Kensington want to evict us again !!!

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Ok I will write to them directly and post that the same time as the SAR tomorow.

 

Will have a look at paperwork to see what that says as well, but doubt that will be very helpful.

 

x

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Hi all,

 

Just an update really. Posted SAR on Tuesday to Kensington for all info on both Secured Loan and Mortgage. Also posted letter explaining that we will be making July's payment late and that we do not agree with the £200 a month charges so we wont be paying them.

 

We paid both Mortgage and loan on line today as promised.

 

Now we just have to wait and see what they plan to do next

 

Olive xx

[citizenB]

Did you send by a tracked method, Olive ? They have 40 calendar days to comply with the SAR request

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Did you send by a tracked method, Olive ? They have 40 calendar days to comply with the SAR request

 

Yup both letters were sent first class recorded let the waiting commence x

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Hello :0)

 

Just had a letter from Kensington and it seems they are stalling already . Its saying that my signature does not match there records so I need to send proof of identity. A copy of driving licence/passport is enough. Apparently though the 40 days does not start until they receive this. Erm surely I can tell them the 40 days started the day they received the SAR ??

 

It also says that a Full DSAR will include copies of all correspondence and transactions alot of which may be surplus to my requirements. It may be I am after specific information and that a partial DSAR may meet my needs. If this is the case then I am to confirm the items i require. Do you think I should still go for a full DSAR (just thinking of the environment) or shall i just ask for a full list of fees added to the account and make them do all the hard work for me??

 

olive xx

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Oh and they also sent me my postal oder back?? they haven't said they don't need though xx

[citizenB]

yes, you are correct they are stalling.. Most people's signature varies over time. Although to be fair they have acted swiftly in requesting more information, which is what is required by the Information Commissioner.

 

Sending your postal order/cheque back proves they are stalling as both are able to be cashed up to 6 months and they could have started to put together your information.

 

I would ask if you have written to them over the last 12 months ? In which case, why are they questioning your signature at this late stage !!

 

If you have been in contact with the company recently then you might want to point this out to them.

 

You might also want to point out that you believe they are not fully complying with the Code of Practice - I have attached a link for you below. It is long and I understand there is a summary on the ICO website.

 

http://www.ico.org.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/~/media/documents/library/Data_Protection/Detailed_specialist_guides/subject-access-code-of-practice.PDF

 

As for their comments that some of the information you might be sent could be "surplus to requirements" is disingenuous - it looks to me as though they are fishing as to why you want certain information.. are they worried about something? It is up to you whether you simply request specific items, but you are playing into their hands and you never know what information you might turn up !

 

So your accompanying letter should look something like the following.

 

 

Dear Sir or Madam or (name)

 

Account reference

 

DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998

SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST

 

I am in receipt of your letter dated XYZ, which was in response to a Subject Access Request made on DATE. I note you have also returned the fee that was enclosed with that request.

 

It would appear that, despite our having communicated "in writing" over the past few months, you now have concerns that I might not be who I say I am and are demanding a copy of a document bearing my signature.

 

Furthermore, I am well aware of what a Full DSAR would or should contain. So I am not looking for a "partial" DSAR as you are suggesting, but a FULL DSAR in line with s.7 (DPA1998) which is what I requested and I will expect to receive a copy of everything you hold about me as a data subject.

 

 

In respect of the above I am therefore enclosing :-

 

A copy of my original DSAR request dated DATE

Postal order/ cheque (number 123456789) in the sum of £10.00 which is the statutory fee.

A copy of my Driving Licence/Passport as requested.

 

I would remind you that you have 40 calendar days to comply with my request and further delays will be reported to the Information Commissioner.

 

Yours etc..

 

 

 

 

In view of their little games, I would suggest you send this again by way of a tracked mail

[dx100uk]

I wonder how many staff they have operating shredders right now

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Thanx for the letter CitizenB, I am always totally rubbish at writing these

 

I believe they do have a copy of my signature as we had the CAB act on our behalf earlier this year and we had to send them a letter of Authority for them to act on our behalf twice as they were playing silly games.

 

The thought of them being a tad concerned as to why I want the info fills me with great Joy:-D so yes I will keep them guessing and also I dont trust them as far as I can throw them anyway and for that reason of course the letter will be going first class recorded.

