Capstone / Acenden

[Ellis27]

I have a secured loan with the above who are a nightmare to deal with. Because of late payments my arrears now stand at £1212 (mostly made up of charges).
I have sent refund letters etc. and my case is now with the ombudsman. Acenden are still adding charges and are now threatening a home visit which will add a further £90 to the arrears. I am worried that the arrears will escalate out of control, they won't accept an arrangement unless a pay a hefty amount off arrears balance which I cannot do. Any suggestions?

[di30]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

Hiya

Do you know if your paying for PPI with this loan (Payment Protection insurance).

Have you also tried making payment plan arrangements with them due to falling in arrears? due to hardship perhaps?

[Ellis27]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

I have paid PPI upfront which I am claiming back. I have tried making payment plans without success they are very very awkward to deal with. Can I argue that the account is in dispute so they shoulkd not be taking further action?

[di30]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

I have paid PPI upfront which I am claiming back. I have tried making payment plans without success they are very very awkward to deal with. Can I argue that the account is in dispute so they shoulkd not be taking further action?

Hi

When I was in this position via another loan company, I kept on and on about the hardship difficulties and also enclosed a copy of my incomings and outgoing, proving to them my hardship. I gave them the usual 8 weeks to agree or come to a mutual agreement and because they didn't I then made them aware that I would complain to the FOS.

When I did put in a complaint to the FOS with all copies of letters I sent and received from the business, I requested for fast tracking due to hardship reasons, they agreed, taken the case on, and a few months down the line they upheld in our favour, all charges were refunded directly back to the account, and further redress for distress and inconvenience was paid directly to me.
The FOS said if the business agreed and not let it carry on for as long as it did then the charges would not have been so excessive.

I also made the business aware at the time, that now the account is currently in dispute and being dealt with by the FOS I requested they hold back.
It maybe worth you doing the same, because we had no hassle from them after that.

[Ellis27]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

Thanks so much for your help.

[di30]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

Thanks so much for your help.

Your very welcome.

Just a suggestion, if this have been going on for some time, say more than 8 weeks, maybe you could start by making the complaint to the FOS now if you want to, or give them another chance and make them aware that you feel your not getting anywhere, so due to this you will therefore be making a complaint to the ombudsman if nothing is resolved in the next 14 days.

Good luck.

[Ellis27]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

Hi all
I have now received a decision from the adjudicator at the FOS unfortunately they did not uphold my complaint about arrears charges. Acenden have been charging us £85 PER MONTH now arrears have spiralled to £2011. I asked the adjusicator to look at my complaint again and here is part of e-mail he sent






Message Body

Thank you for your email.

In addition to the above, Acenden has stated that the court order dated 18 March 2009 made reference to the amount of the arrears (which included the charges), and there is no evidence to suggest that you disputed the amount of the arrears at that time. Acenden has therefore concluded that the Financial Ombudsman Service has no right to effectively overturn a court order by requesting refunds of charges applied before that court order was made. However, if you did raise any queries with the court over the way the arrears were made up, please provide me with full details.

When concluding whether or not the level of a charge or charges was fair, we generally take account of the tariff of charges that you were contractually committed to when you signed the loan agreement. The charges will appear high in comparison with the High Street lenders, because lenders like Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited (SPML) are what is known as sub-prime lenders. They generally lend to those borrowers who have county court judgements, poor credit records or payment histories, or anything that may indicate they are a greater risk than the average borrower. The fees therefore reflect the higher level of collection and monitoring activity that would likely have to be undertaken by such businesses. I am not aware that SPML has been fined by the regulator for making unfair charges.

As far as the refusal to change the payment date is concerned, you have not informed me of the date that you sent the copy bank statements to SPML that it requested on several occasions. Please advise me of this date, and also let me have copies of the actual statements that you provided to SPML at that time.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Can anybody advise how I should answer this to persuade FOS to ask Acenden to refund charges

[Caspar]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

I think perhaps rather than concentrating on charges already applied, you should contact someone like the National Debtline or CCCS who will do a Common Financial Statement for you and should apply pressure on the company to freeze charges from this point on. The new OFT 664 guidance published earlier this month puts a lot of pressure on lenders to accept reasonable offers and to give a good reason if they turn down that offer.

This would then strengthen your case for a further complaint if they refuse, and give you an opportunity to address the situation as it now is. Given the FOS has ruled as they did due to the court ruling, it is hard to see a way to overcome that, though hopefully someone will for you.

I would definitely focus on getting things back under control first though, rather than concentrate on the past which you may or may not be able to remedy at some stage.

[Ellis27]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

Thanks Casper
Back in 2009 the arrears were only £700 when Acenden went for repossession. We managed to bring the account up to date but unfortunately my husband had a back injury so is unable to work, hence we have not made payments on due date. We have not missed payments charges are due to late payments, arrears are solely made up of charges

[Caspar]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

As I understand the new guidance and the CFS, the creditor would still have to have to give a good reason to turn down a sensible offer. You could therefore suggest that future charges be frozen in order to stop the situation getting worse (that is specifically mentioned in the new OFT guidance) and you pay £x.xx more each month, over and above the due payment, in order to clear the arrears.

I think you should have a strongr argument then for complaint should they refuse this as you are seen to be doing everything you reasonably can to repay what you owe.

[Ellis27]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

Thank you I am grateful for your advice, Acenden have today agreed to accept my normal monthly payment plus £50 off arrears. I am still not happy that if charges had not been added I would not have arrears.
I thought charges had to be a true estimate of costs??

[Caspar]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

Bide your time. I am not for one minute saying forget about reclaiming the charges. What I'm saying is now is not the best time to do it. Get an agreement in place and get arrears paid off, then go for their throats.

I did this fairly recently. I had to wait three years to get justice, but when it came, it came with interest at 8%, and you won't earn that anywhere else at the moment!

[Ellis27]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

Thanks

[Sappho54]

Re: Capstone / Acenden

I was greatly intrigued by the FoS reply saying that SPML was a sub-prime lender and therefore could charge higher fees than a high street lender. Wow, what an admission!
At the time you took out this loan were you warned it was "sub-prime"? Was the term ever used? Were you a genuinely sub-prime customer, ie could you have not got a loan elsewhere? Did you have CCJs or a bad credit history? Because if you didn't then your loan was mis-sold to you because you were not warned about the implications of sub-prime lending. Even if you were a bad risk you should still have been warned that you were entering into a different kind of undertaking than if you had gone to a High St bank.
The reality is that no-one outside the industry knew about sub-prime or securitisation until 2008 when Lehmans bit the dust. By then it was too late. If I was in your position I would challenge the FoS ruling and ask for the evidence that you entered into the credit agreement in full knowledge of the following:-
a) it was sub-prime
b) therefore it would be closely monitored and attract higher fees, charges.
c) that you would never have direct contact with SPML (who in fact sold your loan within days of you signing it) but with a third party administrator - Capstone, later Acenden.
d) that you have no rights of complaint to SPML.
It's no use FoS saying "its sub-prime what did you expect?" if you didn't know at the time. Hope this helps.