Irresponsible lending?

Swci

In 2004 I went into my bank to speak to them about difficulties I was having meeting loan repayments. I had spoken to a debt management company but decided that the bank would be the best place to start.
The person I spoke to stated that there was no way of stopping the interest or reducing the payments I was making. His solution was to offer a new, larger, longer term loan in my partners name (he is now my husband). I said we could not afford the loan repayments on this loan either and was told that I did not have a choice, this was as low as the repayments would get. My husband was faxed a copy of the loan agreement which he signed and faxed back. We then dropped the 'hard copy' into the bank the next day.
We are now in a debt management plan, and have been since 2005. The debt is obviously larger than it would have been had I gone into debt management in the first place.
Is there any way I can get the debt reduced back down to the level it was when I first started having problems?
I would appreciate any advice, because whilst I accept the debt is ours, I am a little annoyed with the way I believe I was misadvised by the bank.

Thank you.

Rafter

If you can clearly demonstrate that you could not afford the repayments then the bank could be accused of misadvising you and not treating you fairly.

Your partner/husband should never have signed the loan agreement unfortunately as you are now jointly liable for the debt.

I think your best option is to get some advice from a debt charity like cccs, national debtline or citizens advice.

I would also set out clearly what you have above as a formal complaint in writing to your bank. This will set the clock rolling about a potential complaint to the ombudsman.

If you do want to post back with details about how much you were both earning, the size of the loan and your other debts someone can probably give some idea about how much of a case you might have.

You might also want to fill out a 'statement of affairs' to see how much you can reasonably afford to pay.

Good luck

R.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

shafted_fpc

tis a bit of a grey area, the non status guidlines from way back in 1997, stressed that you shouldnrt be encouraged to make unsecured debt into secured yet there was a great deal of business based on just this.

iresponsable lending has long been frowned upon but really very little done about it, who was it with and was there any PPI attached?

sorry more detail would be needed as there nay be things that could be done dependent on the detail of the loan.

Ames

CAB told me I had a case for misselling, but said it wouldn't get anywhere so wouldn't pursue it. I don't think there's much notice taken of complaints about it TBH.

I only wanted to complain so other people wouldn't get caught, but the banks have seen to that themselves.