Reclaiming excessive fees by Arden DCA on a RBS Lombard ***Refund Received***

[alienskumm]

Hello everyone, I hope you can give me some advise. I am embarking on a journey to reclaim excessive fees etc. etc. from my various debts.

 

Before discovering this fantastic website

 

I received a CCJ from RBS Lombard for a personal loan I got into trouble with,

this was managed through Arden CM.

 

I have paid in full and the CCJ is now showing on trust as "satisfied".

 

I also had success on this loan with my PPI reclaim for about £6500.

 

I thought I would use this loan account as my test subject because there are very few charges on it,

 

I have full statements.

 

I put a claim using an online template directly to RBS and received two letters from Arden CM in response.

 

The first an acknowledgement of my complaint,

 

the second, I have attached, being their final response.

 

I realise it is a small amount I am claiming but it would be better in my bank account.

 

My questions are:-

 

Are Arden telling me the truth in their response?

If not is it worth complaining through the FOS?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

AS

[silverfox1961]

Hi. Sorry you were missed.

 

The OFT case was about BANK charges and not loan or credit card charges so they are being slightly off with the truth.

 

Charges levied must be proportionate and not a penalty. Proportionate means that they should not be charging you more than the actual costs so two 'arrears fees' totalling £50 (in my opinion) is rubbish.

 

Some companies only roll over once court papers are issued (Capital One being the worst). Others capitulate once they get a letter before action. The LBA should not be used unless you are prepared to follow through. If you are prepared to go to court, send the LBA and demand a full breakdown of the charges. They won't provide them as they are 'commercially confidential' This may spur them to repay. It's a case of 'suck it and see'

[alienskumm]

Thanks for the info,

 

I find this all very useful, because

 

they have sent me a full statement from the day I started the loan,

 

I also notice that I have repaid £40 more than the CCJ figures incl court fees and solicitors costs.

 

I think I will ask them to explain why I have paid too much on the judgement and they have not told me.

 

Then after they have waffled in that reply I will go for the claim.

 

I think it was nice of them to tell me in writing that £25 is not an excessive amount for a computer to automatically send a letter.

 

Just one last question before I leave you alone,

 

how close is the relationship between RBS and Arden CM?

 

It took ACM only 7 calendar days to send me a reply to a letter I wrote

 

and addressed to RBS (and this reply letter didn't cost them £25 to send me).

 

Many thanks.

 

AS

[silverfox1961]

Having checked, I can find no direct link to RBS athough Arden are linked to 3 different companies, Paragon being the most well known

[alienskumm]

Thanks for all your assistance silverfox, I am going to create a signature and let everyone know how well my claims for various things go.

[alienskumm]

to Silverfox, thanks for giving me the confidence to follow this through,

 

I replied to ACM's final response asking them to give me a breakdown of their fees before I took the case further.

 

I did indeed receive a reply explaining that they are

"not legally obliged to divulge information regarding the breakdown costs of any fees" bla bla bla.

 

My letter to them included the line

"charges levied must be proportionate and not a penalty.

Proportionate means that you should not be charging you more than the actual costs" etc.

 

Their reply finishes " as a gesture of goodwill" bla bla bla.... "we are refunding" so it looks like they are sending me a cheque for all fees applied to the account.

 

If this is where any of the other readers are I will happily let you have a template of the letter I sent ACM asking for a refund.

 

Once again many thanks, I like to see these threads closed properly, so many of them don't go anywhere.

 

All the best

 

AS

[silverfox1961]

Good to hear. Well done for following through. Others would have given up.

 

Once you have the cheque, please update and I will get the site team to mark this thread resolved.

 

Less than a month too.

[alienskumm]

Once you have the cheque, please update and I will get the site team to mark this thread resolved.

 

OK Silverfox, I am happy to report that I paid the cheque in on Monday and it is now showing on my account.

 

Many thanks.

 

AS

[silverfox1961]

OK Silverfox, I am happy to report that I paid the cheque in on Monday and it is now showing on my account.

 

Many thanks.

 

AS

 

Well done

[Andyorch]

Well done Alien and all involved.

 

Thread title amended to reflect the outcome.

 

Regards

 

Andy