Be wary of claims companies - remember why they are soliciting you for their services.... for you to pay them a fee! The real question is, what are you unhappy about with your current or previous mortgage? If you feel something was done inappropriately, take the matter up with the company directly. From my experience, claims management companies are often sales companies who have limited knowledge of regulatory rules and processes. If you have a genuine grievance, there are plenty of people on CAG who can tell you what's not right and how to fix it.

Just had a look at Southern Electric for their electricity and gas. From my calculations, based on 1,257 kWh for gas, 1,050 (day) kWh and 291 kWh (night) usage per quarter, Southern Electric will be cheapest for electric and Ebico will be cheapest for gas. Ebico has only one price plan for gas and for Southern Electric I'm quoting their Economy 7 Standard Energy Online (no standing charge) plan. Costs for Gas are: Southern Electric - £53.61 Ebico - £47.39 E.on - £82.08.....!!!!!!!!!! Costs for electric are: Southern Electric - £180.42 Ebico - £198.29 E.on - £341.36....!!!!!!!!! (all including VAT at 5%) E.on is (was!!) my current provider and that was their dual fuel online tariff and I can't see any cheaper ones that they have. They charge 34.146p for the first 900 kWh of electricity! Then 13.482 kWh thereafter. Compare that to Southern Electric with 19.13p for the first 225 kWh and 14.49p thereafter! I would encourage everyone to look at the prices they are currently paying, especially when budgets are being squeezed as much as they are today. I'm still fuming at how much of a rip off E.on is!!! :evil:

I like their site - plain, simple, no jargon, easy to understand AND to find out their prices. No complicated price plans either. One thing I don't get is why they are not for profit. What's in it for them? By comparing my last quarterly bill from E.on, the gas is cheaper by £12.04 and the electric is cheaper by £23.75 (including VAT). My bill was for a quarter so assuming my usage was static over a year, I'd save £143.16! Result! Thanks madasamuppet I will likely change to Ebico in the coming days after checking as much of the market as I can. However, the mysterious people who control the wholesale energy markets still keep the prices exorbitantly high....

Hi All I'm currently with Eon and have their Online Dual Fuel product (monthly DD). I'm trying to find the cheapest provider by direct price comparison (cost per kWh.). I'm aware of uSwitch, Moneysupermarket, Confused.com et al, but is there any independent site that just lists the prices rather than asking me about my usage etc? My current prices are: Electric Day: 34.146p per unit up to 900kWh, 13.482p there after. Night: 4.9245 per kWh Gas 6.52995p up to 2680 kWh 3.5574 kWh there after. I simply want to compare like for like and make an informed choice. I don't need someone to calculate my "expected savings". I just want to know the price per unit. My monthly direct debit was £50, then was upped to £66 and now has jumped to £94. Quite frankly, I think all the energy suppliers are taking the public for a ride with the full consent of Ofgem. I remember some energy industry spokesman stating on the radio that the main driver of price increases in the wholesale gas/electric markets was due to the high price of crude oil. Now that oil is a third of the price it was in the summer, our gas and electricity prices haven't reduced one bit. Yes, the dollar has increased in value against the pound (making importing gas & electric more expensive), but why hasn't the huge reduction in oil had a knock on effect for gas and electric? Or were the energy companies colluding to use this excuse to raise prices and keep them high? Is it just me, or is there a cartel in operation here which the regulators and authorities are turning a blind eye to? I don't mind admitting that my political views are on the right hand side (free market economics), but I think it's time the utilities were nationalised! Yes, they were inefficient under government control, but we weren't paying for the bubbly at the shareholders annual meetings either!!

Hi blfamily It's been a while since I left HFC now - when did you sign your agreement? It is my understanding that you wife would have to be a registered proprietor (as detailed on the title deeds at HM Land Registry) of the subject property in order to be a party to further secured loans secured against it. If the mortgage is your name only, only you should be on the legal agreement of such further borrowing. I'm not a legal expert on contractual law, so I'd suggest getting that confirmed by someone who is. There are a lot of people on this forum with that kind of knowledge! As for you not knowing it was a secured loan, there should have been a KFI document (Key Features Illustration) or Pre-Contract Information which should detail what type the loan is. It *should* have been very clear to you what the loan was all about before you signed it. Currently, secured loans or 2nd charges are regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 2006 and are not regulated by the FSA. However, you can still complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service about this and the way in which you were sold your loan. You must complain to the firm first before the FOS will investigate. I'd also suggest creating your own thread so we don't hijack Gordon's, and you can keep us updated with your progress on there.

Hi flopper Don't rely on them having forgotten about the debt - they are most likely swamped and are chasing the bigger balance customers first. They will eventually get around to you, or sell the debt on to a debt collection agency to chase on your behalf. Personally, I'd pursue the matter until you get what you want. You may or may not be aware that HFC was fined over £1m for it's failures in selling PPI... BBC NEWS | Business | HFC Bank fined £1m over insurance

As yes, but Eire is in the EU and is deemed to have adequate data protections laws. Australia is outside the EU and is not deemed to have adequate protection, as far as I am aware. So I still don't see how Experian would be allowed to share data held about a UK data subject with an Australian bank searching the same subject's credit file if he/she moved to Australia and applied for credit. Or am I missing something here?

