Problem with Clydesdale Financial Services (now called Barclays Partner Finance)

welshdragon1

Hello people. I have a big problem with these cowboys. Some time ago I decided I was bored of my current job and wanted a career change. I always thought I'd enjoy become a driving instructor, so I arranged a meeting with a company that advertise in my local area often (Lets Drive). After meeting with a rep I decided to go through with it, and signed a document for a £3,400 loan which would cover my training costs. I signed the document on 15 May 2007.

Soon after I decided not to go through with this (due to a number of reasons), so I returned my opt-out letter to the loan company, Clydesdale Financial Services. I'd received a letter from them two days after signing the agreement advising me that I had seven days to cancel the agreement (this is the law I believe). I returned the letter to them on the same day I received the letter and sent it via first-class mail, so they would have received it on the 18th or 19th. I thought this would be the end of the matter.

However a few days later I received a letter from them (dated 21 May 2007) thanking me for my letter but 'unfortunately, the right to cancel period has now expired and we are unable to cancel this agreement'. Now this suprised me, seeing as I signed the agreement on the 15th and I had a week to cancel, therefore (seeing as their letter was dated the 21st) they had obviously received my cancellation- probably on the 19th or 20th at the very latest, which was well within the seven day notice period.

I called Clydesdale on the day I received the letter and was told that no details came up on the screen for my name or account number (the guy was obviously trying to fob me off). I then called Lets Drive and they agreed with me and fully supported me (I'd also written to them to tell them I wouldn't be proceeding with the training programme out of courtesy). They told me not to worry and that Clydesdale hadn't even sent them the money for the course. I sent Clydesdale another letter explaining the situation and told them to cancel the agreement or that I'd be forced to take further action. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and forgot about this sorry episode.

However, on the 31st, I received another letter from Clydesdale, this time 'congratulating' me on my new loan and advising me that they would start deducting a sum of £180 from my account starting in May 2008 until the balance is paid off. I therefore decided to call Clydesdale again, asking them to explain what the hell's going on. This guy told me that they hadn't received my cancellation and then disappeared off the line for about two minutes before coming back and telling me that 'everything is ok and that it will be sorted out in the next few days'. I believe that this was also a fob off and that the guy was just trying to get me off the phone.

Anyway a few days later I received a letter from them, advising me that they had fully investigated the situation and that they were sorry, and that they had indeed cancelled my account. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and hoped that this sorry episode could be forgotten.

Fast forward 11 months, to this morning the 28th of April 2008, and I receive a peculiar letter through my letterbox. I open the letter, and my heart sinks as I read the first line, 'Just to let you know that the buy now pay later period on the Instructor College account, financed by you is just about up'. It advises me that they are going to start deducting £177.15 from my bank every month until the full balance of £6,377.40 is paid off. Now seeing as I cancelled this agreement AND received confirmation that my account had been closed, this is shock to the system. I telephoned them and was told by the helpful advisor (I'm being sarcastic of course) that the matter will be dealt with 'in the next few days' and that I'd receive written confirmation.

Can anyone advise me on what to do next? Should I contact a solicitor to send them a letter? Or should I cancel my bank account to prevent them deducting money from my account? This is really getting me down now. I have kept copies of all the letters they've sent me/I've sent them.

queen_of_leon

perhaps you should forward these details to the financial ombudsman... it seems a very technical matter.
you can find a direct link on this site. top of the loans forum page...sticky posted by savvy...'useful websites'

good luck!

nortonchipps1

Hello Welshdragon1,
Have you ever resolved your problem with Barclays Partner Finance? I have a similar problem. I decided to do a similar thing to you, but with the Red Driving School. I signed a similar agreement in January this year (2009) with a rep from ADIC., who told me (verbally) that I had 3 days to change my mind and, if I telephoned Barclays in Glasgow on the number provided in the letter, which he printed from his laptop computer. (There was now slip or letter of cancellation provided) I telephoned the bank and a Scottish bank clerk told me that the account had not yet been set up, but, if I sent them a letter detailing what I had been told that would be o.k. This I did, but, as it was a weekend, the letter was not posted until the Monday. I received two letters: 1 saying "welcome" and the second one, which arrived several days later, said I was not entitled to cancellation because I had "gone past the sell-by date". So I wrote again. I have since received a letter from ADIC and two from Red Bridge saying that I am not entitled to cancel unless I pay them over half the original loan (I have not been given this money into my bank account) and Barclay Finance have also sent another letter advising that if I can send proof of cancellation, they will look into the matter. Like you the repayment of over £6.000.00 is on a deferred repayment begining in about 12 months time. Like you it initially seemed like an attractive thing to do; however, because I have been on Jobseakers allowance, I was advised that I would not be able to take up the training course because it would be deemed to be that I was no longer available to seek employment and my allowance would be stopped. I am now at a loss as to know what to do to get this Barclay Finance thing cancelled. So what did you do to resolve it?
Thanks for any help or advice.

