Halifax Say No to Dispute - loan/card - no paperwork

[GrumpyToSayTheLeast]

So your financial situation when you took the loan out was fine. They have done nothing wrong.

It was later oncr the loan was taken out that you had difficulty.

That hasn't breached their lending code.

It would have if you had been in that situation when you were given the loan.

[Lucky7even]

This is some part of the lending code I quoted to the adjudicator in my evidence:

 

Assessing if you can afford to borrow

You should always consider whether you can afford to repay any money you borrow.

Before lending you any money, lenders will

assess whether they feel you can afford to repay

it by considering:

• the type and amount of credit you want;

• your income and financial commitments;

• information held by credit reference agencies (CRAs); and

• how you have handled your finances in the past

(if this is known).

They may also ask you for other information.

Lenders will also tell you when a credit search will

be made and when they might pass information about you to CRAs.

 

The only thing they did with above is check credit scoring and checked my accounts.

 

Nothing was done apart from that.

[citizenB]

I must admit, I am a bit confused as well. You say that despite them not asking you all these questions, you were in a position to afford the loan (according to you), it was only after the loan was provided and some 5 months later that you started to have financial problems.

 

Or, are you saying that had they adhered strictly to the Lending code, they would have been able to identify that you would have financial problems 6 months later ? Whilst I agree, that the Halifax should have followed the guidelines correctly, I am sure looking into the future isn't part of the Lending code ?

[reallymadwoman]

Without some idea of the size of the loan it's impossible to give any sort of meaningful opinion on whether they have breached that code or not.

 

I presume the accounts they checked were the ones your benefit is paid into and therefore amounted to considering your income and usual outgoings, and checking your credit file would have told them the rest. Unless the loan repayments were obviously unaffordable, I don't think you can win this one.

[Lucky7even]

£7000 loan and repayments were £130 a month. Gross income from benefits was £888 a month. By the time household expenditure was taken out, not much left each month.

[reallymadwoman]

I'd have thought using nearly 15% of the income of someone on benefits to repay a loan is questionable, but it really does depend on how much you had left on average each month and if you had another credit to repay, e.g. a credit card.

 

I suggest you find your bank statements from the 3 - 6 months before you applied for the loan and work out on average how much went out every month and how much you would have had left. If it's less than the £130 then you may have a case. You could then set out all your calculations with copies of the bank statements as evidence to the Ombudsman that the loan was not affordable from the outset.

[Lucky7even]

At the time the loan was given, I did have a credit card with Halifax, which had a debt of £3192 on it. I was only paying minimum payments on the debt.

 

I also had a Littlewoods Catalogue and was paying that each month as well.

 

I also had another credit card with Barclaycard which also had a debt of around £3000, again only making minimum payment.

 

The adjudictor has claimed that I was showing no signs of money trouble before the loan was given which is why I appealed.

 

The current account with Halifax which was used to obtain the loan, is closed and I dont have any bank statements.

 

How do I go about obtaining these?

 

I also remember at the time of taking out the loan, that I had a mobility car through DLA, and thus my DLA was forfeited.

 

I was only receiveing what was back then Incapacity Benefit and my DLA was used to pay for the car.

[reallymadwoman]

Click on subject access request in this post and it will take you to what you need to know to get copy statements.

 

Sorry, it usually puts up a link, but I'm obviously doing something wrong.

 

You need to do a subject access request which costs £10, there's a sample letter in the library. You could however try asking first, maybe through the FOS. If you say you believe you can prove the loan was unaffordable from the outset, but need the statements for x date to y date to prove it they might send them to you for free.

[citizenB]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?406188-DWP-Subject-Access-Request-From-(SAR)-**Updated-March-2014**

 

^^^^^^ Link to the letter you need to send to the Bank to obtain ALL data, including statements - it will cost you £10.00 and they have 40 calendar days in which to respond.

 

From what you say you definitely appeared to be "living on the edge" What you need to look for within the data you receive is if they made any comments regarding your creditworthiness and your ability to repay.

[Lucky7even]

Thanks for the above replies.

 

I have managed to speak to motability this morning.

 

They have confirmed that I returned the motability car back to the on the 30th April 2011.

 

They would have taken a final payment out of my DLA on the 4th May 2011.

 

The loan was taken out 5th December 2011.

 

Upon viewing my credit report with Noddle, you can clearly see that payments on other types of credit ie credit card I was only making in some cases the bare minimum payment of less then £50.

