hitachi capital loan (via bathstore)

judyb123

Yes, that Hitachi wording is no where on my contract. I don't think I'm clutching at straws, as someone who hasn't ever taken out a loan of this kind before, I assumed that it would do as it says on the contract. For them to send me an email two months after signing and not check to see it had actually been read, with information as important as pilling on interest from date of signing is just not right.

If it had clearly stated this on the contract then, yes, I would be liable. But the 3 page contract I signed just said there was an interest free period and after that time there would be interest accruing on a monthly basis. When I found out I had gone over the interest free period I expected to pay one months interest as per my contract.

The information they provided in the email was too important for them to not provide a click through to show it had been read and confirmed by the policy holder.

They have told me I was on a product called their: 12 month Countdown Interest Bearing agreement.

They have since told me: If the amount of credit is not repaid during the first 12 months of the agreement, interest is then applied to the account from the date of the agreement. Monthly repayments would then commence.

But this information is not anywhere on the contract. In my personal life, if I deal with a client and ask them to sign a contract that is legally binding, if I want to change any clause on the contract or renew I would need to get the permission of the person who initially signed. I'm afraid, sending an email that will probably be thrown into the spam filter does not constitute having the person agree - they would need to sign or accept via a click through link. The email in question has since been sent to me in part and is nowhere in my webmail system.

Financial Ombudsman says I have a very good case. Anyway, its in their hands now, I'll update on how far I get with this. Either way, i would hate for anyone else to fall into this trap.

Shakin_Steve

I do hope the ombudsman rules in your favour, it would be a great result. If your complaint is successful, I'd have to wonder why nobody has questioned this before.

andyuk01

I used to work in a major K&B retailer that operated this type of agreement with Hitachi

As most people have pointed out these types of agreement aren't interest free as such, they are referred to as interest opt out or deferred interest bearing credit

Effectively you are signing up for a 48 months (generally the term) interest bearing credit agreement, if you settle the outstanding balance within the initial period (anything from 3-12 months) no interest is charged, however it does accrue from day 1 and if you don't settle up you move onto monthly payments for the remaining term

As such interest isn't backdated which is why you can't find anything in the T&Cs, the loan terms and APR will be though, along with the period in which this interest would be deferred for

There are literally thousands of people signing up for these style of agreements each week and i wouldn't expect anything from the FO

There are 2 areas you may wish to explore though

The credit starts when the majority of the goods are delivered, if you had order changes or amendments it is possible this start date should be later. This is relatively common and the retailer informs Hitachi when the goods are delivered but there is a degree of subjectively around what constitutes the 'majority'

Secondly these types of agreement cannot be advertised to referred to as 'interest free' if you have any documents, evidence from store or pics of POS (stores often make their own) then Hitachi will immediately class this as a mis-sale and cancel the finance, you then just pay the original balance to the retailer

judyb123

This is really interesting thank you. I do feel the agreement should make it clear that interest is backdated. And you're right in saying this should not be called an interest free period. I'm lucky that I could afford to pay their £800 'backdated interest' charge along with paying off the actual loan - but its a lot of money and I can see how people can get into real trouble with this. I think if the FO don't do anything I will try to take this further myself.

Also, its an interesting point with the date of delivery and the changes to the order. Bathstore messed my order up so badly that I ended up having to email the director of Bathstore who sent me a speedy reply and managed to sort our problems out and refund me the money they owed. The delivery came in three parts and took in total 2 months from the date I signed the agreement.

Also, I can see the credit offer on Bathstore's current website: This is what they say in a nutshell:

4. More information about each of the options:
Buy Now Pay Later is the flexible option - you can pay nothing with payments deferred for 12 months when you spend £1000 or more. Payments begin at the end of the deferred period but you can pay what you want when you want. As long as the full balance is paid before the end of the first 12 months, you'll avoid paying any interest. If not, you have the rest of the 48 months to clear the balance. A great option for those unexpected situations!

It does not say that interest payments will be backdated, it simply says after the initial interest free period ends you will begin paying interest. Surely to the untrained eye this tells you that interest will begin accruing on a monthly basis from the end of the interest free period..