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

halifax71

My experiences with the regulatory bodies over the last few years have been eye opening to say the least. Some of the findings have been baffling to put it mildly, e.g.

“Taking into account the way in which the account has been administered with increases broadly following changes in rates generally” Financial Ombudsman. This, against the backdrop of an 80% reduction in base rates, and a 10% increase in my APR. I even checked as I thought she must have mixed her cases up.

And in response to a query regarding the OFT’s own guidance which states that “Rates should only be increased on a loan to recover genuine increases in costs which have an effect on that loan”, the OFT Head of Secured Lending came out with a quite remarkable observation. “You have asked how your APR can be higher now than it was at loan inception, against the backdrop of massively reduced costs for the business, and still be compliant with the Second Charge Lending Guidance (SCLG). It may be helpful if I make it clear that the SCLG does not require lenders to reduce rates where their costs reduce. If it did require that, it would say so.”

When pushed further on this, highlighting that the only increased cost was PPI liability, the OFT just hid behind the Enterprise Act disclosure restrictions.

You also ask what costs have increased that justify an increase to your APR. Although details of the accounts are in the public domain, as explained previously restrictions on disclosure at Part 9 of the Enterprise Act 2002 mean that we are not able to disclose further details of our investigation, including information provided to the OFT or the details of our assessment of it.

[FONT=&quot]You're really flogging a dead horse with the regulators - they are not fiit for purpose[/FONT]

cokey123

Just had a phone call from our adjudicator following our response, asking them to escalate our case to Ombudsman level. In their findings letter, they asked for further evidence to help reevaluate it. So we argued the point that if Santander were legally fair as per their terms and conditions re: interest rate rises, then why legally have they not followed Consumer Credit Acts in terms of where the product falls (fixed rate v running credit) and the ensuing statements.
Anyway basically the adjudicator is saying that the FOS are only concerned with the interest rate rises, and the Ombudsman will only take relevant information on board. I asked, why, if they have done nothing wrong did they change our credit files recently without even informing us. The adjudicator admitted they pre-empted a complaint situation on that and effectively were in the wrong. I asked, if thats the case then why aren't they accountable for that because that may have affected our ability to replace the product at an earlier date. She said that if we could prove we had been turned down for credit as a result of that entry on our credit file, the FOS would take that further. But how on earth do we get that information? I said, once again, the consumer with limited resources (i.e. we dont have millions to pay for an ace legal team) can't fight fairly on this one. I said ultimately Santander can do what they like. But then she said that basically we should always be aware of what we are agreeing to and we benefited from the loan money and things do rise in price such as fuel etc. In other words its all our own fault. At that point I said, yes I agree legally but where is the 'ombudsman' that makes a relationship fair. I also asked at what point will they stop Santander making interest rate rises.
To be honest, I think she has a script now, the FOS is running scared and nothing we do will change the outcome.
It seems that they are only looking at the points that Santander can win on. I asked if I should issue a separate complaint regarding the product nature and statement errors but she said no.
Tbh - I have never really gotten angry about this until now. I just can't see how any 'Ombudsman' can lean so heavily towards one party. I can see how the terms can be deemed to be in Santaders favour but the other issues are being dismissed by them. If they want to only consider the original complaint, then they should advise us to reissue a complaint to Santander.
I also asked why they payed out before if the answer now is simply the terms and conditions are fair because surely they looked at those same terms last time...or did they just pay out without looking at them at all and if so, what do they do? From what she said, she inferred Santander previously rolled over for a quiet life when they thought it was just one or two.
Its not her fault and I can see their legal (although she did say they don't just look at legalities but fairness - ha!) stance - we just are not going to win here.
They are also obviously watching this forum.
So where do we go from here?

cokey123

ps she said it would be about 6-9 months for an Ombudsman decision!

MCSAVE

I submitted my response to the FOS querying their results, their response would be laughable if it was funny! Amongst other things I mentioned the CCA 1974 regulations regarding statements and they replied with the following

"Whilst having regard for the law, I do not feel that a statement omitting the original sum borrowed is particularly unfair or unreasonable. Neither do I think that it can justify Cahoot/Santander refunding all interest since the date of omission."

So if the FOS don't deal with the law then we're clearly barking up the wrong tree, I thought they were there as the bastions of fairness looking at both sides of the story, but it looks like they just want to put this to bed and move on, as consumer websites like this must cause them masses of work. If the FOS are watching this site then they are not doing a good job of pre-empting what we will bring up next, I even sent them a link to several stories about the Northern Rock cases. My next step is simple, go back to Santander and complain about the CCA breaches giving them a small time scale, I'll then be sending a LBA as the amount of interest should be under £5000, before submitting an MCOL claim

kenny_straw

My next step is simple, go back to Santander and complain about the CCA breaches giving them a small time scale, I'll then be sending a LBA as the amount of interest should be under £5000, before submitting an MCOL claim

Parden me for being stupid but what does LBA and MCOL mean?
I'm pretty much at the same stage, an Ombudsman appeal will take another 6 months and theres little chance of any change. In my case statements I get clearly show my interest rate as 0%, this part of my complaint was ignored by the FOS. They and Santander have admitted its a mistake. Clearly there is a big difference here.
Im also going to raise a complaint about the FOS - they made such a song and dance about each case being judged on its own merits - then completely ignored this part of my complaint.

InsertWittyName

LBA = Letter Before Action
MCOL = Money Claim On Line

gibbskr

F##kers
operating for
santander

The whole thing a joke ........just had email regarding my complaint fos not even picked on a number of the issues that have been given to them to support my complaint.

happy_bunny_2

Does anyone have any press contacts that would be interested in picking up this story?

primitive_man

My Partner got one of these flexi-loans months before the Santander took over Cahoot. Initial Loan amount was £6000. When Santander took over, the interest rate went from 16.2% to 28.9%.

Despite never missing a payment: varied from: £155 - £170, she now owes more money then the initial loan amount (Some £6480.21).

I have repeatedly tried to get statements from Santander and the ones they have sent don't make much sense... in at least two of them the outstanding balance is £0. I can't log into the website or get a copy of the original credit contract.

Can anyone suggest a course of action?

I used this site some years back to (successfully) get money back from Lloyds TSB for mis-sold PPI and Bank charges.

AOboy

Just came across this post by accident while looking for something else!!!

Is there anyone still following this thread who has had success who could kindly PM a template letter to me.

I've read through quite a few pages but couldn't find any such letters.

Thanks in advance!