God Help Me! Mis-sold loan / bank charges etc?

clairelouise24

Hi there, I'm new to all this and praying someone on here knows whether I'd have a case for this or not?
5 years ago I lost my mother and father through cancer and went through a VERY nasty time with probate and accounts etc. I was 24 at the time and had a pathetic 22yr old brother who was no help at all. I took out loans to survive because I'm a child of the credit-revolution and I knew no other way to survive without work! I was my parent's carer at the time and therefore had no job after they passed. I helped my brother with his 'business venture' which went bust and lost all my inheritance. I had to take out various loans and credit cards before I could get a job and had tons of counselling.
Although OK now - wiser and paying back thousands and thousands of pounds, I know I shouldn't have taken these out. I am about to complain to Natwest as the Financial Ombudsman think I may have a good case but need more advice. Natwest charged me tens of thousands in unauthorised o/d fees etc - they knew perfectly well I was in terrible financial hardship and the most recent problem being that they authorised a GIANT loan for me to consolidate everything last year. I had no form of income and instead of accepting my reduced payment for a while, they consolidated with a loan over 10 years and paying back over double what they were consolidating! They advised me this was the best way to proceed and it was all very rushed. Unfortunately, this was only saving me around £10 per month and i thought I could cope with it - i was about to start my own business and register as self employed. However, i registered in August 2009 and fell pregnant with my first child in September.
I repeatedly told Natwest i couldn't survive and their collection company got involved and wouldn't accept any reduced payments on the loan / credit card / overdraft and therefore closed the accounts. They knew I was heavily pregnant and out of work and they still took me to court despite knowing I was in a debt management plan and that i was out of work.
They then secured a charge on my property and accepted the reduced payment of £85 per month.
I keep hearing about people who were mis-sold loans and claiming their bank charges - I remember telling Natwest on the sales call that i was not earning and that i was hoping to start a business, surely they shouldn't have increased my borrowing at that point?!.. I must have thousands in charges and interest and court fees and all sorts that I'm sure I shouldn't have and could've been resolved prior to court,...
PLEASE can someone tell me there might be a way to reclaim any of this? I'm in severe debt crisis and fighting for a way to keep my son and I in our home.

I appreciate ANY advice you are able to give..
C x

dunstonh

I am about to complain to Natwest as the Financial Ombudsman think I may have a good case

Be wary. You nearly always find the FOS encourage you to complain even where you dont have a hope. What you say is typically the impression they give to anyone who contacts them.

I keep hearing about people who were mis-sold loans and claiming their bank charges

You rarely hear of mis-sold loans. After all, most people ask for a loan. They are not sold the loan. Claiming back bank charges has virtually died since the court case with only financial hardship cases being considered. Even then its at the goodwill of the bank.

- I remember telling Natwest on the sales call that i was not earning and that i was hoping to start a business, surely they shouldn't have increased my borrowing at that point?

Many people increase their borrowing when starting a new business. Whilst the banks could have and should have said no a bit more often, it doesnt take away from the fact that they were giving you what you wanted and what you asked for. That is your personal responsibility.

PLEASE can someone tell me there might be a way to reclaim any of this?

If you meet the criteria to be considered under financial hardship then they will take a look to see if a refund of some of the charges is a possibility. If you don't then there is little that can be done at this time. Even the FOS are automatically rejecting bank charges complaints unless its under hardship criteria.

clairelouise24

Thank you so much for getting back to me, I really appreciate this. In response, unfortunately this was 'sold' to me.. I didn't ask for the loan, they said this was the ONLY way I could consolidate the loans with Natwest. They wouldn't accept reduced payments and several times clearly acknowledged that i was in financial crisis. I definitely did not want another loan and as stated, this was prior to me setting up any kind of business - I didn't get any cash for this loan, they literally just said that unless I took this, they would seek legal action and as soon as the funds went into the account, they took them to repay the existing loan and overdraft i had with them.
I wasn't registered as self employed and definitely did not ask for the loan!
do you think they will not accept they did this then? i suppose i have absolutely no proof at all other than the phone conversations with them.... What do you think?

