Swift Advances. Secured Loan Charges reclaim

[Sparkie1723]

Thanks to 42 man for pointing me in the direction of this thread. I am having problems with Swift. They applied for repossession about a year ago which was suspended providing we now keep up the paymants. Wehave done this but this month the payment is late, I have rung Swift and they said they would accept payment late this once! Of course they will, its more money for them in charges!

 

The thing is we have an offer on our haouse and so will be paying them off soon. However the amount they want back takes almost all the collateral in our property. I fully intend to start reclaiming and am about to do a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request. BUT- we havnt informed them we are selling and assume our solicitor wil just pay them off when the sale goes through just as he will with the morgage company. Because of this I dont want to rock the boat until the sale goes through just in case we hit a problem.

Will I still be able to reclaim charges evn if we have settled the loan?

 

IMO I would say Yes without a doubt plus interest at contarct rate,

 

sparkie

[1stlifeline]

Thank you Sparkie.

[overdone]

That is the position I am in and swift still have my charges money because solicitors give them what they want. I am still trying to get back over a thousand pounds though to start a new life.

[zeblet]

Hi Sparkie

New to this forum but feel I may be a Swift victim. Please could I pm my agreement etc to you. Basically i took out loan in 2005 for 27000. they immediately charged more interest than quoted and the interest rate has been further increased twice. I got into difficulty because of illness and was taken to cort for repossession but managed to get that suspended as long as payments maintained and some arrears paid off monthly.fortunately I had PPI which has actually paid out so helped a lot with the payments but these will end in January and I fear all will go pear shaped again as I am still unable to work. I have not received any statements and only got breakdown of payments received by Swift with court documents regarding the repo but it did not show any charges they have made. Can you advise? I will if paperwork seems incorrect continue the campaign to notify FOS. Thanks

[Sparkie1723]

My friends made further complaints to the OFT on the 13th October, they got this reply back 3 days later....normally the OFT take 21 days or more to reply to letters this shows that the OFT are on Swifts tail very closely I think....so everyone keep the complaints to the OFT going ....it will help eveyone in the long run.

 

sparkie

 

 

Office of fair trading

 

Mr XXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXX

 

Our ref Epic/Enq/

Date 16 October 2008

 

Direct line (020) 7211 8000

Fax (020) 7211 8877

Emaj[__^ _ enquiries@oft.g.sj.goyJiJJ<_>

 

 

 

Dear Mr XXXXXXXXX

Consumer Credit Act 1974 (the Act) Complaint Against: Swift Advances pic Licence No: 391618

Thank you for your letter dated 14 October 2008, further to your earlier letter, updating us about the problems you are still having with the above mentioned trader.

We will take into account the further information you have helpfully given us as we continue to monitor this trader's fitness to hold a credit licence. Thank you once again for taking the time to write to us about this matter.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

Dianne Woode

Enquiries and Reporting Centre

Corporate Services

 

 

 

INVESTOR IN PEOPLE

Edited November 2, 2008 by Sparkie1723

[determindator]

Hi Sparkie,

 

Would you post the postal address for the OFT and is there a particular person contact i.e who signed the letter mentioned above.

 

Many thanks

[Sparkie1723]

Hi determindator,

On your intial letter write to this address you will then receive a reply from a particular named person/officer, and you can go from there.

 

sparkie

 

Enquiries Unit

Office of Fair Trading

Fleetbank House

2-6 Salisbury Square

London, EC4Y 8JX.

Edited November 3, 2008 by Sparkie1723

[determindator]

Many thanks Sparkie

[mmcourt]

Hello Sparkie, I am a Swift customer as well. I have both a mortgage and a secured loan with them. My mortgage has just risen to 1421.15 per month. The loan is £106 per month. I have noticed that they have added the fees to the loan as they have done with you and sent me a cheque for the amount that I asked for. I think they are also charging me the wrong rate as well on the loan.

 

The rate for the loan is nearly twice as high as the rate for the mortgage.

 

i rang them to ask them for another deal and they said "No" yet I have to pay the full penalty for moving away from them.

 

Is there anything I can do with this.

[42man]

Has just risen ??!! despite the interest rate reduction !!! that is awful...

[mmcourt]

Hi Ya, the interest rate for a year was 7.88%. When my deal ended it rose to 9.63% (variable rate). Thats why I asked them for a new deal but according to them they are not doing mortgages any more???

[Sparkie1723]

I believe they are not doing mortgages any more because they are now finding that they are under severe pressure from the OFT and are also having their agreements challenged because they are flawed and are having to spend so much time fighting against unenforecability.

 

mmcourt,

 

delete all the details from your agreements and post them up lets have a look at themor ....you can send them to me via e-mail....if you do not want to post them......several people have sent me copies of theirs and and I believe they are completely "mickey mouse agreements"

 

A couple of initial questions.

1 Have you still got a copy of your initial applications for morthage and loan?

2 Did you arrange it through a broker?

3 Did you actually give written instructions for the charges etc to be added to the loan(s) or taken out of them?

 

sparkie

[overdone]

I have noticed that they have added the fees to the loan as they have done with you and sent me a cheque for the amount that I asked for.

 

Did they refund the late payment fees then and not the others? I can't get them to give me a penny in refund.

[mmcourt]

I believe they are not doing mortgages any more because they are now finding that they are under severe pressure from the OFT and are also having their agreements challenged because they are flawed and are having to spend so much time fighting against unenforecability.