 

Olive xx

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

I wonder how many staff they have operating shredders right now

 

[citizenB]

You could include that in your letter above that they have been in touch recently where you signed a letter of authority - or you could save that for the Information Commissioner when you make your complaint.. and if it were me.. I would definitely be making one.

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

I am defiantly making a complaint CitizenB. I have already got one that the FOS sent to them about the £200 charges. I received a letter from Kensington saying they are investigating so we shall see what happens with that. I will add this to it if I need to

[Jeremy Belknap]

Is this a first charge or a second charge mortgage/loan

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

It's a second charge. I have started a new thread over in Reposessions x

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Hi all.

 

Had a mad month as my mother in law has not been too well so all this has had to be put on hold. Back on track now so its back to work.

 

Since my last post I have had a reply from Kensington referring to the complaint I made via the FOS about The £200 fees. The letter was dated 21st/08 and I received it a few days after. as of yet I haven't replied as I wanted to hear the general opinion of it on here. its a 4 page letter along with 8 pages of charges dating back to 2005 when we took out the loan. This letter was not a reply to the SAR I am still waiting for them to deal with that.

 

I will try and post a copy of the letter on here but they are saying that

 

"by signing the loan agreement you agreed to become bound by all terms and conditions, which included being responsible for any reasonable administration fees that may become applicable during the term of your secured loan as a consequence of a failure to comply with the terms and conditions.All of the fees we charge reflect a reasonable estimate of the costs we incur and are comparable with those of other financial institutions in the market.

 

If you held any concerns regarding the fees that were disclosed to you prior to completion, you could have chosen not to proceed with the secured loan. In this respect, It was for your financial advisor to explain the Terms and Conditions to you and ensure that the secure loan was suitable for you needs."

 

The letter now goes on explaining each fee and its reasons for applying them. It that tells me whether or not they will return the fee.

i will list each reason. If you would like to see the hole letter then I will attempt to post it on here (not totally sure how to do this )

 

Returned Direct Debit

 

I therefore feel that we are justified in applying these fees to the direct debits that are cancelled, returned or unpaid.

However, i am happy to offer a refund of £8.75 of the fee that was charged on 2 May 2006 as a result of the cancellation of the direct debit mandate.

Please note that we do not consider that it would be appropriate to refund the full fee of £20 as we do incur administration costs when a customer cancels a Direct Debit mandate.

However we have determined that £8.75 of the fee does not accurately reflect the administration costs incurred by us.

 

Monthly Arrears management Fee

 

The MAMF is not an itemised charge (we do not charge individually for each letter or telephone call) but rather an estimate based on planned activity.

The amount of the MAMF is based on the total cost of managing accounts in arrears, and is applied to all accounts equally that fall into this position.

We believe that a standard monthly fee is fairer to the customer and avoids charges becoming excessive.

The MAMF reflects reasonable estimate of the cost we incur, and we consider that the amount of the MAMF and its application is not unfair.

 

having said that, I am willing to refund 100% of the MAMF charged when the monthly payment was received,

and 50% of the MAMF when partial payment was received. This offer would total £1,625

 

First Solicitors Letter

 

We are satisfied that the fee is not excessive or disproportionate to the work undertaken

 

Court Fee

 

The fee was detailed in the Default charges, and is a reasonable estimate of the costs incurred on preparing and delivering the court pack

 

Counsellors Fees

 

You were given notice of the Counsellor's visit and the cost, and had the opportunity to cancel. we agree the Counsellors fee with the counsellor, and believe it is fair and proportionate to the work undertaken.

 

Solicitors Costs

 

We are satisfied that the cost was not excessive or disproportionate to the work undertaken

 

Notice of Default Fee

 

This fee was also detailed in the Default Charges section of the loan agreement

and was debited to the account in respect of the works undertaken in providing notification of the default on the account.

This default may have arisen due to the default in monthly payments, or payment arrangement held with us and due to the level of outstanding arrears.

we are therefore unable to offer a refund of this fee.

However, as this fee has been reduced from £30 to £5, we are happy to offer you a refund of the difference between the fees you have been charged and the current fee charge

 

Deeds Release Fee

 

This fee was detailed in the Default Charges Section of the Loan agreement and we cannot offer a refund of this.

