Barclays Irresponsible Lending (URGENT HELP PLEASE!)

opinions4u

If the agreement was signed in a foreign country I'm surprised the FOS are interested.

1. My mum or stepdad don't have any kind of learning difficulties, merely in their 50s and were taken in by the very skilled fraudster, sorry salesperson

So they are adults capable of making their own spending decisions. Don't underestimate the importance of this. Irresponsible lending requires stupid borrowers. It's invariably a two way street. If they couldn't afford it they should have refused to sign up to it.

2. No in-depth questions were asked as part of the application and the conversations between the holiday company and Barclays were not done in front of my parents, in fact they were actively encouraged to "go and get a complimentary drink"

What sort of "in-depth" questions weren't asked?

3. Both of them have banked with Barclays for many years, 36 in the case of my stepdad, and they have clear history of their income and outgoings. Not anywhere would it suggest that they have available income for anywhere near the monthly cost

Well if a salesman has inflated income on an application form, and they have signed it, they have misled Barclays.

You have a horrible mess here. Foreign laws, unlikely to be covered or upheld by the FOS. The cost of unwinding it could be more than the debt outstanding.

Ask the new timeshare company how they can buy their way out of the arrangement. If they're stuck with the deal then a remortgage might be the only outcome that will make this affordable.

I do believe they do have something to answer to. How can they provide an unsecured credit agreement to two people who earn about £6k per year working part time for herself and approx' £18k full time

Approximately £1,500 a month net income. Borderline on affordability for a £700pm loan. But not automatically irrespnsible.

CHR15

Your Parents have just been suckered, not irresponsible lending.

I have been to one of those presentations, I recounted it in this post:
I mentioned in the post that champagne corks were popping, those champagne corks were popping almost exclusively on the tables of older people, there were only a few of us younger attendees, not sure how many of us got out unscathed.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1120715

I've been to one of those type things some years back.

90 Minute sales pitch is about right........ followed by about 4-5 HOURS of HARD SELLING!!

The 90 Mins is the presentation where they show videos of all the opportunities and waffle about the greatness of it all.
I consider myself to be quite level headed and had ABSOLUTELY no intention of buying any of their rubbish but "my word" did they lay it on thick?

It got to the point where we had three of them leaning over us talking to each other about how they can't understand how we can be so stupid as to not want to sign up with them. It really was emotional bullying, not persuading..... bullying!

When I raised my voice and started a bit of fist banging on the table the Background music in the room went up a few notches to drown out my voice so the other victims couldn't hear.
Even I considered just signing the damn thing but cancelling it afterwards just to get away!!

Eventually I got my way and we left on very bitter terms (I almost felt violated!!)

It did annoy me though to hear so many Champagne Corks being popped from so many other tables where people had signed up.

Apart from that we had a nice time, the Hotel and staff are nothing to do with it at all, once the day has been wasted with these vultures you can enjoy yourself.

I wouldn't recommend going though unless you are 100% commited to not joining no matter how they make it sound (and they do make it sound good).
Even if you are quite a strong character, don't underestimate the pressure they will put on you.

Not for the feint hearted at all.

KiKi

Hi OP

I agree that irresponsible lending needs people willing to sign. However...

opinions4u wrote: »

Approximately £1,500 a month net income. Borderline on affordability for a £700pm loan. But not automatically irrespnsible.

Do you think so? (Genuine question!) A £20K loan on a £24K total income? That doesn't suggest affordability to me. Certainly all the advice I see on this forum is that at most a lender will offer half your income.

OP, did your parents have ANY other debts at this time, or any other available credit? Because if they were on £24K total with debts of, say, £5K, then Barclays lending £20K to an effectively £19K income I would say *was* irresponsible.

However, my opinion does not necessarily correlate with that of the law, nor the banks, not the FOS.

I wish I knew how to help you, OP, but I'm afraid I don't. Please update us, though. Whilst your parents are ultimately responsible, and had the choice not to sign, I do hate when people are pressured beyond reason. (Of course, I have no evidence to suggest this was the case with your parents, but having seen similar techniques at similar hard-sell events, I can imagine it could have been the same).

KiKi

Apples2

Responsible lending has only come about since the crunch. All those with 100% mortgages diving into negative equity and all those with unsecured borrowing well in excess of salaries who simply cannot repay.

This has led to the restrictions on borrowing. This 50% issue is only recent.
A few years back it was party time for both lenders and borrowers. We are now nursing the hangover.

SnowTiger

KiKi wrote: »

A £20K loan on a £24K total income? That doesn't suggest affordability to me. Certainly all the advice I see on this forum is that at most a lender will offer half your income.

Depends how long ago the loan was taken out. Pre-2008ish credit was extremely easy to get: providing you had a pulse and could sign your name you could have as much money as you wanted.

Okay, that's an exaggeration. But many of the problems we read about on this forum have their roots in a time when getting credit was (too) easy.

KiKi

Apples2 and SnowTiger - thanks. Hadn't realised the '50% approach' (as it were) was that recent.

KiKi

randell_2

Evergreen Travel are part of the San Antonio Hotel Malta.

randell_2

Hi i am looking for people that are having problems with the time share at the Sanantonio Hotel Malta as i understand there are several people that have had problems.
I have had dealings with this hotel for some years i have a time share there and i am looking to start a group of owners to get the problems sorted .
I am going out again at the end of October and i am seeing the Manager ref my problems .
Michael Bott.

izools

SnowTiger wrote: »

Depends how long ago the loan was taken out. Pre-2008ish credit was extremely easy to get: providing you had a pulse and could sign your name you could have as much money as you wanted.

Okay, that's an exaggeration. But many of the problems we read about on this forum have their roots in a time when getting credit was (too) easy.

Indeed - RBS approved me for a £20,000 loan on a £15,000 salary despite my already being £23,000 in debt.

No, I'm not kidding or exaggurating.

Got it at 7.1% APR, too! The credit agreement he gave me to sign, however, had no income or expenditure details on it it was literally just a Credit Agreement in the purest form so can't tell if he lied about income on his PC. Probably did.

As one can imagine, I was filing for BR within six months.