Barclays First Plus FOS Mediation

[Fred]

It seems there is now a willingness for the above to negotiate settlement terms for customers who complained over interest & are mediated by the FOS. At long last.

The FOS has completely turned turtle on this subject following 100% refusal in the past to accept any claims from consumers. It is beyond belief that regulation can behave in this way after endorsing the very loans they now recognise as problematic. No explanation, no nothing, its like the exact same points of value were never put to them even though this started over ten years ago.

This is a major turning point on consumer struggles in this particular field, its embarrassing for the regulators who, clearly, were influenced by means other than consumer rights.

I hope all of the alleged 100K + consumers make a complaint, they should, its their money back not a wild claim.

[shafted]

I have had a lot of trouble with this lender, its done and dusted now but I would urge anyone who has had a loan with them to consider the fairness of Interest rates in general falling so dramatically and Firstplus not passing on any reduction
My understanding is that the FOS are prepared to listen now and furthermore my hope is that if you put in a decent complaint to Elderbridge and or Firstplus they will be aware the recompense you are entitled to and you will get an offer that goes someway to giving you your money back.
The amount of money due back can be in the tens of Thousands of pounds, and whilst they may chose to make you go through a couple of hoops and wait a couple or four months, I would suggest it is well worth it

[MrM]

I’ve taken up with FOS who rejected my claim in 2010. They have said they will consider reviewing my complaint again and re-examining their decision. Fingers crossed. If you complained back then and got rejected I’d suggest you call them and ask for a review.

[Dennisc88]

Finally FOS are assisting consumers to get what is rightly their own money back from Firstplus, long hard process but know thousands been have repaid.
Anyone who has or had a loan through firstplus/elderbridge need to the get the complaints in and followed up with the FOS after 8 weeks.

[myfamily2013]

The FOS have finally seen that there is a massive issue with these loans after years of customers telling them. I was taken to court by them in 2013/2014 for possession but successfully got a decision from the judge that the interest rate variation clause written in the contract was unfair (see Firstplus vs Murphy & Dye) but others have not been so lucky - some have lost their homes to these people or are maybe still struggling to pay them

If you have a first plus loan (now transferred to Elderbridge) please make sure you make a complaint to Elderbridge or Barclays first plus asap! please feel free to use the court judgement above too - although it did not set a precedent, it will only help you!

Please also check out the following urls (use chrome) - these are archived web pages from first plus's website

the first is in 2006 - under the section
How does the variable interest rate affect my loan?

they state quite clearly

"From time-to-time, your monthly repayments may go up or down in accordance with the Bank of England interest rate movements."

http://web.archive.org/web/20060812175251/http://www.firstplus.co.uk/new_customers_faq.aspx#loanfor

Yet they did not reduce their rates when the BOE rate dropped to a historic low did they?

then 2008 where you can see they changed it to say "This is the rate of interest that fluctuates over time with general interest rates" – becoming quite vague in their explanations.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080223123115/http://www.firstplus.co.uk/aboutourloans/Pages/loan-jargon-buster.aspx#v

And finally in 2015 close to when they sold their loan book to Elderbridge they then changed their website and then said that it is not tied to the BOE or FHBR

http://web.archive.org/web/20150511120847/http://www.firstplus.co.uk/FAQs(please select Interest rate changes for the dropdown to view)

Here it states

"The product is a variable rate product and the rates charged on the loan are not tied to the Bank of England or Finance House Base Rate.

Our terms and conditions permit changes to the rate for various reasons, including to reflect changes to interest rates and to ensure our business is carried out prudently, efficiently and competitively. The reasons which allow us to vary the interest rate are set out in your loan terms and conditions."

This is a clear contradiction to the version in 2006 when most customers took out their loans.

This is simply mis-selling of product as well as being unfair, you have not been able to predict or rely on any specific market deviations that may give rise to a change, moreover, they do not provide any specific data to enable you as the customer to plan for any such changes.

