Loans, Lloyds TSB and PPI - DON'T DO IT!!

Gonzo1966

My wife and I have taken out 3 x loans with the above named bank

1st loan = £25,000 taken out in Dec 2003 (69 months left)
2nd loan = £9,000 taken out in Aug 2003 (65 months left)
3rd loan = £20,000 taken out in June 2002 (28 months left)

The £25,000 loan was taken out to clear credit cards, consolidate an older loan of £8,000 (which was taken out to pay off an older debt)

The £9,000 loan was taken out by my wife(without my knowledge), to pay for catalogue items and to pay off a store card from Etams

The £20,000 loan was a consolidated loan, on top of a consolidated loan on top of a consolidated loan. The debts attributed to this loan were largely due to bailing out our teenage children.

All of the above have PPI payments tagged onto the loan and the APR's range from 6.9% to 8%.

My wife and I have approached LLoyds TSB on a number of occasions to see if we could refinance any or all of these loans and they said yes at a whopping APR of 17.9%. Apparently we are now maxxed out in terms of finance and represent a risk, even though, as the loan timings suggest, the bank was very willing to say 'YES' on every occasion. They would not allow removal of any PPI arrangements either.

We have now been assigned a Privilege Manager, due to the fact that we make the bank so much money, not my words...THEIRS!!!

I know my wife and I have made some mistakes with our finances and in the last 12 months they have not worsened, in fact there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Can anyone help with this dreaded PPI problem, or am I stuck with it.

We would really like to change banks, as we feel there is no loyalty in this workld anymore...Naive I know!!

I hope to be in a position one day to give advice to someone just like you all seem to be doing on this fabulous forum...Well done to all of you....
Many thanks for allowing me to rant

mountainofdebt

I know how dangerous consolidation loans can be .....yes they lower your repayments and potentially reduce the term of the debt but if you don't curb your spending they can only make the situation worse (that goes btw for revolving credit card debt as well).

I can't see why you couldn't move banks for your day to day banking - and igf you had to have a Lloyds TSB account for the repayment of the loans, you could simply pay in enough money to cover these loans in the LLoyds account.

Also have you thought about getting your children to contribte to the paying of the loan taken out to help them? Whilst I can appreciate that you wanted to help them out, I guess there are those on these boards who may argue that you've done nothing to teach them financial responsibility. I would put any contribution that they made into a savings accounts with the intention of paying off the other loan early ...wouldn't pay off the £20,000 loan early as this is almost finished and the rebate given for early repayment wouldn't e that much.

Also, what we are doing with our financial situation, is when we pay off a det we are setting up a standing order for the amount of money allocated to that debt so that it goes into another debt as well as making the standard amount needed to pay off debt 2.

Gonzo1966

Good to chat to someone else about finances...thanks for the reply MountainofDebt

The teenagers are now in their very early twenties...Our son has taken heed of the advice we have dished out and has amassed a very good credit rating, he has his own car, mobile phone and looking for a house and does not require anything from us. Our daughter is a different story altogether, some people would say she is a free spirit

Moving bank for our day to day banking is something I will be doing

Xbigman

I think you are being unfair to Lloyds over the PPI. Why? Because every other bank is exactly the same. They all want you to take PPI and that is where they make their money.
I also think you are being a bit unfair to them as they do appear to have given you everything you wanted over the years. As you are now on your fourth (ish) set of refinancing loans and 54,000 in debt it is not unreasonable of them to say no.

I hope you don't think I'm having a go at you because I'm not. I am telling you I think you have a problem, and its not with PPI.

First steps I'd take are to have a chat with your daughter and tell her she WILL NOT get any more money. Secondly you should post all your details. Income, debts, APR's etc on the debt free board and you'll get some helpfull advice from the members there.
Regards



X

Gonzo1966

XBigman...Thanks, I do not think you are having a go at all and you are right it is not just about the PPI payments, daughter is also aware that my wife and I have clear goals and she will not be getting anything else. If the PPI payments were reduced we could actually pay off our debt sooner rather than later.

The only issue I will stand by is the sheer arrogance of our privilege manager saying she was assigned because we make so much money for LLoyds TSB. I must also point out that we have been with this bank for 16 years. The amount borrowed is more than our combined annual salaries.

Will take up your advice and hit the debt free boards..

jonesMUFCforever

Gonzo1966 wrote:

XBigman...Thanks, I do not think you are having a go at all and you are right it is not just about the PPI payments, daughter is also aware that my wife and I have clear goals and she will not be getting anything else. If the PPI payments were reduced we could actually pay off our debt sooner rather than later.

The only issue I will stand by is the sheer arrogance of our privilege manager saying she was assigned because we make so much money for LLoyds TSB. I must also point out that we have been with this bank for 16 years. The amount borrowed is more than our combined annual salaries.

Will take up your advice and hit the debt free boards..

Some banks have a price matching scheme whereby they will match(or beat) competitors APR on personal loans. If you have a clean credit history you could try one or two online companies to see if you are accepted on a lower interest rate and take this back to your privelege manager and say - I want this or I take my business away - sit back and watch them squirm! If you are that valuable to them they will do it rather than lose your business.
Note however they will only do this if you have a decent account history - sometime posters on here only post part of stories etc.not that I am suggesting anything untowards you personally.
Eric

Gonzo1966

We have never missed a single payment, everything we have or pay for is direct debitted from our account...some months have been tougher than others...LLoyds tried to offer us an extended overdraft at 10.1%(Platinum account rates) to cover some payments after scanning our bank account.

As per my first posting on this particular forum, we can see light at the end of the tunnel.

It is only when you have made the mistakes that you realise what could have been.

Frustratingly, this is the only part of our finances that were we have reached a stumbling block over, but your suggestion sounds good, might just give it a try.

miss_lisalou

Gonzo1966 wrote:

....The only issue I will stand by is the sheer arrogance of our privilege manager saying she was assigned because we make so much money for LLoyds TSB. I must also point out that we have been with this bank for 16 years. The amount borrowed is more than our combined annual salaries....

Saying "it's because you make our bank so much money" is simply buttering-up speech for "you have x amount (usually 3 or 4) of products with us" and that is the bank's way of 'repaying' that loyalty.

It doesn't mean that they will extend you more credit, nor that you will necessarily get credit at a better rate than normal.

I'm not defending the situation, just explaining it (as an ex-employee of the said named). Personally, I feel it's an attempt to make you feel good, indeed proud, of being with this Bank and not switch to another. But they are by no means the only bank that do this.