Santander is offering refunds for Cahoot clients who have a Flexi loan, which they had secured during the 2006 – 2008 period. During his a time the rates were raised to high levels. Recently, people have decided to claim refunds after a resolution by the bank allowed them to do so. You have to organise your paper work and then submit your complaint. Something worth noting is that you are subject to a refund whether you have serviced the loan or if you are still paying.
According to Santander, the reason why it raised the rates is that the terms stipulated in the loan gave it the right to do so although the loan rates are normally fixed. However, high ranking officials concur with the fact that some of the rises were very unfair. For example there is a client whose loan rate rose from 6.9% to almost 30%. This hike in rates was done after doing a credit check during that period. Individuals who had poor scores on credit were subjected to a greater increment in their rates. In the midst of all this, the bank has refused to give out the details of how many people had such loans.
So when applying for a refund, you need to put all your details together before submitting your request to the bank. Santander has said it will look into all the complaints even though it does not assure its customers that all of them will get refunds. In the event your complaint is rejected or you are not issued with an appropriate response after 8 weeks, you can take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Services, which is a body that handles all conflicts between banks and their clients.
Santander issued a statement through their spokesman confirming that they had received complaints from their clients during that time. They say that they addressed the issue by explaining to them that the reason behind the rate increase was in line with the terms and guidelines in the contract. The spokesman further explains that they refunded some clients after conducting investigations into their claims. A client may not be awarded a cheque to cover the total amount but instead, their debt can be slashed so that they end up paying less in the future.
People are getting refunds on a criterion that has been rolled out by the bank. A client will be awarded the difference in the amount that they paid using the high rates, and the amount they would have paid under the original rate. This is done between the point you started paying and the point when you filed your complaint. Remember that you will continue paying the new rates on the remaining debt. Therefore, it is better for you to make your claim after you have completely serviced the loan or when or are about to finish so that the refund will settle it. A successful claim means that you would have cleared the loan while still using the old rate.
Many users on different forums have confirmed that they have received refunds on their claims. The bank recalculated their rates from the period they got the loan to the present date. More and more responses are coming out in response to this matter.