I have now not paid them for 2 years and complained again last year - my case is with the FOS and I hope that it will resolved soon, I have done a simple internet search and found a freedom of information request to the FOS for the numbers of complaints about this, the reply was that they have negotiated settlements on 150 cases and have 60 outstanding (this letter was dated July 2020)

I in my complaint to first plus I advised that I have been given a lot of information from a friend who was in court with them but due to what she was about to ask for in court they very quickly settled her account in full after previously giving her a settlement figure of 189k! Based on this I stopped paying them 2 years ago and they have not chased me - now I do not suggest you do that as it will affect your credit score - I did because I had already suffered the default on my credit report for 6 years so would not affect me and I wanted them to take me to court again but they have not even written to me to ask why I have stopped paying.

So again please make sure you make a complaint now - you will need to give Elderbridge 8 weeks to resolve -they will deny that they have done anything wrong but after that make sure you send to the FOS. Do not be put off by anyone on other advise sites such as Moneysaving expert or Consumer Action Group, you have been miss-sold miss-led and generally treated badly and it's time for payback!

[amersall]

About time with this "untouchable" company. I urge anybody who has one of these loans to make a complaint Now. It is a pity that they are still not holding their hands up and giving redress to all customers, more importantly, regulators are still helping them to shirk their responsibilities. All of this result is down to the determination of a group of people who I am in awe of and I congratulate all of them What a result!

[shafted]

Yes Amersall there are some people that have really put their shoulder to the wheel on this, glad to see some of the stars of this saga returning to the task, looking back ithey have been proved right and the OFT reprimand was a massive achievement, finally a decade on we are looking at getting some recompense on this issue.
It is possible to win I am free of them, they on the other hand are not free of me....
Onwards

[Fred]

Keep up the good work guys, lets make it a rollercoaster ride for doing the "right thing" for all those involved.

[Fred]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-...8frTbUOkfJrtPw

Are the consumers the difficult ones ? or is it the collaboration that manifested itself in regulation that is you're backlog issue ?

Either which way, you let good consumers down badly with uninformed piss poor decisions that you now are treating "turn turtle" please explain, Caroline Wayman. its your mess.

[Fred]

A complaint coming from a dyslexic commoner summed up for the regulators that do not know what consumer regulator means..................

[shafted]

Now that there is
1) Focus on the FOS and
2) A baisis upon which Firstplus are settling these claims

I would suggest its a good idea to get your complaint in
If you have complained before it might be an idea to see if FOS will revisit decision, if not then its complain to Firstplus if no joy the FOS,

I have heard of some customers getting their loan redeemed and tens of thousands of pounds back

[Fred]

A disclosure that illustrates we the consumer are not a priority, regulation in collaboration with one side means nothing more that you would expect from a third world dictatorship....................

[Fred]

A disclosure that illustrates we the consumer are not a priority, regulation in collaboration with one side means nothing more that you would expect from a third world dictatorship....................

The irony is in relation to the reprimand, which, held no information other "interest rate variations" this published by the OFT. The facts of the conversations internally clearly show that the lender has been given the opportunity to alter their policies in light of an investigation but prior to any investigative result/s.

This in tern minimised any possible damages that the licensee may have suffered as a result of any procedural backlash. Something was & still is clearly wrong here & its generally the consumer that pays the cost.

You work for the consumer Mr Regulator, you did not do your job. You protected the banks best interests over & above what your responsibilities are or were.

You do not deserve the publics trust that we should be able to rely on.

[MrM]

A disclosure that illustrates we the consumer are not a priority, regulation in collaboration with one side means nothing more that you would expect from a third world dictatorship....................

I recall back in 2010 everyone who complained was told that there was nothing wrong and everything was ok with the agreements only to subsequently find out years later that the people supposedly protecting our rights, the regulators were in fact collaborating with the perpetrators they were meant to protecting us from. Scandalous

[Fred]

I think the silence surrounding this is testament to the lack of argument in return. Lots of influential folks now know my message is rather serious & very controversial. Thing is, it needs to be said, it needs to come out.

We does the "joe public" need to trust our regulatory bodies. All I have stated suggests we should not trust anybody, especially the regulators.

Legal Beagles, you speak with these people on a regular basis. Please do the right thing.