first plus loan - any ideas or help!!

james32_uk

I'll say it even more simply, any company who sucks so much of repayments into interest before capital should be shot.

honory

Thanks for all (well nearly all) your support! Yes, if we hadn't been foolish enough and gullible enough to believe the advertising (relax, you're better off with first plus etc, etc) we would probably have either remortgaged or sought help from the CCCS. Either option would have been preferable to the fleecing we're enduring now..... and we would probably be in N.Z with the rest of our family. Still our naivety is raking in the bucks for F.P and Vorderman and there are many others just as naive - how else would they be able to sell their product because but for people's naivety it is so exorbitant and under scrutiny it's obscene? When people are in debt many of them are scared to properly confront it and seek the 'easy' way intead of budgeting, cutting cards up and seeking help from charities such as the CCCs. My message to all considering such a secured consolidation loan is it is seldom the right answer. Best wishes to all those DFWs out there!!

spud30

OK confession time.

I watched a First Plus advert yesterday, I mean really watched it.

I confess I was tempted, even after all I know about secured loans, after all I've heard during my time on here, Carol made it sound like an option worth considering to help us through the tough time we're going through. Like a lot of others on here, we're just having a really bad few weeks. :mad:

Before you all shout at me, I didn't. All I'm saying is, I can really understand why people do fall for it. If I hadn't found MSE and more importantly, you lot, I'm sure I would've probably done it.

We will carry on struggling through, dealing with the letters and phone calls. With the help of the DFW posse, we will get through this :j :beer:

dinkylou

Thats the problem.

These companies spend alot of money, time and effort finding exactly the right things to say in order to persuade you.

They prey on your fears and your desires in order to make you feel like this is a good choice. Hence the choice of Carol (trust etc)

Purple loans is another one I hate personally for their advertising. Starting the ad showing people struggling with debt and then they get a loan and a brand new car.

How is that helping them? Really? It winds me up watching these ads.

wanna-be-mortgage-free_2

Oh I totally understand how people can take out loans with these companies. They offer people what they need, a quick way out of debt, their dreams, their hopes and all with one quick phone call!

Do you think people would take out the loan if at the end of the ad they added, now if you take out a loan for £25,000 over 15 years you'll be paying us back £25,000 worth of interest PLUS the original £25,000 BUT if you wanted to pay us off early you basically pay out the same amount cos we want to fleece you cos you can't get a loan or help anywhere else?

At the end of the day it's about knowing the full facts and being able to make informed choices. Some people will probably know about the high interest etc when they take the loan out but they feel it's their only option at that time and if that's the case then they have made an informed choice and we can't blame them for doing that. It's the others that I am concerned about, those who don't know what these companies are like and don't know how to get help elsewhere.

rog2

Rachman wrote:

Why is everyone having a go at Firstplus for this.

This loan was 4 and a bit years ago for someone with impaired credit. Did you expect them to have a rate at 1% above base rate - I do appreciate that the charges are high, but surely if you are about to sign up to a £40K obligation for 15 years, you actually read the damned forms and know what you are getting into ?

Yes, it's expensive, given who Firstplus were lending to at the time, what should it have been ?

For those of you who have got mortgages, you know how it works, when you owe more, you pay more interest and it's only in the last few years you really start to see the capital owed fall. Over 15 years it will cost £90K to pay off the £39K. You signed up to it, what's the problem, it's not a particularly excessive rate and you knew the charges (or should have had the common sense to find out what they were before signing up to a 15 year obligation) - now your circumstances have changed, you want out - well that's the whole point, why should someone who took the risk on you when you were less safe as a punt not want to keep the benefit of you now (by having expensive lock ins) ?

Practically, you want a settlement figure from them and if you are sure you can get better rate credit elsewhere, get it, read the forms to check you can overpay then do it.

You might also want to think where you could have been without Firstplus taking the chance on you 4 years ago ? Would you have been able to get back to where you are financially ?

Plus I am not sure you are being too honest about why you needed the money - you indicate the problem was one person losing their income, no, it was having the debt out there that you could not pay off if the worst happened. That's the risk of carrying debt, that you can't service it....

It is easy, in the cold light of day, to criticise someone, four and a half years after taking out a loan, for not reading the small print. It is usually the last thing that a lender mentions, if they mention it at all - the onus should, in my opinion, be on the lender to FULLY explain the small print, rather than on the borrower, who usually signs (real world) where the lender puts the cross, to accept that he has read and understands the conditions of the loan. I am finding this out to my cost.
You don't need criticism - you need help. I hope you find it

Felicity

I am in two minds about this.

First, I was aghast at reading your post - amazed at how much you have paid off compared to the balance outstanding and I really do sympathise with you.

This sound like it will be a major problem for your future finances and is actually holding you back from fulfilling your dreams.

I hope you find a way to cope with it all.

HOWEVER, I am also surprised by people who sign up to some t&cs and then complain about it later on. Were the interest rate and charges made clear to you when you took out the loan? If so, then you cannot really complain. If you were a bad risk at the time then then maybe this was the only option open to you and (although I am no fan of these credit companies) they took quite a risk with you and charged you accordingly.

I took out a loan when I first left uni and was unsure about my future earnings (commission based), it turns out I paid my loan off after 1 year instead of the 5 years I had originally signed up for and I had to pay a high redemption. I was gutted at that redemption charge in the end, but I couldn't blame anybody for it, certainly not the company I had taken the loan from. I was a risk (first job, no credit history etc) so the interest was high and the redemption was high but I needed (or wanted?) it at the time so I had to take it on the chin.

Anyway, I really wish you all the best. It's a great shame that you didn't find this site sooner or take better advice at the time.

Good luck!

saver_sam

honory wrote:

... The loan is secured on the house ... We will save the money into an account and pay it back in one go I think; even if we have to drip feed our money via a standing order when we go to N.Z. Anything but let First Plus have even more of our money. ...

If i am reading this right you say the loan is secured on the house and then you will send money via standing order when you are in NZ.

Are you planning on letting out your house when you go there? otherwise selling the house means the 2nd mortgage (which I assume this is) would be settled from the proceeds of the house sale if enough was left after the 1st mortgage company got settled.

in*the*red_6

saver_sam wrote:

If i am reading this right you say the loan is secured on the house and then you will send money via standing order when you are in NZ.

Are you planning on letting out your house when you go there? otherwise selling the house means the 2nd mortgage (which I assume this is) would be settled from the proceeds of the house sale if enough was left after the 1st mortgage company got settled.

Just what I was about to say....why not sell the house and get shot of secured loan........unless you are in negative equity??

davesgirl_2

if i hadnt been pointed to mse when i was i would have one of these loans now because not everyone knows where to turn in this situation - these companies sell themselves as being there to help you and i just thought its what everyone must do so glad i learned otherwise.