no payments taken

Harrysplan

Hi .

I posted about this last month but need some further advice - 

I have a credit account with a Peer to peer lender called Elfin Market with an outstanding balance of about £1500. 4 months ago they just stopped taking payments. My account was fully up to date at that point. I have had no correspondence or communication from them whatsoever - no notification of missed payments, emails etc - absolutely nothing. 

My concern is that if I just let this continue, they may suddenly ask me for all of the missed payments in one go. Would they be allowed to do this if they haven't contacted me at all to tell me that the payments haven't been made? I am sure that thereare FCA regulations that they have to abide by for missed payments/arrears etc.

 I am tempted to put the payments into another account and just see what happens! As I said, I haven't deliberately not paid - they have simply just stopped taking payments

What should I do and will they suddenly want it all back??

flaneurs_lobster

Unless you are thinking of trying to avoid repayment (and it doesn't sound like you are) then I think you should be proactive and contact Elfin. They might want the outstanding amount paid in one go but since it's their error there should be a way to catch up in tranches.

At some point in the future they will try to collect your arrears so it's probably better sooner than later.

Harrysplan

flaneurs_lobster said:

Unless you are thinking of trying to avoid repayment (and it doesn't sound like you are) then I think you should be proactive and contact Elfin. They might want the outstanding amount paid in one go but since it's their error there should be a way to catch up in tranches.

At some point in the future they will try to collect your arrears so it's probably better sooner than later.

Where would I stand in terms of them not complying with FCA by not sending notice of arrears etc?

flaneurs_lobster

Harrysplan said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Unless you are thinking of trying to avoid repayment (and it doesn't sound like you are) then I think you should be proactive and contact Elfin. They might want the outstanding amount paid in one go but since it's their error there should be a way to catch up in tranches.

At some point in the future they will try to collect your arrears so it's probably better sooner than later.

Where would I stand in terms of them not complying with FCA by not sending notice of arrears etc?

You may be aware of some FCA rules or regulations concerning arrears on loans that I'm not. Can you quote them?

You've got a debt with Elfin. You've agreed to repay it at £x per month. You've broken that agreement.

Even though the mechanism to collect payment is controlled by Elfin, it's your responsibility to inform them if payment not taken and to find another way to make payment. You haven't done this for 4 months. Why?

Harrysplan

flaneurs_lobster said:

Harrysplan said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Unless you are thinking of trying to avoid repayment (and it doesn't sound like you are) then I think you should be proactive and contact Elfin. They might want the outstanding amount paid in one go but since it's their error there should be a way to catch up in tranches.

At some point in the future they will try to collect your arrears so it's probably better sooner than later.

Where would I stand in terms of them not complying with FCA by not sending notice of arrears etc?

You may be aware of some FCA rules or regulations concerning arrears on loans that I'm not. Can you quote them?

You've got a debt with Elfin. You've agreed to repay it at £x per month. You've broken that agreement.

Even though the mechanism to collect payment is controlled by Elfin, it's your responsibility to inform them if payment not taken and to find another way to make payment. You haven't done this for 4 months. Why?

Hi, 

Well normally if a payment is missed a lender will send out a notice of default sums and a NOSIA - notice of sums in arrears. When multiple payments have been missed then you will normally receive a notice of default which essentially gives you a short period of time to make up the arrears before a default is logged on your credit file. 

The monthly payment is about £100 so whilst not insignificant, It was easy for me to miss it not going out. I accept that I should have noticed this however the company do have a responsibility for this too

flaneurs_lobster

I'm still not sure which parts of your original questions haven't been answered.

"What should I do and will they suddenly want it all back??"

You should pay off the arrears. If you can't pay off the £400 in one go then contact the lender and ask to pay it off in chunks with your regular repayment.

If you don't contact them there's a good chance they'll send you that stuff you seem to be expecting and give you little time to repay the arrears in one go. 

Are you expecting some other outcome? Don't think there's any scenario that doesn't involve you repaying the outstanding loan. Are you looking for an apology? Compensation? 

Are you sure the payment glitch wasn't a problem at your bank?

EDIT : Just noticed your posting history, you are clearly far more knowledgeable and experienced in matters of debt management than I. 

And why are you asking this question for a second time?

Please ignore my rather poor attempts to teach egg-sucking.
 

EssexHebridean

I would also suggest that you build in an hour or so once a month to check through your banking and ensure that everything else is in order - this could easily be a scenario where a missed payment would then become an AP marker - which will damage your credit file, which I presume you wouldn’t want, yet it could easily have been avoided by that budget and banking check.

As for the missed payments now, pay the outstanding sum (you mention moving the money to another account so presumably it’s there and waiting) and contact them to find out what has gone on with the direct debit or recurring payment, and get things straightened out. 

Harrysplan

flaneurs_lobster said:

I'm still not sure which parts of your original questions haven't been answered.

"What should I do and will they suddenly want it all back??"

You should pay off the arrears. If you can't pay off the £400 in one go then contact the lender and ask to pay it off in chunks with your regular repayment.

If you don't contact them there's a good chance they'll send you that stuff you seem to be expecting and give you little time to repay the arrears in one go. 

Are you expecting some other outcome? Don't think there's any scenario that doesn't involve you repaying the outstanding loan. Are you looking for an apology? Compensation? 

Are you sure the payment glitch wasn't a problem at your bank?

I have already emailed them - I am waiting for a response although they have acknowledged my email. I am certainly not trying to get out of paying, however I don't think it would be fair if I was to receive late payment markers on my credit file etc. 

I have to say, I have found your replies to be a little spiky - why is that??

Harrysplan

EssexHebridean said:

I would also suggest that you build in an hour or so once a month to check through your banking and ensure that everything else is in order - this could easily be a scenario where a missed payment would then become an AP marker - which will damage your credit file, which I presume you wouldn’t want, yet it could easily have been avoided by that budget and banking check.

As for the missed payments now, pay the outstanding sum (you mention moving the money to another account so presumably it’s there and waiting) and contact them to find out what has gone on with the direct debit or recurring payment, and get things straightened out. 

Hi Essex, 

Yes that's good advice. 

Do you think they would be on dodgy ground logging late payment markers etc?

ManyWays

Well normally if a payment is missed a lender will send out a notice of default sums and a NOSIA - notice of sums in arrears. When multiple payments have been missed then you will normally receive a notice of default which essentially gives you a short period of time to make up the arrears before a default is logged on your credit file. 
If a NOSIA hasnt been sent, interest should be stopped. As you have emailed them, remind them that they have failed to send a NOSIA so they cant charge you any interest until that Consumer Credit Act breach is remedied. Ask for a statement of the account showing that interest is currently stopped.

Do you think they would be on dodgy ground logging late payment markers etc?
They have failed to take money when you had an active direct debit (or continuous payment authority) set up and failed to send you any communications about this. They should NOT add any problem payment markers to your credit record, so ask for them to be removed if they do.

sourcrates

You may find that peer to peer lending, although regulated by the FCA, is not covered by the majority of the consumer credit act, instead it falls within the scope of  "The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000", although their website states this:

"The Loans offered as part of the Elfin Loan pool are subject to the Consumer Credit Act 1974, however we ensure that the terms of the peer-to-peer Loans mirror the requirements of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 so that you do not suffer any detriment as a result of your allocation to one pool or another".

So it would depend on what your agreement actually says with regard to how this may be reported or how and if any actions are taken.

Clearly some kind of error has been made here, you should not wait on a reply to an email, get on the phone to them first thing in the morning and get this resolved.