Paragon - SETTLED

[gerih]

I had a secured loan with these people.When i became very ill,i lapsed on the payments,incurring lots of charges and a reposession case(thrown out by judge).Am i able to claim back all charges from Paragon or are they not covered by these regs?.Thanks for any replies.

[BankFodder]

If the charges are levied by way of a penalty and if they relfect more than the actually losses suffered by the company then they are exactly the same as anay other penalties.

The rule about excessive penalties is a general rule and applies to all contracts no matter how big or small and to all industries.

 

You should begin by having a look at your contract and seeing what it says about the charges which have been imposed.

Also - and without stirring anything to make them suspicious, write to your company and ask them very politely if they could explain on what basis the charges have been levied and on what basis they have been calculated.

You never know your luck, they might come right out and say that they are a penalty.

In the meantime, calculate exactly how much they have taken including any interest etc.

Then come back here.

[gerih]

I got an e-mail from Paragon asking me to call to confirm my id.They are to send me a full statement of account.I told them that with that,i shall commence the court actions.He asked for time to consider their actions before i do this,so i said i`d write giving then 7 days to respond before i continue.

When they took me to court back in 2003,they added nearly £500 in solicitors costs.Will i have a claim against this,as they will have been claiming amounts that i did not owe since some of it was the illegal penalties?

Thanks.

[gerih]

Paragon have responded.Very quickly i must say.

The charges are:

£25 unpaid payment fee

£25 unpaid payment fee

£25 unpaid payment fee

£416 solicitors costs

£25 solicitors costs

£99.88 home visit

£498.25 solicitors costs

£10 arrears letter fee

£10 arrears letter fee

£5.88 solicitors costs

£150 admin fee on early settlement when i cleared debt on sale of flat.

I will be claiming back the unpaid payment fees,but any hope of the others?

The one that really annoyed is the £498.25 solicitor fee.When the man came to see me at home i gave him my circumstances,he could see the sold sign on my flat and he said that he would give Paragon a favourable report.3 weeks later,they take me to court to try and take posession of my flat for a debt of well under £1000.Judge was not happy with them.

[Guest stephen]

Sorry how much did you owe them before the added on fees or did you just owe them the money for the charges.?

[gerih]

It was a secured loan of £8000 taken out in Jan 2000.I paid &120 a month up to april 2001,then the troubles started.At the end of april 2001 i owed £7469.56.After that,I made payments as and when i could thanks to my mother.Between nov 2001 and may 2003,i paid a total of £3175.23.To clear the debt i had to pay £8244.87 in july 2003.

Total cost of charges were £1290.01.

[Guest stephen]

The reason i asked if they took you to court just for the penalty Charges that they claim you owed them, then you probably would have a chance of getting the money back. However if you still owed them some of the money from the loan, when they took you to court that you owed them then probably not.

 

Because if you were in breach of the agreement. Then they had a legal right to take action to recover. But if it was only for charges incurred because of default, then they did not, as these charges were penalty charges.

 

Either way you can claim you default charges back.

 

 

Hope that help

[gerih]

Thanks for that - it`s what i expected really.I will write to them claiming back the £70 in unpaid debit fees.Bit of a cheek charging £150 for early settlement when they were quite insistant on it being cleared.

[gerih]

I have now received a letter from Mike Boyle at Paragon saying that they will not refund the DD charges.He enclosed a form saying that i agreed to pay reasonable expenses(kind of him).Gave him a quick call to confirm that i will now submit the claim forms and that they will have to prove to the court that the charge of £25 for the DD and £10 more for the letter is reasonable.He says that they are prepared to go to court as they can prove this.Let`s see.

Incidentally,when i follow the idiot guide to do the forms,i just go round in circles and never find the form.Doing something wrong somewhere.

[BankFodder]

Don't just rely on the call. Put a letter before action in writing. Give 14 days.

explain in the letter that you are giving him an opportunity to demonstrate outside court that the charges are reasonable rather than waste the court's time and that if he can do so, that you will not proceeed.

 

Point out to him that if he can not demonstrate this outside court then he will be required to do so inside the court.

 

**************************

as far as the links, which ones are you referring to

[gerih]

I sent the letter before action and have just received a reply From Mike Boyle.

He says that the fees are reflective of the additional admin,collection and bank charges incurred by the business in handling my breach of contract.He is satisfied that these charges are reasonable and not excessive given the poor conduct of my account.And adds that on the advice of the company solicitor no further correspondence will be entered into.

No attempt was made to give a breakdown of the true costs of sending an automated letter etc.

 

I still cannot find the on-line claim form.I have to be in town tomorrow,so will go to the court and apply for the ol-fashioned forms.

[gerih]

Handed the forms in and paid the £30 fee.Lets see what they do next.Approx how long is it before they here from the court?

[gerih]

Post just arrived.My copy of the court claim - deemed to have been served to Paragon today.They have 14 days to respond.

[gerih]

Tried to post this in litigation,but only moderators can do this.

This case is in the Bury St Edmunds court

claim no 6bv00414

Claim £98.63 plus £30 court fee.

[gerih]

Just got the following from Mike Boyle of Paragon.

"We have considered this matter and despite us having every confidence in the propriety of our fee charging arrangements,we believe it is not in the interests of both parties to expend either time,money or effort in resolving the matter through the courts.

Accordingly,I enclose a cheque in the sum of £128.63 payable to you in full and final settlement of your claim.I would ask that you write to the court to formally withdraw proceedings"

I might be a bit suspicious,but I will wait for the cheque to clear first.

Could the moderators please amend my claim in the litigation forum.

[rivendale0506]

Just got the following from Mike Boyle of Paragon.

"We have considered this matter and despite us having every confidence in the propriety of our fee charging arrangements,we believe it is not in the interests of both parties to expend either time,money or effort in resolving the matter through the courts.

Accordingly,I enclose a cheque in the sum of £128.63 payable to you in full and final settlement of your claim.I would ask that you write to the court to formally withdraw proceedings"quote]

I wonder at what point they would lose confidence in the propriety of our fee charging arrangements - is there anyone that is claiming in the thousands from Paragon?

[saranev]

Hiya, i posted a thread re PARAGON a while ago and i don't seem to have got anywhere regarding some advice. I think they charged me £11,000 interest for one year. Please please could someone HELP, Thanks saranev

[saranev]

p.s. If we managed to get a substantial sum back we will be donating BIG to this fantastic site. Cheers:D

[gerih]

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