Pugsley v Land of leather,Open and Direct

[tamadus]

just got a letter from Rockwell basically running away

 

 

your debt of £0.00 owed to open and direct 1st placement

 

 

we are no longer dealing with this matter and out files have been closed, please contact Open and Direct 1st Placement themselves regarding this debt.

 

 

very strange letter don't you think??

 

You have got them running for cover Pugsley

[pugsley]

lol, they have basically folded, this reminds me a bit of poker, which I usually win at, just waiting for their next raise. I suppose they will either write to me directly or pass it to another debt collection agency. At the very least I have delayed collection a bit, which is good for me as I can't afford anything until I finish university in January.

 

 

Sandy

[tamadus]

lol, they have basically folded, this reminds me a bit of poker, which I usually win at, just waiting for their next raise. I suppose they will either write to me directly or pass it to another debt collection agency. At the very least I have delayed collection a bit, which is good for me as I can't afford anything until I finish university in January.

 

 

Sandy

 

Remind me not to play poker with you pugsley

[JonCris]

just got a letter from Rockwell basically running away

 

 

your debt of £0.00 owed to open and direct 1st placement

 

 

we are no longer dealing with this matter and out files have been closed, please contact Open and Direct 1st Placement themselves regarding this debt.

 

 

very strange letter don't you think??

 

Not really!

 

Have seen quite few. These firms play the numbers game & they aren't going to get into a fight with a consumer who might know their rights. They will just move onto the next soft target

[jwhite64]

I am having the same problem with CSL sofas. We did not receive any payment reminders, then got a phone call stating that we owe £1765.90. The original bill is for £1200.00 We are only 14 days late on payment. On looking at the signed agreement it has our old address on, which when we ordered the sofa we were in rented accommodation, and was waiting to move into our new home. On calling Black Horse they had our old address so obviously CSL did not tell Black Horse our correct information.. Presumably that is why we have never received a letter stating that the money is due. We have the money and have had for around 3 months. We are now fighting this out with CSL and Black Horse. Any ideals that you may have please reply as soon as possible. Thanks J. White

[JonCris]

You dont say what the difference of £565.90 consists of. Is it penalty charges, if so it can be challenged.

[tamadus]

I think this is another of those interest free for 12 months deals JonCris, where if you pay the full amount inside 12 months the interest isnt charged but go 2 minutes over and they hit you with the lot. I took one out once and heard nothing from them whatsoever until it was too late to prevent the interest being applied. I had been making payments as well into it and I doubt the balance was more than a couple of hundred but they still hit me with the full interest.

 

My first thought is did you notify the loan company of your change of address ? My second thought is that it's unlikely you can legally challenge it, but without more info it's hard to be sure. Start a thread of your own to avoid confusion please.

[aplcomms]

I am also having problems with Open & Direct and am in dispute with them regarding their application of the formula used in the Consumer Credit (Rebate on Early Settlement) Regulations 1983. The formula is used is described in the Repaying your loan early document here: FLA :: Consumer finance :: Consumer guidance

 

Open & Direct use the correct formula M(M+1)/N(N+1) and the value for M (total number of installments not yet due) but are using a value of 48 for N (total number of payments). When these values are used in the formula the amount of rebate in the first month after the "interest free period" is 33(33+1)/48(48+1) = 47.7% of the total interest charge. This means they are claiming 52.3% of the total interest charge.

 

However, the total number of payments is NOT 48 - it is 36. The formula then becomes 33(33+1)/36(36+1) = 84.2% of the total interest charge. This means they are entitled to 15.8% of the total interest charge.

 

Their APR figure of 29.8% also confirms that the term of the loan is 3 years and not 4 years. The interest is accrued over a 4 year period, but the loan is for 3 years.

 

I am currently persuing this with DTI's Consumer Direct and will let you know the outcome. In the meantime, you may like to do your own calculations on your contracts and any correspondenc you may have had with the company.

[pugsley]

wow those calculations went whizzing past the top of my head, lol. I think I know where you are coming from though:)

[aplcomms]

Further invstigations into this are revealing quite a few issues with Open and Direct's contract and the way they are calculating rebates.

 

I am currently dealing with my local Trading Standards office and the one in Belfast so will give you an update when I have taken the next steps.

[pugsley]

thanks, strangely they are not chasing me for the debt anymore, but I need to check my credit record again just in case they have defaulted me. I haven't received any notification of default anyhow.

