First Direct Loans - Irresponsible Lending?

[andy1ad]

Hi I am helping a friend in relation to a series of Loans that were agreed with First Direct around 2018/9. I'd be grateful for a position in regards to this; I'll work to take appropriate action based on the feedback from people on here who are more well versed in this area! The query relates to irresponsible lending against 3 unaffordable loans and what the best course of action should be. Aware further info may be needed to flesh this out which I can supply over time. The case for the irresponsible lending could be:

• Person in question was approved for £22,000 worth of loans in a 2 month period with a further £2000 loan approved 6 months later. There was a debt on a non First Direct credit card at this point (I'll try to identify the position of this debt - e.g number of missed payments).
  • Loan 1: £15k, agreed 12/7/18
  • Loan 2: £7k, agreed 19/8/18
  • Loan 3 : £2k, agreed 3/4/19
• The total repayments were over £400 when the salary of the applicant was approx £2000 a month with high living costs - there was evidence that the overdraft on a First Direct personal account was being used most months.
• The person in question has had ongoing health concerns (including mental health means - receives Personal Independence Payment (PIP) due to disabilities) and presently is able to work part time.
• After receiving loan 2 and 3 my friend paid back amounts as she realised the loans were unaffordable but then was also in financial difficulty due to health so needed to request amounts back from the loan overpayments which was done in the case loan 2.
• My friend says she told First Direct about health issues and unemployed which is when they transferred the the £3000 overpayment on loan 2 back to her.

At the moment she has made token payments through a debt management plan for over a year now in the hopes that I would be able to return to full time employment. Unfortunately, current circumstances mean she is unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future and I have no assets to sell to help clear my debt. She has asked if there are grounds for the debt to be written off because of irresponsible lending above.

I have recommended a Subject Access Request (SAR) in the interim.

[echat11]

If you are saying 'irresponsible lending' then lodge a formal complaint with the creditor, when she get's their Final Response, if she's not happy then, lodge a complaint with the FOS.

She can ask the Creditors to write off the debt due to her circumstances i.e. mental health etc which won't be improving anytime soon.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/de...debt---letter/

[andy1ad]

Thanks for response - appreciated. I will start to draft a letter based off original details in first post to make an irresponsible lending case with First Direct. I'll probably post that on here for any help and comments. I must say I was surprised that so much credit was approved; would be interesting to see the risk strategy and affordability assessments on this one.