Loan for training provider who's now gone bust

Hooli

Hi
I signed up for some training and took the 0% finance option to pay, £2074. I've paid to date £1450 but the training provider announced my email on Friday (21st Dec) wef from 1st Jan 19 they will not be providing any training courses, I'm assuming they're going/gone bust. I still have 2 courses left to do and i've also been advised they may not be able to award certification for the courses completed.
The finance agreement is with Omni Capital and the training provided by Discovery UK. My next direct debit installment is due on 2nd Jan and i need to know if i should cancel it as i don't want to be paying my hard earned cash for something i won't now be receiving.
I emailed Discovery to advise i will be cancelling my direct debit until they advise what the situation is regarding the future for me and Omni to advise i wish to cancel the DD. However, i doubt very much if i'll get a response this side or Christmas or even this year so i'm worried that if i do cancel i will then be charged for non-payment.
Any advice gratefully received.

DCFC79

Hooli wrote: »

Hi
I signed up for some training and took the 0% finance option to pay, £2074. I've paid to date £1450 but the training provider announced my email on Friday (21st Dec) wef from 1st Jan 19 they will not be providing any training courses, I'm assuming they're going/gone bust. I still have 2 courses left to do and i've also been advised they may not be able to award certification for the courses completed.
The finance agreement is with Omni Capital and the training provided by Discovery UK. My next direct debit installment is due on 2nd Jan and i need to know if i should cancel it as i don't want to be paying my hard earned cash for something i won't now be receiving.
I emailed Discovery to advise i will be cancelling my direct debit until they advise what the situation is regarding the future for me and Omni to advise i wish to cancel the DD. However, i doubt very much if i'll get a response this side or Christmas or even this year so i'm worried that if i do cancel i will then be charged for non-payment.
Any advice gratefully received.

If you cancel the DD you will get a black mark against you on your credit file.

Another provider must be taking over the training.

System

The finance and the course are two different things. What you need to do is get a refund from the course provider and when they don't provide one you then need to approach the finance company and invoke Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act to either find and fund an alternative provider or give you a refund on the course.

Pixie5740

Tarambor wrote: »

The finance and the course are two different things. What you need to do is get a refund from the course provider and when they don't provide one you then need to approach the finance company and invoke Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act to either find and fund an alternative provider or give you a refund on the course.

^^^This and if time is of the essence I would be phoning the companies involved not emailing.

Pixie5740

If the direct debit does go out then you should be covered by the direct debit guarantee if you've paid for something and then not received that something.

Hooli

Hooli wrote: »

Hi
I signed up for some training and took the 0% finance option to pay, £2074. I've paid to date £1450 but the training provider announced my email on Friday (21st Dec) wef from 1st Jan 19 they will not be providing any training courses, I'm assuming they're going/gone bust. I still have 2 courses left to do and i've also been advised they may not be able to award certification for the courses completed.
The finance agreement is with Omni Capital and the training provided by Discovery UK. My next direct debit installment is due on 2nd Jan and i need to know if i should cancel it as i don't want to be paying my hard earned cash for something i won't now be receiving.
I emailed Discovery to advise i will be cancelling my direct debit until they advise what the situation is regarding the future for me and Omni to advise i wish to cancel the DD. However, i doubt very much if i'll get a response this side or Christmas or even this year so i'm worried that if i do cancel i will then be charged for non-payment.
Any advice gratefully received.

Unfortunately it was completely out of the blue and their timing was perfect, as they sent it at the end of lunch while i was at work hence a very quick couple of emails. I'll be calling them both first thing tomorrow. I feel for those employees that had far worse news than me :-(
Thank you for all your advice and reassurance.

Brock_and_Roll

Unfortunately this is all too common.

Almost certainly the "contract" provide the training courses is completely separate from the finance contract, which is in effect a personal loan.

So the first thing the OP needs to do is to put in a claim in the administration of the loan provider, albeit I suspect that by the time the company is dissolved the OP will only get a few pence in the pound as these kind of companies tend to have very few realisable assets.

