A heartwarming story of incompetence...

[elcorazon]

... by your favourite High Street Bank, Lloyds TSB. This is half a post for discussion and half something for people to chuckle at Lloyds over.

 

I visited my bank mid to late April to arrange for a regular direct debit to pay off my credit card which I had decided I would stop using, pay off and close. Whilst I was there I was convinced that it would be a more cost effective way to do it to take out a Graduate loan, to which I was entitled, as I could pay that back over the same period of time and at a better rate of interest. This was all hunky dory and I agreed, so I signed my consent for them to carry out a credit search on me. I then had to leave as I had to be elsewhere. I enquired as to whether there was anything else I needed to do but was told that everything was fine and it would all be sorted out. So I took the gentleman at his word and off I went.

 

A couple of days later I receive confirmation that my loan has gone through, and a whole bundle of documents. I read these with growing interest, particularly the sheet entitled 'Personal Loan Checklist', which details a whole lot of information / forms I have apparently seen, had explained to me and signed. Not so. Please note that these include CCA Pre-contract Information and, best of all, the Loan Agreement itself. Furthermore, I notice that I've been signed up to the oh-so-useful LPI which, as I understand it, is not worth the paper it's written on. So off I toddle into my local branch to clear this obvious misunderstanding up. On the way I check the balance of my c/c and find I am now £150 in credit and the account is still open. I shrug my metaphorical shoulders and add that to my list of things to sort.

 

Ok, so I'm now in the bank and being seen by a slightly flustered lady who informs me that she'll have to get the person who arranged the money to look into matters for me and that he will call me. I give her the full details of what I want and what I feel needs rectifying and go back to work. Sure enough I receive a call from the relevant person saying he'll sort out the c/c issue and cancel the LPI (he needs my signature for this so is sending out a form). Sure enough, the form arrives, so I sign it and return it....

 

(saga continues in the next post so don't post a reply just yet!) ...

[elcorazon]

So I go into the bank and ask to see my friendly loan advisor. I give him the form and receive his assurances that the c/c issue will all be taken care of. At this point I ask whether there are any other forms I need to sign, i.e. the loan agreement form. He tells me, no, that the permission for a credit check form i signed is sufficient. Suspicious, I ask for a copy, which he tells me he will have to dig out and send to me. I go away wondering whether I'll ever get this form.

 

2 weeks (ish) pass and i check my c/c account - still in credit - and there's no sign of this form, also, the first payment has come out, complete with LPI premium. So I go into my bank account, less than happy, and speak to a manager. Now this is where I get really mad. The other guy lied to me! The form I signed was only a data access form for the credit check, nothing else. Nothing had been done about my c/c or anything else I had asked for.

 

Anyway, the manager sorts out the c/c issue, does a refund of the LPI premium and promises that she'll address the issue and send me a letter. Oh, yeah, and put an ex-gratia payment of £100.00 into my account and send me a 'gift'. This is all to be confirmed in a letter to me.

 

Sure enough, it happens, the c/c is closed, the money refunded, I get my £100.00 (which I made sure to ensure that it in no way hindered me taking my complaint further) and I get my letter. In my letter it says that I'll receive a new CCA agreement, within a few days, ditto a 'gift'. No mention (to my annoyance) of the lying issue though.

 

Anyway, it's been a week now and no CCA agreement, no gift, no nothing and I'm wondering what my position is re. any T&C regarding the loan and also just how much I can make Lloyds crawl. Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas from those who've managed to make it this far?

 

Elco.

 

P.S. This was originally meant to make for light, diverting, reading so apologies for the verbosity!