Santander Consumer HP Charges *** Settled***

[avocados]

Hi

 

My vehicle is on HP with Santander (originally with GE money but I think Santander bought them out)

 

Whilst it was with GE money it ran up £165 worth of late payment charges.

 

Now I keep getting letters every couple of weeks from Santander saying I must pay these now, they tried to collect the £165 by direct Debit but I had my bank reverse it as they did not give notice of this. I then cancelled the DD and now send payment off each month by cheque so they can't attempt to do this again.

 

I phoned and asked them to write them off as sometimes you can get through to someone in a good mood on the phone willing to help and will do this but all the person offered was to pay these charges in installments.

 

My repayments are upto date for the hp agreement so will they, and can they take back my vehicle just because I refuse to pay these fees/charges?

 

Also how should I proceed to get this charges scrapped?

 

Thanks

[unclebulgaria67]

What might be a smart tactic, is to muddy the water by sending a formal complaint to Santander to their complaints department.

 

Advise them that you had payment issues with GE and are disputing the late payment charges applied by them. Also complain about Santander trying to debit your account with £165, without your permission and the inconvenience this cause you.

 

Tell them that unless you receive a satisfactory response and are satisfied, you will be looking to involve the FOS in your dispute. If you went to the FOS, it would cost Santander a £500 case fee and it would cost you nothing.

 

If you push this far enough, I suspect that Santander will write off this amount. Santander have up to 8 weeks to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, before you can go to the FOS. In your favour is that you are still paying the loan, so they may see the £165 as an amount they can afford to write off.

[avocados]

Thankyou for your advice, sounds like a good plan.

 

I will put together a complaints letter over the next couple of days and post it up on here before sending it off

[avocados]

I wrote to them many weeks ago and I have had a reply today, they say please refer to the terms and the conditions, I should not have signed the agreement if I did not agree to them, blah, blah , blah but they will refund the £165 to my account as a gesture of good will

 

But since then they have added a further £25 charge for a late payment and they state in the letter that this will not be refunded and neither will any future charges.

 

I will not be paying this so they can carry on wasting their time and money asking for this £25 every month, or will it be worth replying asking for this £25 that has been added to be wiped too?

[unclebulgaria67]

If you pay the monthly amount on time, they should not keep adding the £25. If the date the payment is collected is a problem, ask them to change the debit date.

[harrassed senior]

Was there actually a late payment?. I would not worry too much about this, the worst that can happen is that you will have an extra 'final' payment of £25.

[avocados]

Yes I pay monthly by cheque ever since they tried to take money out of my account by direct debit for charges and just did not realise what day of the month it was.

 

If all there is going to be is an extra 'final' payment then I'll just ignore them every month then when they send me a letter

[unclebulgaria67]

Sounds a bit daft to me. Just send them a cheque on time each month to avoid the fee. If due to your pay date, the time the monthly amount is due is the problem, then ask them to move the payment due date..

[avocados]

Hi

 

Santander applied charges of 4 x £25 to my HP agreement. I refused to pay these as it was them that kept losing my payment and I had been sending it to them on time and just sent them my monthly installment.

 

I complained about the charges in February and told them that it was an issue with their internal mailing system but they rejected my complaint. I was going to com plain to the ombudsmen but I kept putting it off due to having other problems which were higher priorities.

 

I am self employed and did not have much work this summer and I could not raise the funds for June and then was also late for July so they issued a default notice for 2 x monthly payments, + £100 I am disputing + another £25 fee that I really can not afford.

 

I have now made the complaint to the Financial Ombudsmen about the £100 charges and also told them I can not afford this other £25 fee as I am in the financial brown stuff. I have received a reply saying that it could take 4 weeks for them to investigate this.

 

I have since paid the 2 x monthly installment arrears, and the default notice period is up next week so I have panicked and also paid the £125 in charges which i can not afford as I am having to make decisions such as which bill to pay/not pay or to buy food to eat, money honestly is that tight and I feel I have been forced into prioritising paying these charges over paying the Mortgage, feeding myself and paying other bills/creditors.

