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help parents being scammed

in short i have visited my parents today 15 years ago they purchased a conservatory for there home at a cost of £8000 they paid for it monthly as didnt have the full amount at the time i understand that paying for things over time incures apr but today they told me after 15 years of payments they still owe £13000, 5000 over what they were originly charged 15 years ago over the years im sure they have already paid about 26k for this conservatory and are being told they owe 13k still, im sure they are being scammed and dont know where to start has anybody else been in this situation or does anybody know i how i would begin looking into this for them
thanks in advance
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Comments

  • LilElvis
    LilElvis Posts: 5,835 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Ask your parents to show you their copy of the paperwork so you can see what the agreement was/is.
  • wealdroam
    wealdroam Posts: 19,180 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    vickih82 wrote: »
    in short i have visited my parents today 15 years ago they purchased a conservatory for there home at a cost of £8000 they paid for it monthly as didnt have the full amount at the time i understand that paying for things over time incures apr but today they told me after 15 years of payments they still owe £13000, 5000 over what they were originly charged 15 years ago over the years im sure they have already paid about 26k for this conservatory and are being told they owe 13k still, im sure they are being scammed and dont know where to start has anybody else been in this situation or does anybody know i how i would begin looking into this for them
    thanks in advance
    The first thing you need to do is dig out all their paperwork and understand the loan agreement.

    If thy are not paying enough each month to cover the interest then of course the debt will continue to grow.
  • will do ill get them to sort it all out, i know they were paying £125 per month 15 years agoi worked out that £44 per month for 15 years would have paid it off by now
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,641 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 16 February 2017 at 9:07PM
    Are they being scammed or was the apr stupidly high ?

    What does the agreement say regarding the apr ?

    Are you in a position wheee you could take out a loan of say 13k or as close and use savings to get to the 13k to then pay the conservatory off ?

    OP has had advice in 1 of the many threads they had posted, may as well post your advice in that thread.
  • wealdroam
    wealdroam Posts: 19,180 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 16 February 2017 at 9:02PM
    vickih82 wrote: »
    will do ill get them to sort it all out, i know they were paying £125 per month 15 years agoi worked out that £44 per month for 15 years would have paid it off by now
    £44 a month for 15 years = £7900.

    That doesn't even cover the amount borrowed, let alone any interest.
    No wonder the debt is rising.

    This loan repayment calculator may help you.
  • Silvertabby
    Silvertabby Posts: 10,253 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 16 February 2017 at 9:19PM
    It sounds like they borrowed £8K over several years at a high fixed rate of interest. Not a scam, just a very unwise choice at the time.

    How old are your parents? If they asked for a resettlement figure would they be able to take out a low interest loan to pay it off ?
  • ViolaLass
    ViolaLass Posts: 5,764 Forumite
    Have they actually paid £125 every month?
  • Gaz83
    Gaz83 Posts: 4,047 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Post up details of the amount borrowed, length of term, APR and monthly payments.
    "Facism arrives as your friend. It will restore your honour, make you feel proud, protect your house, give you a job, clean up the neighbourhood, remind you of how great you once were, clear out the venal and the corrupt, remove anything you feel is unlike you... [it] doesn't walk in saying, "our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution."
  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,853 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    what was the term and APR for the loan...if this was a 25 year loan at 19% then the figures appear correct...there would be over £30k interest on top of the original borrowed amount
  • rtho782
    rtho782 Posts: 1,189 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    Caz3121 wrote: »
    what was the term and APR for the loan...if this was a 25 year loan at 19% then the figures appear correct...there would be over £30k interest on top of the original borrowed amount

    I bet this is what happened.

    No scams involved.
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