Barclay Loan Robbery!

dew301261

Hi everyone,
First time I've written to this forum and I could do with some advice from any well informed people.
I bank with Barclays and have done for 15 yrs. In May this year I went into branch and asked for a Barclay unsecured loan to consolidate my debts and ease monthly burden. They sold me a 15k loan over 84 months at an apr 24.5%, premiums £371.84 pm. I know, I was foolish but desparate at the time. I thought my bank would assist me to get my finances back in shape after my divorce, how naive of me!
After 7 months I've managed to pull my credit score up enough to to secure a much better deal with Santander, 15k, 60 months @ 14.3% apr, £338 pm which I jumped at after attending Barclays branch with this new offer and told to walk!
Is there anything I can do about the horrendous termination charges that Barclays have hit me with :mad:?
I've made 7 on time payments of £371.84 = £2602.88 and paid them £15,239 today to terminate the loan with them:eek:!
I wonder what interest rate that equates to in real terms? I thought banks were more ethical than loan companies, oops, sorry, naivety kicking off again!
Do I have any chance of challenging, at least some of these charges, daylight robbery basically, over £500 to pay off the loan today. I've taken 15k with Santander as a worst case senario but I'm really going to miss the extra £239 I've had to find as well .
help guys & girls??

onlypaddy

If they are in the terms and conditions you signed up to then there is nothing you can do I'm afraid

[Deleted User]

dew301261 wrote: »

I was foolish but desparate at the time.

I'm afraid this answers your question. You were very high risk at the time, no other options, so they priced you accordingly.

£239 is a pretty low early repayment charge. You might not believe it, but I think you've come out of this pretty well. You got the loan you needed at the time (presumably saving you money from consolidating your debts), now have moved to something cheaper (saving you more money).

Percy1983

In basic terms with the loan being so long term you early payment would be mostly interest, and then when you cancel the most they charge is 60 days interest.

I haven't done the exact sums, but looking at it your first 7 payments have made a small sent to which then the added interest has pushed it up.

I short as painful as it is it most probably is correct and well within the term and conditions.

Look on the bright side, the switch may cause a short term loss, but long term you will be a lot better off for it.

Hax

Using this loan repayment calculator (click me!) you've only paid about £400-odd off the loan balance and then an early settlement charge of 2 months interest will add about £600 back on. So it all looks about right.

dew301261

Hi thanks for replying, I thought that was the case, although like many people I didn't scrutinise the small print, which is very small.

My partner said, don't know why I'm fighting to pay the bank large amounts of interest, should just stuff them, set up iva, protection, low interest, 5 years no debt! I suppose integrity springs to mind (mug)

dew301261

I'm astounded by the replies I've received to my thread, thank you all very much it certainly gives me an objective perspective on this little episode and yes ultimately, I'll be much better off

mjm3346

On the bright side you are saving over £30/month and are going to finish over a year sooner than if you had stuck with Barclays

iblametheparents

Your early settlement fee is equal to 30 days' interest. You may have accrued interest from your last payment date to the day you paid it off too.

Percy1983

dew301261 wrote: »

Hi thanks for replying, I thought that was the case, although like many people I didn't scrutinise the small print, which is very small.

My partner said, don't know why I'm fighting to pay the bank large amounts of interest, should just stuff them, set up iva, protection, low interest, 5 years no debt! I suppose integrity springs to mind (mug)

Glad there is still some of use who accept we signed for all our debt with certain terms and conditions so it is our job to pay it back within said terms and conditions.

Just as a word of warning have you figured where the debt came from and can you be sure that this loan is the last of it and you won't end up there again, as a general rule consolidation only if the problems which got you there have been sorted (in short you have reduced your outgoings)

Either way happy days you have made a good move and good luck with getting debt free.