Black Horse interest free loan period

11187512

Am brand new to this but ..here goes..
Took out a c£10,000 loan through Wickes with Black Horse Finance. the deal was six monthly payments then all interest refunded when you cleared the balance after six months.. or continue making payments at about 29% apr.
We were assured that BHF would write to us in good time before the 'due date' so that we could clear the o/s balance with funds that we had available.
We didn't receive any letter from BHF so i rang them, as it turns out just after the due date to be told that as we had not settled the account by the given day we were now tied in tothe interest agreement!!
Went mad at BHF who refused to budge so i contacted the Financial Ombudsman- what a very helpful/professional set up!
They stated that similar incidents were common place and i was wondering how many others have fallen foul of a non-existant letter as we have??
In case you're still awake/wondering- it cost about £900 to buy us out of the agreement and i have now formally complained to the Ombudsman regarding BHF.
Partly my fault i know, we should have been more aware of the date in question but is this really responsible lending on behalf of BHF- i think not!!!!

iolanthe07

No- this is unnecessary and serves no purpose

Your fault, really. I have entered into these kinds of agreements in the past and have always written a reminder in red in my diary well before the due date. They rely on people forgetting, but it is an expensive lesson. I don't think the ombudsman will take much interest, tbh.

CLAPTON

hope you get somewhere... do keep us informed of the result.

jpwjpw

No- this is unnecessary and serves no purpose

I know this sounds harsh, the way these deals work have always been obvious to me. They have to make money somehow so they rely on people not clearing the balance. It's very similar to other deals like mobile cashback schemes and balance transfers on credit cards etc...

Its up to you to read the contract and remember the dates to clear the credit by. Of course, the APR will be much higher to subsidise the people who do pay the money back before the 0% offer ends.

"We were assured that BHF would write to us in good time before the 'due date' "

That's commission based selling for you, if its not in the contract they are talking rubbish