advice re loan Black horse

tommy44

Hello everyone

I am hoping somebody could advise me please regarding a loan I took out 4 years ago. The loan was secure and for the sum of £15.000 for 300 months. Mad I know, but needed at the time, so please don't judge me.

The interest per month was 0.759% APR 9.5
monthly payment 126.99. Over 300 months

Along with the loan I was asked if I would like protection, which I obviously must have agreed to. This amount was for £2550.00.

Interest per month 0.759% APR 9.5%
monthly repayment 21.59. Over 300 months.

Combined monthly payment of £148.58. This amount has increased twice since then in April 2004 and I am now paying 170.44 per month.

I am now going through financial difficulty, in fact have been going through difficulty for some time, and have been budgeting, and trying to bring my out goings down. I decided to cancel the protection part of the loan, as this would hopefully reduce the monthly payment. I rang them on Wednesday to cancel, having rang them on Monday, and being told that as it was a joint loan, my partner had to be there when cancelling. So I rang back on Wednesday, and wasn't asked for the partners permission, who was there. I was initially told that yes, it was ok to cancel, but the chap I spoke to said that he would have to ring me back later after checking the paper work.

When he did, he told me that the protection part of the loan no longer existed as it ran out after 60 months, and that I was 61 months into the loan. Also that my monthly payment would not be reduced.

Now this is my query. I do not recall ever being told that the protection ceased after 5 years. There is no way I would have taken out cover for the term of the loan, for it to finish after 5 years. This would not and does not make sense. I said to the chap on the phone, "so, say, what if I had been 10 years into the loan, and one of us had been made redundant, or died, and rang to make a claim on the insurance, I would only have found out then that the protection had ceased at 5 years". No way would I have agreed to this cover, particularly, as it states on the agreement that the loan for 2,500 was also for 300 months". The chap said that they no longer do loans that way, and that if I disagreed with what he was telling me, then I could write a letter of complaint.

I checked the agreement which I signed, and it does confirm that the protection ceases after 5 years, which I obviously can't argue with. What I am arguing with, is that this was never verbally explained to me when I took out the protection. Had I been I would never had taken out the protection in the first place. I know people will say that I should have read the small print before I signed, which I know is probably true, but I didn't feel it necessary, as I was lead to believe that it ran for the full term of the loan, which is is in black and white on the agreement, as a separate payment to the actual loan of 15,000.

Does this sound right to you?. I am not looking to getting off from paying the loan or for getting any monies back. I just wanted my monthly payments to be reduced by the amount I had been paying for Protection part of the agreement. ie: the twenty odd pound insurance, which would have helped me with my monthly budget.

Is there anyway I can fight this. I am so stressed out anyway, that I feel like just accepting it, but also feel that an injustice has been done, and that I should argue my case.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

regards.

tommy44

Hi again

Just wanted to bump this in the hope somebody could advise.

Thanks.