Krishna_2

Consult with some legal side people.

lizzyk_2

A friend of mine called me today saying she had received a card this morning from Allied International Credit on behalf of Barclays Partner Finance for £4,220.50 demanding immediate payment. She had never heard of Barclays Partner Finance before and is the first contact she has had. It seems strange that if someone owes that amount that the lender does not seem to have a telephone number or any other information and has to pass it on to a debt collection company. The card does not say what the amount is for, just that it is owed to Barclays Partner Finance.

DON79

All I can say is judging by the call I had to make to BPF today - don't expect any kind of decent response - they are neither polite or helpful. The guy I had called Chris should get the sack - his attitude stank throughout the whole call - he was angry, confrontational, rude, aggressive - you name it he was it! he was a right !!!!!!! I lost my temper and shouted back at him which is something I rarely do. He refused to let me speak to a manager about a complaint about him, kept talking over the top of me so I told him I would make an official complaint about him and hung up the phone. Next call I made was to Barclays customer relations and I hope I have got him in serious trouble.

So don't expect to get good customer service from BPF, they do not even train their staff to answer the phone properly. All i got was "hello" and nothing else. And they hang up on you when they are too busy to take the call or just cannot be bothered to deal with you.

nortonchipps1

wrote:

I did post a further message on this site a few days ago (21/03/09), but it doesn't seem to have appeared yet?! I wonder whether any of you have solved your problem with BPF? I eventually received a letter from them saying I had to contact Red Driving School, from whom I received a letter with a slip to be signed by me and returned. Within 30 days they would refund the loan to BPF in full. Previously they had said I had to pay them £1800.00 (50%) of the original amount of the loan. I have kept a copy of the slip and all correspondence that I have had with BPF, Red and ADIC. Red & ADIC are affiliated to each other under another company name! I am wondering whether they decided to honour my request because I said I "knew" other people who were in the same boat and had passed my details to a "higher authority"? Incidentally, if you check the letters that you have received from BPF you will see that they are part of a reputable bank - i.e. Barclays. I may well contact my bank to see whether any DD has been made with them for repayments, even though I have the assurance that the loan has been stopped.

Croyf

Hi all i also fell into this trap maby 9 months ago never even went to there introductory class or anything after 3 weeks phoned to cancel (fobbed off) then found out i need to put in writing i need to cancel within 7 days then after that i think u need to pay half the course well to this day i have still not been once to any classes. and put in writting to cancel 8 months ago to which the reply was i need to pay the full course fee. Im just curious cos ive not taken any lessons i dont want to be a driving instructor and my licence has also been taken away from me. what would happen if i never paid the finance company well what i mean is in a few months time they will be wanting money from me and of course will then b over 6000 grand. so what i was thinking was going to my bank and not allowing any transactions to the finance company so they cant take any money from my account. which would then mean that if barclays or whatever want there money they would need to take me to court is this right. and also what would be the chances of them doing this. also lastly what would teh court say after all never even done 1 lesson or class so would a judge actually make me pay them and if i dont pay wht would happen just curious?

iolanthe07

You need to look at the terms and conditions you signed up to. If you gave these people your bank account details I would personally close the account and open another one, as they will probably just raid it. I wouldn't have thought it worth their while to take you to court, but you never know, and they can issue a default notice and screw up your credit even without taking you to court.

