source!


Q. Why did Santander increase interest rates from the period of 2006.

A. Up until 2006 you would probably have experienced interest rate increases tracking the Bank of England Base Rate (BoEBR) these rises fall within clause 13.2(b). From late 2006/early 2007 massive rate increases were introduced on the Cahoot Flexi loan product across the board above the BoEBR these rises fall outside clause 13.2(b). For these changes Santander relied on clause 13.2(a) and 13.2(c). This had nothing to do with your personal financial status or credit scoring. Santander claim the increase was implemented due to the growing number of accounts with arrears of £500 or more. In 2006 this figure stood at between 3.8% and 8.7% depending on the year the account was activated. ie: 2002 - 3.8%, 2003 - 6.5%, 2004 - 5.6% and so on. Unfortunately you were paying for the bad debt of others.

Q. Why was the ability to drawdown funds and online account servicing removed?

A. In March 2010 Santander moved it's Cahoot 'book' onto it's new IT platform (Partenon) They claim the new platform could not support the Cahoot product as it stood.

I hope this answers the two most important concerns many of you have.

Santander claim you could have moved to a fixed rate product with a typical rate of 5.8% APR. Why would the business volunteer to take more loss on the Cahoot product? Was anyone actually successful at refinancing at that rate?


Good luck to you all.

Hi InsideJob

Thanks for your input. Would this be 'inside' information perhaps? Increasing the interest rates on 'good payers' accounts just because Santander mismanaged/approved loans to bad risks - is that entirely legal or yet again plain unethical? It seems to be a case of we increased interest rates just because we felt like it so what are you gonna do about it?

VanGoghsEarhere

Any whistleblowers willing to give an insight into how many 'goodwill' payments have been made in respect of these interest rate hikes and amounts paid out?

Denza

Good afternoon fellow Santander customers.

I have been speaking with legal representation regarding a potential Class Action should my personal claim not be satisfied via the FOS.

I would be grateful for those interested to 'Thank' me (please do not post or PM any personal information at all). Should this come to pass then I will provide relevant contact details on this site and you will be able to talk in confidence to assigned legal advisors.

Please note that there will be no personal cost however there will be a very lengthy time to resolution via this mechanism.

Also please note that those in receipt of 'good will' payments are not exempt from inclusion.

Good luck to all.

jpwjpw

VanGoghsEarhere wrote: »

Any whistleblowers willing to give an insight into how many 'goodwill' payments have been made in respect of these interest rate hikes and amounts paid out?

I sent the template kindly provided to them in Dec and got a cheque in January.

I had a payout of just under £100. To be honest, I didn't do any sums around it, I just accepted the cheque they sent. I couldn't be bothered to request a breakdown of all payments and rate hikes.

When they hiked the rate up a second time I took out a loan at a lower rate and paid it off (this was 6 years ago now).

The only data I had about the loan was from my credit file and one email I found from 15/6/06 stating "We will be changing the rate on your cahoot Flexible Loan to 13.9% APR
variable on 28 June 2006.".

I think that was the second hike, which is when i closed the account.

happy_bear12

Good morning I have just read with interest Denza posting I have just recieved my knock back letter siting clause 13 I never had any letter that cahoot was being taken over by sant they in their letter said they sent me emails never got them all I know was I was paying a lot off interset on the orginal flex loan I took out in 2003 so if you are not successful then I will be signing up to your Class Action