Barclays Bank Loan Rip Off

honeychunky

Hi, I'm fairly new to posting on this site, not sure if this is posted in the right section, I just wanted to have a rant about my unfair treatment by Barclays! It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, I wanted to borrow £10k to consolidate my debts. Barclays gave me a quote with an interest rate of 10.9%, I went away and thought about, and came back a week later to take out the loan. The personal banker I saw told me if I were to borrow more money, £12,100 to be exact, the interest rate would drop to 7.9% and the difference in the repayments would be small. Sounded like a good idea at the time, so I agreed, signed the paperwork and spent the money. Nearly 2 years later when having a clear out after moving house, I came across the paperwork and realised the interest rate I was paying was actually 13.9%. My fault for not checking the paperwork more closely I hear you cry, I couldn’t agree more, but I am a trusting person and never for one minute thought my bank would rip me off in such a way. I complained immediately to the branch and was offered a ‘’goodwill’’ refund of £248, which was the difference in the two interest rates to date. I was bullied into accepting the money (I was heavily pregnant, tired and emotional at the time!), but later complained again and was basically told to F*** **F :mad: by the branch manager because I accepted the money and they considered the matter closed. I complained again to the head office and once again was told to F*** **F:mad: . It has been 18 months since my first complaint, and I have been pre-occupied with 2 young children and moving to the other side of the country to start a new life. I would still like to take the matter further, but I’m worried I have left it too late. All I want is for them to give me another loan at the interest rate I was originally quoted, 10.9%, not write the debt off completely!!!! Have I left it too late? How should I go about bringing it up again? Has any one else had a similar experience? I would love to here your thoughts and appreciate any advice you experts can give me!!!! And I would like to point out that I have learnt a very valuable lesson - ALWAYS READ THE SMALL PRINT!!!!

starlite_2

How true..what a crappy thing to happen!

it's easy to be caught out..
barclays convinced me into putting my student overdraft into a consolidation loan at 13.9% interest..
I was pretty clueless at the time so agreed..not realising I could have kept it as an overdraft and had it interest free for another two years and then at only 2.9% for the third year.

mrcow

Why not refinance with another company other than Barclays. I'm sure you can easily beat 13%

In fairness to Barclays, they paid you the difference that you lost after you realised your mistake (and it was your mistake) and then you've still continured with the same loan for a further 18 months. Coming back after this time and then asking for compensation seems a little late.

What's the settlement figure on the loan? Would you be penalised for paying it off and going elsewhere? If so they you've maybe a case to go back with them with, as you feel it was missold.

mrcow

As a note to above:

Just as a guide, the Post Office's current rate for an accepted £10k loan (over for example 5 years) is 7.9% and Virgin is 6.9% (although Virgin's rate is subject to credit rating).

honeychunky

I'd love to refinance this loan, just so I can say farewell to Barclays once and for all, I'm not even bothered about having a lower interest rate, but my current status as a stay-at-home-mum, living with my parents (sad, but true!) means obtaining any kind of credit difficult. My partner has looked into taking out a loan on my behalf to pay it off, but because of our living situation, the fact that he has me and our 2 children to support, 2 children from a previous relationship that he has to ''maintain'', a credit card and a loan of his own, he can't get credit either! Even those companies that claim to lend to anyone regrdless of status, credit history etc don't want to know. The thing that really makes me angry though is Barclays initial explaination for the whole mess was that the personal banker who arranged my loan was ''confused'' about the interest rates on offer to me at the time! This is a woman who has been a personal banker with Barclays for 20 years and must've arranged hundreds of loans in that time! If that is indeed true (I think its b******t!) thats extremely disturbing, how many other people have suffered because of her confusion?!!!!

mrcow

I think then you need to go back to Barclays and complain in writing. It's important to understand that you're talking serious money here!

You've not stated the original term of the loan, but if for example, it was five years, then by my calculations, you 're going to end up paying over £2100 more to them over the term compared to 7.9% (if the term was more than five years, you're talking even more money) and over £1100 more compared to 10.9%.

Frustratingly, their current rates are not published on their website (I cant even get it to give me a decent quote!). The problem is that you have no proof of your case (as it was spoken information), and you've obviously signed the agreement for 13.9%. Do you happen to have the original quote that they provided for you stating the 10.9%? If so, there may be somewhere to go with this?

I really wish you luck and hope that someone else will come along here soon and offer some ideas on how to fix this!

jimmmyc

Fyi I had a friend that worked at "a bank" and she said the sales people are on commission, sorry sales people I mean personal bankers!
The system also generates the interest rate based on your circumstances which could be very low(especially if you don't need a loan) or very high for those that look like they do.
I would say they are very similar to the fake bank in the adverts and would recommend you change your loan to someone offering set rates

"brand new customers only"

honeychunky

Thanks mrcow, your support is encouraging. I have actually complained to them 4 times in writing and each time have been fobbed off with the same crap. I do still have the written quote for the 10.9% loan, given to me less than 2 weeks before taking out the 13.9% loan. I have enclosed copies of this with every complaint and also have a mail shot offering me a loan with a ''typical'' ''personal'' rate of between 7.9% & 10.9% which is what prompted me to go to them in the first place. The loan was over 8 years, so the difference in interest is huge! I also got clobbered for the payment protection insurance at nearly £70 a month! Only now do I know that they can't refuse to give you the loan if you decline the insurance. I enquired about cancelling the PPI and was told that the only way to do this was to take out a new loan. A quote for this loan had an interest rate of, wait for it, 21.9%!!!!!! Making the repayments virtually the same as I am currently paying!!!!! Ironicly, on the loan mail shot they sent me it says is big bold letters ''Barclays are a responsible lender and do not encourage you to take out credit you don't need or can't afford'.'' I have brought this little gem of a quote to their attention in every complaint, surprise, surprise they decline to comment!!!!!

mrcow

Okay then, complaining in writing four times and still not getting any help (I don't see why they can't refinance your loan as an existing customer, surely it's a simple process for them).

Take a look here:

FSA guide to making a complaint about financial services

Word of warning: it's 41 pages long, so you may want to print it off and have a read through!

They also have a consumer helpline 0845 606 1234

Keep going until everyone's sick of the sound of your voice! (Often works for me!)