 

They said on the phone that the default notice is now satisfied and no futher action will be taken. My August payment is now due in a weeks time, the £125 I have paid in charges is £125 I can not really afford, do I risk withholding the amount they added in charges from them again while I wait to here from the Ombudsmen? and only send Aug payment minus £125 ? Will they add more charges for this? will this be reactivateing the default notice and putting repossession at risk?

 

many thanks

Edited August 6, 2011 by avocados

[rebel11]

Hi avoc

 

I would be tempted to pay, other wise they will simply add more charges, but pursue the charges.

 

http://www.itv.com/daybreak/money/martinlewissection/bankcharges/

[RAKW]

I have been paying £300 a month for two years and my circumstances have changed such that I can no longer afford to pay that much. I'm pretty far behind in payments as a result and have considered giving the car back, however, the clauses that they stipulate could cost me quite a bit extra. I decided to tell them I could only pay £145 a month from now on and they reluctantly accepted it given that I send them proof of my ropey situation - no problem! You may well be able to organise something like this and possibly change it back if/when things get better.

[avocados]

Hi

 

I need advice regarding Santander who are really stressing me out

 

My car finance agreement is with them and as I do not like to pay my bills by direct debit due to some bad experiences.

I was paying the monthly installment by cheque. They would take ages to register/process my payment because I did not realise I was sending to the wrong department within Santander and I built up £100 in charges over the months last year before I realised what I was doing wrong. I then started paying via their website and printing off a receipt so the payment definitely reaches them on time.

 

I made a complaint to santander who rejected it and so onto the Ombudsman as although I was sending to the wrong department it is Santanders internal mailing system which was taking ages and they took no effort to inform me what I was doing wrong - instead just profiting from charging., They did reply asking for evidence as proof of postage on time which I could not provide as unfortunately I had only sent standard post. I did not know what to do and as I was stressed, depressed and under pressure with life (other money worries) did not get round to pursuing my complaint further with the ombudsman and my complaint was closed.

 

I have continued to pay by card ontime on their website and the month after my FO complaint was closed they decided to use my installment payment to pay the £100 arrears rather than the full amount I wanted to pay, which is then putting the charges owed at £0 and my installment plan behind. ( i had repeatedly stated in writing that any payments made were for my monthly payment and not to be used for charges)

 

I am refusing to pay this £100 and have carried on paying the regular Hp installment as normal and ontime. They are now charging me £25 each month for late payment, including 2 x Duplicate £25 late payemnts for the same month totalling £125. I made Julys payment a day early teh other day but I am expecting to be hit with another £25. I have complained but Santander complaints department are a waste of time, they won't even look at the 2 x £25 late payment charges for the same month.

 

Now I am being pestered every day by telephone and having the same arguement every day with someone from their Harrassment Department saying my plan is in arrears and I must pay, blah blah blah. I lose my temper and tell them I am not in arrears as they took my installment payment to pay unfair charges and I am not going to pay charges that are on charges on charges.

 

What do I do with these people? Do I go back to the ombudsman?

I am struggling to keep my head above bankruptcy and can not afford to pay £225 in charges - I thought they were supposed to treat people in financial hardship fairly?

Edited July 15, 2012 by avocados
spelling

[avocados]

Can someone help me on where I should start with this?

 

As stated in my previous post I have asked Santander for the charges back and all I get is the standard 'please refer to your terms and condi....' response from them and they just continue to add further charges because they say I am in arrears (due to charges, which they are adding charges to)

 

Charges currently stand at £225. I am expecting them to add another £25 on for this month so they will then be harassing me for £250

 

What should/can I do please to get these charges taken off the account?

[avocados]

Is the way to go to file a claim through the court?

