Old Cahoot Flexi-Loan

demi60 · 9 April 2017 at 3:11PM

Hello everyone.

I'm finally getting round to paying off my Flexi-loan. I took out a Cahoot Flexi-loan in 2002 and was paying monthly until I was taken through a Family Law court case from February 2007.

First, my old flexi loan from Cahoot is in default with now Santander. I have not paid this loan for over 10 years. I stopped when I was taken to court and supplied Cahoot with evidence on what was going on and my ability to pay was severely affected by this court case. It has taken me 10 years to be free of legal debts and rent/council tax arrears.
The statements stopped for a couple of years and for the last 3 years I have been receiving statements from Santander but no request to pay. I’ve also had no debt collectors requests to pay this loan. Is this loan still enforceable?

1. After a long time who do I deal with at Santander? Should I make a request to try and get a full and final offer to settle? as I haven't found the original Credit agreement.
2. I've looked at my credit reports from Experian and Equifax. This debt is not on any report. Why? Is there another credit report agency I should look at? Thank you, your advice is appreciated.

sourcrates · 12 April 2017 at 12:09AM

Hi,

Limitations act 1980, have you not heard of it ?

After any period of 6 years with no payment or written acknowledgement by you, the debt will be statute barred, they know that, but are still obligated to send you statements.

Details here :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/time-limits-for-recovering-debts/statute-barred-debt.aspx

This means they cannot take legal action to recover the debt.

Biddyspence · 15 September 2017 at 1:17PM

Hi Everyone, wanted to ask the forum if they had any advice as I have been paying my loan since 2004. I attempted to write several times and explained the hike in interest rates.

However the letter received today 15/09/2017 says:

1. What I am complaining about is more than 6 years ago as the interest rates started in April 2004 at 9.93% and moved up to August 2008 when they settled at 20% and remain on the same rate since. They say I agreed to the rates but not sure I would agreed to constant rate changes.

2. That I am complaining more than 3 years after I realised or should have realised there was a problem.

3. As I raised no exceptional circumstances as to why I am late with this complaint then they wont accept it as they believe its outside of the time limits.

Not sure if its me, but if my account is still active should that make a difference legally? Not sure if its a way to avoid settling anything with me, but I am happy to agree I was slow off the mark but see no reason why my case is treated differently to others that have been successful. I still 13 years on owe £1.5k.

Any advise welcomed on what my next step should be as they suggest the Ombudsman.

sourcrates · 15 September 2017 at 1:22PM

Hi,

Unfortunately they are correct, they are just stating the FOS guidelines applicable to complaints of this nature.

The FOS would probably come to the same conclusion, you must complain within 3 years of realizing there was a problem, anything that happened longer than 6 years ago will be time barred.

BradBourbon · 22 February 2019 at 12:02PM

Hi, does it matter if I have not received any statments since the interest rate hike, I moved in 2004 or will they just say i didnt tell them of the change. They hiked it for no reason, I had not credit impairment, it seems they did it following the financial crisis to increase their coppers

[Deleted User] · 22 February 2019 at 12:04PM

If you didn't give them your address, it's not surprising you haven't been receiving statements.

BradBourbon · 22 February 2019 at 12:15PM

I believe I did...but,of course, they will say I didn't. Any further comment/idea/info?

Bermonia · 22 February 2019 at 3:08PM

The obligation to inform them of change of address is yours... you are unable to recall and as the address hasn’t been changed I am certain they will say they weren’t informed - the reality is given it was your obligation to change the onus is on you to ensure that any instruction you ‘may’ have made had been acted upon.

sourcrates · 22 February 2019 at 4:19PM

Bermonia wrote: »

The obligation to inform them of change of address is yours... you are unable to recall and as the address hasn’t been changed I am certain they will say they weren’t informed - the reality is given it was your obligation to change the onus is on you to ensure that any instruction you ‘may’ have made had been acted upon.

You are under no legal obligation whatsoever to inform anyone, of anything, in the united kingdom, the onus is actually on the creditor to make sure they keep accurate records, and they do this in a variety of ways, more types of payments are being included in credit records now.

It’s very difficult to live under the radar, and its now quite common for utility bills to be included as well, and to get any form of benefits, you are likely to need an account they can be paid into and it can be tricky to open any account without proof of identity and address.

Most people have mobile contracts or are paying for car insurance in monthly installments, a quick soft seach of an individuals credit file will pick up any new addess details, then there is social media, if you enter a competition, draw, anything, that information can be collected and sold on.

There are many ways to trace someone these days.

Old Cahoot Flexi-Loan

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