Help..Alliance and Leicester Loan!

CASSI_3

I currently have an Alliance and Leicester Loan and I could really benefit from a payment break for three months however they do not offer this. If I called them to say that I was struggling financially do you think they would or do you think they would reduce my monthly payments?!
I have tried to apply for other loans that offer the introductory break but get turned down which I think has something to do with just recently changing my mortgage!
Any advice would be really appreciated!
Cass

pink_poodle_queen

Hi Cassi,

I too have an Alliance and Leicester loan and I now have an agreed monthly payment in place with them as I couldn't keep up the full monthly payments.

Last year I had to take a forced paycut plus my 12-year relationship dissolved and my ex 'disappeared' so no chance of getting any money towards payments from the ex for the JOINT loan. Anyhow, I wrote to A&L straight away - don't just pay them less each month and then ignore 'nasty' letters like some people do - when I wrote I explained the above to them. I also supplied them with a list of my incomings/outgoings per month - they never requested that I send proof of the info I provided them. Anyhow, to cut a long story short, it was agreed that I could pay them £50.00 a month instead of £466.90 a month which will be reviewed in 6 months time (August 2007) in the hope that my financial situation will have improved (fat chance!).

This does mean of course I am in arrears, and it does mean that the Credit Agency are therefore apparently informed, but it also means that I am paying an affordable amount each month so can pay my rent, council tax, food bills etc, and it avoids the risk of further action from A&L. I am also in the process of requesting from them the cancellation and full refund of the Payment Protection Insurance which I was led to believe that I had to take out in order to get the loan in the first place! Thanks to others in the Forum for that tip, I didn't realise I could do much about it, and if successful, it means that I should get nearly £3,000 knocked off from my £20,000 loan which, with interest, stands at just over £28,000 to repay over 5 years.

I assume by the way that your loan with them is unsecured so your house cannot be touched if you go into arrears for a few months?

CASSI_3

Hi
Thanks for that, the loan is unsecured so at leasts thats a bonus!
Cas

pink_poodle_queen

Well that is certainly good news that the loan, like mine, is unsecured so your property is safe. Let me know the outcome, they should be ameniable, after all if they get some money from you each month it is better for them than nothing at all.

One further word of advice, try to avoid speaking to anybody from A&L. Correspond via letter because I found when taking out the loan initially staff were falling over themselves to be nice (naturally!), but the moment I rang them about my financial difficulties the person I spoke to twice was very rude to me and unsympathetic (and on one of those occasions it was my birthday!). Fortunately my brother, an ex-banker, told me NOT to be perturbed by this one individual's attitude, but instead put into writing what I was trying to explain over the telephone. This of course I did, and I then got the result I wanted, i.e. less to pay per month which was an affordable amount that I proposed to them to agree or not agree to. By providing them with my regular monthly outgoings/incomings they could see that £50.00 which I offered them was the most that I could afford to pay them at the present time, so they HAD to agree to it!

Anyhow, good luck! Let us know how you go ........