Challenging loans/credit card debts themselves. Opinions?

Taffyfella

lotte123 wrote: »

My opinion is that there is a great difference between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. The law is there to protect people against unfair and exploitative acts and practices. Using the law to protect those being exploited is just. Using the law to get out of paying money back that you have borrowed in my eyes is legalised theft and makes a mockery of the law. If I was you Martin I would not promote it.

Sorry, I just re-read it all back as I didn't see the title...

I take what I said back and I don't have an opinion on the above :-)

pete-in-london

It sounds 'too good to be true' and I suspect there will be many obstacles in the way, but it will be very interesting to see how this progresses - we've seen how the trickle of bank charge claims has now turned into a torrent, so if this process really is possible people will jump on this in exactly the same way and the ramifications would of course be much bigger, as you say.

I doubt that many people would choose not to go ahead with this for purely ethical reasons - the aggressive behaviour of the banks towards people reclaiming their default charges, negative publicity (The Independent, Whistleblower etc) and the record profits reported have fuelled discontent from consumers. The way the banks compound debt has just made this worse (e.g. by causing debt spirals due to 'snowballing' bank charges). People are angry and agrieved. In terms of 'consumer revenge', this would be the ace of spades...

Personally - I have £20000 in bank loans and am currently reclaiming £2500 in bank charges. If successful cases come through I will definitely go for this - on the 'ethical' basis of giving the bank a kick in the teeth back.

I ran the checker on the website and, indeed, found that my HSBC loan agreements are full of missing information and that the APR was calculated incorrectly. The staff didn't even bother to fill out certain parts of the loan agreement forms.

If I were you, Martin, I'd follow this up and report on it. Ethically, I think that using this process to write off your debts is in no way less ethical than the tactics these massive international companies use to make profits out of people in debt.

Hypothetically, if the bank was in the consumer position here, they would not hesitate to do this.

Sorry for my post-pub rant!
Peter

punkgirlyuk

I agree with most people that the loans should be paid back as it was spent but I feel that this could be helpful for people that are struggling to meet payments on loans. They could check if the loan was enforceable and if found not to be but they still want to pay their debts then they could negotiate better repayment terms for themselves as they are willing to pay when it could just be wiped out!

john_the_bread

I also agree that the loan should in principle be repaid, however the growth of loan companies and debt management companies and their high profile advertising campaigns remind me very much of the personal injury market a few years ago when most of the injured parties compensation was retained by the organisation they thought was helping them to get justice. Eventually the government intervened and several highly profitable companies disappeared
Most of us using sites like these have realised that we are being or have been exploited and have chosen to fight back, all of us are grateful to the work that Martin has done.
If an organisation is making profit out of others misfortune or their inability to obtain low cost credit does it make right ?
When my Business Bank Manager refused to increase my overdraft facility of £1000 I stupidly used a well known credit card to support my business which resulted in me incurring charges of £1550 over a thirty month period on a loan balance of £3250.
If creditors are pressing' logical thought flies out of the window, you need breathing space and invariably take the line of least resistance.
Finance companies are fully aware of this and the unethical ones are fully prepared to exploit it.
In previous posts Martin has referred to those who for whatever reason are not aware of their rights and are not able to seek redress as we are doing.
Whilst I am not advocating that people enter into agreements with no intention of paying them back, if organisations draft contracts which are legally unenforcably in their haste to take unfair adantage and exploit people's desperation and ignorance for unfair profits and gain they can hardly complain if their methods are subject to close scrutiny.
Pete in London is right in stating that the trickle has become a torrent,this web site is constantly evolving. Long may it continue to do so. Keep up the good work Martin

dexters_mum_2

I am of the opinion that if I borrowed money, I should pay it back.
However, my main gripe with loan providers is that in the past they have forced PPI on customers and from a close friend's point of view, the companies that offer doorstep loans at something like 186% APR!

I would like to see these sorts of loans challenged in court to be honest!

If this became a regular occurance, ie people going to court NOT to paytheir loans, you could see lender charging higher and higher APR's and anyone with a less than perfect credit history couldn't apply, which could mean more people turn to unorthodox lenders.

Personally, if I took a loan, I would pay it off, if circumstances meant that I couldn't I don't think I would take this course of action.

j1mgg

I have been looking at these on other sites. These seem to have been used against debt recovery agencies with success and these are the people i feel it should target. I do have a debt with such agency and their tactics and charges are ridiculous and if i could use this so that the debt was passed back to the original lender i would as i would have no problem with paying THEM back. I think this should further be looked into but totally agree that you should not be charged for this and would be grateful if martin could look into it as it could help alot of people being chased by these dreadful agencies.
I think people should pay back their debt but to the original creditor who holds the CCA and not some bullying (i buy the debt for £100 but want a £1000 from you) company.

golddigger_3

bumping this up

pete-in-london

This is a tool, that to my knowledge the CAB has utilised a few times for unsigned agreements, to get people out of loans with bad terms.

Sorry to sound like a dimwit but what does 'CAB' stand for?

System

pete-in-london wrote: »

Sorry to sound like a dimwit but what does 'CAB' stand for?

Citizens Advice Bureau

Regards
UNDERGROUND

golddigger_3

Citizens Advice Bureau
and your not a dimwit!