FlipFlops

Hello All,
I too was ripped off by these muppets, well..actually a company called LVG Ltd who are based in Brighton. I took out my loan agreement in Jan 06 with the Instructor college (RED Driving School now) not knowing that the agreement about to be shown to me was infact 100% non-cancellable after the pen leaves the paper, and even if you tried to cancel with the secondary agreement through your training provider, it wouldnt matter. This buy now pay later scheme is of course a trap. You are told by a sales rep/trainer in my case that you have 7?? days to cancel or me 90 days to start the course or forfeit everything(yes..everything including the finance package). I have written letters to the training school / (parent company) LVG Ltd / CFS and have getting no-where. The problem ladies an gents is not with CFS/BPFS but with your training provider unfortunately, they have your money and will not part with it at any cost, they do not care because we all signed on the dotted line and should have read the agreement before signing.but who does?? we entrusted them to tell us everything we should no about the agreement and if you have had finance before your attitude is of course eveything seems fine...URRRRRGGGHHHH!!! Wrong!!! The !!!! behind the desk does not care as long as he/she makes their commission. They have never ever read that agreement and do not know the fine print. It is your word against there's and if you think that the agreement was mis-represented then it is extremely difficult to prove. I have been to Citizens advice,Trading standards,Solicitors and they all said the same thing "you signed on...yeah!yeah) and the papers the only good thing was that CFS/BPFS cancelled my interest as they neglected to contact me for over a year about my cancellation letter. It would not be right for me to go to the Instructor course and start the course as the lack of trust and professionlism shown, post cancellation by these fools was unbelievable they lied through their teeth, anyway the fact that I now know that I was totally stitched up, it just would'nt feel right and i would want to hit someone (im not a violent person) SO...what I have found out and now persueing is that any agreement before april 06 is likely to be un-enforceable and will cost £295 to the claims warehouse for them to chase it up.I have sent every single letter and response to these people in the hope that I can stop paying BPFS and try and get all my money back from BPFS then it will be up to them to get their money back from LVG Ltd, which is what should have happened 3 yrs ago.

Good luck to you all

I will post my outcome ASAP

FlipFlops

welshdragon1 wrote: »

Hello people. I have a big problem with these cowboys. Some time ago I decided I was bored of my current job and wanted a career change. I always thought I'd enjoy become a driving instructor, so I arranged a meeting with a company that advertise in my local area often (Lets Drive). After meeting with a rep I decided to go through with it, and signed a document for a £3,400 loan which would cover my training costs. I signed the document on 15 May 2007.

Soon after I decided not to go through with this (due to a number of reasons), so I returned my opt-out letter to the loan company, Clydesdale Financial Services. I'd received a letter from them two days after signing the agreement advising me that I had seven days to cancel the agreement (this is the law I believe). I returned the letter to them on the same day I received the letter and sent it via first-class mail, so they would have received it on the 18th or 19th. I thought this would be the end of the matter.

However a few days later I received a letter from them (dated 21 May 2007) thanking me for my letter but 'unfortunately, the right to cancel period has now expired and we are unable to cancel this agreement'. Now this suprised me, seeing as I signed the agreement on the 15th and I had a week to cancel, therefore (seeing as their letter was dated the 21st) they had obviously received my cancellation- probably on the 19th or 20th at the very latest, which was well within the seven day notice period.

I called Clydesdale on the day I received the letter and was told that no details came up on the screen for my name or account number (the guy was obviously trying to fob me off). I then called Lets Drive and they agreed with me and fully supported me (I'd also written to them to tell them I wouldn't be proceeding with the training programme out of courtesy). They told me not to worry and that Clydesdale hadn't even sent them the money for the course. I sent Clydesdale another letter explaining the situation and told them to cancel the agreement or that I'd be forced to take further action. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and forgot about this sorry episode.

However, on the 31st, I received another letter from Clydesdale, this time 'congratulating' me on my new loan and advising me that they would start deducting a sum of £180 from my account starting in May 2008 until the balance is paid off. I therefore decided to call Clydesdale again, asking them to explain what the hell's going on. This guy told me that they hadn't received my cancellation and then disappeared off the line for about two minutes before coming back and telling me that 'everything is ok and that it will be sorted out in the next few days'. I believe that this was also a fob off and that the guy was just trying to get me off the phone.

Anyway a few days later I received a letter from them, advising me that they had fully investigated the situation and that they were sorry, and that they had indeed cancelled my account. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and hoped that this sorry episode could be forgotten.

Fast forward 11 months, to this morning the 28th of April 2008, and I receive a peculiar letter through my letterbox. I open the letter, and my heart sinks as I read the first line, 'Just to let you know that the buy now pay later period on the Instructor College account, financed by you is just about up'. It advises me that they are going to start deducting £177.15 from my bank every month until the full balance of £6,377.40 is paid off. Now seeing as I cancelled this agreement AND received confirmation that my account had been closed, this is shock to the system. I telephoned them and was told by the helpful advisor (I'm being sarcastic of course) that the matter will be dealt with 'in the next few days' and that I'd receive written confirmation.

Can anyone advise me on what to do next? Should I contact a solicitor to send them a letter? Or should I cancel my bank account to prevent them deducting money from my account? This is really getting me down now. I have kept copies of all the letters they've sent me/I've sent them.

Ya screwed, sorry mate. The only thing to do is change your phone number and cancel your payments unless of course you paying them now and sit it out for ages, ignore all letters from them and get everything in writing if they find you. They will not take you to court . Im flipflops at the bottom of the page read mine. you could try the claims warehouse. good luck