Swift Advances Excessive Termination Charge

keith1955

Can anyone assist me in finding out if I have been overcharged.

I took out a Secured Loan in December 2004. For £17,000.

Due to Ill Health, ( I was in a Coma for 4 weeks in February this year and am now recuperating ),Plus I am disabled and unable to do a full time job, and financial necessity, I have had to re-mortgage, and get everything in the same place.

I was told in a phone call to them when I requested an early settlement figure that there would only be a small fee of a couple of hundred pounds to pay for early redemption.

Swift Finances have charged me £3,235.45 For redeeming early. Their excuse is that I should have paid 300 payments, and because I have redeemed early they have lost a load of money in interest payments, so they are charging me that ammount to make up for it.

Looking at the original agreement, it states that they can charge a fee of £250-00 for Paperwork, and £64-00 for Transfer. No other charges are stated.

The DTI Web site says that they can charge an additional fee of 30 days interest as well. This would bring the total to £491-00.

They are refusing to refund any money to me, and as My Re-Mortgage comleted Today 19th July 2007. they will get the £17,000-00 and the £3,235-00 charge paid to them automatically.

I needed that money to clear some bills, now I haven't got enough.

Help !!!!!! Please , Anyone.

Martin, are you out there..????

petermb_2

I know this company well and am able to offer assistance if you need it.

regards

Peter

keith1955

Could anyone who feels they can actually offer me practical help, or take up my case, please contact me by email.
Thanks.

sand-dancer_3

Contact Trading Standards

Ive just joined Martins site. I hope youre feeling better now Keith.

I have had a similar experience with Swift, charging me excessive charges in an early settlement. I have joined the site in the hope someone can help me reclaim these monies and hopefully alert people to the pitfalls of this company.

Could anyone you let me know if theyve had any success? Many thanks.

keith1955

petermb wrote: »

I know this company well and am able to offer assistance if you need it.

regards

Peter

Hi there,
Please could you contact me to see if you can help me,
Thanks,
Keith

paulfletch

Hi, Last year I got a Swift Advances loan of £57,156.00 which I paid off when I remortgaged earlier this month, here's my settlement fees:

Original loan amount £57,156.00
Interest charged £4,757.87
Less payments received £4,179.56

Sub total £57,734.31

Arrears letters and call charges £161.00
Bounced payment charges £33.00
Information to & from prior mortgages £23.00
Supplying information to 3rd parties £23.00
Redemption request charges £195.00
Other letter charges £36.00

Sub total £58,205.31

Sealing/discharge fee £250.00
Early settlement interest charged £3,492.32


Redemption figure £61,947.63

Now tell me if you think those charges are fair/legal, I only missed one payment and that was the one the month of the redemption!

After I found out that I was going to get charged nearly 3.5k redemption fee I told Swift that I no longer wanted to pay off the loan, they told me I had no choice as the percentage of house prices that they lend has gone down and mine was now above the limit!! :mad:

Any thoughts??????

sand-dancer_3

Contact Trading Standards

Hi paulfletch, i borrowed £7150 (plus £1982.40 PPI) with Swift in Feb 05. I paid off £8000 in Aug 05 then they sent me a letter saying I still owed them £2053.42 which I disputed. I re-mortgaged last November, but because of a penalty issued on my original mortgage, delayed my re-mortgage for a few months. According to Swift, I requested redemption figures in Aug 07= £3831.96, Sep= £4184.52, Oct= £4377.95 then the final figure of £4728.50 which was requested on the actual day of my completion. (I have since been told that Swift are noted for raising the final figure at the 11th hour). No paperwork was given to my solicitor even tho Swift charged me £65.00 for giving me these figures. I rang them last week asking for a breakdown of the final settlement figures (no doubt they'll charge me for the request!) and am waiting for a response from them.
This company needs investigating on the ridiculous charges they inflict.
If I have any response from them, Ill post it on here in the hope it helps you and others.
Good Luck if youre pursuing your enquiry

(petermb - could you contact me and let me know if you could help, thanks)

petermb_2

Sorry for delay in getting back.

just got back from holidays to find the site had been down anyway.

congrats to Martin for getting the site back up again.

Butlers1982

Forget It

Did you go through a broker? if so there will be a broker fee incorporated in the figure and that will be included in the total amount of the loan. Broker fees are usually 10%, so your looking at around £1700 for a 17k loan.
When you signed the credit agreement, what did it say about early redemption penalties?
Usually for a 17k loan with swift, youll pay one months charge in fees, plus the total broker fee and any other arrangement fees.

In relation to contacting trading standards, nothing has been done wrong, if you feel the penalities are high contact Swift and ask them to put the total balance if it is to be paid off in the next 2 weeks.

petermb_2

Sand-dancer. Knowing this lender and having seen when you took this loan out and how they set up their accounts I am sure that there are things you can do regarding this Loan. At worst the lender is likely to be forced to reduce the amount they claim you owe and at best you could walk away from the loan without paying any more or they could even owe you money.

Sorry to disagree with you Butlers but I would put money on there being a number of things the lender will have got wrong with this account.

Chris01_2

Sorry to disagree with you Butlers but I would put money on there being a number of things the lender will have got wrong with this account.[/quote]
HI Peter could you help us please we have just recieved this list of charges to repay a secured loan of £30,280 taken out in january 06

original loan amount £30,280

interest charged £6,802.80
less payments recieved £5,720
sub total £31,812,18
arrears/letters/call charges £518.00
bounced payment charges £165.00
information to and from prior mortgagee £221.00
supplying information to 3rd parties £46.00
redemption request charges £260.00
other letter charges £95.00
default charges £250.00
management charges in default £210.00
fee charged for instructing solicitors £75.00
fee charged for issuing court proceedings £100.00
litigation fees £1,239.00
court issue fee £150.00

sub total £35,141.83

sealing dicharge fee £250.00
early settlement interest charged £2,254.90
REDEMPTION FIGURE £37,646.73
At present we are succesfully remorgaged to pay this debt off.We have missed about four payments but have been in contact with Swift all the time.The court have given us 28days to settle this account,Could you please advise us of any action we can take.Thank you Chris