GE Money fees. Can I reclaim?

Kerryatter

Once upon a time, in a land of disposable income and job security (5 years ago), we took out a secured loan for £12k with GE Money. About a year after taking the loan out, our business fell apart and we had some bad times financially, which resulted in missed payments and direct debit failures. We kept in contact with them, to keep them informed and eventually, after some very hard work and scrimping, we got back on track with them, paid off the arrears and we are due to finish the loan at the end of october :j Yesterday my hubby phoned to confirm when the last payment would be taken, only to be told that at the end of the loan, we would still have £1,170 outstanding for fees and interest :eek: They explained that these were for all the failed direct debits, legal fees (we never got to a situation where they took legal action, so why the fees???) and interest on the missed payments and they are sending us a breakdown of these costs. I'm absolutely outraged that this is so high - £25 per failed dd + interest!! Surely this is disproportionate to the costs that they actually incurr with a dd failure? I'm prepared to accept that we will have to pay something, as we got ourselves into a mess, but there's no way that I'm paying over a grand without a fight. We had to put other financial obligations on a back burner to ensure that this secured loan was paid and now that it's coming to an end we were intending to use that money to start paying off other debts. We have 2 small children and struggle to make ends meet.

Can somebody please tell me if I can fight this situation with GE and how to go about it, please?

dunstonh

Surely this is disproportionate to the costs that they actually incurr with a dd failure?

If you believe that then complain. However, there has only been limited success on this front as most lenders have been successful in showing their charges are justifiable to the FSA and FOS.

Can somebody please tell me if I can fight this situation with GE and how to go about it, please?

There is not a lot you can do. You can complain and put your argument to them and they can decide if you have a case or not. You can refer it to the FOS if you disagree with their response. You may get lucky and get a small reduction but given the limited success that many see on this front, dont bank on it. There are successes in getting a reduction. Just not high volumes.