18 year gets old bank loan

cameron_milne

My son turned 18 in October last year, he left school and has had several jobs labouring, semi skilled etc bu t no permanent. I found out recently that he had borrowed a sum in the region of £5000 from The Royal Bank of Scotland. He is now being threatened by them with legal action due top non payment of monthly installments which of course he has been unable to pay since the first payment came due. I find it rediculous that an 18 year old boy without permanent employment can be able to borrow such sums of money. The debt Im informed was taken out last October as he turned 18. Do banks not have a proceedure to carry out check and verification to satisfy themselves that the loan is secure.
I find this situation outrageous and feel that the bank should be made to account for themselves.
What please is my best course of action.

C R Milne

speedbird1973

So not your son's responsibility in any way shape or form then??

ho hum.

Leave him to it! He'll learn a valuable lesson the hard way - and he's young enough that he'll still be quite young when his credit rating recovers.

The bank probably should have been more responsible as a lender (but legally had done nothing wrong). But it's like saying you should've provided better advise as a parent. (Possibly true, but very harsh)

cameron_milne

Ill let you know when I get the debt revoked and then perhaps you can stick to providing useful response rather than negative comment, how do you know the bank did nothing wrong, did they have a set of accounts from the last two years or the previous three months wage slips I think not so how did they veryfy the laon. You should listen to Martin more Banks are out to make money any way they can if we let them. I am looking for people in the same boat who can offer some guidance not busy bodies who have nothing to do but read and cooment on other peoples misfortune, no do gooders please.

Rosemary7391

What happened to the £5000? If he bought a car with it, for example, he could sell the car and start to pay it off. He's going to have to talk to the bank and agree how it'll be repaid to get anywhere though I think. He wasn't forced to take it nor to spend it. Has he got a job now? It may get the bank off his back if he can say, look I earn x so can afford to pay y until it's paid off is that okay?

Hopefully someone will be along soon with some more practical advice, I'm by no means an expert!

CLAPTON

I'm a bit surprised that a bank would lend £5k to a young person without permanent employment.... what did actually say on the application form?

You dont really say but if he is living a home presumably quite cheaply, why can't he pay the monthly amounts? How much are they? What is his income?

Its probably best if you suggest he goes over to the debt free wannaby board and get him to post up details of his income and spending and the debt details (called an SOA.. read the stickie posts there) and they can help him draw up a proper budget to live on.

Mark7799

cameron_milne wrote: »

Ill let you know when I get the debt revoked and then perhaps you can stick to providing useful response rather than negative comment, how do you know the bank did nothing wrong, did they have a set of accounts from the last two years or the previous three months wage slips I think not so how did they veryfy the laon. You should listen to Martin more Banks are out to make money any way they can if we let them. I am looking for people in the same boat who can offer some guidance not busy bodies who have nothing to do but read and cooment on other peoples misfortune, no do gooders please.

On what basis do you think you'll get the loan revoked?

Unless he is in business he won't have accounts but the Bank will be able to see the amount of income that has been paid in to his account over the last three months.

What did your son tell the Bank about his employment status when he applied for the loan?

standupguy

It may be an idea for your son to make an appointment at the bank to go and discuss this loan with you accompanying him.

You will be able to see from the bank first hand a copy of the original application and ask what checks, if any, were made to verify income and status etc.

It appears that your son has hid this from you so you may find more disturbing news when you see what the bank has to say?

For example did your son "massage" some of the information given to the bank in which case he would risk a cifas warning against his credit record?

I do understand your anger at the bank but look at the facts on how they made their decision to get the full picture

prudentsaving42

Well all I can say is that your son is irresponsible and you have no chance of getting this loan revoked at all. Should teach him a lesson.

speedbird1973

I'm sorry if you feel I'm being negative.. but what on earth do you expect the bank to do? they lent the money to an adult, they have a right to expect it back with interest.

Don't bail him out, let him sort his mistake out, he'll learn from it and it will set him in good stead in future!

gingerdad

I borrowed money at 18 to buy a car, and paid it back.... .don't see what your problem is, its his issue, let him !!!! it up and that way he won't do it again, if you bail him out, give it two years and you'll have to do it again and agian.

The banks are out to make money, its your son who is in the wrong for not paying in back. did he tell the bank the truth when he borrowed the money???

honeypop

cameron_milne wrote: »

My son turned 18 in October last year, he left school and has had several jobs labouring, semi skilled etc bu t no permanent. I found out recently that he had borrowed a sum in the region of £5000 from The Royal Bank of Scotland. He is now being threatened by them with legal action due top non payment of monthly installments which of course he has been unable to pay since the first payment came due. I find it rediculous that an 18 year old boy without permanent employment can be able to borrow such sums of money. The debt Im informed was taken out last October as he turned 18. Do banks not have a proceedure to carry out check and verification to satisfy themselves that the loan is secure.
I find this situation outrageous and feel that the bank should be made to account for themselves.
What please is my best course of action.

Assuming it was an unsecured loan, then no they wouldn't have needed to check the loan payments were 'secure'. I have never been asked to provide payslips for a loan from my bank, they simply look at what money you've had coming in to the account and decide from there. It's down to the person taking out the loan to agree they can meet the payments, not down to the bank to make sure they can pay (as you said, unfortunately the banks are there to make money out of you).

I doubt you'd get the debt revoked, as your son was old enough to deal with his own finances at the time he took the loan out and he is accountable for meeting the payments, so with his parent complaining about it I don't think it would get very far. Sorry that's not what you want to hear, but any complaints need to be from your son not you. You could try getting him to contact the bank to complain, ie follow their complaints procedure which is the first thing you can do. Also, as someone else said, he needs to get in touch with them regarding making minimum payments for what he owes. He must have SOME money coming in from somewhere, even if it's just pocket money.

At 18 I'd never dream of one of my parents contacting a company to complain about something on my behalf, he's an adult, get him to sort it out, although with your guidance if necessary, rather than with you trying to do it for him.

But seeing as you asked, your best course of action is to follow the banks own complaints procedure, a copy of which should have arrived with his loan paperwork, or be freely available in the branch. They will only deal with him about it, not you though.