Red Driving School Loan with Barclays

bubsblooms

dugdug03 wrote: »

I wanted to learn to become a driving instructer, it was going to cost me £3,600.

When i was in the office i got accepted finance and signed the paper, i was never sent any credit agreements intill 1 year after when the payment was ment to kick in, only to notice they had charged me £3000 in intrest and my total repayment due was now £6,600

if i would i have known this i would have never done it, any advise from anyone?

Hi there - my husband is in the exact same boat - we are currently fighting to get Red to refund Barclays for training that was never given. They totally mislead at the initial interview to discuss ADI training and we are trying via OFT / local MP / Financial Ombudsman and anyone else we can think of to get this sorted!
Have a look on Facebook at the "Anti Red Driving School" group. You are far from alone on this one. Not great getting comments like the ones so far though is it?? Yes hindsight is a great thing but when unemployed and looking for a new career they are very clever at getting you in there - and ruining your future in the process :mad:

ILW

What was the reason for not completing the course?

inmypocketnottheirs

ILW wrote: »

What was the reason for not completing the course?

Couldn't be bothered?

Thought it was going to be easy?

janet10_2

since signing with red i have become worried in light of all the recent bad publicity about going into liquidation etc.my 12 months int free is nearly up and i am due to pay the £3600+ in april.can anyone tell me if there is anyway that i can do to get out of paying.the loan agreemet is with barclays.as red have gone into receivership does this mean the new company will not forefill the agreed; eg they pay for up to 3 attemps on the theory test then the following tests.am i in contract with barclays or red and if they do not forefill the above are they in breach of contract which would mean that i do not have to pay?

jimcsnr

Reading some of the replys to the threads it seems like these people are defending Red! I too was taken in by the Red sales pitch, lay offs were looming and I thought that ADI training would be a good way to start a new career and still be able to pay the mortgage at the same time. I was led to believe that Red would ensure I got a pass in both part 2 & 3 it all sounded so simple, then I would be earning £30000 pa, no sweat. Failed the part 2 and was told I could start training again next year, but I would still have to pay all the test fees again.

In the mean time my Barclay loan kicked in, almost £300 pm. I rang Barclay's and told them I had been laid off and had taken a job on minimum wage, so they agreed to let me pay off the loan at £100 pm for the first year, then I'll have to appeal to Barclay's again to reduce the payment. Red has put me in a position that I can't see any way out of, they misled me, they didn't explain the consequences if I didn't pass or the amount I would have to repay to Barclay's.

Now Red are airing adverts stating that up to £600 a week can be earned. I've asked some ADI's about earnings and they all say it can take years of hard work to earn any where near that kind of money. It's time the government stepped in and done something about this con job. :mad:

Emmzi

there are 2 issues here

1. the contract with Red. did they fulfil the terms of it i.e. do what the contract said they would do, for £3,000? If anyone hass a contract they are willing to post I am sure it'd be interesting reading. Unti we see it no idea if trading standards etc or whatever they are called these days should be involved.

2. The loan agreement with barclayss. Odds on it's a standard personal loan with 12 month deferred payment; Barclays have loaned the money, which has been passed to Red, and they are due their money back wether or not Red fulfilled their contract.

only1woz

I looked into becoming an ADI a few years ago, after seeing the promises of adverts like RED and other similar companies.

A simple google search led me to a few forums where ADIs post, and you could see that you clearly were not going to make anywhere near £30,000 pa.

I think it's very hard work building up your contacts until you have a regular client base. Most ADIs I've spoken to mainly get almost 100% of their work thru word-of-mouth.

Good luck fighting the loan, unfortunately I think you're going to need all the luck you can get.

ruffrob

My commonlaw wife got a £3000.00 POUND loan from "BARCLAYS BANK" for me to do this course through "RED DRIVING SCHOOL" because i failed to get credit.It took over one year for my crb to come back,in the meantime i had to carry on working to pay my mortgage,work dried up due to the reccession kicking in so i applied to "RED" for a refund as my commonlaw wife had started to pay the loan back to "BARCLAYS BANK" because the 12 month time period had expired and therefore she has to pay nearly £8000.00 POUNDS BACK NOW!INTEREST!I have had lots of communications between the "D.S.A" and "RED" and "BARCLAYS" only to be batted about like a table tennis ball and at alot of time loss and headache to me,i still have not managed to get a refund and am no better of now as when all this started 2 years ago.AS FAR AS IM'E CONCERNED RED AND BARCLAYS BANK ARE AS GOOD AS PARTNERS IN CRIME AND IF WE,THE GENERAL PUBLIC DID WHAT THEY DO,WE WOULD BE LOCKED UP FOR DAYLIGHT ROBBERY!!Me and my wife have suffered no end and are still suffering.we can do nothing about it all but do the damn course which i really do not wish to do now,surely this is wrong?Can anybody help us and everyone else that feels the same as we do."RIPPED OFF"!:mad:

Apples2

That's two posts on this thread alone where the poster doesn't seem to be aware this wasn't an Interest Free loan.

The RED Scammers aside, How was this sold guys? Did they make out it was interest free?

What does the agreement you signed on the day say? Does it mention an apr or a Total Charge for Credit?

One person not knowing the loan carries interest fair enough..... but two??

marmitedog

The nature of the relationship between Barclays partner finance and Red has been discussed here before.

Whilst individuals have to take responsibility for what they sign, Barclays must share some responsibility for the companies it chooses to do business with(and no doubt pay introducer commission) to.

Red seemed to sail very close to the wind with its sales pitch and marketing claims. Barclays should have been aware of this at a very early stage and managed the relationship a bit more carefully. No doubt their own loan sales targets clouded their judgement somewhat.

Simple common sense would dictate that £30k pa was unachievable - more people were being trained as ADIs than they taught to drive!

No advice other than to do your homewrok next time or join forces with others to try and get some leeway from Barclays on payment terms.