Secured Loan just doesn't seem to be getting paid off!

Fedup86

Hi everyone,
I am desperate for some advice if possible please.
My wife and I took out a 20k secured loan 14 years ago in order to do some home improvements, since then we've NEVER missed a payment and i (foolishly) assumed it would it would be paid off in full on the completion day, of which is exactly 1 year away from today.
I work away from home a lot but due to the current situation i am currently furloughed, so i have been using the time to do some jobs around the house and catch-up with finances etc.
I have now learned that we apparently still owe 20k and so long as we pay what we should be, they estimate that we will still owe 17k on completion day?!?!?
I have today tried to contact the lender to discuss this, but they're closed due to Covid-19.
What the heck do i do??

Thrugelmir

Did you receive annual statements from the lender? 

[Deleted User]

Keep paying.

If you need to understand how much you're paying off, use a repayment calculator and input the capital, term and rate.

Fedup86

Thrugelmir said:

Did you receive annual statements from the lender? 

I guess we did, but i personally never seen them. Blindly accepting that all was well has been my downfall.

Deleted_User said:

Keep paying.

If you need to understand how much you're paying off, use a repayment calculator and input the capital, term and rate.

Will keep paying for sure, but what happens at the end of the agreement when i still owe 17k. I have spoke with my mortgage provider today to see if i could consolidate, but they have said they're unable to help as i have less than a year left on the agreement with the lender..

MovingForwards

What's the interest rate on it?
Is it interest only?
Who is the lender?

Fedup86

MovingForwards said:

What's the interest rate on it?
Is it interest only?
Who is the lender?

Cant answer the 1st two questions as i honestly cannot remember and cant find the paperwork. Pretty sure the Interest rate would have been reasonably high as we had poor credit at the time.
The lender is Swift Advances

DrEskimo

Fedup86 said:

MovingForwards said:

What's the interest rate on it?
Is it interest only?
Who is the lender?

Cant answer the 1st two questions as i honestly cannot remember and cant find the paperwork. Pretty sure the Interest rate would have been reasonably high as we had poor credit at the time.
The lender is Swift Advances

Quick glance on their website indicates that the do provide interest only loans, so it seems likely it is interest only.

You need to figure out some way to pay off the £17k in a years time. Either look at ways to refinance the balance with another lender (avoid interest only) or better yet cutting back on your outgoings as much as possible and paying down the debt as fast as you can. You would need to put >£1,400 per month to clear it without refinancing though.

enthusiasticsaver

It sounds like it was interest only. Do you have savings to cover it or is your credit record better now so you can refinance? How old are you? 

Fedup86

DrEskimo said:

Fedup86 said:

MovingForwards said:

What's the interest rate on it?
Is it interest only?
Who is the lender?

Cant answer the 1st two questions as i honestly cannot remember and cant find the paperwork. Pretty sure the Interest rate would have been reasonably high as we had poor credit at the time.
The lender is Swift Advances

Quick glance on their website indicates that the do provide interest only loans, so it seems likely it is interest only.

You need to figure out some way to pay off the £17k in a years time. Either look at ways to refinance the balance with another lender (avoid interest only) or better yet cutting back on your outgoings as much as possible and paying down the debt as fast as you can. You would need to put >£1,400 per month to clear it without refinancing though.

Guess I'll be homeless in 12 months then. 

Fedup86

enthusiasticsaver said:

It sounds like it was interest only. Do you have savings to cover it or is your credit record better now so you can refinance? How old are you? 

I am 47 now. Nowhere near enough savings and no idea about my credit history. 

DrEskimo

It should have been made very clear that the loan was only paying the interest and that you would be responsible for repaying the original capital at the end of the term.

I would start looking into your options for getting an unsecured loan to settle this. Not sure whether borrowing against your home through remortgaging would be a good idea...but I guess the loan is secured already....
What is your mortgage situation?