 

mmcourt,

 

delete all the details from your agreements and post them up lets have a look at themor ....you can send them to me via e-mail....if you do not want to post them......several people have sent me copies of theirs and and I believe they are completely "mickey mouse agreements"

 

A couple of initial questions.

1 Have you still got a copy of your initial applications for morthage and loan?

2 Did you arrange it through a broker?

3 Did you actually give written instructions for the charges etc to be added to the loan(s) or taken out of them?

 

sparkie

 

 

Thank you Sparkie. I will email them to you. Is there a certain email adress that I send them to?

 

I havent got a copy of the application but I can get it. I done this through a broker. I never gave any written instructions to them for anything.

 

In response to the next question, I havent any late payment fees, just the fees that they added onto my loan at the beginning.

 

Sparkie, do I send you Loan documents and mortgage documents as they are both with Swift, or is it just the loans they are messing up on?

 

Many Thanks,

[42man]

They have offered me just over £400 of my charges back, they owe me £1,800 !! but they have taken it off the loan, and not off the arrears....I am sending off a SAR...!!

[Sparkie1723]

Hi 42man

Typical action of Swift Keep following up letters to the OFT tell them of the latest tactic by Swift at the OFT getting bigger. My friends have now been supplied with a copy of their initial application form to Promise Finance the Brokers who arranged the loan for them, it has now transpired that they originally asked for certain a sum of money and the Brokers and Swift persuaded them to borrow £13000 more than they asked for, and then added all the fees and charges on top of that......Swift will be in big big trouble in December at their court hearing, their Barrister is not only going to ask for the agreement to be declared void but is claiming £10000 damges (£5000 each plus all his costs etc) can't wait to see to see what the Court says.......................thats if Swift allow it get to Court.

 

By the way Promise Finance Ltd one of Swifts brokers went into liquidation in April this year

sparkie

[42man]

TY for the update Sparks...!! very much appreciated...

[Sparkie1723]

HI to all Swift fighters

 

The effect on Swifts Agreements and default charges in the amendments to the CCA , their "unregulated agreements" are now regulated.....new ones April 2007 older ones April 2008, provided they are still in existence

If they are charging you the contract rate on default sums and charges it could make the agreement unenforceable

sparkie

 

New Consumer Credit Act amendments

 

 

The changes are listed below:

1. New definition of “individual”: Furthermore, the Act does not protect new lending to partnerships of more than 3 persons;

 

2. Removal of financial limit: The Act will apply to lending (consumer credit and hire) up to any amount that was £25000 before. However, this limit will still be retained for business lending and there will be an exemption for high net worth individuals (see below). The Department of Trade and Industry (“DTI”) is currently addressing the fact that not all lending over £25,000 for the purposes of buy-to-let will fall outside the scope of the Act, which was the original intention;

 

3. Fairness for the creditor: These provisions (which are due to come into effect in April 2008 will impose minimum standards, including:

a. Periodic statements for fixed sum credit;

b.Periodic information on statements for running account credit (e.g. health warnings);

c.Arrears notices;

d.Requirements relating to default notices (the period for consumers to respond to default notices has already been extended under the Act from 7 to 14 days).

 

In addition, interest on default sums will also be restricted to simple interest.

Failure to comply with the above requirements will impact on an agreement’s enforceability

 

Edited November 15, 2008 by Sparkie1723

[42man]

So let me get this straight a secured loan taken out in 2004 for over 25K would now be classed as a regulated loan ?

[Josie8]

For the purposes of that section but don't forget that the automatic unenforceability is no more - its at a judges discretion.....................

[Sparkie1723]

So let me get this straight a secured loan taken out in 2004 for over 25K would now be classed as a regulated loan ?

 

Correct....In 2004 the OFT warned all creditors and sent out advises and directives about the coming into force of the New Act and to get their agreements and their Act together, but Swift blundered on and took no real notice of the warnings or the Act,

with regard to JOsie8's comment that is quite correct also but Consumer legislations state that in any interpretation of the terms and conditions the interpretation must always be the interpretation in favour of the Consumer, and the new section 140 is a cracking bit of legislation

 

sparkie

Edited November 15, 2008 by Sparkie1723

[42man]

Could be very useful !!!

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/171037-multiple-agreements-falling-within.html

[andrew1]

You just beat me to that 42 Man... over £25k if the individual parts are under £25k then the multiple agreement scenario kicks in.

 

Are you saying Josie that if the agreement is a multiple agreement then it is now for the judge to decide the enforceability of it rather than just the fact that it is?

 

That might mean a LIP would have considerable difficulty if up against a barrister then if the LIP is reliant just on the merits of the Act's sections?

[Jesstar]

hi all,

 

just subbing to this thread ATM.

but I am a Swift customer too.

 

One of the problems I feel with any action against them is, how they will react to us.

I do not feel their agreement or charges are fair, but reading about them puts me off taking any action against them for fear of subtle financial reprisals ( that we currently can't afford).

 

EDIT*

Forgot to mention/ask - is this thread mainly for loans over 25K? , as mine is 20K and supposedly regulated by CCA 1974

[overdone]

I well understand where you are coming from. It was me that started this thread and even Bob the Bank Buster, something of an expert would not take my case on. There are firms who can absorb the risk factor and I have gone through one of them. The thread, has however shown people more about Swift as a body. A difficult body at that but don't give up hope until you have explored all the avenues, this thread will help you to access.