How legal are catalogue charges?

Choccoholic

Hoping someone can help as I'm getting differing advice from everyone. I am being chased by a catalogue for a huge amount of money. I've been a customer since the 1980s but have hardly used it for years - in fact my last order from them was September 2014. It seems to be almost entirely made up of interest and charges.

So my question is can they enforce payment? I've been told that late-payment etc charges can't be enforced. I've also seen lots of comments about people claiming back this sort of charge.

I need to get back to them with a proposal but really don't know what to say.

daytona0

Well the interest portion would probably be reasonable, but you'd need to check the contract. After all, they've extended credit to you and not all instances of this are 'interest-free'.

With respect to the charges, again what does the contract say? I can imagine that they clearly outline charges. They would technically need to prove losses, but admin would cost a bit to sort out your mess so that's probably justified. EDIT: whilst not totally relevant, a 2009 ruling by the courts deemed that bank charges were fair so that may impact on you as well.

May I inquire as to why you feel that you are exempt from paying off the credit, the interest and the charges?

Choccoholic

Thank you for responding. I didn't say I was exempt from paying everything, and am working out a proposal. However, I don't think that charging hundreds of pounds worth of interest - actually interest & charges on interest on charges - is reasonable. I know these things can be disputed so I was just asking if anyone knew the score. With respect to a contract I've not had anything regarding that for years. When I originally set up my account in the 1980s it was all postal and no interest was charged at all!

wealdroam

Choccoholic wrote: »

When I originally set up my account in the 1980s it was all postal and no interest was charged at all!

Wow! Things were easy then. Didn't they have late payment charges either?

You are mistaken.
Even in the eighties the catalogue companies added on interest if you didn't make your regular payments.

Why have you allowed your account to get into such a state?

And to answer your original question - yes, late payment charges, interest, etc. are all perfectly legal

Care to tell us exactly which company you are talking about, then someone will be able to confirm that you have agreed to those charges in certain situations.

Choccoholic

Oh dear I seem to be taking a bit of a battering just for asking a question

Its Freemans.

They may have added interest for late payments back then, but they didn't add a monthly interest charge just for ordering. I do remember that much.

I didn't allow my account to get into a state. There have been multiple mistakes by Freemans that I've been trying to sort out for a while. You know how different people at the same company give you different answers according to the position of the moon, or so it seems...

I wondered if anyone else had similar previous experience.

Feral_Moon

Contact the Financial Ombudsman if you feel Freemans have made a mistake on your account and are refusing to correct it.

wealdroam

Choccoholic wrote: »

Its Freemans.

They may have added interest for late payments back then, but they didn't add a monthly interest charge just for ordering. I do remember that much.

I didn't allow my account to get into a state. There have been multiple mistakes by Freemans that I've been trying to sort out for a while. You know how different people at the same company give you different answers according to the position of the moon, or so it seems...

I wondered if anyone else had similar previous experience.

You still can run a Freemans account without paying any interest.
It really depend which account and and you must pay the specified amount each month (or week, as applicable).

You need to determine which account you have and from that understand why these payments have been added to your account.

When did these charges start to appear on your account?

Have you made all the payments that you are supposed to have made since your 2014 purchase?

Having said that the point remains - yes, these charges are perfectly legal.