Being bullied by Mercers- Barclays Debt Collection

inagony

Hi there, About 3 years ago I signed up with Red Driving School here in Northern Ireland and took out a loan set up by Red D.S. Through Barclays Partner Finance, which was interest free for the first year. This loan was for £3,645.00 The way it was explained to me by the RED Sales- Rep was :- That you have a full year to train and get qualified then either pay the total amount back or set up monthly instalments and pay it back that way. As I had loads of problems with Red Driving School in the first and second year of training, due to lack of Instructors here in Northern Ireland and being unable to get lessons when it suited me and not when the Instructor College, which they are also known - decided that I could. They initially told me that I could book lessons to work around my day job. It soon became apparent that this was untrue and I wrote a letter of complaint to Red D.S. Regarding this matter I was asked to give them 28 days to investigate my complaint but I never received a reply from the lady in question. To become a Driving Instructor you initially have 2 years from the time you pass your Theory and Hazard Perception tests. After that time, you must start the whole process again. This was a huge disappointment to me as I ran out of time due to the problems I had with Red D.S. Now I am paying off a Debt of £6,747.48 to Barclays Partner Finance which started after the first year of training - £3,645.00 @ 27% interest became £6,747.48 and I have never qualified even though Red D.S. stated initially under their " Pass Assurance Scheme ." Which states, we undertake to provide the training you require to fully prepare you to take the Government Examinations. If you fail an exam we will provide further remedial training at no extra cost subject to the DSAs current regulations. I have become a victim of part-time employment and then onto unemployment. Eventually I got a job which earned me around £220.00 P W and since starting back to work in April last year I have accumulated a debt of nearly £700.00 on my repayments due to being unemployed. To add insult to injury, Barclays Partners Finance have sold on - passed on my debt to a Debt Collection Agency called Mercers. They have been threatening all sorts and are at present going to take me to court for the total amount of the loan still outstanding which amounts to around £4,600.00. Since October last year I had 2 minor TIA's or mini stokes because of the stress imposed on me by these two Companies. I have been off work with no pay and only receiving £65.00 per week benefits. Finally, each time these agencies send me a letter they charge me a fee of £22.50 which is added onto the outstanding amount of debt already owed which means that it is rising week by week.

Is there any way of having this debt cancelled or having Red Driving School brought to book regarding the way inwhich I have been unfairly treated by them. I really am in AGONY over the state of my finances at present - CAN ANYONE PLEASE GIVE ME SOME ADVICE ON THIS MATTER.



Thanking you in anticipation InAgony!

fozmcfc

Hopefully someone will be along to give you some definate advice, but I really think you will probably need to seek advice from the CAB or similar.

My view is, you will need to write to RD again explaining your situation and hoping to some sort of agreement with them, because you feel as though you haven't had the opportunity to learn/pass the tests because of lack of instruction/instructors available.

The trouble is you might have real problems in getting them to accept what you are saying is correct and you might have to provide sufficient evidence to back yourself up.

I'm not sure how these things work, but I would imagine that Barclays will say not our problem take it up with Red and you will still need to repay the loan.

As I say I'm no expert and hopefully someone can give you some better advice, but looking at it, it looks like it could be a long battle with you ending up getting nowhere.

Good Luck.

CHR15

The Entire business model of RED Driving school depends upon people failing this course.

VERY few people will EVER pass RED Driving schools course, it is by design.
The whole structure is to sell finance for a hugel profit, in your case, £3.6k loaned ensured £6.7k repayment to Barclays, a healthy profit. That is what RED Driving school do for a living, make huge sums from selling finance.

It is not in RED's best interest to ensure people pass the course, if you pass they would have to live up to their claims about employments & students. If they ensure you fail the course, you are ignored, another one who couldn't be bothered to put the effort in to complete

Google "Red DRiving School Scam". This is widespread and very well know for a scam it is, sadly, prior to committing to such a large agreement, people simply don't research first.
Sadly not many people have much success, legal fees will likely cripple you before the end.


There have been many posts on here about the RED Driving School Scam, I'm sure there will be many more too (although I think they went to the wall so it is just people fighting the finance).

http://www.casttv.com/video/te06mu/red-driving-school-on-itv-tonight-programme-video

http://www.ukadi.co.uk/2008/06/becoming-driving-instructor-dont-do-it.html

http://www.ukscams.net/cgi-bin/trueboard/cutecast.pl?session=yU6c6hWKrpxsEjHw8rm1ypULb8&forum=1&thread=1

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2009/10/no-lessons-from-red-driving-sc.html

gscrym

I don't know anything about the driving school side but I'm familiar with Mercers. They are Barclays in house dect collection department and they are more than persitant. In the 6 months after my trust deed became protected, I had numerous phone calls from them, letters and the obligatory 'we are coming to your house' card. My trustee phoned them and I ended up phoning them. I can understand the stress you feel. Def speak to CAB.

geoffky

if i was you i would end the scam...by going bankrupt...scam the scammers