Advent Training Gone bust... what now??

macca78_2

ive tried to email fuzzbutt and had no response either, not sure whats going on now, really want to start applying some serious pressure on these idiots at barclays/computeach!!1

aron80

It's ok now, it was just a server problem. The site is up and running again.

Uomo_Divertente

Hi All,

I recently started with Computeach after the whole Advent crap and i thought maybe this could be a good thing as i want to further my career in IT unfortunately i just found out from Computeach i only have 18months left on my course but as far as i was aware with Advent there was no cap on how long the course would take. I now dunno what to do can someone give me advice please.

feedme

Hi everyone

I signed up with Advent in 2007, used their interst free loan agreement with Clydesdale Financial Services and paid off the loan before the interest kicked in so my situation is not as bad as some peoples but here's my advice.

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure that if you have a dispute over a credit agrreement the account can be frozen until the dispute is resolved. That means you don't pay the installments, you don't get charged interest or fines and you don't get a bad credit report. Do some research first and ask your loan provider. It might at least give you a break from the payments whilst things are sorted out

Be polite to the person you're speaking to, it's not their fault nor is it the fault of the company their working for it is the fault of ADVENT. Explain to them the stress and anxiety this situation is causing you.

My T's and C's state that if "you recieved unsatisfactory goods or services", or "if the contract is not fulfilled, perhaps because the supplier has gone out of business" then I may be able to sue the supplier or the loan provider or both.

If it does come down to a legal case it's important to set the ground work. Do your research on the Directgov website or the FSA website or other similar places, phone or email your loan provider with the information you have found and ask questions eg. can they prove they complied with the FSA rules? What can they do in your situation? Be polite, like I said it's not their fault and if your rude to them it will look bad if you do take legal action. Get a pen and paper and keep a note of times, names, questions, responses etc... every time you correspond with someone. Make sure you explain how difficult this is for you, emotional distress can be a big earner in court. Once you've done all this, you've acted calmly, responsibly, you've exhausted all reasonable possibilities (it might not be reasonable to go to another training provider because they may go into liquidation as well) then it's time to Speak to a lawyer. Because of the ''credit fee agreement'' a.k.a. ''no win no fee'', most lawyers will be happy to hear you out to see if you have a good case. They will make far more money out of ''no win no fee'' case than if you were to pay them yourselves so they will be quite eager to consider your claim.

I'm not saying your going to get your money back, I'm saying you have to make your situation as least bad as you can.

That's my advice for what it's worth. Hope it helps.

aron80

feedme wrote: »

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure that if you have a dispute over a credit agrreement the account can be frozen until the dispute is resolved. That means you don't pay the installments, you don't get charged interest or fines and you don't get a bad credit report. Do some research first and ask your loan provider. It might at least give you a break from the payments whilst things are sorted out

I asked Barclays to freeze my account 4 times. They have not acknowledged this at all, they are not listening to me. What do I do now?

feedme

aron80 wrote: »

I asked Barclays to freeze my account 4 times. They have not acknowledged this at all, they are not listening to me. What do I do now?

Even though I have read through your previous post I am not fully aware of your situation so it's difficult for me to give you advice.

Although I am unemployed at the moment I am financially secure, however it wasn't so long ago I was spiralling into debt (I had some good fortune since) so I understand what the burden of £5k of debt and the prospect of £200/mth repayements is like.

From my point of view I am not desperate to get the money back, though it would be nice, so I am looking at the problem a bit more objectively perhaps.

There seems to be a lot of anger directed at Barclays, ok so this is understandable as they are money grabbing b**tards who make £billions in profit, however it is not Barclays fault that Advent went bust.

It seems reasonable to me that Barclays could offer you an alternative training provider and if you don't accept this then that's your choice however as you haven't started paying the loan yet you may have some bargaining power.

I would suggest you phone barclays and ask them what they can do to help, remember the person you speak to is only doing their job so try to get them on your side and they might be more helpful. I'm going to try and negotiate with them that I pay for what I have done of the course and they refund me that rest.

Ask them to make you an offer first, ask them what they're going to do, ask them what their responsibilities are in this situation make it their problem to sort out and not yours.

Tell them that you made a carefully considered decision to enroll on a course to improve your career prospects and through no fault of your own the training provider went bust and it is no longer an option to pay this loan. You would be willing to pay some of it but not all.

That's how I'm going to handle this situation anyway, it might work it might not but it's woth a shot.

Uomo_Divertente

Hi All,

How many people actually signed an agreement with BPF and how many people was told it was only a 2 year course for 6k?

Uomo Divertente

aron80

i have just been made redundant and there is no way i can pay £250 every month - the payments are due to start on 20th July. If I tell Barclays this what can they do?

aron80

I am seriously contemplating suicide over this. My partner called Barclays cos I can't use the phone (I'm deaf) and they wouldn't talk to him even though we sent a 'power of attorney' form 3 months ago. They do not reply to my emails, what the hell am I meant to do?

I do not want to carry on with the alternative provider cos they're !!!!, and I sure as hell am not paying a penny to Barclays. And to top it all of I have lost my job and there is no way I can pay anyway.

What do I do now?

wynnvegas

Hi Guys,

Certainly join the no win no fee lawyer piece which is on the facebook group. For those with a loan or who have paid, there are sections that the lawyers are dealing with and the letter that they have sent to Barclays is pretty good (although it doesn't cover the fact that Advent's salesforce guaranteed employment upon completion of the A+ - no doubt because this was never given to students in writing).

The Financial Ombudsman may be a useful route. Again the facebook group gives details on the differences between Advent and Computeach which you can use to complain. The Financial Ombudsman is useless if someone has guaranteed the loan as they consider the link between financier and student broken (the situation my mum is in having guaranteed my brothers course).

I firmly believe that the liability Barclays Partner Finance have both over the mis-selling and the provision of a suitable replacement is massive and that they will take a hammering from any decent lawyer(s) over this. Get on board with the fuzzbut thing and call BPF up to tell them that you require any harassment to stop immediately as you are being represented by the class action lawsuit - you'll be able to quote the letter directly once you've joined the group and accessed it.

Cheers,

Billy