Advice on a Loan and repayments - long

scw1

Sorry this is a bit of a ramble.

Basically in Jan 05 I took out a £5000 loan with Lloyds TSB with monthly repayments of £128.65

In Dec 05 I went on maternity leave and wasnt entitled to maternity pay as I hadnt been there long enough. I applied for maternity grant but this wasnt sorted until March 05 so in Jan 05 I wrote to them asking for a reduced repayment and explained my circumstances. They agreed on £15 per month to be reviewd in 6 months.

June 06 later it was reviewed and it went up to £30 per month

December 06 it went back to £128.65 (normal repayment amount) and have paid this ever since.

3/9/07 I had a letter saying they wanted to make the temporary arrangement permenant and I was to pay £121.65 per month. I agreed and sent back the new refinance agreement within the 14 days stipulated but there was a postal strike so they didnt get the documents in time. I rung to explain before the deadline and they said it was fine and that they would just send me a new agreement afterwards.

17/10/07 I recied a letter with the exact same agreement which I signed and returned. I also went to my local bank as they sent the direct debit account deatils of someone else so I wanted to check that this other person didnt have my details. My local branch rung collections who said it was fine and just send in the agreement. They didnt need the direct debit details so thats what I done that day around 20/10/07

Hadnt heard nothing until 19/3/08 when I had a phone call from collections asking if I was happy with the agreement and did I want to continue for another 6 months. I said yes. They then went on to say that I was £2,000 in arrears with the loan and I was over the overdraft on the loan by £5. When I enquired apparently when I was paying reduced monthly payments what was outstanding each month went into an overdraft account so in effect I have an overdraft and a loan to pay off and of the £128.65 I pay a month, £100 goes off the loan and £28.65 goes off the overdraft. He said to keep paying same amount each month and they would be in touch.

I went into the bank today and rung collections from there and apparently the refinance agreement they sent which I returned had not been activated and they tried to ring me on my mobile on 20th November but couldnt get an answer so left it - they didnt leave a message on the answerphone or write any letter or try again. So the first I hear from them was on 19th of this month. As far as I was concerned everything was as per the agreement. I have stuck to the £121.65 per month and never missed a payment. I have the paying in book to proof it. When I spoke to them today I was put through to Indian call centre and they werent very easy to understand thats all he said was to keep paying and they will be in touch but I am worried sick.

What do you advice/suggest?

I have never had a statement of whats outstanding or been paid, he did tell me today that the amount outstanding was £4652.78 so in effect in 3 years I have paid off £400!

I just dont know what to do. I am getting passed from pillar to post on the phone so am thinking of writing a letter and sending it recorded delivery so I have proof of delivery - what do you think?

Thanks for reading

Sam

Burlesque_Babe

Hi - I would say that recorded is definitely the way to go. Ask for a complete list of the payments they have received.

I'm not 100% sure, but if you have £4,600 odd left, then you have been paying all the interest off first (a front ended loan) and now you are starting to chip away at the actual balance.

Are you paying the same APR on the overdraft balance? Might be worth finding out in case they are charging you a higher fee of any kind.

RAS

I think a Subject Access request - which costs £10 and will get you all your statements re this account would be worth it so you can see what has gone on.

Then pen a stinker to their CEO along the lines of what you put in the message above and demand that they sort out your account and that they compensate you for the blunders and for the distress of finding that you are in more of a mess than you should be because of their incompetence. They will take it off what you owe, but it will reduce your indebtness.

And yes, send it all recorded delevery.

scw1

Thank you both. Will sort out a letter tonight and send it recorded delivery in the morning. Should I ask for a reply within 14 days or something - dont want it to drag on any longer than necessary.

Also re the subject access request what do I need to do for that?

Thank you

zx2011

You might want to remind them of section 14.2 of the Banking Code(March 2008):

"We will be sympathetic and positive when we consider any financial difficulties you may have."