Loan challenge failed - solicitors left us high and dry!

jimmack

Hi all

Having seen the hype following the introduction of the Consumer Credit Act 2006, we applied to a firm of well known solicitors in the south of England. We sent off our loan agreement and supporting doc's and they responded by telling us we had a strong case as the interest rates stipulated contradicted each other (there were a number of other areas they said also made the loan unenforceable).

We accepted their professional advice and terms and for the next six months paid our loan DD to them. During this time we were inundated with calls from the bank and despite complaining to the bank and the solicitors on inumerable occasions, we were unable to stop the calls which normally happened late at night.

Eventually, some six months ago, we discovered that the solicitors had completely mis-read the loan agreement and that there were, in fact, no grounds to challenge the legality of the loan. By this time, the bank had sold off the loan to a debt recovery agency and our credit rating was displayed as poor (having previously been excellent).

The solicitors have since repaid us the monies we paid to them and are now refusing to communicate with us. We are looking to emigrate in 2010 and with a poor credit rating, we may suffer.

My question is; can the solicitors leave us in a worse position than when we started our engagement and simply walk away? We have no idea how we can affordably repay the loan, what the new terms may be, or even if we could negotiate terms. We don't even know who now owns the loan.

What about our severely damaged credit rating - aren't the solicitors responsible for ensuring it is repaired?
I'd like to think the solicitors have been professionally negligent and would be happy to sue if the consensus agreed (and I knew of a good solicitor who might take this on!)

Any advise would be gratefully received.

Jim

dmg24

Have the sols admitted their mistake? If so, you will need to make a formal complaint against them.

TBH I have little sympathy, and I can understand why the bank were not sympathetic. When you borrow money, you agree to pay it back. If you choose to attempt to use some 'loophole' to get out of this, you really do not deserve to borrow ever again.

jimmack

dmg24

I wasn't seeking moral judgement - you don't know, nor have you asked about our circumstances so I think this very unfair. However, thanks for the response - we have challenged formally and given the firm 10 working days to respond.

Jim

MrsTinks

Are you sure they are "real" solicitors? Sadly there are plenty of these cowboy companies about and whilst I personally disagree with the whole "trying to get out of what you have borrowed on a technicality" issue then I do wholeheartedly think these cowboys should be banned...

Can you do anything? Well... ultimately it was your responcibility to pay your loan repayments - you should have ensured the payments were recieved by the bank no matter who you asked to carry this out for you. So... can your credit score be fixed? I VERY much doubt it. Do you have any recourse against the company? Doubt it - they refunded you the money I would have thought the most you'd get is money to cover any charges incurred by the missed/late payments...

Sadly the most you can take away from this is a lesson: If it looks too good to be true then it probably is and you should always do your own homework where you're finances are concerned.

sp1987

It was your choice to not pay the loan installments to the bank yourself. The bank were right to default/damage your credit rating as you did not keep to the terms of your agreement with them.

I do not have much sympathy because you have only received a negative effect on our credit rating due to non repayment of debts. The same happens for people who cannot afford to pay their full repayment each month, yet those people are trying to pay their debt off.

Though having the debt sold on means you can probably arrange a more favourable repayment arrangement.

Apples2

To be fair your intention from the start was to get out of repaying your loan.

You had the money, you spent it but then paid someone to help you avoid repaying it.

Take some moral judgment from those of us who HAVE some morals (it makes the rest of feel there is SOME honesty left in this World).

I'm another one who is glad to see your credit rating trashed, you played with fire and got burnt.

A dishonest company preying on a dishonest customer... sounds a great partnership

Sympathy is somewhere between !!!!!! and syphilis.

gordikin

jimmack wrote: »

....Any advise would be gratefully received.

Jim

Pay off what you borrowed + any charges.

gordikin

jimmack wrote: »

dmg24

I wasn't seeking moral judgement - you don't know, nor have you asked about our circumstances so I think this very unfair. However, thanks for the response - we have challenged formally and given the firm 10 working days to respond.

Jim

dmg24 has replied and given you her opinion based on the limited information you supplied (she's really helpful on MSE). If you want a more definitive answer please supply more details and I'm sure she'll be happy to reply. Personally as I read it so far, you borrowed money and you have looked for a loophole to avoid paying it back and have been 'burned'. I'm not sympathetic if that is the case.

~Brock~

To be fair to the posters taking issue with this, it wasn't like you couldn't pay because you carried on paying the solicitors instead !!

Let me guess, do the solicitors have a name beginning with the letter 'E' by any chance?

Unfortunately its not just Claims Management Companies that have got the morals of alley cats, many previously respectable firms of solicitors have drifted in on the bandwagon also, and are probably now regretting it - especially as ATE insurance must be near impossible to find nowadays.

You should raise a formal complaint with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Unlike the Ministry of Justice, who appear to be completely blind to the issues of advance fee fraud going on riight under their noses in the claims management industry, I would suspect that the SRA will be much more intetrested in such cases where a solicitor is involved.

gordikin

jimmack, what have you done with the money the solicitors returned to you?

mabski

your credit rating was going to get trashed even if your loan had been unenforcable. they should have explained that to you .