HFS Loans Ltd

Applied for a loan from picture loans in july 06. I was waiting for a cheque to arrive for over £3.000.00 .I thought not claiming for ill health payments. I had a long wait as hsf loans who the insurance is from do not pay out if you go into arrears over 2 months. Read the small print as there is always a catch with these goody goody companies.

I took out a 5 year loan with them on the basis of the Interest Back Bonus Scheme in December 2001. I assumed that with such a system there would be many 'banana skins' along the way, which may have prevented payout. On this basis I carefully read the HFS Loans conditions over and over again, using a highlight pen to pick out the potential 'banana skins'. Having digested the conditions. I duly followed the instructions, registered and received the required certificate. This, and other paperwork was tucked away, and a diary note made for 5 years on the revisit. The diary note also told me where I had stored the paperwork. As the 5 year anniversary approached I extracted the paperwork, reread and familiarised myself with the rules and made the application for the interest back payment to the new Administrator address that I found online. I even complied with the conditions removed by the OFT. My application was acknowledged, and within two weeks of the acknowledgement I received a cheque for the full amount of the interest. Without wishing to be unkind to other reviewers, those who have failed in their claim have scored an 'own goal', which of course HFS hope will happen. However, with attention to detail which does not take much time, these schemes can and do work in the consumers favour. Sadly, those who haven't made it work have only themselves to blame, but have fallen into the modern culture that it must be someone else's fault. This review will not be well received by everybody, and I expect criticism, but this scheme worked very well for me. Thank you HFS.

At the time I took the loan out with HFS (now Capital One) home owner loans, they were offering customers all the interest paid back at the end of the term of the loan, subject to conditions being kept by the borrower.

At the time I was made aware that no more than 2 repayments must not be late and that you had to claim the interest back within 21 days of the loan ending. My loan ended in September 2006. I rang Capital One to enquire regarding claiming my interest back on the loan. They asked me to ring another number. The number was for the Administrators of the Loan (The Oval Group). The Oval group said that I was not registered to receive the money back. Apparently, I had to complete a small A5 size form within 14 days of taking the loan out, and then return it to them, and then I would receive the necessary form to claim the interest back.

The small form was stapled between similar size forms, and I feel it was done intentionally so it would be overlooked. I have written to Capital One asking them to allow my application for the interest back, but they are adamant that I should not get anything as I had not registered.

I feel completely let down. Not just me, but my family as well. We acted honourably in our dealings with HFS/Capital One. HFS knew the importance of returning the form, and they could have just reminded us. The OFT investigated the scheme, and HFS had to amend or delete some of the conditions of the Loan in 2003. I was not made aware of these changes. I suggest if anyone else was not informed of these changes at the time then please write to The Office of Fair Trading.

HFS Loans said they sent their Interest Back registration by recorded delivery, and it should have been guaranteed delivery.

HFS cash back loan:

I never knew I had to complete a registration form until my 5 years were nearly up, and I wanted to claim back my interest.

This is very misleading. I received a letter from HFS congratulating me on completing the loan. If it's completed, I assume no further action needs to take place? If further action is required i.e fill out the registration document, they don't mention it in the letter !!. However I did receive a registration form (only pointed out to me last week). It's a small A5 piece of paper cleverly hidden between forms for referring a friend/further product request forms. Strangely enough, at first glance all these A5 forms look identical and there is no heading on the registration form to tell me that it's a registration form for my attention, you have to read the small print !! I think this is deliberate masking attempt, in order to avoid paying back the money. That in itself is deceitful.

Also, I think that if the product I was originally sold over the phone, is no longer the product I am receiving i.e cash back loan, at the very least HFS should inform you that you have missed the registration period. That way I could have paid off the loan a lot earlier saving on the interest. I only continued it for the full 5 years because I thought I'd have to in order to receive my cash-back.

HFS don't make it clear that there are two separate agreements, one with Paragon (for the lending of the money) & one with HFS (for the cashback), although all the dealings and forms are sent to HFS.

I think HFS should at least have sent their Terms & Conditions first, before I signed on the dotted line with Paragon Finance for the loan. That way I could have made the decision as to whether this looked a bit dodgy with all the form filling necessary to obtain the cash-back.

I also feel that HFS terms & conditions should be on the actual forms I sign ,and NOT on the back of a promotional leaflet.

I certainly won't be letting this bunch of criminals get away with my money, even if I have to phone them 20 times a day for 5 years.

HFS can easily push the blame on to it's customers, or the postal system for not having to make payouts, but I wonder whether I'm a minority here ?

If any one has any similar stories, advice/ news updates, please keep us posted.

I too have been caught out by the small print used in this HFS Loans Ltd scheme. I missed the bit about a registration form in amongst the 12 pages of A4 small print and especially the bit that put the onus on the borrower to notify HFS if the registration form wasn't received. This was amongst the 21 points that HFS had to delete or amend after The Office of Fair Trading had finished with them (see OFT bulletins 21 and 22, unfair terms and conditions).

Not surprisingly then they soon ceased with this interest back offer after this ruling from the OFT. To me that tells it's own story.

My circumstances are slightly different to previous reviewers as I never received the form in the first place. HFS say they sent a recorded package with the form in but Royal Mail couldn't deliver it and we never collected it from the sorting office. If a card had been put through our door for a recorded letter I would have collected it as it would be important or valuable.

I asked for proof of posting and HFS sent a photocopy of a window envelope (so obviously no address shown) with a recorded delivery sticker which could relate to anyone and anything.

These can only be traced back 2 years and our loan was taken out 5 years ago. The date they claim to have sent this is even stranger as it's the date their agent called to our house to sign us up so why didn't he bring it, get us to sign it with all the other documents and take it with him for processing?

Answer: Because it would have removed one of their get out of paying up options. HFS don't inform you they haven't received the form and you will not be able to claim your interest back because they know you would borrow from a reputable lender at half the 12.9 APR they were charging (very high for a secured loan) and pay their loan off. The first you know of the problem then is when you try to claim back the interest at the end of the loan term.

We stand to lose £4000 mainly through their use of ambiguous wording i.e. "on the completion of the loan" I would have thought this would mean at the end of the loan term but no this is the date the loan agreement is signed!! When it's time to claim though the wording "completion" changes to "commencement" in the small print.

I would avoid this company like the Asian bird flu if you know what's good for your health. For those who don't know they have joined Capital One so I'd avoid them also until evidence of Capital One changing the culture at HFS is evidenced.

HFS are now part of Capital One and are a BROKER not a lender......... They do not charge up-front-fees. Any fees are added to the loan.

HFS Loans Ltd - HFS Interest Back loan promotion.

Have you got one?

Have you been able to claim your money back?

How many people have been unable to claim back?

I saw a question on this site for HFS Loans Ltd Interest Back Offer from the site-registered member. As I am having difficulty claiming my Interest back from HFS and as they can not find my registration, I wonder if others are having similar difficulties with HFS offer. They are asking me now to prove that I had registered by producing a proof of posting or registered post proof. It appears that their registration site has been relocated several times and have lost the registration form. As I had posted my registration by ordinary post, and then next day followed it up by a telephone conversation it would be touch and go. In the telephone converstion, five years ago, I was assured that the registration has been received and this will be confirmed. This was never confirmed by HFS.

To my chagrin I am now finding that this offer may have been a ploy to drum up the loan applicants but dishonour the company's Interest Back Offer at a later date under various excuses. There are many others who have suffered similar problems and FISA needs to act rigourously.