Picture - Interest rates on secured loans

[The Phantom]

You will find some of the reasons for this here

 

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Moneybox | Markets: Savings and borrowing

 

Just to give an update, when I went to the above website I used the contact us link and submitted this issue as a potential story to the BBC via their website. (Moneybox)

Got a call today from one of their researchers who would like to talk to me about it and probably investigate it to turn into a story

Quite pleased with myself now

[rory32]

Well done Phantom. Keep us posted.

[chickpea]

I will be very interested to hear how you get on too.

 

Well done!!

[The Phantom]

OK, he called me back

We had a brief chat about the issue and my personal situation. He said he already knew about Cahoot and their rather big rise, but so far he has not had any specific personal examples of this interest hike issue so he showed quite a bit of interest

He now wants to get hold of Picture to get their side of the story and a copy of the letter they sent to their customers (from them, but he will settle for my copy if Picture won't send him one )

If it develops into a story he said he may ask me to the local BBC studio for a more in depth interview as it is always a bit different on the phone than to talk to someone in person. But this would of course only happen if it really turns into a story

Quite good, I am happy with this and will keep you posted

[madh21]

I too have received the same letter and am quite disgusted!

 

I'm gonna shop around for a better deal.

[The Phantom]

We would, too, but may not be in a position to do this

(early redemption fees and also credit rating)

[The Phantom]

Unbelievably, today we got a promotional letter (shaped like a sun tan lotion bottle) from Picture, asking whether it may be time for a 'top up'

for our loan, boasting about their great variable rates (from 7.7 % APR, typical 9.4% APR)

Well, our is almost 1 percentage point above their typical APR, are they having a laugh ?

Or are they already prying on those unfortunate souls who cannot afford their latest rate hike to almost 11%, getting them to borrow more over a longer period of time at a lower rate ?

Why are they saying their rates are 7.7% with a typical APR of 9.4% when they just hiked them to 10.34% ?

Can someone explain that ?

The letter was specifically addressed to us, so not a newspaper round robin.

I am tempted to write to them asking that our rate is immediately adjusted to their typical APR of 9.4% , because if they can even offer rates of 7.7%, the unstable Financial Market can't have such a large impact on them, can it ?

[The Phantom]

When looking at their monthly payment examples, we are paying £70.- per month more than what they advertise with their typical APR

It is a complete outrage

[chickpea]

We got that letter too this morning which made me want to vomit although ours wasn't shaped like a sun tan bottle so maybe they didn't think we needed a holiday!

 

Are you still thinking of writing to them to reclaim your PPI? You really should if you think you were mis sold as at least the PPI repayments would come off your loan as well as the PPI paid back.

 

We are still waiting for the FO to look into ours but I think we have a strong case and hopefully we will hear something soon.

 

CP x

[The Phantom]

So they have various promotional mailers then

Ours is a yellow bottle with palm trees and a coconut on the front believe it or not.

I am preparing a letter to them still, but this mailer is assisting me greatly

I will re-write the one posted earlier in this thread and include this mailer business, demanding we are getting a better rate. I.e. we would like an explanation why they are advertising rates from 7.7% and a typical APR of 9.4% when two weeks ago they put our rate up to 10.34% due to the unstable financial market

If they try and say the sun tan lotion bottle took so long in the mail (was posted in July or something silly like that) I would like to know why other customers also got a similar leaflet today. They would not all have been delayed in the mail

It is ammunition if nothing else. They also can't say it is for new customers only, as it was sent to us directly

 

As for the PPI I am still looking into it, have also got an issue with HSBC (about to file court case ref bank charges and and ongoing issue with MBNA) so a bit stretched at the mo

[chickpea]

To be honest, if you took out additional finance, I am sure they would be more flexible with the loan APR. It really annoys me though that they are reeling in new customers on the basis of their "very competitive rates" when they know it is only a matter of time before they bump the rates up anyway. Bank of England rises I can hack but not because they aren't making enough money.

 

We took out a loan with them a couple of years before we moved house and when we moved we wanted to take the loan with us because we couldn't afford to pay it off. Despite over £100 000 equity in our new house, they made this really difficult to do and certainly charged us for the priviledge.

 

They make it sound so easy when you take the loan out. We knew were going to move when we initially took out the loan and we were assured this was fine and it only takes a phonecall to change the charges on the property etc. This was utter b******s and we had to reapply for the loan we already had on our new property despite the fact that apart from moving, our circumstances remained unchanged.

 

If we are successful with our PPI claim then we will change our loan company without any doubt because I don't want them to have a penny more from us than we absolutely have to.

 

Good luck with your other issues Phantom and I hope all works out well for you.

 

Please keep us posted with regards to Picture's reponse.

[The Phantom]

They are all bloodsuckers, if you ask me.

I will of course post any news as they emerge

Letter to them in post tomorrow

[2Grumpy]

Do they have a practice of advertising low rates and then using their small print to increase the repayment to what they really want?

 

Is there anyone with a picture loan where rates have increased (or not) in the past when base rates & the market have been stable?

 

Small print just saying that interest rates can be varied is unfair - there should be an explaination of the criteria used, including any use of low rates as inducements to sign up in the small print. At least then you know and can be prepared for it. Time for a campaign? And another campaign to make small print readable both in size and language? If they need specific wording to make something legally enforcable then there should be a translation of what it means.

