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

oracleman

pheonixrising21 wrote: »

"....Some of these reflected underlying changes in the Bank of England Base Rate, and therefore fell within clause 13.2(b)."

QUOTE]

Did santander say what caused the changes to rates in the other cases ? - notice the cop out "some" in Santys email

pheonixrising21

oracleman wrote: »

pheonixrising21 wrote: »

"....Some of these reflected underlying changes in the Bank of England Base Rate, and therefore fell within clause 13.2(b)."

QUOTE]

Did santander say what caused the changes to rates in the other cases ? - notice the cop out "some" in Santys email

The other reason was "running the bank prudently" in this particular email. I asked them what this means, and which of my interest rate rises is because of BoE base rate and which because of running the bank prudently.

Also, something which I haven't yet mentioned to Santander yet, "running the business prudently" is pretty vague and therefore may be deemed unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Reg 1999, purely because it is so vague.

They have also in the past tried the "any reason that is valid" approach too. Without giving a valid reason of course!

pheonixrising21

Having looked at the reply in more detail, I've noticed that they state that the rises keep the product "within the prices offered by competitors"

So, Santander are admitting that they raise there prices (interest rates) when competitors do. Is this potentially price fixing or even cartel behaviour?

VanGoghsEarhere

pheonixrising21 wrote: »

Having looked at the reply in more detail, I've noticed that they state that the rises keep the product "within the prices offered by competitors"

So, Santander are admitting that they raise there prices (interest rates) when competitors do. Is this potentially price fixing or even cartel behaviour?

I think that we can all agree that this is the case. If Santander had wanted to remain competitive and/or become the market leader (in personal loans) they could have kept their interest rates down. But as we all know, behind the scenes these guys are all scratching one anothers backs. With the recession biting back in 2009 the number of defaulters would have increased significantly so to recoup those lost profits (and bonuses) they would have to increase the interest rates. A case of the taxpayer paying the banks twice. Also remember that Santander were mopping up financial institutions in the wake of the crisis and how (who) do you think is really paying for this expansion? Unsustainable lending built on imaginary assets and capital.

Jasmine12

Hi, anyone please know the address to send the SAR to? thanks

zozza26

Hi all,

I stumbled across this post a few days ago, and after sending a brief complaint email i have now sent another in-depth one today.
Not sure whether i should have rocked the boat (didnt mention this site) but i stated the fact that FOS are upholding complaints and that many have received goodwill gestures last year. I basically asked for an individual reply rather than the standard 'rejection' letter they are sending and pointed out the cost for every FOS complaint

Pretty sure i will have to go via FOS aswell but fingers crossed!

My situation is similar to most - £9K loan taken out with Cahoot in Aug 2004 at 5.8% APR (luckily i kept original agreement) which was taken over by Santander in Aug 2008 and interest rate increased immediately to 16.61%.
Im lucky in the sense it hasnt increased since although the fact that the Loan is now not 'Flexible' the rate shouldnt have increased at all.

I will keep you all posted on any updates.

Please keep us updated on any recent successes as this will give others the confidence to complain.

julie170779

Hi all, i also have got my standard rejection and have just send in my complaint to FOS. Another point to all that still have ur loan open, i have been trying to clear this debt for yrs and contacted them to arrange more repayments to reduce the interest costs and was informed it is not possible on this type of FLEXI loan, hmmm, very flexible, again this in a breech of the t&c's as you could make any payment you wanted to with cahoot each month, not the case anymore though. I was told if i made a "overpayment" they would hold it in a pot and it would not be credited to my account as they dont have the facility to do this, may be worth a mention on your fos letters. Julie

tlh858

julie170779 wrote: »

contacted them to arrange more repayments to reduce the interest costs and was informed it is not possible on this type of FLEXI loan

Actually, you CAN make additional payments.
You need the loan account number and sort code, which are printed on the paper statement (assuming they have sent you any). You can make payments to it in the same way as any other bank account.

One extra payment shows on the statement as several transactions, ending up as a 'capital repayment' which does reduce the outstanding balance and also reduces the interest for the next and subsequent months.

InsertWittyName

tlh858 wrote: »

Actually, you CAN make additional payments.
You need the loan account number and sort code, which are printed on the paper statement (assuming they have sent you any). You can make payments to it in the same way as any other bank account.

One extra payment shows on the statement as several transactions, ending up as a 'capital repayment' which does reduce the outstanding balance and also reduces the interest for the next and subsequent months.

I can confirm this as I did exactly as tlh858 described to overpay the loan.

Cell

julie170779 wrote: »

Hi all, i also have got my standard rejection and have just send in my complaint to FOS. Another point to all that still have ur loan open, i have been trying to clear this debt for yrs and contacted them to arrange more repayments to reduce the interest costs and was informed it is not possible on this type of FLEXI loan, hmmm, very flexible, again this in a breech of the t&c's as you could make any payment you wanted to with cahoot each month, not the case anymore though. I was told if i made a "overpayment" they would hold it in a pot and it would not be credited to my account as they dont have the facility to do this, may be worth a mention on your fos letters. Julie

I just set up a payee on my online bank account using the details on the statements and paid extra whenever I could. That's how I ultimately paid it off - nearly £7000, so clearly it's possible:o