Loans Direct UK [text removed by MSE Forum Team] Processing Fee

poppasmurf_bewdley

angrycubeian wrote: »

I agree. Be careful. These companies seem to prey on the vulnerable. I have been chasing my refund for over a month with this company and still no answer. Even with the threat of going to trading standards. Clearly this company doesnt give a £%$%
I guess it means I have to speak to trading standards

Have you WRITTEN to them? On paper, not email, not telephone.

kshawkhl

My advice to anyone looking at this company is stay well away, they lie to get you to sign up and pay a fee stating that your loan application have been approved, its not, you still have to apply to loan companies, and there is no approved loan, as its not down to them to decide whether you have been approved or not. When you request a refund, they tell you over the phone it will be back in your account within 7 days, but then when you check the account, it then states up to 30 days, liars!!. When you try phoning them, every single menu leads you to a message to contact them through email or online, well you do that, and they state they will respond within 24 hours, well they don't, in fact they don't reply at all. I hope loans direct reads this, and don't try it on with me stating what I am writing is libellous or that the company is registered, anyone can register a company, because I know for a fact what I have written here is 100% accurate. I have reported Loans direct to trading standards as well for their behaviour. LIARS, THIEVES, AND I WILL PERSONALLY MAKE IT MY BUSINESS TO ENSURE THIS COMPANY IS FULLY INVESTIGATED AND CLOSED DOWN ONCE AND FOR ALL, they prey on vunerable people and this will stop.

[Deleted User]

kshawkhl wrote: »

My advice to anyone looking at this company is stay well away, they lie to get you to sign up and pay a fee stating that your loan application have been approved, its not, you still have to apply to loan companies, and there is no approved loan, as its not down to them to decide whether you have been approved or not. When you request a refund, they tell you over the phone it will be back in your account within 7 days, but then when you check the account, it then states up to 30 days, liars!!. When you try phoning them, every single menu leads you to a message to contact them through email or online, well you do that, and they state they will respond within 24 hours, well they don't, in fact they don't reply at all. I hope loans direct reads this, and don't try it on with me stating what I am writing is libellous or that the company is registered, anyone can register a company, because I know for a fact what I have written here is 100% accurate. I have reported Loans direct to trading standards as well for their behaviour. LIARS, THIEVES, AND I WILL PERSONALLY MAKE IT MY BUSINESS TO ENSURE THIS COMPANY IS FULLY INVESTIGATED AND CLOSED DOWN ONCE AND FOR ALL, they prey on vunerable people and this will stop.

Or just write them a letter. Either's good.

ConsumerWizkid

Can't a Mod just pin this and change the title to Loans Direct UK Scam so people stop posting the same old message in here.

Maybe even an auto response every time a message is posted telling them to write in to claim their refund

missprofit

[FONT=&quot]I too have been stung by this company who I knew nothing about until my online bank statement highlighted a charge of 69.75 to loans-directuk.net.

I immediately contacted my bank who said there was nothing they could do because I must have entered my details at some point for them to get access and take the payment.

I was not happy about this and tried for nearly 2 hours to get through to them on the phone, to which I kept getting the same message' send us a secure message or write in if you want a refund or to cancel your membership'[/FONT]:mad:[FONT=&quot]

I was determined to make some headway with this because I was becoming more angry and irritated by the minute.

So this is what I did:

I contacted FSO and explained the problem, and because he was so familiar with the complaints about these companies he offered to write a letter to them immediately, and gave me a reference number.

Although I was happy with that I felt it would be a good idea to prepare them so I wrote them the following email (please remember I was very angry at the time...)

To Loans Direct UK

I am writing to express my extreme disgust with your business practices, and to make a formal complaint.

My complaint concerns the unauthorised access to my bank account where an amount of £69.75 was deducted for a (so called) Membership that I did not request, want, or authorise.

THIS IS FRAUD!!

Prior to this incident I knew nothing about your company, and have received no communication from your company.

Can you please then explain the process you have used to acquire my personal and financial details, that have allowed you to commit this offence against me.

Having never dealt with you before, I eventually found your website that explains the outrageous deceitful service you provide.

It explains how your membership works:
Your membership fee includes:[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]A 30 day trial to leading credit score product Credit Cleaner (usually £14.99)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Access to over 200 financial products - several of which are exclusive to Loans Direct.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Telephone support from our team of Money Advisers who will help you review your finances, work out where to save money and help you with an overall financial health check.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Exclusive savings and discount + much more[/FONT][FONT=&quot].[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It also clearly demonstrated to me that your company is either: dishonest, unethical, unprofessional or irresponsible.

By the time I had finished researching you, I decided you were all four of the above.

Points of Complaint1. Why can you not be contacted by telephone? I have tried 10 different numbers and there is never any answer, yet your website says:
If you would like to discuss your account then please contact your customer service team.
You can reach them on 0844 823 7960
We are open 8am - 8pm Monday - Friday and 9am - 5pm on Saturdays.

