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I hope that I have posted this in the correct area, if not would the mods please move it
Hi
I would like to tell you my story regarding this company. My wife and I took out a secured loan with this company in Feb 2007 for £3000, it was to buy our son a car and it was all arranged through a broker. We believed we were getting a fixed loan over 5 years at £79 a month which was within our budget.
After a couple of years the interest rates started to go up nationally, swift contacted us twice in a period of 3 months saying because of the rate rises our payments would now be £87 a month. Although not happy as we thought it was fixed ( also the payments never decreased despite interest rates hitting rock bottom) we paid the increase as it was not a massive sum. Also around this time I suffered an injury which left me disabled and unable to work, we were having to survive on my wifes salary so some of the payments to Swift were late. No more than 5 were late but they were all paid in full and so were the £23 in charges they applied each time.
Eventually I manged to get my benefits sorted out off the DLA and the DWP, my wife had to go part-time because I need alot of care. Now our finances were sorted again, we never missed another payment to them, and were looking forward to the end of the loan in Feb 2012.
In January we got a letter off them saying that when the 60th installment was paid in February, we would still owe £6000. I was totally baffled and contacted them and it seems the sums we had been paying every month were not enough to cover the loan despite us paying the sums they told us to. They also claimed there were costs incurred by them for the use of a solicitor twice, despite the fact that we never had any contact or letters from solicitors representing them. After telling them we were making no more payments they said as a gesture of goodwill they would knock £600 off the total, I refused and said I would contact the FSA.
It has now basically taken the FSA 4 months to decide that I should be offered £750 instead of £600 they offered. So there you have it, we borrow £3000 and have paid back over £5000 yet we still owe them £5250 if we accept the goodwill gesture of £750. I don't know what to do next, as stated it was a secured loan so in theory they can take our house off us. We cannot pay the money back as I will not be able to work again due to being left quadraplegic after the accident. Surely this has to be fraud? They tell us to pay a certain a sum which we do then find out 5 years later that actually we should have been paying more, I just cannot get my head around it.
Any suggestions for my next route? thought about my MP or trading standards, surely this can't be legal it's worse than a High Street loan shark?
Hi
I would like to tell you my story regarding this company. My wife and I took out a secured loan with this company in Feb 2007 for £3000, it was to buy our son a car and it was all arranged through a broker. We believed we were getting a fixed loan over 5 years at £79 a month which was within our budget.
After a couple of years the interest rates started to go up nationally, swift contacted us twice in a period of 3 months saying because of the rate rises our payments would now be £87 a month. Although not happy as we thought it was fixed ( also the payments never decreased despite interest rates hitting rock bottom) we paid the increase as it was not a massive sum. Also around this time I suffered an injury which left me disabled and unable to work, we were having to survive on my wifes salary so some of the payments to Swift were late. No more than 5 were late but they were all paid in full and so were the £23 in charges they applied each time.
Eventually I manged to get my benefits sorted out off the DLA and the DWP, my wife had to go part-time because I need alot of care. Now our finances were sorted again, we never missed another payment to them, and were looking forward to the end of the loan in Feb 2012.
In January we got a letter off them saying that when the 60th installment was paid in February, we would still owe £6000. I was totally baffled and contacted them and it seems the sums we had been paying every month were not enough to cover the loan despite us paying the sums they told us to. They also claimed there were costs incurred by them for the use of a solicitor twice, despite the fact that we never had any contact or letters from solicitors representing them. After telling them we were making no more payments they said as a gesture of goodwill they would knock £600 off the total, I refused and said I would contact the FSA.
It has now basically taken the FSA 4 months to decide that I should be offered £750 instead of £600 they offered. So there you have it, we borrow £3000 and have paid back over £5000 yet we still owe them £5250 if we accept the goodwill gesture of £750. I don't know what to do next, as stated it was a secured loan so in theory they can take our house off us. We cannot pay the money back as I will not be able to work again due to being left quadraplegic after the accident. Surely this has to be fraud? They tell us to pay a certain a sum which we do then find out 5 years later that actually we should have been paying more, I just cannot get my head around it.
Any suggestions for my next route? thought about my MP or trading standards, surely this can't be legal it's worse than a High Street loan shark?
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