Benificial Finance - your thoughts?

Doug_Peterson

I had a bad experience with Benifical Finance today. I phoned up to pay off the remainder of a credit loan on a purchace at PC World and they asked if I would be interested in getting a quote on a personal loan, I have an existing loan with Lloyds TSB so I thought I would see what they could offer.

I was passed through to an advisor who gave me a quote, I told her my settlement figure what just over £7000 so she quoted me a monthly repayment amount of £160 over 60 months which sounded quite good.

She asked me to find the exact figure and then come in to their office which was a 30 minute drive in to the center of Bristol.

I gave her the exact settlement figure of £7780 (including a refund on the loan'spayment protection), she worked out a new quote of £8000 which worked out at £224 a month.

My current loan which includes payment protection, I am paying £229 a month, the totally I will pay on my reamining 53 installments is about £9100, the loan Benificial offered me was a total pay back amount of £13,000!

The thing that annoyed me was I said "no thanks" and she tried to convince me that the Benifical loan was better for me, my current APR is 15%, the Benifical rate is 26%!

She said "it will reduce your monthly costs", so I said "I'm no better off, I am swapping payment protection for higher interest, the payment are near enough the same".

She said "you are getting £200 cash back and you can make additional payments at any time" - "The loan will cost me an extra £4000 and I can make additional payments with my Lloyds loan".

I was really quite annoyed after driving in to town, the terrible quote didn't bother me, it was the fact that she tried to tell me that this terrible loan was a better deal for me.

Kzlnd

I completely despise these 'people' :mad:

My bf had credit with Currys through benificial finance on 2 occassions, they used to constantly call him and hassle him saying they needed him to go into the local office and discuss his account.. He agreed to go in, they tried to force him to sign up to a loan :mad: He told them he didn't want a loan and they should not lie about their reasons for asking him to see them.
They continued to send letters and call the house, saying they needed to see him about his account but could not discuss it over the telephone.

On one occassion I took a call when my bf was out, I told them - as my bf had previously done - that they should not call again, they were harrasing him and if they continued to do so I would report them. We didn't receive any more calls.



I did wonder if this was standard practice, it seems it may well be from reading your post Doug. My bf simply throws away these letters and as we have recently moved, they do not have our current telephone number.

I dread to think of all the times they will have got away with doing this, lying to customers and having them sign up to loans which are far more costly :mad:

poppy_f1

they are a shower of scumbags
i had the *pleasure* of dealign with them after taking credit out from dixons for a laptop, then i restructured the loan including ppi after me saying i didnt want it , never thought to check the paperwork before signing

i moved away frmo my home and didnt pass on a forwarding address since i was moving abroad and didnt have one, they completely harassed my parents in the 3 months i was away
ended up getting a final settlement from them minus the ppi (after arguing with them and threatening the ombudsman)

Doug_Peterson

Yes, I am not surprised to hear that it isn't just me.

They were very keen to get me in to the office and they KEPT offering me a bigger loan and "extra cash" which I clearly said I didn't want or need.

maxfactor_3

Here,s my experience with Beneficial finance firstly Im a tenant!. I have a bad credit record,Im also on benefits and incapacity benefit but apparently you can still get a loan if your on the sick!.with BF.I was desperate!.They gave me a loan for £2500.The lady from BF even came to my council house for me to sign the papers.I was thrilled,I must have contacted every loan company and got refused,I was even duped by ones by stupidly sending fees off.Some even had 0906 no,s.Believe me I complain a lot but their service was A +.Im so grateful when no one wanted to know.I needed the money for an operation/Hospy, I,ve never defaulted on a payment for 2 years,I,ve got 2 years to go.Its 94.93 a month incl insurance.A lot of money! I know but they trusted me when no one else would.They give me a courtesy all every 6 months.no pressure!.But they didnt try to get me to do anything under false pretences.I think perhaps some staff may not be properly trained if they,ve used underhand tactics to get their commision.Max

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Well after charging you £4556 to borrow £2500, I am not suprised that they came to your council house for you to sign the papers:D


AMD

maxfactor_3

Yeh thanks for working that out for me!.The actual interest for the 4 years in total is £2056.64 incl the insurance premium.I know its a lot!Max.