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

Denza

The FOS assessments letters are templated from Farmer's original assessment last year. Extracts under "interest rate changes" have been lifted verbatim.

Farmer's assessment was the template - including the decision itself - and then this was tailored for individuals to add case specific considerations.

They were too sloppy to remove non-specifics considerations for my case and hence my assessment includes commentary/counterargument to points which I have not even raised.

I wonder how many of you have been provided with the Santander material which they submitted in respect to the overarching complaints and on an individual basis?

The overarching material was delivered to the FOS on July 13th 2012 and forms the basis of the FOS decision in Farmer's case and hence all subsequent cases. The individual material will have been delivered in line with your adjudicator's request to them on a case by case basis. It is the former which is of material interest.

Due to constant harassing I was able to obtain this material in January even though my FOS assessment was delivered in December. Santander had been furnished with all of my submissions of course and did not have to beg for them after the event.

I picked holes in the FOS assessment, many irrefutable, and have subsequently picked holes in the Santander material which has been relied upon by the FOS, again much of it irrefutable and the remainder arguable to the extreme.

Unfortunately my adjudicator does not deem the above worthy of review and insists that my case go straight to the Ombudsman who will no doubt deliver a cut and paste of Farmer's Ombudsman decision.

I should also add that my adjudicator also refused to acknowledge the majority of my submissions in the course of his work and continues to do so.

Fortunately however they have assured me that the service is unbiased and that each case is judged on its own merits.

So that's all good then.

Sushi123

Just got my rejection letter yesterday:mad:, its almost identical to VanGoghs letter he posted tho clearly with minor changes to reflect my circumstances etc., .... so the question is to battle on and appeal? not sure I have the fight left!

VanGoghsEarhere

Just been going through the correspondence in respect of my appeal which I'll be submitting tomorrow. Santander submitted a statement to the FOS which included the dates of the various interest rate changes. I feel nauseas after calculating that in the period 1/2/10 - 2/10/12, I've paid them £3,307.67 which is 3/4 of the amount I owed them at 1/2/10. The actual capital repaid in that time is a paltry £1,103.14. The quicker I rid myself of those leeches, by whatever means, the better.

halifax71

The important bit of that adjudication, is at the bottom of page 2,

"the dispute is whether the changes were allowed under the terms"

The FOS will side with the business here, as the changes probably were, however much you argue.

The issue that needs addressing here is whether those terms are FAIR, and only a court can decide if a contract is FAIR or not.

Straight away it is clear that there in ambiguity, and ambuiguity in contract wording is illegal. See contra proferentem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_proferentem

Ask the FOS whether or not they can assess the fairness of the term not just whether it's been complied with.

Denza

halifax71 wrote: »

Ask the FOS whether or not they can assess the fairness of the term not just whether it's been complied with.

It's good advice however I am already wearing a selection of those t-shirts.

In various dialogues the FOS have claimed that they are not a Regulator and hence cannot comment on the strict "fairness" of the T&Cs; although they then managed to contradict themselves by commenting that they felt the T&Cs were fair and also reasonable - ignoring the wealth of information which I provided them with showing clear breaches of the OFT guidelines.

However if the FOS feel that Regulatory comment is a consideration then why didn't they ask them?

The FOS has a Memoranda of Understanding with the OFT and as stated in FOS literature; “… we liaise and co-operate closely with the FSA and OFT on issues that affect each other’s work”.

This has also been specifically qualified in their Feedback Statement (FS11/2) as incorporating consumer complaints which represent both emerging risks and mass claims, both a clear consideration for the cases against Santander regarding flexible loans.

Certainly the FOS in the course of their casework are far better placed to engage the OFT than individual consumers.

Regardless of Santander actions I am not prepared to let the FOS off the hook with respect to their blatantly disinterested, biased, inconsistent and shoddy work on these cases and their abject failure to produce a fair, reasonable and just assessment.

By that I do not necessarily mean one in the claimants favour but I do mean one that provides clear, concise and consistent reasoning to support any decision made.

Denza

Denza wrote: »

The approved means for notifying the Regulator of unfair terms and conditions includes a formal notification to the other party.

With that in mind I have created a template letter for both Santander and the OFT should anyone wish to use them (feel free to edit as applicable obviously).

In order to obtain a Zip file of the docs (plus a recent copy of the Cahoot T&Cs) please PM me your email address. If you are not able to use Zip I can send the docs in their native Word format.

Cheers, Denza

Lots of takers for the templates, thank you all.

Straight from the horses mouth; the more enquiries to the OFT the more chance of prioritisation.

Anyone not engaged the OFT yet then please do so in some capacity. If you are a couple who have both been screwed over by Santander then why not submit one complaint each?!

Good luck to all.

DJTASK

OFT have acknowledged my complaint and promise a response in 20 days.

Better than Santanders response which was a template letter stating that my email complaint (I sent a letter) about interest rates (no, it was on fairness) to the FOS (no it was OFT) was, after their investigation, covered by my existing complaint (no it isn't) :T

FOS have also come back to me and stated that my complaint about breach of consumer credit act needs to be a separate complaint and cant be added to the existing one.

HoneyBelle_2

Hi Denza

I have also been rejected by FOS and its about to go to Ombudsman
I would like to take this further to the OFT, but feel out of my depth
I see you mention a template, could I have a copy if possible?

Mnay thanks

P-G_2

FOS have recently published a number of Freedom of Information Act responses and among these it make it clear that both sides in a dispute ( via FOS of course) can see the other side's material documents relevant to reaching a decision in the case. All you have to do is ASK...but not under the FoIA.

Here is FOS's precise wording and links:

"We do, however, make available on request information that is material to the consideration of a complaint......Please note these documents would not be provided to you under the provisions of the Act, but on a discretionary basis as part of our normal case-handling arrangement"
Page 137 of this FoIA response (Its a very big doc...long download)
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/143959/response/353231/attach/2/Responses.pdf


"Our usual approach is to make copies of the documents which were important to the outcome of complaints available to the consumer and business in question upon request"
page 135 of this FoIA response (Another very big doc)
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/143959/response/353231/attach/2/Responses.pdf

More about FOS on the FOS Problems website here
http://www.financial-ombudsman-problems.co.uk/

If you want to make a Freedom of Information Act request, try the "What do they know" website. Its easy and everyone can see the questions and answers.
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/financial_ombudsman_service

Vicky495_2

Dear all,
I am on the same boat as you and watch this thread with interest especially Denza's and Farmer's cases.

I followed all the relevant steps and complained to FOS saying that the interest rate increases were unfair and unreasonable.

I received adjudicator's reply stating that "For the reasons explained above (in the letter) I consider that Cahoot did not act unreasonably when increasing the interest rate on loan. Because of this, I have to tell you that I am unable to recommend that your complaint should be upheld.

However, if you disagree with how I have reached my conclusions, please contact me by 15/02 telling me your reasons and including evidence that you have not already provided and that you think is important to your case.

As we explain in our leaflet, consumers have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review their case - as the final stage in our process".

Right. My question is, Should I ask the Ombudsman to review my case and if yes, What should I write to persuade my adjudicator to take my case further?

I don't have additional evidence and the adjudicator believes that the increases were fair since the loan was flexible and as a whole was not profitable due to underlying costs and bad debts giving the right to Cahoot to increase the interest rate!

Can you help me please? Law is not my strong point. Not sure what to reply to her and whether it worths the effort to take my complain to Ombudsman.

What have you done as the next step? Your help is much appreciated. Thanks!