WHAT CAN I DO?

julie_rogers_3

I thought a loan I had had for seven (yes seven!!) years had finished in September so I cancelled my d.d to them. They had since wirtten saying a. the loan doesnt finish til next year and b. I have to pay loads of cash in late/missed payment fees. I asked for a copy of my original loan agreement and terms/conditions. They have provided me with a really ropey copy of the agreement,which I can hardly read because it is so dark, but no copy of the terms and conditions. The company have changed names three times since I took the loan out and I am in a bit of a quandry (?) as to what to do next. Should I pay or wait until they take me to County Court? I definately dont want a CCJ against my name. HELP PLEASE!!!

Debt_Free_Chick

Write to them and and ask for a copy of the agreement under section 77-78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. You need to send a fee of £1.00 with the letter. If the loan company does not send you a copy of your agreement within 12 working days, they are not allowed to take further action against you until they send you the agreement.

Mention that the documents they have already sent to you seem incomplete and that what you have is illegible.

Just put these points in the letter - be succint & polite and wait to see what they send.

Post back if you have any questions.

Regards

vansboy

OOOPPS!!

& in you're letter, do explain your reason for not paying them - that you thought it had finished & you will, of course, make your account up to date, as soon as they can verify it for you.

Assuming you've been a regular payer, 'till now, ask that they cancel any additional fees/charges, as this was a genuine mistake.

Hopefully you'll find that you were right & not them!!

Fingers crossed!!

VB

MarkyMarkD

I thought a loan I had had for seven (yes seven!!) years had finished in September so I cancelled my d.d to them.

There's a bit of a lesson here. There's no benefit at all cancelling DDs just on the offchance that your payments may have finished. Better to wait for a couple of months, and then cancel it when you are sure everything's settled to avoid this sort of mess.

At the end of the day, the chance of an organisation taking payments after the end of the agreement, just on a whim, are very small.

scheming_gypsy

you shouldn't have to cancel the DD, when the loan is taken out the DD is from start date to end date. So after the last payment is made there'll be no more taken out.

Spendless

It's not one of those high interest loans is it? My friend had one and if she was ever late with payment they added interest on interest and she ended up paying for several years after she thought the loan had finished.

If memory serves me correct she ended up paying back about £10,000 the loan had been for £3,000!!

The company also kept changing name etc. I think it is one of these sort of companies that has made the news this week when a judge wrote off an enormous amount of debt for someone in similar position.

There is a thread about it somesher on this board.

I would suggest getting some advice from somewhere like CAB once you have your documents.

Good Luck

MarkyMarkD

you shouldn't have to cancel the DD, when the loan is taken out the DD is from start date to end date.  So after the last payment is made there'll be no more taken out.

That was true when it was SO rather than DD. But 99.9% of DDs are for any amount and any period - they aren't end dated and they don't restrict how much they can take.

Reaper

However DDs do have the DD guarentee - if a company takes money out that it should not have your bank (not the company) will make sure you get a refund. So it should be safe to leave a DD open for a while after the agreement has finished.

King_David_2

I have just settled two loans, one with Lloyds TSB and the other with Alliance and Leicester, and have immediately deleted the direct debits.

I did this because I am certain the loan is now settled, and do not want a task of getting them to give me back any overpayment they might just take in error.

They are entitled to charge you if you haven't fully settled the loan. It sounds from your post that the company you borrowed from is what I call 'ropey'.

How come you haven't got the terms and conditions from when the loan started?

I don't mean to sound harsh but you can't complain about charges if you just cancelled a direct debit because you happened to think you'd completed the payments. If the lender is reputable they would more than likely write to you once the agreement was over.

MarkyMarkD

@Reaper - yes indeed. So there's no point cancelling DDs at all, really.

@Bounce - agreed that there's no point guessing when the agreement is settled and cancelling the DD - but see above anyway.

I tend to cancel my old DDs a few months after I know they are no longer required - but I've never, ever had a DD payment taken without authority or had to exercise the DD guarantee.

julie_rogers_3

I am particularly daft...I borrowed seven grand and will have paid back twenty what with payment protection and the like.....my fault really but I will know better next time (if there ever is one)