[The Phantom]

Agree.

In our agreement it just says the rate is variable and subject to change if "a change occurs" - we always thought that meant change in the BoE base rate, but by the looks of it it can be any change (their janitor changing the toilet roll in the gents for example)

In our case they said this latest hike was due to the unstable financial markets, only to send us a promo leaflet two weeks later boasting their competitive rates from 7.7%, typical APR 9.4%

So the unstable financial markets can't have such an effect on them, if they can advertise these rates two weeks after increasing ours to 10.34%

The hike was pure profiteering, hoping that people would

 

a) just pay up and shut up (which many may do)

or

b) phone them asking for help as they cannot afford it and then get offered a top up with a lower rate over a longer period of time (pushed by their promo leaflet advertising lower rates strategically posted two weeks after the rate increase)

 

= win/win scenario for them but sadly starting to look like loan shark practices to me

 

Letter posted to day to them, asking to be put on their advertised typical APR of 9.4% or disclose their borrowing costs to demonstrate the need to increase our rate to 10.34%

 

Terrible business practices:-o

[Waxsyd]

Hi Phantom

 

Like you I have just been hit with a rate increase but from Nemo Personal Finance. It's gone up to a whopping 11.722% and on their website they are offering the same loans at a rate of 8.9% which is their typical rate. They state that rates range from 7.9% to 14.9% which apparently depends on the customers repayments or circumstances!! I've just cancelled a PPI policy with them and am going through the process of mis-selling so maybe they are just getting back at me.

 

Did you send the letter you posted above or a different one? Any chance I could have a look at it as I need to do the same thing but am not sure exactly how to word it.

 

I'll watch your developments with interest.

 

Waxsyd

[The Phantom]

Hi Waxsyd

Have amended the letter (posted somewhere above in this thread) to reflect the promo leaflet they had the cheek to send to us

This leaflet was actually addressed personally to us, advertising these rates "as we were already existing customers".

They quite clearly trying to mislead and get people to borrow more, tempting them with cheaper rates but when you phone they would of course make it a new loan over a longer period.

 

I will PM you my new letter - feel free to adapt for your own use

[Waxsyd]

Phantom

 

Got your pm and copy of your letter, thanks.

 

Well written and if you dont mind I'll pinch some bits and adapt for my use. I'll be very interested to see what response you get from them & I'll let you know how I go on. Maybe they'll whack it up to 14.9%!

 

Thanks again

 

Waxsyd

[The Phantom]

Please feel free to use it.

They should have got the letter today, looking forward to their reply, as well

 

Funnily enough though, my OH phoned them the other day because they hadn't taken their monthly direct debit payment on the due day and he wanted to know what was going on, turned out it was an error, but the funny thing was, when the guy from Picture turned around and said our payment of £915.- would now be taken shortly....

(Our usual payment is about £400.- less than that ! ) When my OH asked what the H**l are you talking about, he quickly corrected himself and also blamed a computer error.

Well, or was it just a hint of things to come ?

Next rate rise from 10.34 to 75% due to poor tea harvest in India and Sri Lanka....

 

Had another message from the BBc Moneybox today, need to call them back, looks as if they want to turn it into a story and want to talk again about it. This is also good news, as I haven't told them about the Sun Tan Lotion Bottle yet

[The Phantom]

OK, off to the local BBc studio tomorrow afternoon for an interview with the Moneybox people

 

Will be interesting to see if they actually use it for a programme, it sure sounds that way, but have to wait

[chickpea]

Good luck - I will be keeping everything crossed for you!!!

[The Phantom]

Many Thanks !!

Have to do some homework tonight. They have asked that I come prepared

(with figures, increases etc) to have that at hand there

They got the Picture letter directly from them

 

 

oh dear oh dear -- what have I done ??

 

[payingonlyencouragesthem]

Many Thanks !!

Have to do some homework tonight. They have asked that I come prepared

(with figures, increases etc) to have that at hand there

They got the Picture letter directly from them

 

 

oh dear oh dear -- what have I done ??

 

 

Had a hunch this thread was going somewhere important. Good luck Nicole!

[The Phantom]

Many Thanks P.O.E.T.

I only sent my rant to the BBC out of a spur of the moment, I never thought I would end up in my local BBC studio , being interviewed for the Moneybox:)

 

By the sound of it they will record it and then probably use for an upcoming Moneybox programme.

 

Dear oh dear...

[The Phantom]

Getting better. Got another promo letter from Picture today, this one also dated September 07, but now advertising their typical rate as 8.4 % !! (Their last promo letter also from September (described in this thread as the sun tan lotion bottle) boasted a typical rate of 9.4%

The further we get into September the cheaper their typical rate gets, just their customers are still at 10.34%.

How come ? Well, I will write to them again I think.

As they managed to bring their typical rate down by a whole percentage point within a week, I am sure they will be happy to adjust my rate to that typical rate of 8.4% as well.

And if they claim all of their leaflets are not up to date, well, then it is time for a complaint for misleading and false advertisement, these were sent in September and are dated September, so must then intentionally be sent to mislead.

Or am I getting something wrong ?

[payingonlyencouragesthem]

I read here somewhere that they are committing a criminal offence by advertising wrong APR's. Definitely hang on to those promos - I think the FOS would be more than a little interested in them;).