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Beware of Gregory Pennington 'Commited to great service!' newsletter...
Just wanted to give a 'Heads Up' to all those who have an account with Think Banking/Gregory Pennington who may not have read this circular letter all the way through...
My son has an account and got a letter recently entitled 'Committed to Great Service' - the front page of which looked fairly innocuous - announcing a new Online service and a paragraph on 'Looking after your best interests' etc
It's the kind of marketing flyer you might get from a utility company or someone trying to sell you a new service etc that you'd glance at and then throw in the recycling bin.
My son did just that.
However, my wife has gotten rather good at checking over stuff that son is ignoring and read the whole letter.
Oh dear! on page 2...under another innocuous title ('Great Service and Value for Money') is a para with a message:
It then goes on to say what the new repayment schedule will be.
And then:
In other words 'we're going to take our increased cut and there will be less for paying off your debts'.
It then gives a time limit to make contact.
I think this is apalling 'hiding' really quite important information within the letter in this way. A 2.5% charge increase may sound a small number but it may make the difference between being able to afford a repayment or not to someone with reduced means - probably most of Penningtons' clients.
Am I over-reacting here or does anyone else feel similar?
Andy
My son has an account and got a letter recently entitled 'Committed to Great Service' - the front page of which looked fairly innocuous - announcing a new Online service and a paragraph on 'Looking after your best interests' etc
It's the kind of marketing flyer you might get from a utility company or someone trying to sell you a new service etc that you'd glance at and then throw in the recycling bin.
My son did just that.
However, my wife has gotten rather good at checking over stuff that son is ignoring and read the whole letter.
Oh dear! on page 2...under another innocuous title ('Great Service and Value for Money') is a para with a message:
"As of 24th September we will be introducing a small increase to your monthly management fee, which will go from 15% to 17.5% and we will be amending our minimum and maximum monthly charges."
It then goes on to say what the new repayment schedule will be.
And then:
"If for any reason you feel that the proposed increase above is unaffordable..... we will attempt to negotiate alternative arrangements with your creditors on the basis that we will be distributing slightly less of your monthly payment to us, which will remain the same."
In other words 'we're going to take our increased cut and there will be less for paying off your debts'.
It then gives a time limit to make contact.
I think this is apalling 'hiding' really quite important information within the letter in this way. A 2.5% charge increase may sound a small number but it may make the difference between being able to afford a repayment or not to someone with reduced means - probably most of Penningtons' clients.
Am I over-reacting here or does anyone else feel similar?
Andy
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