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I have an issue with a bridging loan lender -Bridging loans Ltd of Glasgow.
Cutting a very long story short we needed to borrow some money to assist a former friend and because of the complexity of the security and past credit issues our only option was a bridging lender. This was in the summer of 2008 when credit wasbecoming difficult to obtain. In any event we obtained the loan of £260,000 secured across our home and some development land. This was a 3 month loan with the option to extend at 55% of value. The land was sold for £250,000 but the purchasing developer was having financing problems themselves. Again I am going to cut this short as I could probably fill over 5 pages with the full details !!. All negotiations were handled through our solicitors so the lender was always aware of the situation. In March of 2009 we offered a partial settlement of £200,000 together with a further £40,000 which we were to receive from the developer at a rate of £5,000 per month. This was to be held on account by our solicitors in their favour only to be released to us when the balance of the bridging finance had been repaid. The loan had grown to £280,000 at this stage as we were paying a penal rate of interest as we had gone over term. A first charge over our house was also part of the deal which would have reduced the overall exposure of the lender. The lender agreed to accept the offer on Friday 13th March so plans were made to settle the loan on Monday 16th March. At 9.30 am on Monday 16th March our solicitors received a fax saying they had changed their minds and required full settlement. Both myself and my solicitor tried over several days to discuss this with the lender over the telephone but they refused to give any reason or to discuss thios in any way. We finally settled the loan on the 5th May but it had then increased to £308,000.
I requested under data protection a copy of the full file to receiev about 6 pages - it seems they kept no records of telephone conversations etc but felt they could charge us what they wished. I challenged the fees charged etc and the response was expected in that they felt their fees were reasonable and they had every right to change their mind as they felt fit !
The main thrust of this is I feel that the lender deliberately increased our indebtedness and how do I go about taking them to task. Because of the amount of money we lost over this we cannot afford to fund the legal costs so is anyone likely to do this on a no win no fee basis.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Adrian
Cutting a very long story short we needed to borrow some money to assist a former friend and because of the complexity of the security and past credit issues our only option was a bridging lender. This was in the summer of 2008 when credit wasbecoming difficult to obtain. In any event we obtained the loan of £260,000 secured across our home and some development land. This was a 3 month loan with the option to extend at 55% of value. The land was sold for £250,000 but the purchasing developer was having financing problems themselves. Again I am going to cut this short as I could probably fill over 5 pages with the full details !!. All negotiations were handled through our solicitors so the lender was always aware of the situation. In March of 2009 we offered a partial settlement of £200,000 together with a further £40,000 which we were to receive from the developer at a rate of £5,000 per month. This was to be held on account by our solicitors in their favour only to be released to us when the balance of the bridging finance had been repaid. The loan had grown to £280,000 at this stage as we were paying a penal rate of interest as we had gone over term. A first charge over our house was also part of the deal which would have reduced the overall exposure of the lender. The lender agreed to accept the offer on Friday 13th March so plans were made to settle the loan on Monday 16th March. At 9.30 am on Monday 16th March our solicitors received a fax saying they had changed their minds and required full settlement. Both myself and my solicitor tried over several days to discuss this with the lender over the telephone but they refused to give any reason or to discuss thios in any way. We finally settled the loan on the 5th May but it had then increased to £308,000.
I requested under data protection a copy of the full file to receiev about 6 pages - it seems they kept no records of telephone conversations etc but felt they could charge us what they wished. I challenged the fees charged etc and the response was expected in that they felt their fees were reasonable and they had every right to change their mind as they felt fit !
The main thrust of this is I feel that the lender deliberately increased our indebtedness and how do I go about taking them to task. Because of the amount of money we lost over this we cannot afford to fund the legal costs so is anyone likely to do this on a no win no fee basis.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Adrian
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