Hi delicousdawn, since I managed to get a refund from Kerobo, I have had quite a number of calls from claim companies, one of which sounded quite dodgy as he mentioned the name of a large company which does not undertake this kind of work. I'm sceptical of the whole industry to be honest........

Thought you might be interested in this judgement by the Advertising Standards Authority, which can be found on their website: ASA Adjudication on Kerobo Ltd Kerobo Ltd Ravenstone House 1A Britannia Road Sale Cheshire M33 2NN Date: 14 July 2010 Media: Radio Sector: Financial Number of complaints: 1 Complaint Ref: 120452 Ad A radio ad for a debt management company stated “You could be out thousands of pounds and it will only take 1 minute to find out. If you've borrowed any money before the 1st of April 2007 you may have been mis-sold your loan or in limited cases have a legal claim to have the loan written off if the credit agreement wasn't drawn up properly. Kerobo litigating on 23 million pounds of balances last year on wrongly sold and unenforceable credit agreements. They'll assess your loan or credit agreement for free. To claim back money that is rightfully yours call 0800 822 3040 or visit oneminuteclaim.com. Kerobo are regulated by the Ministry of Justice, see terms and conditions apply.” Issue The complainant challenged whether the claims 1. "have your loan written off"; and 2. "claim back money that is rightfully yours" were misleading. BCAP Radio Code 2 - 3.1 Response 1. & 2. Kerobo explained that their company specifically dealt with the reclamation of monies from unenforceable credit agreements and mis-sold insurance and said they were the second largest claims management company in the UK. Kerobo said they assessed whether a credit agreement contained any breaches and, in the event that it did, they would pursue the case in the courts to obtain legal confirmation that the agreement was unenforceable so that the claimant need not pay the remainder of the loan, or receive a refund on amounts paid. Kerobo said that 65% of its overall customer base had their debts successfully written off. They explained that the basis of those claims were breaches of the prescribed terms of the Consumer Credit Act; instances where a lender failed to fulfil their obligations under the Act and where a lender had offset an award of payment protection insurance against an outstanding balance. Kerobo sent us examples of letters from lenders confirming that agreements had been written off and they would not pursue the debts through the court. Kerobo said they were the only company to successfully overturn a credit card agreement in the courts. They said that if a consumer had been mis-sold a product and paid money for it, that money should, in effect, should not have been paid and remained "rightfully" the claimants money. Kerobo explained that the claim "Have your loan written off" was justified because in cases where lenders had misrepresented or misallocated products on a loan, such as payment protection insurance, lenders often chose to remedy the claim by writing off the total balance of the loan, rather than repaying the monies paid for the misallocated product. The RACC explained that they sought clarification on the factual accuracy of the claims before approving the ad for broadcast. Kerobo was able to substantiate satisfactorily that it dealt with a large number of unenforceable credit agreements with many cases being settled in the consumers favour. The RACC said they ensured the ad included the qualifying date that applied to potential claims for mis-sold loans. Furthermore, they said the ad was carefully worded so there was no implication that the majority of legal claims would be written off and noted that the ad stated "you may ... in limited cases have a legal claim to have the loan written off ..." The RACC went onto state that the reference to Kerobos litigation sought only to highlight how much business the advertiser had generated. Assessment 1. Not upheld The ASA understood that there were two common types of unenforceability in credit agreement contracts; instances where a lender had failed to provide information on request as required by the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and cases where an agreement failed to provide prescribed information. We further understood that evidence of improper agreement drafting or mis-selling alone would not always render a loan unenforceable, and that the legal process for establishing whether a credit agreement was unenforceable was potentially lengthy and complex. We considered that, in the context of the claim "Kerobo are litigating on 23 million pounds of balances last year on wrongly sold and unenforceable credit agreements", consumers would understand the claim "have your loan written off" to mean that Kerobo had successfully had a number of its clients credit agreements rendered unenforceable, and therefore that listeners had a good chance of having their own credit agreements written off if they fulfilled the relevant requirements. We understood that 65% of Kerobo customers had had their debts written off as a result of their intervention. We considered that the claim "you may have been mis-sold your loan or in limited cases have a legal claim to have the loan written off if the credit agreement wasn't drawn up properly" was phrased conditionally and made clear that listeners may have a claim and did not imply that all listeners could have their debts written off, even if they had evidence of improper agreement of mis-selling. We therefore concluded that the claim "have your loan written off" was unlikely to mislead. On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code section 2-3 (Misleadingness) but did not find it in breach. 2. Not upheld We understood that if consumers had been mis-sold an agreement, or if that agreement had been misrepresented or drafted incorrectly, the courts could decide whether that agreement was unlawful and whether monies should be repaid or the debt "written off". We noted the complainants concern that consumers understood when they entered a loan or credit agreement that money would need to be repaid and should, morally, abide by that agreement. However, we considered that, in the context of the ad listeners would understand that the claim "rightfully yours" referred to a consumers legal right to rescind their contract, subject to the relevant legal processes, rather than to any moral obligation they might have. We therefore concluded that the claim was unlikely to mislead on that point. On this point, we investigated under CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code section 2-3 (Misleadingness) but did not find the ad in breach. Action No further action necessary. Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)

