CPO Lending

[chezz]

Like other people who have posted, I had my account cleared out by CFO on 6/9/12. The interest payment which I thought was £117 (principal loan amount £300) was attempted on 31/8/12. Apparently it was unsuccessful even though I had the funds in my account - I had assumed the fraud department at the bank had stopped it although there is no note on my account - so I was charged £25.00 by CFO for a late payment. An interest payment of £144.55 plus the £25.00 left my account on 4/9/12. I thought that was it sorted, rolled over for another month. I was very wrong. On 6/9/12 I checked the balance on my account and was in overdraft by £14 because CFO had gone in for £295. I contacted my bank and was told that there was nothing that they could do because it was a card payment. So for almost a week I had no money and an overdraft at my bank. I knew I would have some funds going into my account on 13/9/12 and I had bills to pay so I got a loan of money from family to put into my account. Unusually, I checked with the bank before doing so to make sure there was nothing pending on my account and guess what? CFO had gone in for a payment of £27.30. I phoned CFO (13/9/12). I spent 20 minutes listening to a guy who basically starting contradicting himself and kept referring to "the system". I pointed out that they had been paid in full since the £295 had officially left my account on 10/9/12. "The system" wasn't showing that. I would have to send in a copy of my bank statement. He couldn't explain what the £27.30 was for, "the system" will automatically keep attempting to get the principal sum. I repeatedly said but you have got the principal sum but realised that I was getting nowhere. I took a note of their email address and asked him to assume that I was telling the truth and could prove that the £295 had been paid, would that be my account cleared? "We will look into your account once we have checked that". I said but you have told me that the balance according to "the system" is £295 and I can prove I have paid that so that would mean my account is cleared? "We will look into your account once we receive your statement". I came off the phone and immediately took a screenshot of my online bank statement, blanking out everything except the line clearly showing their withdrawal and emailed it in.

 

On 14/9/12, I again went to put funds in my bank to cover the £27.30 CFO had taken so that I could pay my bills. Maybe I had a nagging doubt in the back of my head but as soon as I came out of the bank I checked my balance again and guess what?? £295 had been taken out again. I immediately phoned my telebanking to confirm it was CFO and yes it was. When I got home I phoned them again. The person that I had spoken to the day before didn't want to talk to me but had requested a manager phone. I had to go out for few hours and when I got home still no call or message so I phoned again. Was told a manager would phone me straight back. Waited 30 minutes and I phoned again, this time they put me through to the manager. He again referred to "the system" but said you're account is cleared. I asked why have you taken another £295 from account. He said they had only asked for it once, on the 13/9/12 at 5.30pm. I explained no you asked last week, you got payment (as above). He said "the system" wasn't showing that could I send in a bank statement. I advised that I already had. To be fair, he did go away to look for that and confirmed they had received my mail. Tried to suggest that the payment that left my account on the 10th was the payment that they had just received and I said no, you asked for it last night and another £295 has gone from my account. He further advised that the £27.30 was a charge because I had not told them that I wanted to rollover for another month and they basically didn't know what to do??? I asked why the £144.55 had been taken instead of £117 and was told that the interest rate had gone up and I would have received letters and emails - I did not receive any!! The outcome of that call was that he said they would not claim the additional £295 since my account was cleared and I asked him to send me an email to confirm that which he said he would straight away - I am still waiting.

 

I immediately phoned my bank and asked to cancel my card. I explained that CFO had no right asking for the additional £295 and that I did not trust them not to keep trying to take money from my account. I was told that they had not yet claimed it and by cancelling my card they would not be able to so the money will drop back into my account in a couple of days. My bank also advised that after having requested the £295 at 5.30pm on 13/9/12, CPO then requested the same amount a further 4 times that night!! And only because I did not have the funds in my account, the bank did not pay.

 

FYI - Moneymajesty.co.uk - "a new lender on the market" - are also CFO. They send you a text that you have to reply to at a cost of £5.

 

Sorry this is so long-winded, just had to rant. Bad enough that I have been stupid enough to get involved with PDLs but to have my account cleared out twice in the space of a week is just soul destroying. Hope this helps to put other people off using this company.

Edited September 15, 2012 by chezz

[renegadeimp]

Moneymajesty is a [problem] site. WE have plenty of evidence to prove that.

[Nao]

Ok, let me just try to get the numbers straight:

 

Original Loan: £300

Agreed Interest for that Loan: £117

Amount taken from your Account so far: £759.55.

 

First of all, good news, you do not owe them even one penny. The only thing you owed was the £300 + £117 interest, so £417, which means they have stolen £342.55 from you.

 

Things you should do (sorry, this is going to be a bit long list)

1: Open a Bank account with a different Bank (make sure they are not affiliated with your current Bank) so CFO can not continue stealing your money.

2: Demand a charge back from the Bank, if that fails file a complaint with the Bank, if they don't give a proper response in 8 weeks complain to the FOS.

3: Send a complaint to CFO, same thing here, they have 8 weeks, then you should take it to FOS.

4: Report CFO to the Police, insist on getting a crime number, the police unfortunately won't go arrest the entire management of CFO, but reporting it to the police still provides you with some additional paper trail that you can present at the Bank to support the complaint (and also in Court should CFO ever take you there for made up fees).

5: Changing the Interest rate on a fixed short term credit agreement violates just about every guideline as well as potentially some laws, get a complaint to the OFT.

6: Making you pay more than you can afford or just helping them self to random amounts is yet another massive violation of Guidelines, complain to the OFT.

7: Send a letter to CFO that they are only to communicate with you in writing and don't ever phone them unless you can record the calls.

8: Keep all communication from CFO (and their various trading names) as evidence (that includes advertisements for new loans).