ILW

Was the loan at a higer or lower rate than you existing debts which you consolidated?

clairelouise24

Hi there, the loan was consolidated at a much higher rate!

Premier_2

clairelouise24 wrote: »

Hi there, the loan was consolidated at a much higher rate!

Why on earth did you agree to a consolidation loan secured against your property at a much higher rate than the existing unsecured loans???

If you couldn't pay, you couldn't pay. They could have gone to court but that wouldn't affect your ability to pay. The court may have found in the lenders favour and even said they could keep adding charges until you did pay, but you could only pay what was affordable (the bank would usually consider such claims and set a repayment plan that was affordable)

But instead you agreed to a secured loan at a higher rate? Why? Now they can probably apply to sell your home to settle the debt unless you keep up the repayments (which would be higher than before and you say you couldn't afford those)

Not what you want to hear, but that's the situation you agreed to. Best bet (if you can't get alternative finance in place at a lower rate, which I suspect would be difficult now) is to flog the property to settle the debts. If the property is sold by the lenders as a distress sale, it'll probably fetch much less than if you sell it.

If the sale of the property, especially as a distress sale, fails to reach enough money to settle the existing secured debts, the lenders will still pursue you for the balance.

clairelouise24

No no no! The consolidated loan wasn't secured!!! it was their own debt management department saying this was my only option.. they offered me another consolidation loan for the debt I had with them - not a secured one.

clairelouise24

The only reason bits secured now is because they wouldn't - wouldn't - accept any reduced payments, from me or my debt management company. Their own collection agency, Eversheds, rejected my plea to pay less on several occasions whilst I was heavily pregnant - they set up a ccj and I because there were complications with the birth of my son, I couldn't spend as much energy on this as i would have done normally.

The natwest consolidation was for a longer term, at a higher rate and only consolidated what I owed them. It was the only option they gave me and rejected every reduced payment.

Premier_2

clairelouise24 wrote: »

No no no! The consolidated loan wasn't secured!!! it was their own debt management department saying this was my only option.. they offered me another consolidation loan for the debt I had with them - not a secured one.

Sorry, I misinterpreted your post.

I think I understand now; the consolidated loan wasn't initially secured but your failure to keep up the repayments resulted in a court agreeing to a charge against your property.

So whilst it wasn't initially secured, it is effectively now. That may still lead to the forced sale of your property if you fail to keep up the repayments (but check the terms of the security ... it may not allow the forced sale, only the opportunity to recover the money owed when eventually sold)

Premier_2

clairelouise24 wrote: »

The only reason bits secured now is because they wouldn't - wouldn't - accept any reduced payments, from me or my debt management company. Their own collection agency, Eversheds, rejected my plea to pay less on several occasions whilst I was heavily pregnant - they set up a ccj and I because there were complications with the birth of my son, I couldn't spend as much energy on this as i would have done normally.

The natwest consolidation was for a longer term, at a higher rate and only consolidated what I owed them. It was the only option they gave me and rejected every reduced payment.

Remember it was the court that finally agreed to the charge on your property. The lender must have made a pretty convincing argument ... and that would have been the time for you to defend such action. Now it's in place, getting it removed will be nigh on impossible, sorry.

There was always another alternative if the rate offered was uncompetitive (and if it was greater than an overdraft rate, it probably was uncompetitive). You could have asked another lender for a consolidation loan and used that to pay back what you owed

As you were already owing the money and being charged, the only reason another lender would not lend you the money would have been that they didn't think you could afford to repay it even at a lower rate they would offer ... and perhaps over a longer period too.

In such circumstances, the security against the home was perhaps the right thing for the court to award. If your liabilities exceed your assets, you may want to consider bankruptcy. Seek advice if you intend to look further into this alternative.