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Rules on Loans
My dad got a loan with Barclay's Bank in Jan 2012 which is now causing him financial problems and i wanted to know what the Laws are on selling someone a loan.
This is a long story so i am sorry for the length but there are a few factors and details that go towards the whole story.
Back in 2009 my mother died suddenly and my dad took it very hard he sank in to depression and alcohol we tried to help him through it and eventually he was diagnosed by a doctor with depression at the end of 2010 and prescribed seroxat, My mother never had life insurance on herself but my dad had already been ill for many years before my mother died and had him insured, Life and funeral plan so my dad had to pay for her funeral from his own pocket he did this using his Barclay's credit card.
Moving on my my father started drinking more and more culminating to a bottle and a half of brandy a night, although my dad had good pensions he was sinking deeper into debt trying to pay his Barclay's credit card and an RBS credit card we discovered in his and my mother name after she had died.
In September 2011 my brother sadly passed away leaving my father with another funeral expense to pay for again he put this on his credit card which put him further into debt.
In Jan 2012 he got a call from his bank asking him to come down to his local branch and discuss his finances as he was falling behind, he went down and now really depressed and a full on Alcoholic they went trough his finances and told him his best option was to have a £15000 loan over 5 years paying £331 a month back, My dad was 71 at the time and did what the bank advised, he payed his credit cards off and cancelled the RBS one.
This started lots of problems for him, my dad never really liked computers and didn't trust they are safe so kept with his bank statements being sent to him but after taking the loan he rarely got a statement or anything from Barclay's, Despite my dad ringing all the time asking for a statement to know where he was every month with his money it continued.
By Feb 2013 my dad was no longer able to look after himself and i am now looking after him full time i have taken up his fight for bank statements and since Jan 2014 we have been getting them every month, I found my dad had run up his credit card again which i stopped the card and made arrangements to pay it back i have to admit Barclay card have been great and worked with me on this, in August 2013 my dad found out he had missed some payments on his loan and with out my knowledge as i was away and my sister was looking after him called Barclay's and went through his finances to make an affordable repayment agreement the worked out he had £72 disposable every month but arranged with him to pay £100 a month £28 more than his disposable for three months then it would go back up to £331 pound this is where the statements come in.
When the Loan was Due back up to £331 there was only £325 in my fathers account so the loan was not taken out meaning he missed another payment but we never got a letter informing us about it, In Jan 2014 my dads account had a stop on it meaning we could not use the card we rung Barclay's to find out why and they said the Loan had not been paid for a few months so they stopped the account i explained to the man and he was ok lifted the stop but asked us to ring back and go through the finances again with them.
I had done some cutting bill wise for my dad and even cut how much he was spending on alcohol, i rang back Barclay's to go through the finances and we had £350 left over a month but because there had been a mistake with one of his pensions on the tax code he owed HMRC over £1000 pound and was waiting to find out how much to repay a month.
At this point Barclay's could not help us and were going to try and take the money for the next loan out if the money was not there it would put another stop on the account i asked if they could delay taking it for 7 day's as my dad's big pension for the RAF went in that day and that there would be more than enough money to pay the loan they could not help us.
That day came and went and the money did not get taken as there was not enough on the day of the loan.
Since then i have rang Barclay's with what HMRC has said i also realized I account for water as £15 odd a month when we pay £46 a month i took the £46 pound as a quarter instead of a month plus i had left off my dads alcohol i had said he spends £200 a month on cigarettes and alcohol when he spokes a pack a day costing roughly £7 which equals £49 a week meaning £196 a month leaving £4 a month for alcohol a month for an alcoholic. HMRC agreed my dad could pay back £36 a month for what he owed.
So i rang back Barclay's explained the changes and they said that we had account for things twice and they were saying we were lying to them and that my dad has a excess of £500 odd a month meaning they wont help.
I want to know how can they give someone a loan for £15000 at the age of 71 who is of poor health and was struggling to pay two credit cards anyway, My dad did not go to the bank seeking a loan he was advised by them this was his best course of action why did they let him keep the Barclay's credit card to run it up again, I personally don't think he was in the right state of mind to be offered a loan by the bank in the first place and the cost of paying back the credit cards a month was not too much more than how much he was paying the loan.
Is there anything i can do about this or am i completely wrong in my conclusion that they should have advised him better and not offered him the loan.
This is a long story so i am sorry for the length but there are a few factors and details that go towards the whole story.
Back in 2009 my mother died suddenly and my dad took it very hard he sank in to depression and alcohol we tried to help him through it and eventually he was diagnosed by a doctor with depression at the end of 2010 and prescribed seroxat, My mother never had life insurance on herself but my dad had already been ill for many years before my mother died and had him insured, Life and funeral plan so my dad had to pay for her funeral from his own pocket he did this using his Barclay's credit card.
