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

gbatey

farmer1971 wrote: »

UPDATE! Received the Santander knock back letter today. I have posted the letter word for word as promised below. Looks like it's the FOS route for me and I would appreciate any ideas.

Thank you and good luck!

29th February 2012
Our Ref: XXXXXXX
Cahoot Loan : XXXXXX XXXXXXXX

Dear Mr and Mrs XXXXXX
Thank you for your e-mail dated 12 January 2012 addressed to our Chief Executive, Ms Ana Botin. Your concerns have been passed on to me to review and respond to on her behalf. I am sorry for the delay in replying and would like to thank you for taking the time to discuss this matter with me on 21 February 2012.
You have complained about the rate rises you experienced on your Cahoot flexi loan. In particular you say that these interest rate rises were unfair.
We have investigated your complaint and our position is as follows.
The interest rate rises were made in accordance with the terms and conditions of your agreement with Cahoot. These terms and conditions confirm that Santander have the ability to make variations in the interest rate. In particular we refer you to clause 13 of the attached Terms and Conditions. This condition would have been included within the Terms and Conditions of your agreement with Cahoot.
The flexible loan you chose had a variable rate of interest and offered the flexibility to draw down more funds without the need for a further credit search. It also gave you the opportunity to repay the full balance at any time, without penalty.
You were informed of the interest rate rises in advance both via your web based Cahoot secure messaging facility and in writing via email to your nominated account. This was an acceptable method of communication as all Cahoot accounts are operated online. As part of this process you were advised that you could move on to another product with Santander (Abbey at the time) which may have offered better rates and this could have been done without penalty.
While we appreciate that you consider the rate rises were significant, the interest rate ultimately charged on your Cahoot loan was in line with other flexible variable rate loans that were available in the market at that time.
Taking the above information into consideration, I am unable to find anything that would suggest that these changes made by Santander were unfair and I am therefore unable to uphold your complaint. I appreciate my response may come as a disappointment but I hope that I have explained why changes to the interest rate on your Cahoot loan were made in line with the Terms and Conditions of the account.
I have investigated and responded to all the issues you have raised. If you believe my decision is incorrect and you wish to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, I have enclosed a leaflet that explains how you can do this. You should contact them within six months of the date of this letter, enclosing a copy of it, as they would need this for their investigation.
Yours Sincerely

XXXXXXX XXXX
Manager
Enc. Financial Ombudsman Service Booklet
Terms and Conditions

Received my knockback letter today too and its the same as yours word-for-word! FOS route for me too I think!

L0velyLau

karyny wrote: »

Hi
I had a cahoot loan on which the interest rate was hiked up, I then repaid it in 2008 and threw all the paperwork away when I moved house. Is there a way I can find out the details of the loan so I can make a complaint or have I blown it by getting rid of the paperwork.
Many thanks for any help.

I have the same problem as this, is there anyway to get the paperwork? Also, is it worth trying to get anything back now or have they cottoned on?

Thanks

Denza

farmer1971 wrote: »

Not according to the FOS:

Only around one in six of all the initial complaints and enquiries we receive go on to require more detailed consideration work by our adjudicators or ombudsmen. And it is only at that stage that a case becomes "chargeable".
We invoice businesses for chargeable cases at the end of the month in which the case is closed. We do not charge a business for the first three cases we deal with during the year. For the fourth and each subsequent complaint, we charge a case fee of £500.

.

That's welcome news as I am pretty sure that I will be contacting them in the near future regarding what I expect to be my declined claim!

They are going to get a lot more than three in 2012!

Good luck to you.

bagpuss27

bagpuss27 wrote: »

Thank you to everyone on here for your help and advice - I have just emailed the ceo so its just a wait and see game...... fingers crossed, nothing ventured and all that........:)

Received the standard "looking into" letter yesterday, but having read about the recent knockbacks I'm not holding out much hope...it doesnt seem fair that they are now deciding after the "goodwill" payments that they wont do it anymore. I tried with the bank charges with Santander too late as well and failed with that, even with the FOS so maybe I'm blackballed now :mad:

OllyB

Hi,

Just sent my letter of complaint to CEO & Complaints email addresses (see earlier posts for full addr).

I'm asking them to justify which T&C they raised the rates under - Cluase 15.2 lists several sub-clauses as to how they may raise the rates. At least one is questionable under the Unfair Consumer Contract Terms legislation (google for UTCCRs).

I'll update with progress.

Here's my email:

Hi,

We are writing to raise a formal complaint about the way our joint Flexible Loan Account - <sortcode>/<acc no> - has been handled.

Since opening the account with Cahoot in November 2002 with an APR of 6.9%; the account has been subject to a series of significant interest rate rises with absolutely no explanation or reason why. The rate applying when we closed the account in February 2011 was 16.61%, a total rise of 140.7%! In particular, the interest rate on the loan rose from 9.05% to 14% in Jan '07 just after a substantial withdrawal of <£££> from the account; after a period of a £0 balance. The general rate rise to 9% was widely criticised in the press just a month or two beforehand.

We appreciate that the loan was a variable rate interest loan, and therefore expected some changes in the rate - both down as well as up; however we cannot see the justification for these rises in your Terms and Conditions, and believe that they were unfair.

If you believe that these rate rises were fair and justifiable, then please quote the exact sub-cause in your terms and conditions, and the "trigger" event that caused the interest rate rise (eg the Bank of England Base Rate or LIBOR rate rose by a similar amount at the same time or shortly beforehand) for EACH AND EVERY rise.

If you cannot substantiate the reason for these interest rate rises, then we would ask that you refund the interest charged for the unsubstantiated rate rises.

