Lloyds TSB Loan Help - reclaiming!

MoonCake_2

Dear All

I really hope some of you knowledgeable folks can help - there is so much stuff on here and I have read through loads but do have some questions with regards reclaiming PPI. I will first of all give you a brief (as possible) run down of my situation.

I took out a loan for £4370 in December 2005. At the time I was in a very difficult situation financially and went to my bank (LTSB) for help. A couple of months previous I had approached them for a loan but they had turned me down. In the December they rang me to advise they were now able to offer me a loan and I made an appointment to go to the branch. The branch at this time approved the loan and as I was in a bad situation I took a loan at 17.9% APR (I know:o !) over 5 years. This means I will end up paying back about £7K. My monthly payment was £117 and I did say I would like it over a shorter term and have larger monthly payments but they would not do that, explaining that they were only allowed to lend me £91 a month (plus PPI makes £117). At the time I stated that I did not require the PPI (In my eyes I am not married, have no dependents or assets so if the worst came to the worst they could not harrass me for money I did not have) but was told that I needed to take it out. I have been paying the loan off for nearly 2 and a half years now and have never missed a payment. I now earn £10K a year more than I did at the time of taking out the loan, and my credit rating has gone from "Poor" to "Good" based on the Experian table. I have had credit recently, after years of not being able to get it, have a mobile contract, catalogues and of course paying the loan off and never missing a payment on any of these has built up my credit rating, so much that I decided to apply for a credit card which I was accepted for ( a proper one not a high interest bad one) just so I could make a few transactions and pay them off the same month to help build my rating further. Today I rang LTSB to start a PPI claim, I do not have any of my loan paperwork for one reason or another, and they will obtain it from the branch. The lady stated that they would need to look into the paperwork that I signed, because even if I was seemingly told I HAD to have it, I may have signed something which would have given me a 30 day cooling off period to cancel the PPI and I would have been a given a copy of this to read in full at home.

I hope I have not waffled on too much and now have the following questions:

1. Was my PPI mis-sold in your opinion?
2. Have any of you taken out a loan from LTSB around this time and have any experience of the likely outcome of my claim?
3. If I signed a document that explained the terms of the PPI and had 30 days in which to cancel, do I stand any chance of a reclaim even if I felt pressured in the branch?
4. With my better credit rating, would I now be better taking out a new loan to pay off the existing one at a better rate, as I do not believe that I will be penalised for paying it off early?

Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to offer. If you are knowledgeable about bank charge reclaiming, I will be posting over there in a minute too.

Thank you

MoonCake
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jonesMUFCforever

1 Impossible to say until you have received a reply from the bank.
2 It does not matter about anyone else all you should be worried is your own affairs.
3 Again see answer 1, but if that is the case it will certainly weaken your case (although you can cancel now for the rest of the loan).
4 How much do you owe now? Any loan under £5k will attract a higher rate and you will have to pay 2 months interest as an early closure fee.

Do you have any savings you could throw at this loan to reduce the outstanding balance? You can make overpayments at any time to reduce the overall interest charged.

MoonCake_2

Hi there, thanks for your comments. Re: number 2, the reason I asked this is because I would like to know other peoples experiences. A man I spoke to at Lloyds a while ago seemed to think that often they will just make a straight refund because they can not prove mis-selling either way. I wanted to know what others have experienced.

No, I do not have any savings, but could at least double my payments to reduce it. I do not think that the loan amount makes a huge difference as my boyfriend has taken out 2 loans under £5K at various times and has paid no more than about 6% APR. I am also quite sure that there is no early closure fee.

I would appreciate any other comments or help that people can provide.

MoonCake
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jonesMUFCforever

You did say that you had the loan with LTSB?
If so there will be a penalty of 2 months interest to close account early.

The loan amount does make a difference.
Look at any bank's loan repayment tables the more you borrow as a rule the less APR you get charged.