First Direct Refund

peteuk · 5 March 2018 at 4:05PM

I received a letter from First Direct, apologising for a mistake they made with a loan statement, which was found didn't include the right information.

The amount is small, but it relates to a repayment Service agreement from 2009-2011. The account was closed as payed in 2011.

The payment is a refund of interest from the point of error to closure of account, but can I include a request for interest from then till now?

marcarm · 5 March 2018 at 4:43PM

You didnt pay interest from closure of account until now, so why would you be able to claim it?

Or have I misunderstood your question?

PeacefulWaters · 5 March 2018 at 4:55PM

They'll probably include 8% interest.

peteuk · 5 March 2018 at 4:57PM

marcarm wrote: »

You didnt pay interest from closure of account until now, so why would you be able to claim it?

Or have I misunderstood your question?

Its a refund of interest paid, so had they have had a lump sum of my money which they wrongly charged me, so that could have been in my account...

Is this not the same as charging PPI.

Nearlyold · 5 March 2018 at 6:52PM

Just to clarify it's not a refund of interest wrongly charged, you will have paid exactly the interest you agreed to pay when you borrowed the money. There will have been some technical regulatory information missing from the statements (typically not informing you that if you wished you could settle the loan early or make partial repayments) and because of this they are unable to charge you interest for the period the annual statements had missing information.

peteuk · 6 March 2018 at 1:34PM

Nearlyold wrote: »

and because of this they are unable to charge you interest for the period the annual statements had missing information.

So therefore they are refunding me the interest paid for that period because had I been aware I could have paid it off quicker!

So I can charge them 8% interest from the point of error.

System · 6 March 2018 at 2:18PM

Wow there's always some people who are never happy and satisfied with free money without wanting more aren't there? Once again seeing as you didn't get it the first two times, THEY ARE NOT REFUNDING YOU ANY INTEREST FOR THAT PERIOD. They are giving you a form of compensation for a minor mistake in the paperwork.

And no it isn't the same as PPI.

peteuk · 6 March 2018 at 3:15PM

Tarambor wrote: »

Wow there's always some people who are never happy and satisfied with free money without wanting more aren't there? Once again seeing as you didn't get it the first two times, THEY ARE NOT REFUNDING YOU ANY INTEREST FOR THAT PERIOD. They are giving you a form of compensation for a minor mistake in the paperwork.

And no it isn't the same as PPI.

I realise this is not PPI, but as someone has suggested that they would have already applied interest at 8%, which I have corrected as the Bank have stated it is up till the loan was paid off.

I have raised a complaint about this as the letter they have sent is not clear and does not fully explain the details, its an offer of money but with no back up. So I am firstly suspicious as we know they will offer the lowest to get away with it.

When I asked questions of them they suggested that I was one of a handful who ever questioned it...so yes why should the banks get away with making a mistake and getting away with it!

I have also raised a complaint about how they dealt with me but thats another story...

So yes I want the bank to provide me with the full information so that I can work out how they have come to the decision. All I have asked is can I ask for interest from 2011 to current. Which I believe is a reasonable question, some would say yes and some would say no.

The comparison to PPI was it was wrongly applied to the account, but by refunding a period of interest (their words not mine) they are admitting a mistake.

Nearlyold · 6 March 2018 at 5:03PM

So I am firstly suspicious as we know they will offer the lowest to get away with it.

No - they will pay you the amount the regulations require them to, no more and no less (mistakes excepted). If they wanted to get away with the lowest amount I would have thought they would not have written to you at all.

The regulations do not require them to pay you 8% interest on top of the loan interest refund

meer53 · 6 March 2018 at 5:31PM

Good luck with calculating the refund yourself. Ask them for the formula they used, i hope you have a degree in advanced mathematics.

peteuk · 20 March 2018 at 2:51AM

meer53 wrote: »

Good luck with calculating the refund yourself. Ask them for the formula they used, i hope you have a degree in advanced mathematics.

I received another letter today with a better explanation of the situation (with dates) so they have refunded the whole of the interest charged for the period of April 10 to Oct 11. This is due to the fact that the statement sent at the 12 month mark was incorrectly worded.

Although I am content with the information, it was a struggle to get the basics from them. A promised call back that didn't occur (as they said I would not be able to pass security as the account was closed) in the end a call back from customer services - who talked in general terms about the issue (cause he couldn't take me through security) then after 20 minutes chatting I asked if he would take me through security on the account which he did and then preceded to tell me more info about the account, how it was run ect.

This was during a hectic period of live, so my memory of a lot of this is somewhat jaded.

Hay Life Happens!

First Direct Refund

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