I'm really sorry to hear that Mallers. I hope you get your money back.

Just checked their website and it is not operating apart from a new address. No phone numbers etc. You may be too late.

MallersO, I'm afraid I'm not in a position to advise you on unenforceability, but my personal view (and I stress it is just that) would be that you should start making your payments MBNA again ASAP and demand a full refund from Kerobo, then use this money to help pay off your credit card debt. It is very important you don't get a default. Please understand that this is what I would do under your circumstances, and I'm not a professional in these matters, I'm just going with my experience in my own situation.

Hi Delicousdawn, I can't remember how long it was after my initial payment (£800) that I started seriously chasing a refund. I was palmed off a few times as you can see from my other posts on them. In my e-mail, I stated that I had reported them to the Ministry of Justice, and also gave a list of all the promises that they had made to me, and pointed out that they had failed to live up to any of them. I also pointed out that they were in breach of contract as they had not kept their side of the bargain. I was threatening them with the small claims court etc, but even that didn't seem to worry them too much, it was only when I kept sending the same e-mail over and over again that they gave me my money back. It seems that pester power wins, but it took a bit of time. The person I was e-mailing was someone called Niki Forrest, rather than the person you mentioned. Keep at it, and don't give up. Pester them until they give you the money back. Good luck

Hi Delicousdawn, I haven't heard of anyone who has won their case with this firm, but there may be some who have. It took me a long time to get my money back from them. After repeated requests for a refund came to nothing, I sent an e-mail refund demand over and over again to their 'customer services manager'. After sending the same e-mail over fifty times within the space of a few minutes, they responded and said they would refund the money within 72 hours. When this didnt happen I repeated the process and they paid the cash into my account. Took me a while to get the money though.

Sorry, if this is in the wrong place, but it is connected with a default I have. I read on another forum that the EU legislation coming this summer might mean that credit files would only stretch back three years instead of six. Has anyone heard this or have any information on it? This would be a godsend for me as I have one default and can't get a mortgage because of it. Thanks

Says it all really

Simon, in all honesty, I would do what you can to get a refund and look around this site for template letters etc that allow you to do the job yourself for free.

Hi Simon, I'm really sorry that this has happened to you, though if you read my other posts regarding Kerobo, they had £800 up front from me. I had to fight tooth and nail to get the money back. As your situation is different to mine, I would suggest that your nearest CAB could advise in getting the balance back, but I suspect you will have to go to the small claims court as well. You can download their terms and conditions from their website, so have a close look at them and see if they have breached their contract. From what you say, and from what I recall of them, this might be the case. Good luck, and fight hard for your money. Keep them under pressure or they will just ignore you.

This looks like pretty much like the letter received on my behalf by Kerobo. I too was not contesting the loan as such, I just wanted to reclaim my PPI. Like CitizenB, I have no knowledge of S18, and am simply going to try and reclaim the PPI via the standard letter. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Well done Rick! I eventually got a full refund yesterday, after numerous e-mails etc. I would urge anyone thinking of going down this route to think very carefully indeed before using Kerobo.

With reference to my post above about Kerobo claiming to have refunded my money, and would be in my account within 5-7 days. Guess what? It's day seven, and no refund.

Great info abou the BBC Donima, thanks. I sent the same e-mail to their customer services rep about twenty times in the space of five minutes on Thursday, having tried to get a refund for months. I got a reply saying that they would process my refund that day, and she would e-mail me with further info. I then sent a fax explaining how they had failed to keep ANY of their promises, and had breached their own terms and conditions, and gave them fourteen days to refund the money or I'd take them to the small claim court. I also pointed out I had referred them to the Ministry of Justice. I got a further e-mail saying the money had been refunded to my account, and that it may take 5-7 working days to show up. They even sent me the authorisation code. There's nothing in the account so far, and I don't actually believe they have refunded my £800. The quicker they get shut down the better.