We hope that this matter can be resolved amicably but would advise you that were you to reject this request outright or just provide a blanket "in accordance with our terms and conditions" without specifying exactly which term; we will pursue the matter through the Financial Ombudsman Service.

We look forward to receiving your response.

Yours faithfully,

<SWMBO & myself>

fairydust30

wow ollyb - thats GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! Ive already had a 'looking into it' letter so its too late for me to benefit from your very clever letter. I think you are right though - santander saying they up'ed the rates pretty much just 'because they could' and it says they can in the t&c's is NOT good enough. Surely somewhere along the lines we've all been duped by the fact the loans were offered at a low APR and then rate jacked once balances accrued is some sort of false advertising - I know we all signed up to the t&c's when taking it out but even so - rate rises just because they'd written it into the terms - perhaps RISING THE RATES WAS ALWAYS THEIR INTENTION???? (although this surely would be impossible to prove). Any legal eyes out there willing to lend a hand here?

AND (another matter for a legal set of eyes) surely they cannot offer some goodwill gestures and not others - surely this is against the law somehow too - I know they were 'gestures' but isnt that also DISCRIMINATION!

29door

Hello I had a Cahoot flexible loan in 2004 for 5k added extra money during the time paid it off dec 2009, took out a new loan as the interest seemed high. now i cannot find details of the account is there any way i can get the details as this was on internet i dont have paper statements.:(

Todge_2

farmer1971 wrote: »

UPDATE! Received the Santander knock back letter today. I have posted the letter word for word as promised below. Looks like it's the FOS route for me and I would appreciate any ideas.

Thank you and good luck!

29th February 2012
Our Ref: XXXXXXX
Cahoot Loan : XXXXXX XXXXXXXX

Dear Mr and Mrs XXXXXX
Thank you for your e-mail dated 12 January 2012 addressed to our Chief Executive, Ms Ana Botin. Your concerns have been passed on to me to review and respond to on her behalf. I am sorry for the delay in replying and would like to thank you for taking the time to discuss this matter with me on 21 February 2012.
You have complained about the rate rises you experienced on your Cahoot flexi loan. In particular you say that these interest rate rises were unfair.
We have investigated your complaint and our position is as follows.
The interest rate rises were made in accordance with the terms and conditions of your agreement with Cahoot. These terms and conditions confirm that Santander have the ability to make variations in the interest rate. In particular we refer you to clause 13 of the attached Terms and Conditions. This condition would have been included within the Terms and Conditions of your agreement with Cahoot.
The flexible loan you chose had a variable rate of interest and offered the flexibility to draw down more funds without the need for a further credit search. It also gave you the opportunity to repay the full balance at any time, without penalty.
You were informed of the interest rate rises in advance both via your web based Cahoot secure messaging facility and in writing via email to your nominated account. This was an acceptable method of communication as all Cahoot accounts are operated online. As part of this process you were advised that you could move on to another product with Santander (Abbey at the time) which may have offered better rates and this could have been done without penalty.
While we appreciate that you consider the rate rises were significant, the interest rate ultimately charged on your Cahoot loan was in line with other flexible variable rate loans that were available in the market at that time.
Taking the above information into consideration, I am unable to find anything that would suggest that these changes made by Santander were unfair and I am therefore unable to uphold your complaint. I appreciate my response may come as a disappointment but I hope that I have explained why changes to the interest rate on your Cahoot loan were made in line with the Terms and Conditions of the account.
I have investigated and responded to all the issues you have raised. If you believe my decision is incorrect and you wish to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, I have enclosed a leaflet that explains how you can do this. You should contact them within six months of the date of this letter, enclosing a copy of it, as they would need this for their investigation.
Yours Sincerely

XXXXXXX XXXX
Manager
Enc. Financial Ombudsman Service Booklet
Terms and Conditions

Just read through the knock back letter, I was very interested in the part where it says

"As part of this process you were advised that you could move on to another product with Santander (Abbey at the time) which may have offered better rates and this could have been done without penalty."

is not strictly true for me, A couple of years ago I was very un-happy about the high interest rate and applied for a new loan at a lower rate with the same bank Santander to pay of the cahoot loan twice, and twice I was knocked back, also when I was applying I was told that I would have to take out an extra £1000 on top of the loan as part of the deal. When I sent my e-mail I mentioned to the CEO that I did apply for a new loan with Santander and was refused twice with to me felt like they were making to much money out of me to allow me to get the cheaper rate loan.

Did anyone else try applying for a loan with Santander to pay off the Flexi loan

Cell

You were informed of the interest rate rises in advance both via your web based Cahoot secure messaging facility and in writing via email to your nominated account. This was an acceptable method of communication as all Cahoot accounts are operated online. As part of this process you were advised that you could move on to another product with Santander (Abbey at the time) which may have offered better rates and this could have been done without penalty.

I cannot prove it, but I was certainly NOT offered the opportunity of 'moving onto another product', and doubt very much whether I would have been accepted in any event. But as I see it it is for THEM to prove that such offers were made on each and every occasion rates rose and for each and every individual.

And you do wonder what incentive there would be for Santander to offer a loan at a lower rate than they were charging on an existing account. Do turkeys vote for Christmas?

Finally, once Santander took the accounts over they withdrew the withdrawal facility (the flexibility mentioned in their response) but didn't re-price downwards to reflect the fact that the product was no longer the same as that which the customer bought. Essentially you were left with a personal loan at a punitive rate, well above what any main-stream lender would offer (21.9% ).

jules1973

I was wondering if the rejection letters have the account number on the top, as hoping to get my acc number for PPI claim