With regards to the loan, this is a financial commitment an non-payment would have all the knock on, long term effects on the OPs credit rating. Given that the OP only has £600 or so left to pay, I suspect that painful though it is, the cost of paying this off would be much less than the financial and general lifestyle impact impact of defaulting

Pixie5740

venison wrote: »

You are confusing the DD guarantee with S75 which does not apply here, as I see it the OP becomes a creditor if the provider goes into liquidation, sadly they will be way down the list and if they get anything it will be months or even a year +.
The finance seems to be have been provided by someone different and as such should continue to be paid unless the OP wants a stain on their credit history that could last 6 years.

No, I'm really not confusing the DD Guarantee with a Section 75 claim. A DD Guarantee would be a quick way for the OP to get their money back whilst they then file a Section 75 claim.

It doesn't matter if the OP is a long way down the training course providers list of creditors. The OP purchased the modules using a loan from Omni Capital which is most likely the finance company the training provider uses to supply credit to the customer because Omni Capital isn't a bank or building society they just provide credit facilities to retailers, training companies, etc meaning the OP should be protected by Section 75 legislation.

Care to elaborate on what kind of "stain" the OP might get on their credit files? A late payment marker? A default? Those kind of things are easily remedied especially if the money owing is in dispute and/or it's the person's first offence.

Pixie5740

Brock_and_Roll wrote: »

Unfortunately this is all too common.

Almost certainly the "contract" provide the training courses is completely separate from the finance contract, which is in effect a personal loan.

So the first thing the OP needs to do is to put in a claim in the administration of the loan provider, albeit I suspect that by the time the company is dissolved the OP will only get a few pence in the pound as these kind of companies tend to have very few realisable assets.

With regards to the loan, this is a financial commitment an non-payment would have all the knock on, long term effects on the OPs credit rating. Given that the OP only has £600 or so left to pay, I suspect that painful though it is, the cost of paying this off would be much less than the financial and general lifestyle impact impact of defaulting

I wouldn't be too sure about that. As a consumer you can't go direct to Omni Capital to get a loan like you could with Nationwide or Halifax for example. You can only obtain finance from Omni Capital when you are purchasing things from specific retailers, training providers, etc who use Omni Capital. It's not as if the OP could get the credit from Omni Capital via Discovery UK and go and spend the money on anything other than the training modules, Omni Capital will have given the money directly to Discovery UK.

dont_use_vistaprint

These training companies are notorious, I've not come across discovery directly but know of other similar providers doing level 1 & 2 fitness instructor and personal trainer , there business model is finance not health and fitness and they are aggressive when it comes to defaults - most staff are employed in collections not delivery. I hope it works out for and I hope you investigate other routes to employment and professional status in this sector as many gyms wont touch these types of certificates or if they see them they form an opinion and take you only if they are desperate

Hooli

Hi All and thanks for all your advice.

So the situation now is, I contacted the finance company by email and phone but had no response or replies so, I cancelled my DD and I instantly had a response from them. A letter advising I would be charged unless payment made by the next instalment date (which was just under a month away). The very next day i was notified of a charge of £12 being applied to my account. I called, they waived the charge and i paid the outstanding sum of £155.50 on my credit card. Does this now mean i'm covered by my credit card under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act?

BTW, i did a check on Companies House for the training provider and found they are owned by a larger group and the provider itself is listed as being dormant for the past 2 years. The MD of the group has also just set up another company with a slightly different name. It's infuriating, how do these people sleep at night? How do they get to take peoples money, go bust and then within a month start up again?

Hooli wrote: »

Hi
I signed up for some training and took the 0% finance option to pay, £2074. I've paid to date £1450 but the training provider announced my email on Friday (21st Dec) wef from 1st Jan 19 they will not be providing any training courses, I'm assuming they're going/gone bust. I still have 2 courses left to do and i've also been advised they may not be able to award certification for the courses completed.
The finance agreement is with Omni Capital and the training provided by Discovery UK. My next direct debit installment is due on 2nd Jan and i need to know if i should cancel it as i don't want to be paying my hard earned cash for something i won't now be receiving.
I emailed Discovery to advise i will be cancelling my direct debit until they advise what the situation is regarding the future for me and Omni to advise i wish to cancel the DD. However, i doubt very much if i'll get a response this side or Christmas or even this year so i'm worried that if i do cancel i will then be charged for non-payment.
Any advice gratefully received.