Re: £60 for a bounced DD?!
Debt Star, the letter is not great since it skirts around things and then uses some things that may not necessarily be relevant.
Are we talking the loan account or bank charges?
Financial hardship is unlikely to be something you can really rely on with the loan account but can be with bank charges. Furthermore, have you read the actual report on Credit card default fees from April 2006?(for reference it's OFT842).
The bit you quote from the OFT842 report is section 3.3 which states this in context:
" Schedule 2 to the UTCCRs illustrates possible respects in which a term may be unfair to the consumer by means of a 'grey list' of possible kinds of unfairness. Of particular relevance to default charges is paragraph 1(e) of Schedule 2, specifying terms that have the object or effect of requiring any consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation"
You will note that they do not say that they are unfair but maybe unfair since they are talking about the contract as a whole. Not every term that is unfair will necessarily mean that the whole contract is unfair.
I would have gone with a different paragraph.
"1.14 It must be stressed that this is a statement of our position and reflects the exercise of our discretion as an enforcement agency. Only a court can decide finally whether a term is unfair, or at what level default charges should be set to meet the requirements of the UTCCRs. It should be kept in mind that other enforcers may apply for injunctions under the UTCCRs and that the UTCCRs may be relied upon by consumers in private claims."
The lending code also states that you have a responsibility as well to tell the lender if you believe you are suffering financial hardship and is not simply that the lender should assume that someone is suffering financial hardship.
Paragraph 137 specifically at the start of section 9 states this:
"137. Subscribers should be sympathetic and positive when considering a customer’s financial difficulties. Although there is
an onus on customers to try to help themselves, the first step, when a subscriber becomes aware of a customer’s
financial difficulties, should be to try to contact the customer to discuss the matter. This applies to both personal and
micro-enterprise customers."
Originally posted by The Debt Star
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Are we talking the loan account or bank charges?
Financial hardship is unlikely to be something you can really rely on with the loan account but can be with bank charges. Furthermore, have you read the actual report on Credit card default fees from April 2006?(for reference it's OFT842).
The bit you quote from the OFT842 report is section 3.3 which states this in context:
" Schedule 2 to the UTCCRs illustrates possible respects in which a term may be unfair to the consumer by means of a 'grey list' of possible kinds of unfairness. Of particular relevance to default charges is paragraph 1(e) of Schedule 2, specifying terms that have the object or effect of requiring any consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation"
You will note that they do not say that they are unfair but maybe unfair since they are talking about the contract as a whole. Not every term that is unfair will necessarily mean that the whole contract is unfair.
I would have gone with a different paragraph.
"1.14 It must be stressed that this is a statement of our position and reflects the exercise of our discretion as an enforcement agency. Only a court can decide finally whether a term is unfair, or at what level default charges should be set to meet the requirements of the UTCCRs. It should be kept in mind that other enforcers may apply for injunctions under the UTCCRs and that the UTCCRs may be relied upon by consumers in private claims."
The lending code also states that you have a responsibility as well to tell the lender if you believe you are suffering financial hardship and is not simply that the lender should assume that someone is suffering financial hardship.
Paragraph 137 specifically at the start of section 9 states this:
"137. Subscribers should be sympathetic and positive when considering a customer’s financial difficulties. Although there is
an onus on customers to try to help themselves, the first step, when a subscriber becomes aware of a customer’s
financial difficulties, should be to try to contact the customer to discuss the matter. This applies to both personal and
micro-enterprise customers."
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