Moving on my my father started drinking more and more culminating to a bottle and a half of brandy a night, although my dad had good pensions he was sinking deeper into debt trying to pay his Barclay's credit card and an RBS credit card we discovered in his and my mother name after she had died.
In September 2011 my brother sadly passed away leaving my father with another funeral expense to pay for again he put this on his credit card which put him further into debt.
In Jan 2012 he got a call from his bank asking him to come down to his local branch and discuss his finances as he was falling behind, he went down and now really depressed and a full on Alcoholic they went trough his finances and told him his best option was to have a £15000 loan over 5 years paying £331 a month back, My dad was 71 at the time and did what the bank advised, he payed his credit cards off and cancelled the RBS one.
This started lots of problems for him, my dad never really liked computers and didn't trust they are safe so kept with his bank statements being sent to him but after taking the loan he rarely got a statement or anything from Barclay's, Despite my dad ringing all the time asking for a statement to know where he was every month with his money it continued.
By Feb 2013 my dad was no longer able to look after himself and i am now looking after him full time i have taken up his fight for bank statements and since Jan 2014 we have been getting them every month, I found my dad had run up his credit card again which i stopped the card and made arrangements to pay it back i have to admit Barclay card have been great and worked with me on this, in August 2013 my dad found out he had missed some payments on his loan and with out my knowledge as i was away and my sister was looking after him called Barclay's and went through his finances to make an affordable repayment agreement the worked out he had £72 disposable every month but arranged with him to pay £100 a month £28 more than his disposable for three months then it would go back up to £331 pound this is where the statements come in.
When the Loan was Due back up to £331 there was only £325 in my fathers account so the loan was not taken out meaning he missed another payment but we never got a letter informing us about it, In Jan 2014 my dads account had a stop on it meaning we could not use the card we rung Barclay's to find out why and they said the Loan had not been paid for a few months so they stopped the account i explained to the man and he was ok lifted the stop but asked us to ring back and go through the finances again with them.
I had done some cutting bill wise for my dad and even cut how much he was spending on alcohol, i rang back Barclay's to go through the finances and we had £350 left over a month but because there had been a mistake with one of his pensions on the tax code he owed HMRC over £1000 pound and was waiting to find out how much to repay a month.
At this point Barclay's could not help us and were going to try and take the money for the next loan out if the money was not there it would put another stop on the account i asked if they could delay taking it for 7 day's as my dad's big pension for the RAF went in that day and that there would be more than enough money to pay the loan they could not help us.
That day came and went and the money did not get taken as there was not enough on the day of the loan.
Since then i have rang Barclay's with what HMRC has said i also realized I account for water as £15 odd a month when we pay £46 a month i took the £46 pound as a quarter instead of a month plus i had left off my dads alcohol i had said he spends £200 a month on cigarettes and alcohol when he spokes a pack a day costing roughly £7 which equals £49 a week meaning £196 a month leaving £4 a month for alcohol a month for an alcoholic. HMRC agreed my dad could pay back £36 a month for what he owed.
So i rang back Barclay's explained the changes and they said that we had account for things twice and they were saying we were lying to them and that my dad has a excess of £500 odd a month meaning they wont help.
I want to know how can they give someone a loan for £15000 at the age of 71 who is of poor health and was struggling to pay two credit cards anyway, My dad did not go to the bank seeking a loan he was advised by them this was his best course of action why did they let him keep the Barclay's credit card to run it up again, I personally don't think he was in the right state of mind to be offered a loan by the bank in the first place and the cost of paying back the credit cards a month was not too much more than how much he was paying the loan.
Is there anything i can do about this or am i completely wrong in my conclusion that they should have advised him better and not offered him the loan.
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Comments
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I want to know how can they give someone a loan for £15000 at the age of 71 who is of poor health and was struggling to pay two credit cards anyway, My dad did not go to the bank seeking a loan he was advised by them this was his best course of action why did they let him keep the Barclay's credit card to run it up again, I personally don't think he was in the right state of mind to be offered a loan by the bank in the first place and the cost of paying back the credit cards a month was not too much more than how much he was paying the loan.
Is there anything i can do about this or am i completely wrong in my conclusion that they should have advised him better and not offered him the loan.
Because he had a credit history from the credit cards, showing that he could make the payments.
He didn't put the correct details on the app form regarding his alcohol consumption illness - so how would they know?0 -
nomoneytoday wrote: »Because he had a credit history from the credit cards, showing that he could make the payments.