 

I do believe that their contracts are decidedly dodgy and I intend to look into this soon after my finals at uni.

[pugsley]

I have seen quite a few threads on land of leather and open and direct so at least I'm not all alone, lets hope someone can take them on soon. I might even be me who knows.

[pugsley]

still no contact form them no default sent as yet although last time I looked hey were putting no 6 on my credit record which will cause me trouble eventually

[suzieblooz]

I'm having trouble with Open & Direct too. They have sent my debt on to Greenhalgh solicitors (I can't find anything about them anywhere), who are threating court action. Payplan phoned them to find out the new details to sent the payments to and the woman was really rude and refused to deal with them until I phoned. So I phoned and she was really rude and told me it had to requested in writing. I've sent a letter recorded delivery. Just got a bad feeling about this one. I think they want me to miss payments so they can enforce the debt. Was going to cca O&D as they have refused to cancel the PPI which is over £1200 even though the salesman told me it would only be £120. They have refused to cancel it so far. Trouble is I've lost the original documents so I need a copy to see what interest etc I've been charges. They are a complete nightmare. Hope you get some joy out of them, but I'll not hold me breath. LOL

[pugsley]

ppi is obviously wrong, CCA to them recorded immediately, good luck

[aplcomms]

I am still in dispute with Open and Direct and this is the latest position

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/115831-consumer-collection-ltd-default-2.html#post1411552

 

Would anyone like to join forces with me so that we can crack this?

 

When we win, there will be substantial refunds for everyone that has been clobbered by Open and Direct.

[pugsley]

thanks will keep an eye on that

 

 

statutory demand received from Red/Lowell as this debt has been sold to them, cca sent they are asking original creditor for credit agreement, would have thought they should have it if in fact it exists.

 

 

obviously not acknowledging a SD sent by 2nd class post and not worried about being made bankrupt

[pugsley]

another letter received saying still waiting for cca from original creditor, offered me a 1/3 settlement figure which I cannot afford anyway, I believe these offers disappear when you ring them up.

[pugsley]

12 Days are up

they are requesting it from archive apparently will wait and see what I get as there are probably issues with PPi as well

my credit agreement

 

 

terms

[pugsley]

terms on different page very small writing so have blown it up considerably

[pugsley]

on my 2004 credit agreement no / 10c no refund offered on PPI

 

noted as per aplcomms thread below extract, interesting

 

I am claiming that the rebates on early settlemens are too low (and not in accordance with the Regulations) since their contract contains at least 2 clauses that are Unfair Terms. The first is Schedule 2 10© that states "In the event of early settlement of this agreement, the insurance will immediately and without notice terminate and no refund will be available". This is contrary to the Norwich Union Summary Key Facts and the PPP Policy Schedule Page 4 on Early Repayment, which state that there is a repayment. Norwich Union has undertaken to change the wording on its Open + Direct Coverplan policy following FSA intervention - have alook at these.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/und...ng_norwich.pdf

PPI – Open + Direct Creditcover : FSA Money made clear – Unfair contracts

 

These took effect on 1/1/2005 and the LoL/Open and Direct Contract still had the old wording - making them unfair.

 

The consequence of this is that they will keep all of the PPI Premium even though they should refund it in accordance with the Rule of 78 (based on the belief that the risk is higher at the beginning of the term).

 

I am also disputing how interest is calculated on the loan and PPI premium amounts. Schedule 1 states "...If you don not exercise your cash-Price Option, interest will accrue from the date of the agreement and will be charged on the Total Amount of Credit" (=Loan AND PPI Premium). I agree that the interest on the loan should be calculated over 4 years from the agreement date. However, interest on the PPI is only due over 3 years and not 4 since they only pay it to Norwich Union after the first year is over.

 

The consequence of this is that the interest being charged is higher than it should be and the rebate is much less. They keep more money than they are entitled to.

[pugsley]

Lowell are returning the case to the client as the client has said there is no credit agreement, whether this is the last of it, who knows, I do have a default from them though on my credit files. Looks like I made the right decision not to acknowledge the statutory demand in any way.

[aplcomms]

We won!

 

I sent in a 16 page defence and 230 pages of reference material to the Court accusing them of having unfair terms in their contract and also incorrectly using the rebate regulations. This week Greenhalghs told us that they had accepted what I originally offered them 2 years ago - which was half what they were demanding.

 

:-)

[noomill060]

Excellent! Well done.