 

This is why I have challenged the adjudicator's decision that I was not showing any signs of financial hardship, clearly making only bare minimum payments is a sign of financial hardship.

[Lucky7even]

I have also been in email form with Halifax and they are sending me 3 months worth of bank statements leading up to the loan.

 

I will also be asking them for any signed credit agreement, in particular in relation to a credit card debt which account was opened in September 2006, to see if this debt is enforceable.

[Lucky7even]

I have as of this morning received some very interesting bank statements from Halifax.

 

I had taken out a loan with them done online on 5th December 2011.

 

1st Nov 2011 Statement Closing Balance of:

 

Money Out £3,458.07 Money In £2,965.00 = £277.09

 

By 5th December 2011 balance of £202.48, balance was clearly going down due to living costs.

 

There was also payments going to MBNA credit card company of roughly £35 a month by way of direct debit, which should have told Halifax that there was other debts being paid at the time.

 

Loan was given on 7th December 2011.

 

This says to me that the loan was clearly unaffordable from the onset am I right?

 

How do I word this to the Financial Ombudsman Service?

[dx100uk]

surely there was nothing to stop you

using the loan to clear a debt, thus that PCM payment was then put toward the new loan repayment.

 

 

so I'd think on this one if I was you a bit further.

 

 

dx

[Lucky7even]

surely there was nothing to stop you

using the loan to clear a debt, thus that PCM payment was then put toward the new loan repayment.

 

 

so I'd think on this one if I was you a bit further.

 

 

dx

 

I used the loan to pay off an almost £4K credit card debt with Barclayard, £1K was used to pay off Halifax credit card, cant remember the rest.

[dx100uk]

then if you paid stuff off those PCMS could be used to pay for the loan.

[Lucky7even]

What is PCMS!?

[dx100uk]

per calendar month payment

[Lucky7even]

per calendar month payment

 

I have stated that there is no more money available to pay the debt off with Halifax.

 

Also I have found some very information on their website which I have passed on to the FOS for consideration.

 

I am showing below the lending criteria for Halifax Personal Loans:

 

 

Who can apply for a Halifax Personal Loan

 

To apply you must:

 

Have one of the following Halifax products: current account (excluding Easycash), mortgage, savings, credit card or loan

Be aged 18 years or over and either be in paid employment or retired. Retirees must have an income from a private or state pension, or (a combination of) both

Not be in full time education

Have a bank/building society account

Have a permanent UK address

Not have been declined for credit in the last month

Not have a history of bad credit such as arrears, county court judgements (CCJs), default or bankruptcy.

 

At the time of the loan being given, I was retired on health grounds and was on Incapacity Benefit at the time (£100 per week and DLA ).

 

They did not ask me for proof of benefit entitlement, and did not ask if I was in receipt of state pension.

 

I believe that they breached their lending criteria.

 

2. Also this was on their website:

 

What information may I need handy when completing the online application form?

 

Your address details for the past 3 years. And if this is a joint application your partner's address details, if different

Your bank/building society details

Your annual income and monthly outgoings

Your employer's name and address if in employment.

 

I do not. recall being asked for income or expenditure when loan was given

 

It was just a few clicks to state yes and loan was paid straight into my account, no questions asked!!

[dx100uk]

but if you paid off debts with this loan

it would be reasonable to assume what you were paying on those loans

those per month payments would thus be free/combined and would be used to thus pay the new loan off

 

just an observation

[Lucky7even]

I have today received a copy of a signed credit agreement from Halifax.

 

It was signed in September 2006.

 

I have some concerns, there appears to be no credit limit, and it does not appear to have been signed and executed in the box next to Signature of Halifax.

 

I have a debt of £3000 ish on the card.

 

Is this legal anyone?

 

Here is the CCA Agreement:

 

Can anyone give me any advise!?

 

I have £3196 sitting on the card.

[theoldrouge]

page 3 of 8 Lucky

 

did you receive the rest of them?

[BankFodder]

Please will you not start new threads on the same subject.

 

It makes it very confusing for everybody and you are less likely to get the help you need.

 

I see that you have at least one other Halifax thread. Is this all about the same issue?

[theoldrouge]

in that case they have not complied with your s78 request at the moment

 

though it would be very easy for them to remedy

[Lucky7even]

in that case they have not complied with your s78 request at the moment

 

though it would be very easy for them to remedy

 

Should I contact them and claim this that they have not complied fully under section 78?

 

This was all the lady had claimed Halifax had that was signed.

[theoldrouge]

what was your reason for the s78 request?