2. I did not authorise you to take money from my account and request an immediate refund.

3. You say this theft of £69.75 was for a membership for your services, yet I have never received any communication from you, nor have you supplied me with any membership information (this is probably the reason why I cannot log into your website).

4. If I was silly enough to actually sign up to your services, please provide proof that I did this, and that you have provided me with membership details; as described is the process on your website.


As I have never been contacted by you, I do not have a reference, or application number to give you, so I have provided my details below.

...........
...........
Contact: ........

Please ensure that you cancel whatever unauthorised membership you seem to think I have or ever would sign up for with immediate effect and refund my money.

Please note also, that I have already been in contact with the Financial Ombudsman, who were keen to take this matter up immediately.
They are currently in the process of establishing a case against you for this breech of authority, and a letter is on its way to you now, because they are aware of the practice you have of making customers with this type of complaint wait many weeks before responding to them.

lastly, please do not ask me to write into you registered office in order to get a refund (despite what it says in your terms and conditions).
You did not write to me to get my agreement to set up this bogus membership ( which are my terms and conditions), same rules apply.

I will look forward to a timely response in the form of a full refund with no deductions.

Regards
.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot].
Recieved this reply as follows (in less than 24hours)

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Hi ....... [/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Thanks for your email. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]I am sorry to hear about the situation you are currently in, I am confident that together, we will be able to identify how we have come to debit money from your account. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Customers who end up on our site will often find that, on or around the date the membership activated, they visited one of our partner’s websites. This lender was unable to assist them, so they are redirected to our membership site. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]We specialize in personal finance and help customers with all types of circumstances. We have a wide range of products and services available to find you the best possible financial solution. You will have total access for all of these services on line or through our call center. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]In order to verify your bank account and process the one off membership payment, we will request bank account and card details. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]We no longer operate a call centre, and are an online service. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Below is the information we have on the point of sign up: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Date:16/10/2014
Time: 23:52
Reason: HOLIDAY
IP address of device: ......[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Name: .....
Address: ......
Mobile Phone Number: .....
E-mail Address: ..... [/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Our Terms and Conditions can be found here:

We hope this provides more information on how and when your account was set up. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Finally as you are no longer wanting the services, I will happily issue you with a refund. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]I can confirm your £69.75 refund has been processed. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Please note that the funds can take between 1-7 working days to appear in your account. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]I hope this resolves your query, and you are satisfied with the outcome, [/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Kind Regards
Customer Services
Loans Direct UK[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Based on all the experiences I have read about on this forum, I did not expect to get a response like that (which is good), however, I will only be fully satisfied when my money is back in my bank account, and I will update this post when it is.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]I hope this is helpful for anyone finding themselves in a similar situation.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

Apples2

So did you or didn't you randomly throw your bank details into an online form on 16 October?

I wish people wouldn't occupy so much of the FOS time and resource without at least trying first.
The FOS should be helping people in real trouble, not the idle.

missprofit

Actually, I did not randomly do anything... I made a simple enquiry and entered my details to initiate an identity check, however, after reading the T&C I cancelled everything off and did not proceed.

Not sure what you mean with your last comment, but I do feel that a pensioner who is worried about her pension being access and used to fund unethical business practices, is someone in real trouble.

Apples2

A point of note worth remembering, those details are only ever used to pay for something. They are never used to prove identity and you should never provide them for such a reason.

From your previous post, you appeared to be suggesting they had guessed them.

My last point was that, as you have shown, you can do this yourself without resorting to the back up of the FOS, who provide a great deal of help to many.
In reality, all they have done is write your letter above on your behalf but in much less words.
The more people who go straight to the FOS, the slower their service is for everyone else who really do need them.

missprofit

Your comments have been noted, however, research has demonstrated that they do indeed like to keep customers waiting for a refund... so yes I could have written the letter myself, but sending that email with reference to FSO obviously initiated the desired result.

With regard to FSO I disagree with your comments because:
I did not ask them to write a letter, I simply made an enquiry about how to deal with the matter and the very nice advisor offered to write it stating that the letter would encourage them to take action, on threat of being fined a large sum of money.

In my opinion this matter has been dealt with quickly and efficiently, and the fact that it does not take FSO long to create a file and send a letter means that FSO will not need to take any further action once I confirm the outcome.

This then does free up time to deal with other people in 'real need'

SMAAD

Hmmm..... Hey all, first time on here... Read through alot of this and not sure if I got off lucky.

Got into the trap with this company BUT the account I used for the "I.D confirmation" didn't have £69.75 available in it, so when it said they will take it, I went and closed my card (the branch informed they attempted to take the money but it declined) meaning they haven't got the money and have no way of getting it. I have emailed to cancel services and am awaiting response...

Will... they try and send "legal" notice to collect what they couldn't or am I possibly off the hook?