True, but would Experian Pty (Australia) have the authority to divulge a subject's data to other companies that are not subject to UK law or regulation? The jurisdiction of the DPA only applies to the UK - it does not apply in Australia. So while Experian Pty can access and look at the data, I don't see how they can pass it on or use it in such a way that it can be passed on to companies not subject to the DPA. Is this not the case?

Hang on a minute - doesn't the Data Protection Act prevent the transmission of data to countries with inadequate data protection laws (i.e outside the EEA)? I know we have UK companies outsourcing to "allegedly" data-secure Indian call centres, but a credit reference agency would be sharing the data and that has got to be a breach?

Just FYI - DLRS Ltd is HFC's in house debt collection agency. The PO Box number goes to their collections centre in Edmund Street, Birmingham.

LOL :grin:

Hi Gordon I used to work for HFC some time ago, so I know how some of their systems and policies etc work. Thankfully, I saw the light and got out of there - it was a terrible place to work. It's a sales company not a real bank. From what I can see in the two letters in your first post, it looks like they have used your gross balance in the first letter (i.e. your total sum payable between that date and the end of the loan) and the closing balance (or settlement amount) in the 2nd letter which is the amount required to settle the loan on that day. I am guessing here, but it's an educated guess. Presumably you have these letters are you weren't paying your loan as per the contract. If you have a dispute regarding the contract, then there are proper procedures under the Consumer Credit Act which HFC must follow in order for the debt to be enforceable. If they have breached these, you may have a case (you'd need a legal expert to advise on that). If you are trying to avoid paying the debt entirely, you will need to show that HFC have breached the CCA in some fashion. Human errors such as the collections letters you received will not hold any weight. The two different legal agreements you have are for the loan and for policies of insurance. They should both be dated the same day (as they are executed simultaneously). Whether this is a point to argue from a legal point of view would also need a legal person to comment on. Regarding the PPI, HFC were recently fined over £1m for mis-selling. You may want to read the post that is stickied to this forum: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/announcement.php?f=44&a=115 If you believe your policy was mis-sold, you should be asking for the full amount of insurance plus interest that you have paid to date to be refunded and the policy to be cancelled. As for the interest rates mentioned by Goldlady - yes they are high, ridiculously high!

I'm so sorry Surfer01 - I've been away a bit recently and never saw this post. For branch personal loans, HFC were able to move a scheduled due date 14 days foward, or 14 days backwards to suit a customer's preferred payment date. However for retail accounts, I think the policy was slightly different. That said, there should have been no need for them to cancel your Direct Debit, then pay by Debit Card etc. All very customer un-friendly and hardly very fair. As for fee charging, the admin fee of £15 was applied when the customer was 14 days overdue, or when a Direct Debit payment was returned unpaid. So in order for you to be charged £15 on 5th of the following month means your due date was never changed. If this had happened to me, my course of action would be to write a formal letter of complaint asking for a detailed explanation of what happened, why you were charged and a full breakdown of your account transactions (note: you do not need to use a subject access request to get this information). Explain in your letter what action you want HFC to take to resolve the matter and ask for details of their internal complaints procedure (the will send you their own leaflet which will have details of the FOS). If they do not offer to resolve you complaint to your satisfaction, then I would write back saying you are not satisfied with the response and ask them to provide you with their final response on the matter. If they stick to their guns (unlikely for the small amount involved), you can then refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which will cost them £400 regardless of whether the Ombudsman finds in their favour or not. It is not econimically viable for them to contest it. A Subject Access Request is a right of access to information held by a data controller (HFC) about a data subject (you). I do not think you will get any additional useful information at this stage as HFC are likely to settle before issuing a final response, so you will have paid £10 for nothing. However, if they do issue a final response and are prepared to defend it with the FOS, then I would ask for an S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) prior to you referring the case to the FOS. This is to ensure you have all the information such as evidence of HFC receiving your request to change the due date etc. Hope this helps. Ps. If I seem to have disappeared again, PM me!

Unfortunately, it's a greed culture. In HFC it is rife - just look at how much interest they charge. Anyway... if you made a complaint to HFC and they have failed to issue you with a final response (the end of their internal complaints process) within 8 weeks of receipt of your complaint, you can take the matter direct to the Financial Ombudsman Service stating that HFC have not responded. The Ombudsmans' address is: The Financial Ombudsman Service South Quay Plaza 183 Marsh Wall London E14 9SR Financial Ombudsman Service HFC don't hold sufficient records to show that the policy was suitable for either you or your husband (that was part of their problem - they assumed everybody was suitable unless they could prove otherwise). You may want to do a Subject Access Request to see what information they hold about you, but they have 40 days from receipt of your payment of £10 (for administration costs). The FOS is the best step in my opinion as it's free. Also, whatever decision the Ombudsman makes does not prejudice any action you may want to take in law. Hope this helps.

