Shawbrook Bank - contract terms & credit card payments

Dixie1949

I have a loan with Shawbrook bank for some furniture I bought several years ago. I received a 0% offer from 1 of my credit cards and realised I could save money by taking that offer and paying Shawbrook off. The shawbrook interest rate is well over 10%. I called Shawbrook and asked for a quote to finish the loan. Shawbrook duly sent me the quote which I compared to the 0% offer. I realised that I could save several hundreds of pounds by transferring to the credit card. I therefore rang Shawbrook and offered to pay the value of their offer letter. I proceeded to give them the card number at which point the Shawbank employee said their internal policy did not allow them to accept credit card payments. I asked if that is in the contract and was told that the Shawbank internal policy takes precedence. I asked for Shawbank to send me a copy of the contract. Shawbank duly sent me a copy of an unsigned contract document. The contract was signed by me but not by Shawbank. I asked and have asked on several occasions for a copy of the signed contract which they have refused to do saying that it is Shawbank policy not to do so. Without a copy of the signed document I have no idea if the document they sent me is the correct contract document.
On the document I have received there is no wording regarding credit cards at all. There is however a statement "We will tell you how you can make the repayment when you contact us" This is a catchall which I believe does not satisfy the legislation which I says a company has to make clear at the beginning any important financial information. Shawbank in fact did not inform me of this internal policy when I asked for the early settlement, nor in their letter stating the early settlement value but only when I phoned them back to accept their offer. I waited 4 months to receive a copy of the signed agreement constanly contacting them asking for it. I wrote to them that I could not continue paying the direct debit until I see the agreed terms and still they refused. They have now placed me on a bad debtors list which has resulted in my credit score reducing from the 800's to the 100's. What should I do?

[Deleted User]

You haven't been placed on a bad debtors list.  They've recorded your missed payment with the CRAs.

If you want to improve your situation, make up the arrears as soon as you can and reinstate the DD. Try to minimise the damage. Ignore the credit score. If you've only missed one payment, the long term effect can be managed.

They don't need to accept credit cards and very few lenders will, so stop trying to pay that way. A money transfer would have worked.

You don't need a signed copy of the agreement.  A reconstituted version is fine.

maxsteam

In order to accept credit card payments, an organisation must sign up for a merchant account with a bank or similar. There is no obligation on anyone to accept credit card payments. Some organisations accept credit cards for retail sales but not for loan repayments. The organisation must pay a fee to accept credit card payments. If you can't convince Shawbrook to take a credit card payment and if you can't find another way to get funds from your credit card provider (a cash advance is unlikely to be possible within the 0% deal and is likely to be far more expensive than 10%), you should catch up with the payments.