 

Please Note,

fees applied to your account prior to 1/10/2008, will be removed from the account balance of your account which is were the fees were levied.

Fees applied to your account after 1/10/2008 will also be removed from the arrears balance as they also impacted the arrears balance.

 

Should wish to accept our offer to remove the above fees in the sum of £1,658.75, plus a rework of the interest accrued on these fees,

in full and final settlement of your comaplint, please retuen the acceptance.

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

As or the £200 a month fees they want to charge the reply was...

 

" With regards to the letter dated xxx from xxxx: I can confirm the approximate £20-0 per month in fees relates to the the simple and compound interest and any other fees which may have incurred on your loan. I have enclosed a statement of account in order for you to have better understanding of the interest, which is charged.

 

In his letter Michael explained that we require a minimum of £225 to be paid in addition to your regular monthly payment. This is to cover the simple and compound interest and any other fees which may have been incurred on your loan. Should you just maintain your contractual monthly payments the additional interest will continue to accrue and the arrears balance will not decrease.

 

I note your comments that you have approached the FSA , now known as the FCA and the FOS regarding the recent changes to the consumer credit act. To clarify, the change that Michael was referring to commenced in October 2008 and these therefore were not recent changes.

 

I would also like to explain your account is CCA regulated therefore the FCA has no bearing on fees and charges, which were applied to your account. As a result the FCA would be unable to comment on the matter.

 

I suggest you contact your case handler to discuss your proposals to address the arrears on your account"

 

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

OK.... trying not to panic here.

 

I have just looked through the statement of account KMC sent me.

 

It looks like this £200 a month extra they want is to account for Compound Interest that has been added monthly to my account since 1st october 2008.

 

Each month they have added anything between £80 and £180. It brings it all to a grand total of £7553 in Compound interest.

 

There is no way I can afford this extra a month.

Surely thy should not of let it get to this stage

[sillygirl1]

The counsellor fee should be refunded, add that to your FOS complaint, it was in the list of charges that Kensington should have refunded customers.

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

The counsellor fee should be refunded, add that to your FOS complaint, it was in the list of charges that Kensington should have refunded customers.

 

Hi sillygirl

was just going to query that one as I have totalled up all individual fees and noticed they charged me an agent fee last year. Is an agent a counsellor??? I didnt see anybody last year. Agent fees amount to a total of £381.

 

Including compound interset on arrears , agent fees monthly arrears fees, solicitor charges and court costs interest the total charges and fees amount to £13426

[sillygirl1]

As far as I know you should not add court costs, and some of the solicitors charges may be valid, but yes, agent fees are counsellor fees (this was usually when they sent somebody round to 'assess your assets and lifestyle, or help with debt in general).

 

Did you have these visits and sign some paperwork, if so then you can reclaim those, if they have just added fees on random dates those too should be claimable.

 

Tell them that they should be taking these amounts off BOTH the capital AND arrears section regardless of the date they occured. This is another trick the lenders (including GMAC who were also fined - tried).

 

Basically all these fees and charges should be refunded at the rate of interest they charged you.

 

When the arrears started their interest rates will have been a lot higher, so this also needs to be taken into account.

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Brilliant, Thanks for that Sillygirl, there was only one £30 court fee so I will let them have that one. I seem to remember 2 visits before from a councillor but not one last year. We have been dealing with CAB.

 

Do you know if this Compound Interest is claimable. They are wanting me to pay an extra £200 a month to cover this and they are wanting me to answer this week it would seem. Are they just in asking me pay this ??

 

xx

[caro]

Have you checked out mcobs? See what they say about charges.

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Have you checked out mcobs? See what they say about charges.

 

They dont say anything about this compound interest. My head is totally spinning with this one

 

x

[caro]

You can claim any interest on the charges.

[sillygirl1]

My head spins on that compound interest too - ask them for the following

 

"A fully itemised Actuarial sheet showing how the interest (and the interest rate applied) was applied to the account on a monthly or daily basis"

 

I bet you will get a reply that "this information is irrelevant to your claim." This information is vital as it gives you the interest rate they are chaging and you can use that one rather than simple compound interest.