Fees and Other Charges - Paragon Finance
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Hi,
Around 15 years ago, I took out an interest free deal with DFS for some furniture, loaned by Paragon Finance, for £1800. Shortly afterwards, a few direct debits bounced and I defaulted on the loan - I was not in a good place mentally and buried my head in the sand as so many people in this situation do.
I have been paying an amount of £5 per month for a long time now, as that is all I can afford currently. A couple of years ago, I made a complaint to the FSA as I believed paragon were not being fair with their charges. When Paragon sent me a full list of my payments, along with fees, reclaimed direct debits, etc., I calculated that I had actually paid them in excess of £2200 at that point in time in cleared payments - around £400 more than I had borrowed in the first place!
I appreciate that there ere fees, etc., on this and accepted some of them. My main issue is that, despite paying over £2200 at that point in time, they claimed I still owed them over £1500! I queried this and wrote to the FSA and Paragon removed (if I recall correctly) £270 of fees as a "goodwill gesture".
I received a statement in early April 2018 showing my payments of £5 per month, and underneath that, a "FEES AND OTHER CHARGES NOT PAID" of £70! Therefore, I had paid them £60 over the last year, consistently, and they had added £70 onto my account! I have emailed them with this information and am awaiting a response, although I have suggested that I would be better off not paying anything if I am going to throw good money after bad and end up £10 worse off every year than I was a year ago! The suggestion was made tongue-in-cheek to show the pointlessness of their charges.
Furthermore, they claim I STILL owe them over £1300!!!! In the past I have offered them "full and final settlement payments" for amounts I actually considered were far in excess of what I should rightly and fairly be paying them - the highest of those being £400. They have declined them all.
I believe they are acting unfairly in this matter and guilty of "sharp practice" and wonder if anyone has any advice on where I can go next?
Thanks in advance.
Around 15 years ago, I took out an interest free deal with DFS for some furniture, loaned by Paragon Finance, for £1800. Shortly afterwards, a few direct debits bounced and I defaulted on the loan - I was not in a good place mentally and buried my head in the sand as so many people in this situation do.
I have been paying an amount of £5 per month for a long time now, as that is all I can afford currently. A couple of years ago, I made a complaint to the FSA as I believed paragon were not being fair with their charges. When Paragon sent me a full list of my payments, along with fees, reclaimed direct debits, etc., I calculated that I had actually paid them in excess of £2200 at that point in time in cleared payments - around £400 more than I had borrowed in the first place!
I appreciate that there ere fees, etc., on this and accepted some of them. My main issue is that, despite paying over £2200 at that point in time, they claimed I still owed them over £1500! I queried this and wrote to the FSA and Paragon removed (if I recall correctly) £270 of fees as a "goodwill gesture".
I received a statement in early April 2018 showing my payments of £5 per month, and underneath that, a "FEES AND OTHER CHARGES NOT PAID" of £70! Therefore, I had paid them £60 over the last year, consistently, and they had added £70 onto my account! I have emailed them with this information and am awaiting a response, although I have suggested that I would be better off not paying anything if I am going to throw good money after bad and end up £10 worse off every year than I was a year ago! The suggestion was made tongue-in-cheek to show the pointlessness of their charges.
Furthermore, they claim I STILL owe them over £1300!!!! In the past I have offered them "full and final settlement payments" for amounts I actually considered were far in excess of what I should rightly and fairly be paying them - the highest of those being £400. They have declined them all.
I believe they are acting unfairly in this matter and guilty of "sharp practice" and wonder if anyone has any advice on where I can go next?
Thanks in advance.
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Comments
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Once you have exhausted their complaints procedure , you could go toOFOS.
But will need a more coherent argument than 'sharp practice', which generally means 'in line with their terms and conditions'.
Detail where their charges are incorrect to support your case.0 -
You would of been better off paying them nothing, then in 6 years the debt would no longer be enforceable. They have been charging you as per their terms and conditions that you signed up to and have given a "goodwill gesture" and removed some of them. Try and increase the F&F offer and see where that gets you.
Unfortunately the token payments you have been making were not cutting into the actual loan amount, merely servicing the charges. You could try upping your monthly payments to £10, at least you can get ahead of the charges and fees moving forward.0 -
You could try talking with one of the free debt charities like Step Change who may be able to negotiate on your behalf to stop any more fees being charged but I think you would need to look at increasing your monthly payment so the debt can be cleared.
https://www.stepchange.org/"We act as though comfort and luxury are the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about” – Albert Einstein0
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