 

Is the right letter to claim charges added to a loan the one in the bank tempates library titled Credit/store card template letter which I just edit to suit for loan charges?

 

I have already asked for the charges back, they have said no, so all I have to do now is send this Credit/store card template letter to give them a letter before action then after 14 days I can issue a claim?

 

I would be grateful if someone can clarify this for me?

 

Thankyou

[avocados]

Is this ok to send to them?

 

 

Letter before action

Dear Sir/madam

Thankyou for your letter dated #### 2012 in which you have rejected my complaint.

 

I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to late fees and charges, are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

 

I calculate that you have taken £225 in charges.

 

I require repayment in full of this money and you amend my credit file to remove late payment entries due to these charges. Please note that mere correction or amendment to the entry will not be acceptable.

 

If you do not comply fully within 14 days, I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest, plus my costs, without further notice.

[avocados]

Ok they have replied to my 14 day letter before action letter with the standard please refer to the terms and conditions cow excrement letter.

 

Can I start a claim now even though its before the 14 days because they have replied?

 

They have added another £25 charge because I refuse to pay the previous £225 as I expected them to so now stands at £250

 

I am going to need some help with doing this please if someone could kindly give their time to help

[avocados]

I have had enough of them adding charges on charges and thinking they can bully me into submission so I have just filed a claim this evening.

 

Its a car finance agreement.

The total claim including the court 8% interest is just under £300.

 

How likely are they to defend this and if they do will they defend all the way to me having to go before a judge?

[sequenci]

Do you have the particulars of claim?

[citizenB]

As you have a filed a claim, I am moving you to legal issues forum.

 

[ims21]

Two threads merged

[avocados]

Do you have the particulars of claim?

 

1. The claimant has a HP Finance agreement.

These are not included in the Office of Fair

Trading’s Claim No. 2007 Folio 1186

2. The Defendant debited charges in respect

of purported breaches of contract.

3. Claimant contends: (a) The charges exceed

the Defendant's losses caused by the breaches

(b) The Term permitting the Defendant to levy

such charges is unenforceable under the

Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts.

Regulations 1999 and at Common Law.

4. Claimant claims: (a) return of the amounts

debited of £275 (b) Interest per S.69 County

Courts Act 1984 of 8% per annum from the date

they were deprived of the money £19.27

continuing at the daily rate of 0.022% until

judgment or payment © Costs allowed by the

Court.

The claimant claims interest under section 69

of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of

8% a year from 22/09/2010 to 24/08/2012 on

£275.00 and also interest at the same rate

up to the date of judgment or earlier payment

at a daily rate of £0.06.

 

Already done it online yesterday. Wanted to give them more info but there really is not much room to do so!

 

Thought I'd best get a move on with it because if they put on another £25 for me refusing to pay the previous £275 in charges then it will take it over £300 and cost me a little more to claim.

 

A little nervous but bring it on

[avocados]

Received another letter from Santander today.

 

They have charged me again .

That means this month they have charged me twice for the same thing. :mad2:14/8 they charged £25 late payment and now 22/8 another £25 late payment.

 

Total charges are now £300. I have only claimed for £275, will I be able to change this to £300 at a later date?? (this recent charge is a direct result of me refusing to pay the previous £275 in charges that I have claimed for)

 

I really need to win this now as the charges upon charges domino effect has now escalated to a level I can not afford

[avocados]

update..

 

I have just checked on money claim online website and just seen.

 

santander consumer finance issued an acknowledgment of service

 

Unsure what to do next so going to have a look around this site and ask for help if I still don't know

[AndyOrch]

Are they defending Avocados?

 

Andy

[avocados]

Are they defending Avocados?

 

Andy

 

Not yet, they have only done ackowledgement of service.

 

They had until 16th September to acknowledge, which they have done this week.

 

So now they have until 30th September to file a defence?

 

Do I have to do anything in the meantime or just sit and wait to see what their next move is?