Desperate for Managed Loan Advice

bb23

i've paid over £3,000 in interest ALONE on my managed loan, it started at £10,000 in August 2004 due to me losing my job and being unable to pay by my standard loan and credit card - i was so desperate i agreed without really listening to what they were saying

Currently is only now down to £8,000 over 4 years - that means i've spent MORE in interest repayments than i have on paying back the Loan!

im thinking about speaking to the citizens advice or a lawyer and writing a letter to the bank, explaining the aweful circumstances that they pushed me into taking out that loan and then charged these extortionate and unfair rates

try and get them to pay me back the 3 grand, and ask them to put it into the managed loan.

its a HUGE task but i'm sure as their customer and consumer i have some sort of right!

has anyone got any advice on where i need to start with this

Rafter

You might think you have been hard done by - but the loan doesn't look extortionate.

If you do the sums on a mortgage you end up paying over twice what you borrow with interest.

Your main thing is now you have a good payment history and presumably better income you try to get the loan paid off faster or shifted elsewhere where you aren't paying such a high rate?

Unless you are really struggling to meet payments, citizens advice won't be able to do much.

R.

bb23

i pay 135 a month in repayment and have to pay 80 in interest each month!

i think thats pretty tough! it means effectively i'm only paying £55 a month on a 10k loan

CLAPTON

whats the APR of the loan?

bb23

It's 9% above base rate (something they don't tell you when you take it out in desperation) - its 14.5% at the moment i think. I took it out when i lost my job nearly 5 years ago (i have a good stable one now of course) because it was the only way i could stop myself going completely downt he pan, HSBC just push it on you if your struggling - so many people over on the CAG message boards have had the same trouble.

Im trying to gather as many personal stories abuot HSBC's managed loan as i can now as it seems no one was correctly 'sold' the consolidation loan when they first had to take one out. in my eyes its extortion/exploitation and even mis-selling because they prey on the weakness of men/women in serious debt and DON'T explain the high interest - i will STILL be paying mine of in 2016 at the rate i'm going, by which time i'll be 36 years old and i took it out at 24

that's just craziness!

CLAPTON

I wish you well in complaining about the loan

however if you wish to pay it back more quickly then you need

a. to pay more each month... check the T&Cs to see whether the extra money reduces the total interest

and/or
b. refinance the loan with one with a lower interest rate... whether this is feasible depends upon your credit rating and income of course

Rafter

14.5% is not an extortionate rate of interest.

Given you had no job at the time you were offered it it was actually quite generous, given the risk that you might never be able to pay the money back.

If you were paying say 200% interest then a court might start to get interested.

You just need to work out how to pay it off faster by spending less, earning more or shifting the money to somewhere with a lower interest rate.

Now if you were 'sold' the consolidation loan and in doing so ended up paying a much higher interest rate than that on your credit card or overdraft and even penalties for repaying them, you could have a miselling case.

At least HSBC didn't demand repayment of the money they owe you and leave you with a CCJ or bankruptcy preventing you from getting a job in certain industries or preventing you from borrowing for a long time.

Presumably HSBC didn't force you to spend the £10,000 you borrowed in the first place?

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but you need to repay the money you owe.

R.

bb23

CLAPTON wrote: »

I wish you well in complaining about the loan

however if you wish to pay it back more quickly then you need

a. to pay more each month... check the T&Cs to see whether the extra money reduces the total interest

and/or
b. refinance the loan with one with a lower interest rate... whether this is feasible depends upon your credit rating and income of course

I've tried, the extra money put the interest up

i cant refinance due to defaults and bad credit rating

dannynixon

can a partner or family member not take a loan out for you?

bb23

dannynixon wrote: »

can a partner or family member not take a loan out for you?

I had not thought of this one! i'll ponder on it

bb23

I asked, no one in my family can help - they all have enough debts and problems of their own.

Im not really sure where to go from here.