He didn't put the correct details on the app form regarding his alcohol consumption illness - so how would they know?
The bank loan officer filled out the form and he was an alcoholic in denial that he had a drinking problem, but they could see form his bank history on there computers what he was spending every month and that he was struggling to pay the cards hence why he was called in.
Some things are private to people.
If someone had come to his home to sell him something as he is elderly and vulnerable there are laws protecting him but because it was a bank and he was asked to go to them there are less if any.
Some could go down to a bank who has no clue and gets easily confused and get a loan if there credit is good they may not need that loan but they do not consider taking mental health into the application as i understand it so can get away with giving a loan that was not needed but if someone came to the house to sell lets say a scooter and got them to buy one needed or not the person has the law on there side because they may not be in position to make a correct informed decision.
As i see it banks do not come under this which they should as it can ruin a persons life, I thought setting out a plan to pay so much off the cards a month stopping the cards would have been the best option not giving him a loan.0 -
What medical help is he getting, both for his alcoholism and his smoking?
He chose to go to the bank and he chose to take the loan, no one forced him to. Unless he was showing signs of illness I fail to see how the bank are at fault.0 -
Hi OP, your father willingly took out the loan. You won't get anywhere blaming the bank I'm afraid, with all due respect, they're not social workers.0
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He was asked to go to the Bank to discuss his poor finances.
My Dad is seeing a Councilor to help with his depression and alcoholism and sees the doctor every two weeks regarding his alcohol consumption.
If he had gone to the bank off his on back seeking a loan then i could see there being no argument but he was asked by the bank to go down as he was constantly in his over draft and struggling to pay the cards back, to me that does not mean his finances were ok it means there was a problem.
Banks should have to consider a persons state of mind at the time of the loan, If they suffer with depression or anything else that may impair there judgment. He was advise this was his BEST COURSE OF ACTION when it clearly was not.0 -
What is he doing about the smoking? He should be paying his debts before he buys cigarettes.
How do you suggest the bank checks on a customer's state of mind?0 -
How do you propose someone selling a scooter to someone in there own home asses someones state of mind but this has been an issue which government has dealt with since people have complained about it so why should banks be any different.
It's not as if my dad is only now ill he was suffering before he took the loan.
My dad has smoked since he was 13 years old he will now be 74 this year and why should he deny him self some pleasure in life.
It's not just the loan it's not getting a regular statement for two years despite constantly ringing them to sort it out, hard to keep track of incomings and outgoings with out it.
I agree that someone should honor their debts like i myself i got into debt but i am paying my debts off which i have made agreements i have given up loads but my debts i asked for my loan which then i got into trouble and now have an arrangement to pay off.
Up until my mother passed away and my dad went wayward they had never been late or missed any debt payment throughout the his life it was not until 2010 my dad missed any payment.
I am sorry if i come across very argumentative and i thank you for your opinions but i hate to see my dad suffering through this and the fact that the bank will not now work with us on a repayment plan just frustraights me.0 -
Always remember that the banks are there to make money for their shareholders and to pay obscene bonuses to their directors, not to help you. Having said that, they should discuss a payment plan with him, and it might help to contact someone more senior in the bank. If you are trying to claim the loan is unenforceable because of your father's mental state I think you will struggle, unless he was sectioned under the Mental Health Acts.I used to think that good grammar is important, but now I know that good wine is importanter.0
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No one is trying to deny him some pleasure, just not £200 worth. I am a smoker myself but I would not put it ahead of paying my bills.
The bank will try to help when you stop playing the blame game. You have told us nothing that would alert the bank to him having a medical issue or vulnerability.0 -
Perhaps your father might be better off going to an organisation like StepChange. If he prepares (and can stick to) a properly assessed budget, the bank might be more willing to participate.
I know you're trying to help him, but blaming the bank is not going to help. They are not responsible for his financial decisions. Unless he has been clinically recognised as incapable of making his own decisions, then they do not have the duty of care that you seem to think they do. The bank has received several pieces of information from you, and your father has, for whatever reason, failed to stick to repayment plans from them. You need to see it from their side - you lend someone money, and first he doesn't stick to the repayments, then you cut a repayment deal, and he fails on that too, then he gives you conflicting information about his money... what would you think/ And with all due respect, they do not have to allow him all that money for booze and cigarettes. They are well within their rights to say that those are luxuries.
I wish your dad a recovery and you the best of luck, but going in to the bank with a more conciliatory attitude might be more useful.Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps....
LB moment - March 2006. DFD - 1 June 2012!!! DEBT FREE!
May grocery challenge £45.61/£1200
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