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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
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
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