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Hi there. I would greatly appreciate any help with this:
I recently decided to reclaim charges from Advantage Finance.
These are some of the charges:
£35 for a returned Direct Debit
£12 for a returned Direct Debit
£7.50 for a collection telephone call
£7.50 for a collections letter
£9.53 additional interest collections charge
£0.50 for a text message sent to me
£35 for a late payment
£35 collections charge for returned Direct Debit
£50 collections charge for issue of default
and now, after having this loan since 2001, they have started to charge me £1.50 for paying with my debit card, although they didn't tell me this charge would apply when I made the payment.
All in all they have taken £450 in various charges.
There are a few things I don't understand:
1. why the charges vary so much e.g. why charge me £35 for one returned DD and £12 for another?
2. Does it really cost £50 to issue a default letter? are there other costs involved?
3. in their letter they claim that they have "incurred extra costs in running my account, these include but are not limited to some 19 returned direct debits, 86 letters and 82 telephone calls that have been made..."
All of these do not appear on the statement of account, and I did tell them on the phone twice that they were harassing me with phone calls. On a couple of occasions when i was out and my minor daughter answered, they questioned her as to my whereabouts, whether i was working etc.
4. And the best to date....THEY have CHARGED ME £7.50 for THEIR reply to my letter requesting refund of charges!!!!!! They have disguised it as a collections letter by writing "we are unable to refund any costs to you at this time and your account remains in arrears of £396.68. You should contact us to make arrangements to pay your outstanding balance". Surely, they can't do this?
EXCEPT THAT my outstanding balance, by prior agreement with them is only £34 ! I have just 2 monthly instalments of £17 to make, and this is twice that they have claimed I owe £396.68.
Needless to say, they do not agree that their charges are unrepresentative of their costs. What do you think?
I recently decided to reclaim charges from Advantage Finance.
These are some of the charges:
£35 for a returned Direct Debit
£12 for a returned Direct Debit
£7.50 for a collection telephone call
£7.50 for a collections letter
£9.53 additional interest collections charge
£0.50 for a text message sent to me
£35 for a late payment
£35 collections charge for returned Direct Debit
£50 collections charge for issue of default
and now, after having this loan since 2001, they have started to charge me £1.50 for paying with my debit card, although they didn't tell me this charge would apply when I made the payment.
All in all they have taken £450 in various charges.
There are a few things I don't understand:
1. why the charges vary so much e.g. why charge me £35 for one returned DD and £12 for another?
2. Does it really cost £50 to issue a default letter? are there other costs involved?
3. in their letter they claim that they have "incurred extra costs in running my account, these include but are not limited to some 19 returned direct debits, 86 letters and 82 telephone calls that have been made..."
All of these do not appear on the statement of account, and I did tell them on the phone twice that they were harassing me with phone calls. On a couple of occasions when i was out and my minor daughter answered, they questioned her as to my whereabouts, whether i was working etc.
4. And the best to date....THEY have CHARGED ME £7.50 for THEIR reply to my letter requesting refund of charges!!!!!! They have disguised it as a collections letter by writing "we are unable to refund any costs to you at this time and your account remains in arrears of £396.68. You should contact us to make arrangements to pay your outstanding balance". Surely, they can't do this?
EXCEPT THAT my outstanding balance, by prior agreement with them is only £34 ! I have just 2 monthly instalments of £17 to make, and this is twice that they have claimed I owe £396.68.
Needless to say, they do not agree that their charges are unrepresentative of their costs. What do you think?
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