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Swift Advances - Unregulated Consumer Credit Agreement secured on home

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  • Swift Advances - Unregulated Consumer Credit Agreement secured on home

    Hi everyone, I'm new to this site, was recommended by BBC. Having read some of these posts, it seems we have fallen into the same old trap, in Feb 2004 took out a £42,000 loan secured on my home, when signed the agreement the interest rate was being quoted as being monthly rate of interest variable 0.97% which on the agreement we signed was said to be the same as a mortgage rate of 11.64%. At the time wasnt concerned as we were paying 9% on our primary Halifax mortgage.

    As most of you will probably identify with, we were not aware of any problems.....until that is the credit crunch and interests fell.....but not with Swift Advances, who continued to increase their interest rates until it reached 13.68% pa in Dec 2007 and has so far remained at that level since. It was then that I started looking into this company and what it was we had actually signed with them....thanks to Norton Finance, we were in a UNREGULATED AGREEMENT!

    My ex and I tried to re-finance this loan without much success, it was pointed out to us that we were paying interest rates more appropriate with an unsecured loan! Everyone who has seen this agreement, all agree with one thing....Swift Advances is taking the p***.

    We have tried the CAB whose special legal team could not offer us any assistance other than confirming that the loan and rates were unfair.
    I worked out that by May 2011 we had already paid back £42,000 we had originally borrowed, and if we carried on paying until the end term of the agreement...1) we would have paid them back a whopping £132,000 and 2) it was likely at the end of the loan period as per the agreement we had signed, we would probably still owe them some money due to the fees they were charging us to contact our 1st mortgage company regularly to ensure we were meeting all our contractual requirements on our house....and then the cheeky buggers were charging us to file the letter they received in reply from the Halifax confirming we were uptodate with our repayments. This of course has been stopped and some of the charges were refunded but not all.

    At the moment my ex and I are trying to sell the house. Recently we thought we had a buyer for our home and when we requested a redemption figure, they still want us to pay them another whopping £37,000.

    I expect this is a similar story to many of you on here. I'm frustrated with the whole situation and although we were not successful getting the CAB to fight this company, I have this morning been to see my local MP to see if he can help. We had found out from the CAB back in May 2011 that 2 years after we signed this agreement the law was changed to stop these type of unfair agreements being available. Unfortunately that only helps new borrowers and not the ones like all of us that were signed before that time as any law wasnt retrospective to current agreements.

    Now I am very bitter that this company is making millions out of those who cant afford, especially at a time when everyone else is cutting back. My worry now is if interest rates start to rise again....even Halifax have recently increased its interest rate for the 1st time since the crunch....these rip-off cowboys will use it as an excuse to raise their rates even higher.

    I'm hoping my MP will bring this company and others like it to the attention of Government....and hope someone can put an end to their antics and help the rest of us sleep easy.

    Thanks for listening

    Regards

    Kat
    Tags: None

  • #2
    Re: Swift Advances - Unregulated Consumer Credit Agreement secured on home

    Hi katinwales,
    Your quote

    "and hope someone can put an end to their antics and help the rest of us sleep easy!".

    No one is trying harder than me to achieve this.....you are not alone.

    Sparkie

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Swift Advances - Unregulated Consumer Credit Agreement secured on home

      I took a loan out with swift advance, 8 years ago for £5,000 i ended up missing 3 payments (job loss) but got back on track so after 5 years was up, thinking it was about paid up, i phoned them, and was told i still owe £7500 i was told i had charges added, i was not happy but what could i do, a year later i phoned them to see how much the balance was, shock! it was still about £7300, what they didn't tell me was I'm still getting charges each mouth so i was only paying about £25 a month off my balance, why was i not told this!, i phoned them up and said its going to take my all my life to pay it off, i said i would rather go bankrupt then pay any more money to them, i was told they would look into this, about a week later, i received a letter form them saying that they are taking off all my charges and interest from the the start of my next payment, so all my payment would come off my balance, i have now got it down to £770 and feel lucky as i have read some of the nightmare's on forums.....
      Last edited by coxy; 27th July 2013, 00:12:AM. Reason: spelling

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Swift Advances - Unregulated Consumer Credit Agreement secured on home

        Oh! i forgot they did take me to court and got the deeds to our house, when i pay up, how do i get them back?

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Swift Advances - Unregulated Consumer Credit Agreement secured on home

          Hi coxy, & welcome to Legal Beagles.

          Why not join Sparkie & co

          http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...t-Advances-Plc

          (283 pages - 7056 posts - & counting!)
          CAVEAT LECTOR

          This is only my opinion - "Opinions are made to be changed --or how is truth to be got at?" (Byron)

          You and I do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.
          Cohen, Herb


          There is danger when a man throws his tongue into high gear before he
          gets his brain a-going.
          Phelps, C. C.


          "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!"
          The last words of John Sedgwick

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Swift Advances - Unregulated Consumer Credit Agreement secured on home

            Hello all. I am new to this site but due to a Swift Advances problem and web searches I decided this site seemed the most knowledgeable. My problem with swift is not so easy to deal with although there are still the usual Swift flagrant misrepresentation and unfairness to customers with loans. My ex wife took out a £30,000 loan on a jointly owned property fraudulently in 2006, by signing the papers as if I had agreed to the loan. Since the first year of the loan it has been in debt and Swift have added colossal charges to the loan and gained repossession papers as early as 2008 although had not followed them through. I found out about the loan by chance April 29th this year when my son gave me a letter addressed to me at that address (he was concerned as I have been absent from there since 2003). Anyway I was horrified as it was repossession papers for 10 day after I got sight of the letter. I did the usual ranting to the ex who admitted it, so I approached Swift and what a joke they are. Their initial stance when I explained was 'oh really' - basically they said not their problem you prove it? I also reported the fraud to Swifts solicitor. I also reported it to the Police who said they could not help as the crime was to Swift and was for them to follow up, they did give me a crime report number. I got the repossession order set aside by the court, but Swift automatically put it back on as a fast track case ! The catalogue of errors Swift have committed is crazy, they are so cock-sure every time I contact them. I recently sent them a Defence statement regarding the fraud only to have them send it back saying it was not the correct format, and now they are trying to 'BAR' me from defending the fraud case ?? Locally to me there are no Solicitors who offer Legal Aid so I am at a loss as to what to do now. They refuse to supply original documents for when the loan was taken out by the ex, so I cannot see the T&Cs of the loan. When I asked the ex how she set the loan up she said it was over the phone and by post, with no physical contact, so no concise or diligent checks done as to the legitimacy of the details applicable to the loan - can anyone advise please ......

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Swift Advances - Unregulated Consumer Credit Agreement secured on home

              Hi tashiwarrior and welcome!

              You've come to the right place, there is an extensive thread about Swift Advances, which has been running for several years and gets updated several times a day. The thread is in the VIP area, which is only accessible to those who chose to subscribe. The area has been set up to keep posts from prying eyes. You may wish to consider subscribing as noted below, it only costs £9! :thumb:

              Go to settings, the third group down is 'My settings', under 'My account', the last item is paid subscriptions. Under VIP member subscription, choose one year £9 or 10 years £25. See below. :grin: Attached Thumbnails

              Once you have your access sorted, you'll have access to the thread.

              If you are still facing repossession issues, you may want to start a new thread here: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...surance-Issues (no VIP subscription required).

              Comment

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