Were we mis sold this loan?
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cpol
Posts: 18 Forumite
Last february we got new windows of a company called safestyle(credit supplied by GE money). When the salesman initially visited he measured up give us a quote the went on to the finance details. The cost of the windows was £2000. He explained that a direct debit would be set up for £40 a month and if this is all we paid it would take 10 years to pay and accrue thousands of pounds of interest HOWEVER if we paid double this amount the windows would be paid off in 2 years.Fair enough we thought, just pay double and have em paid off in 2 years. The first year went by and we just paid the minimum.Then about a month ago we recieved a statement and it was like a wake up call at all the interest we were paying so we got a credit card with 0% for balance transfers and decided to pay it off. When I rang em to pay they gave me a figure of £2020.03. The actual balance remaining was £1936.08. They had given me a settlement figure date of approx 4 weeks time so interest was added to that date and also there was an early settlement fee of £37.28. I asked if there was any period in which this early settlement fee would not apply and they said it would always apply no matter when you settled. When I got off the phone this got me thinking that all this information contradicted what the salesman had told us. He said paying double would pay the windows off in 2 years. That would mean (roughly) 42.72 x 2 = 85.44 x 24 = 2050.56. Interest is calculated daily on the account but the way he told us we would inccur virtually no interest ( which even paying double we would have) and he certainly never mention early settlement fees. I know its down to the consumer to thoroghly read before you sign anything but surely the retailers have a duty to give the correct information. The total cost of the windows has ended up being about £2660 when we were under the impression they would cost very little over £2000. Have we been mis sold this finance or have we only ourselves to blame? Should we just mark it down to experience or would we have a case for compensation ? Any help, comments would be very much appreciated!!
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I know its down to the consumer to thoroghly read before you sign anything but surely the retailers have a duty to give the correct information.
They do.Have we been mis sold this finance or have we only ourselves to blame?
You have possibly been mis-sold on the detail but proving it is going to be hard.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
A double glazing salesman not being totally truthful. I find that hard to believe.0
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When you ask for an early settlement figure they are required to give one that is valid for 28 days. However, if you simply sent them a cheque for the balance plus fee plus an allowance for interest they must calculate the settlement figure for the date on which they receive the payment, potentially saving much of the 28 days of interest. Be sure you overpay and they have to send you back a payment for the difference between the calculation and what you paid.When I rang em to pay they gave me a figure of £2020.03. The actual balance remaining was £1936.08. They had given me a settlement figure date of approx 4 weeks time so interest was added to that date and also there was an early settlement fee of £37.28.
In practice it's often easier to make a single overpayment that almost clears it, say all but 100 Pounds, then get a settlement figure and pay that without worrying about 28 days of interest on the 100 you left unpaid. Since you've already asked for a settlement figure I suggest that you do it this way instead, to eliminate the chance that they will charge the full 28 days of interest on all of the money.
You can't do anything about the early settlement fee, though.0 -
I too havd the same trouble!!!! i wanted to pay the balance in full with my credit card and promptly informed that they did not have the facilities to take the payment...... only through a debit card or cheque!!!. i feel im being duped but im not sure as the bank also told me this when i went to pay my loan with the credit card too!!!! Does anyone know if this is a scam to get more interest or they are telling the truth????? please help me get away from the unhelpful people at GE MONEY
regards kev0 -
kevsterone0 wrote: »i wanted to pay the balance in full with my credit card and promptly informed that they did not have the facilities to take the payment...... only through a debit card or cheque!!!. i feel im being duped but im not sure as the bank also told me this when i went to pay my loan with the credit card too!!!! Does anyone know if this is a scam to get more interest or they are telling the truth?????
I donlt know if there's any legal basis but it's certainly quite common - many credit cards won't allow you to use another credit card to make a payment.0 -
Check whether the card you want to pay with offers a balance transfer facility.
Credit cards will normally block paying for another card as a purchase, treating it as either a balance transfer or cash advance.
The workaround if there is no other way is to transfer as much as possible of your day to day spending onto the card you want to pay with and use the saved cash to make extra payments.0
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