That's great news!! Well done!

Neither do I! I used to work there so I now how much of a cowboy outfit they really are. They ignored all the communications from the FSA in the lead up to their thematic reviews on PPI - they only care about sales, nothing else. In my opinion, HFC is not fit to hold the status of a bank. HSBC on the other hand, places a huge amount of value on its' brand name - I wonder how much longer they will allow HFC to damage their reputation in the market place? Anyway - don't want to derail this thread....

Taking the next payment by Direct Debit can happen if you settle within a few days of your due date. It should automatically get refunded to your current account as the destination account is closed. Still, when problems occur at HFC, because they have such a high turnover of staff they rarely know how to fix it!

If they have correctly identified you as the account holder over the phone, there is no reason they cannot give you the settlement figure. Who did you speak to? Was it a local branch or the call centre in Birmingham? The branches are much less likely to give you the figure over the phone as they are told not to. If you tell them you want to register a formal complaint if they don't give you the information, they will generally concede rather than have the hassle of going through the complaints process.

Oops - I thought I'd got to the end of your thread when I posted that! Sorry, you already know about it! It's great news for you though and I would have thought it completely undermines any defence HFC could possibly have. The FSA have just proven that HFC had inadequate processes to prove the policy was suitable for you. The FOS could well have been waiting for this news to come out before making a final decision on your case.... (only speculating though). Good luck anyway

HFC has just been hit with a record £1.085m fine for PPI mis-selling: BBC NEWS | Business | HFC Bank fined £1m over insurance FSA fines HFC Bank £1.085 million for PPI failings Get back onto them asap....

FSA fines HFC Bank £1.085 million for PPI failings BBC NEWS | Business | HFC Bank fined £1m over insurance If you believe you were mis-sold PPI by HFC, the flood gates are now open. This is the biggest fine imposed by the FSA for PPI mis-selling to date. It would have been £1.55m had HFC not co-operated fully and settled early. Full details of the FSA's Final Notice is here: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/final/hfc_bank.pdf For the technical compliance guys among you, you'll notice that HFC's compliance monitoring, management information and TCF policy are somewhat missing in action. I wonder how long HSBC will hold onto this company....?

Well, I would have to agree that the agreement is indeed invalid if the rate of interest at the time of execution of the contract is not present. As for the total charge for credit, I know that credit card companies (including HFC) have only relatively recently (within the last 2 years) started to use an example of a total charge for credit. I think they now use an example of £1,000 borrowed over 12 months and what the total charge for credit would be if minimum payments and no further borrowings were made. Previously, this was not included on credit card agreements as they were open ended accounts. It's easy to work out for personal loans and other fixed term loan products, but revolving credit was a nightmare! By the way, the letter you sent on 22nd June is superb! I truly hope they don't come up with a legitimate copy of the agreement - right now, some poor sod in HFC is desperately trying to find it....!! :grin:

Don't be silly - you're not thick!! I didn't know what CEO meant until someone told me! Registered addresses are: HFC Bank Ltd North Street Winkfield Windsor Berkshire SL4 4TD HSBC Holdings plc 8 Canada Square London E14 5HQ

hellhasnofury Your complaint letter is excellent. From the bank's point of view, there's nothing worse than dealing with a complainant who knows what they're talking about! As stated by lookinforinfo, without a copy of the executed contract, the agreement is unenforceable by the Act. In terms of raising your complaint to everyone that would be interested, I would consider firing copies of your letter of to: 1. The CEO of HFC Bank Ltd (Mr John Uphoff) 2. The CEO of HSBC (Mr Stephen Green) 3. The Office of Fair Trading 4. The Financial Ombudsman Service 5. The Banking Code Standards Board 6. BBC's Watchdog programme 7. Maybe some local or national press? I've seen some horrible practices in my years, but what is happening to you is just plain disgusting. Keep your head up - when you win this battle it will taste so, so sweet!

Charges are charges. The £15 Late Payment Fees and Administration Charges can still be punitive charges, just as charges for bouncing a cheque or Direct Debit on your current account are. HFC have charged you £15 because you didn't make your payment within 14 days of the due date. This charge is automatically applied and no human intervention is required for this to happen. Therefore the charge does not reflect the true cost to the bank. As far as I know, HFC can only charge you to cover their costs in collecting and administering your overdue account. As for the £50 charge, the only charge I am aware of that is £50 is for legal fees when they issue a default notice. Again, this is not reflective of the costs incurred as they haven't even instructed any solicitors at that stage. The default is issued by a Collections Advisor pushing a few keys. I would strongly suggest you obtain a copy of your credit history from Experian or Equifax and contact HFC to explain exactly what this charge is. I find it difficult to believe that there is no-one that can tell you want the charge is for..... Don't give up - that is exactly what they want you to do.