# interest free loans - be careful



## sascoco (12 Apr 2007)

last year i bought a suite of furniture with a 12 month intrest frHFCee loan from a well known lender. they set up a three year repayment plan with no repayments for the first year. I rang the bank to set up a direct debit a week after i bought the suite. Last month after i paid my 11th and final payment i contacted the bank to make sure i did not owe them any money. i was told i had not paid any money off the loan at all. I am trying to rectify the problem before the 12th month is up and they start charging interest. Has anyone else had a problem like this?


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## Thrifty1 (12 Apr 2007)

*Re: intrest free loans BE CAREFUL*

Was this a 12 interest free loan or a 12 month interest free OPTION. If it was the latter they are set up for 48 months, the repayments are calculated over the 48 months.

With this option you make 11 payments and a baloon payment on 12 to clear the loan interest free.

It could have been either a 36 month deferred interest loan, pay nothing for first year , option to pay full amount interest free OR then commence payments for 36 months including interest.

How much was the loan and how much have you paid so far? Have they said they cannot see any payments made at all?


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## ClubMan (12 Apr 2007)

What were the terms & conditions of the loan?


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## sascoco (12 Apr 2007)

it was an intrest free option but i paid the full amount €1200 in 11 payments, my bank say the direct debits went to their bank but they say we have not paid any money off. is this a tactic they use to make sure they can get the interest or am i being paranoid?


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## moneyhoney (12 Apr 2007)

These might seem like daft questions but:

Are you sure the money from your standing order (it could not have been a dd as they would have had to set up the dd, not you) went into your loan account?

Ask your bank to find out exactly where (sort code & a/c no.) the money you paid went


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## Thrifty1 (12 Apr 2007)

I worked for a HP company (prob the one you are talking about) and sometimes the bank put the wrong reference number on the standing order.

If this was the case they wouldnt be applied to your loan account.

In a situation like this you should contact the company and ask them to check their "recs", contact your bank and get the reference number from the standing order ( this could be the same as another customers account number and your payments may be lodged to his account) and thirdly fax them a copy of your bank statement showing the standing orders from the last year.

This isnt a ploy by company i have dealt with this many times, its usually just a genuine mistake.

Make sure the company record this in the notes of your account and then if this hasnt been resolved before the date that the interest gets applied, they will back date the payments to ensure you dont pay this interest.

Edited to add they are not direct debits they are standing orders.


BTW the "recs" are a list of all payments that the company receive with no or an incorrect account number, if this is the case with your payments then they should all be sitting in this account.


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## sascoco (12 Apr 2007)

I managed to get hold of them today. they said the money may be in a holding acc. and they would not be able to credit it to my acc. unless they have a reference no. for my acc. .Do banks just allow money come in their front door without finding out who is lodging it, its obvious that someone is paying off a loan, can they not contact the bank the money is coming from. It all seems a little dodgy to me.(thanks thrifty1 its nice to hear it may be ok)


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## Thrifty1 (13 Apr 2007)

Sascoco, just contact your bank for the reference no and they will be able to find the payments, don worry about it, this is a common occurance.

Its not a matter of the bank allowing the money to come in and not find out who it belongs to.

When i worked with this company the holding account would have hundreds of payments sitting in it, we would get an updated statement on it everyday and it would be pages and pages long.

The company would have to employ probably 2 more people just to deal with this alone when in essence the problem lies with the bank sending the payments (attaching an incorrect ref no.). It just wouldnt be feasible to track every single payment.

It really is a pain for the finance company because customers call usually freaking saying we are hiding their money or conning them when its their own bank at fault.

One other thing, were you due to start payments on the account ie was your account in arrears because these payments havet been applied.


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## Thrifty1 (13 Apr 2007)

Sorry meant to add they will not credit it to your account without the reference no. as they have to be sure the payments are yours, this is just company policy.


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## sascoco (13 Apr 2007)

the reference no. seems to be the prob. they have noted my call and said if/when the money is sorted my acc will be cleared with no interest due. my 12 month interest free option ends 28 april so im not overdue just yet


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## Thrifty1 (16 Apr 2007)

Good to hear, get on to your bank about the reference no.

Also remember this is a standing order so if you have finished paying make sure you contact your bank to cancel the standing order otherwise the payments will continue.


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## sascoco (22 Apr 2007)

been there, done that, im to broke to buy the T-shirt!


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## Thrifty1 (23 Apr 2007)

Did you get it sorted out yet?


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## sascoco (4 May 2007)

sorry thrifty have not been online in a while, the answer is yes and no they have found my last 5 payments but cant find my first 6. they had told me they would keep me informed but they have not rang me once, i wouldnt know this much except i am ringing them every couple of days.


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## Thrifty1 (4 May 2007)

Hi, do you have a bank statement showing the first six payments leaving your account?

It really shouldnt be that difficult for them, especially if you have a reference number.
The only thing i can think of is that the payments were applied in error to someone elses account and are therefore not sitting on the holding account.

A lot of peoples monthly payments are for the same amount so that could be the reason for the error.

If you have the bank statement i would demand a letter from the company stating that your loan has been cleared and they can find the missing 6 payments in their own time.
Like i said previously this is a common error (wrong reference number) and really no fault of the finance company BUT they should not be taking this long to sort out the issue.
Best way to deal with this now is send a letter of complaint, the company had a complaints procedure in place and must reply in writing within 5 working days.

Id send the letter registered post. Your interest free period has ended 28th April and so your account is automatically set up to start receiving monthly repayments (first one due 28th May) and if it isnt cleared it will go into arrears.

One thing im thinking, i wonder did they send the payments back to you by cheque, have you changed address since setting up the finance?

Keep me informed of how you are getting on and ill help you as much as i can.


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## sascoco (5 May 2007)

I have sent HFC a copy of my bank statement with all the payments highlighted but the girl i spoke to is in an office in England and said that the statement would be with a different section and she could not check it. the complaint is sounding like a good idea now. how could they find some and not all of the payments, when nothing changed from the first to the last?????.


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## sascoco (5 May 2007)

Can i legally refuse to pay them any money if they cant find the missing payments?. My bank statment clearly shows the outgoing funds.


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## sascoco (22 Jun 2007)

sorry for my absence but my PC crashed and i only got back on line today.
I got a call from HFC on the 19th offering their other services, I politely declined and asked did they find my payments. I was told that they found my paments and cleared the account 2 weeks ago, she even told me i had overpaid and they posted a cheque to me on the 18th, im still waiting but im not suprised it may come in time for christmas. thanks for all your advice. Case closed.


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## Thrifty1 (22 Jun 2007)

Glad its finally sorted, but it should never have taken so long. The offices used to be in Dublin but i know they closed up and all the business is being conducted through the UK branches now which i imagine is going to cause a lot of confusion and delay.

Im sorry you had such a bad experience with them, the interest free option deal is a good one but unfortunately when you have trouble with it it makes you and everyone who knows about it wary.


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## sascoco (2 Jul 2007)

finally got the cheque last week.  I'll have to put it towards a new computer. I wonder could i get a big fast expensive one with an intrest free loan???????????????????????. thanks again for your advice Thrifty 1.


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## ClubMan (2 Jul 2007)

sascoco said:


> finally got the cheque last week.  I'll have to put it towards a new computer. I wonder could i get a big fast expensive one with an intrest free loan???????????????????????. thanks again for your advice Thrifty 1.


Any use?


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