Barclays First Plus Loans interest rates

hewhotrainseats

amersall said:

That's the correct one. Call them and ask if they have your email. If they say no then make the complaint with them on the phone .
If you hear nothing after 8 weeks then make a complaint to FOS 

Thanks, will do this asap.

Liz_b

Hi, I have just found this thread and desperately needing help.  I took a FP loan years ago for a huge amount.  We re-mortgaged and paid half of it off leaving a balance of 50K.  Long story short it was transferred to Elderbrige.  I originally carried on making repayments but could not afford to continue.  The balance is still sitting at 50K and they keep sending threatening letters about taking me to court however they haven't done anything.  Spoke to the citizens advice last year and they advised me not to pay them, that there was something wrong with the loan and that if they had any rights they would have enforced action.  Its a secured loan.  If I contact about the interest charges will this start the whole thing over again and make me liable? I'm not actually interested in compensation although I believe I am due it but I just want rid of them.  Does anyone have any advice at all?  Is anyone still paying them? I believe I was completely miss-sold , so many reasons( husbands wage was mostly commission, negative equity on house when loan was issued, no proper income/expenditure completed, mortgage company had to give part of the first mortgage as an unsecured loan to make the figures balance) but don't think I can claim for that due to time limitations.  Its a whole big mess and I just want to save my house which I've been living in and paying for over 30 years. Please any advice would be very gratefully received.

amersall

It's up to you if you want to put a complaint in, it's possible they could then come after you for that loan, they may not, and look at your complaint.
Is the 50, 000 with interest or, is there interest to go on if you start to pay it back?. With this company the whole time you haven't paid they will have all the interest waiting in the wings!
If you want to make a complaint to elderbridge  then you can,  look at recent posts for reasons of complaint. If you go for it then don't be  long winded, short and to the point.
The choice is yours what you want to do.

Liz_b

Hi Amersall thank you for your reply.  Its got interest but they haven't increased the amount for years so I'm suspecting they will have frozen it to add on later.  Interestingly it does not appear on my credit file at all.  There is no mention of this company.  I've been looking at times for statute barred and if its against a property it is 12 years and in Scotland the debt completely disappears after this time.  I'm not sure its worth it , it could open a whole can of worms although they did completely rob us and millions of others.  I'm very glad you didn't give up and got some recompense for their disgusting actions. 

amersall

Only took us 12 years!
Can't believe this is not on your credit file, is there a charge on the property?.
When citizens advice told you not to pay it, what did they say was wrong the loan?

Liz_b

the lady from CAB said she has never in all her years seen anything like it before.  She didn't know what was wrong but said that she didn't think they had the legal authority to do anything otherwise they would have by now, especially for that amount of money.  She then said there was obviously something wrong with the whole loan/deal that they hadn't pursued it.  Its definitely not on my credit file nor has it ever been !  It was supposed to be secured on the property I don't know if that changed when we re-mortgaged and paid half of it off.  To be honest its been longer than 12 years we have been trying to sort this all out.  Both my husband and i got new jobs and i even re-trained just so we would have a steady reliable income to deal with it all.  Never should have been sold the new mortgage but that's another story.  I just want to be able to keep my home but somewhere along the line the first mortgage company changed it to interest only which means in about 4years I need to find the balance for my house.  Haven't re-mortgaged due to Elderbridge and trying to figure it all out.

ClaireBellJames

Thanks everyone for your comments on this thread, Amersham you are an absolute star on your advice & due diligence re First Plus/Elderbridge.
I took out a loan is 2006 with my ex partner, the property was sold in 2015, leaving a shortfall of £6.5k.  At the time I complained to Elderbridge re interest rates, they disagreed with my complaint & the balance was left, they never chased it & it is not on my credit report.  Recently my ex partner sent a statue barred letter, the response was that the £6.5k is capital therefore not statue barred, the interest of £40k which apparently is now owed is statue barred, leaving the balance of  £6.5k. They have also sent a statement & over the period of the load, we paid back £140k on a borrowing of £100k.  My ex wants to pay this £6.5k, but I am not in agreement.  I did download a template from FOS & used it to write a draft letter regarding unaffordable & irresponsible lending practices, which is unsent.  What would you advise we do next? Should I write a much simpler letter based on your advice earlier in the thread re the interest rate clause & send directly to FOS or write again to Elderbridge? Thanks 

amersall

Thank you but it's not just me it is a group of us. 
What was your contact with Elderbridge  Was it just about interest? If it was then count the 8 weeks from then, if not.


Contact elderbridge, keep it simple, don't mention unfair etc just that you believe you overpaid interest through the lifetime of this loan and would like this to be looked into.
Give them 8 weeks to respond, they normally don't! then send it to FOS, you can do it online.

ClaireBellJames

Hi Amersall, thanks for your response.

the latest letter was a statute barred letter.  My letter in 2016 was in connection to interest rates & the fact that disagreement with the balance of £6.5k.  I’ll send them another letter as advised above regarding interest.  Thanks again, I’ll keep an eye on this thread & update accordingly. 

amersall

They will time barr you,  as it is over 6 years when you first complained  don't panic, I was twice and others too ..we won through FOS. 
When you send this to FOS be aware there's a 4 month wait for these claims