Property Professionals: Can I reclaim training costs via Section 75?

Dominic_Francis

I paid for Home Inspector training with Property Professionals which went bust earlier this week.

I paid £6000 via a loan in someone else's name but I also paid a deposit of £800 on one of my credit cards.

Does this mean I can approach the credit card company under section 75 for the whole amount of £6800 and should my loan guarantor send a similar letter to the loan company?

CannyJock

Dominic_Francis wrote: »

Does this mean I can approach the credit card company under section 75 for the whole amount of £6800 and should my loan guarantor send a similar letter to the loan company?

Would be surprised if the loan company were interested in what you intended to use the loan for.

Your best bet may well be the section 75 claim for the full £6800 with the £800 deposit paid by the credit card. You may find it difficult to prove that your loss was £6800 as £6000 was paid for by someone else, or do you have an invoice/receipt/statement from the training company confirming the full amount paid?

dylanuk

Yes. The point CannyJock made about having a receipt for the training is important though. Effectively the loan is out of the picture somewhat as it's effectively cash.

Make sure you read up on it first though, as sometimes call center staff will say otherwise.

There's some guides here...

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/after_you_buy/know-your-rights/credit-finance/bought-credit (There's a template letter on this site too, and this is the site to go back to if the cc company refuses to help).
http://www.choose.net/money/guide/articles/credit-cards/section-75-of-the-consumer-credit-act-guide.html
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases
http://www.credit-card-comparison-online.co.uk/articles/section-75-purchase-protection-cover.html

Dominic_Francis

Yeah, I'm trying the credit card route and my loan guarantor is also trying the loans company.

I also have a contract signed by a manager at PP stating I have paid £800 as a deposit with the remaining amount being paid by a loan agreement. I also have the receipt for the payment of £800.

dylanuk

What is the loan agreement? Is it a credit agreement specifically for the training course?

If it's just a normal unsecured personal loan - this won't be covered under Section 75.

If it's a specific credit agreement for the training course you might be covered, you have to look and see if it says "this agreement is covered under the Consumer Credit Act 1974".

spiderman1

the credit agreement was prob with bar par finance like mine!
any ideas if i have a claim by paying that loan in full before the zero percent ran out and by bankers draft?????

Dominic_Francis

On various parts of the loan agreement it says -

"Goods or services financed by the credit ... training course
with a total cash price of £6800 with an advance payment of £800"

then later before the signature

"This is a credit agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Sign it if you want to be legally bound by its terms"

Dominic_Francis

spiderman1 wrote: »

the credit agreement was prob with bar par finance like mine!
any ideas if i have a claim by paying that loan in full before the zero percent ran out and by bankers draft?????

Yeah, my loan was with them too and when I spoke to them earlier in the week they said they were still bound by the consumer credit act even though the loan had been paid in full.

dylanuk

Sounds like you've got it all worked out.

Also sounds like the loan agreement covers the full £6800 too.

lovelydai

I can see people having a case if their contract was still "in date", but I had a six month lay off in the middle of my Portfolio. They were under no obligation to continue my training. Someone mentioned a possible "irresponsible lending" route, whereby the lender is responsible for their lending if they knew their partner company was in financial difficulty. Don't have any more information on that, I'm afraid.

Would we have an argument that the promise of work with Hip Hip Hooray was misleading, and as such the course was missold?

Cheezed_off_Chris

I dont know if everyone else is getting the same response from barclays over the loan agreement i.e they are looking for another training provider to take over from PP+

Is that the only option open to us?

Should Barclays not have been more careful offering loans with a company so near to closing its doors.