Help! Ikano Bank Debt Collection

Matt123456789

Hi,
Looking for help please.
In August 2015 myself and my wife took out an interest free finance agreement through Ikano Bank. The agreement was for 30 equal instalments commencing on 13th October 2015 and paid by direct debit.
It was at this time that we were moving house and we wrote to all our creditors (including Ikano) to inform them of this.
We didn't hear anything further from Ikano, but made all payments on time as required and for the correct amount so assumed everything to be fine. This I think is important so I will repeat - made all payments on time and for the correct amount.
Then in March 2018 having made the 30th and final payment we cancelled the direct debit as all paid up. Great - right? We then received a letter saying our direct debit had been cancelled, but we knew this and have received end of DD notices before. We heard nothing more until August 2018 when we received a letter from a collection agency for £144. We contacted the agency to query this and they were fair and reasonable, placing the account on hold while waiting for Ikano to respond. 3 weeks went by and no update. Contacted them again - still with Ikano.
So, because we were worried we contacted Ikano direct (nightmare getting through to anyone!). When we finally got through and gave our address they said that the address they had was our old address. They then confirmed all payments had been made against the original credit agreement BUT there were outstanding Admin charges on the account because an annual statement issued in September 2017 had been returned to sender. I said that if that was correct how did they write to us at our current address to tell me the DD had been cancelled? Said they didn't know but I must pay!
Having checked T's & C's it does say they can charge a reasonable fee if they have to initiate trace proceedings.
Anyway, point being we didn't default on the agreement ever and had they needed to make such a charge to trace us, then surely they should have written to us at the correct address to tell us this and give us chance to remedy before forwarding to collection agent? They did have my correct telephone number and email address.
They have also recorded a default record on our credit report.
I am in the process of writing to them and will take it as far as I need to to rectify this injustice.
Any help greatly appreciated?

jonesMUFCforever

Check to make sure (by checking when the first payment was taken from your bank account) how many payments were made.
Check your original paperwork to see if there were any extra admin charges to be paid at the end.

Matt123456789

Thanks. Done that and all payments were made. They have also confirmed this. No exit fees. The charge is purely because they say I didn't tell them I had moved house. No late payments, defaults or anything.

glennstar

Is £144 a lot of money to you? If it isn't then I would pay it, draw a line under the situation and recommend to every sole you ever meet not to use Ikano. They are obviously clowns and completely incompetent... so unless you have plenty of time on your hands then pay the money and let it go.

I appreciate this sticks in the throat somewhat but the situation can potentially get much worse before it gets better, making even more work for you. You need to get them to remove the default from your credit profile, they may well stick another and another on there before they are done. You may well spend plenty of time on the phone with the collection agency too and run the risk that all this time one or other or both parties are attempting to rack up even more admin charges - which again, you will need to go to battle over.

I don't think it's acceptable for companies (and it's not only companies, I've had exactly this sort of address mixup issue with HRMC before now) to behave like this, allowing their administrative incompetence to cost you money, however, it's often less expensive (time and money) and less stressful to write it off.

P.S. Don't use HMRC is you can avoid it - they are incompetent nitwits.

jaybeetoo

I know it doesn’t help you but I always wait for the “your account is now clear” letter before I cancel a direct debit.

Willing2Learn

Hi,

If it were me, I would probably make a SAR, to see whether the letter I had written to confirm my house move, had been received by the bank.

I would wait to see whether anyone else think this is the correct action though, as I am not sure...

Matt123456789

Thank you Willing2Learn, I was considering this together with copies of any letters they have issued. I'm not even sure they have acted legally to be honest and if I don't get a favourable response will go to the FSO.

pursuitofmoney

It's always better to wait at least 2 months before cancelling a direct debit. Anyway hope this gets sorted out soon for you.

DCFC79

I was once a customer of Ikano, didn't cancel the DD as the DD had reached it limit, maybe Id received a letter mentioning no more would be taken I cant be sure.

TrickyDicky101

Have you made a complaint to Ikano? Request their final response or a deadlock letter and make clear you will be passing it to the FOS. They are likely to write off their admin charge.

Penelopa.Pitstop

Ikano sends statements and final letter when loan is repaid. Cancelling direct debit before you receive final letter, it's not the best way to go.