illegal or unfair?

[mcvey123]

I am writing to ask your advice on fees and insurance premiums charged on loans. I was unaware of the extent of these charges until I asked for a statement to see if I have been charged late fees in excess of £12.

 

When taking out a loan of £5000, I was initially charged a "disbursal of fees" amounting to £765.11 that I was completely unaware of. In addition to this, I was charged insurance premiums to the value of £1528.11. I had signed an agreement but these charges were not explained or pointed out to me nor was I given the option to refuse the insurance premiums. I was handed leaflets informing me that I have medical insurance and ppi and critical illness cover but the total extortionate cost was never pointed out. In the course of the following 23 months I was charged apparent "late charges" amounting to £440, as well as fees under £12 amounting to £72. Payments was made amounting to £5078.43, and the loan was finally settled with an amount of £5261.30. The interest charged amounted to £2815.09.

 

Another loan was taken with the same company for £10,000. Again fees and insurance premiums were added, but without an option to turn them down.below listed is the fees and charges over 20 months:

 

disbursal of fees £1335

insurance premiums £2910.05

late payment charges £20x3

other fees £20

interest charges £4554.94

payments made £4814.13

settlement £12769.43

 

so over the course of 44 months on 2 loans totalling £15,000, I paid back over £33,000.

 

Is there any course of action to reclaim any of this or was I justifiablyscammed?

[breadline]

HI Mcvey

 

1st we relay need to knwo which bank you where with, then we can point you in the right direction.

BL

[mcvey123]

Hi

 

it was actually a loan from Welcome Finance who are part of the Progressive Financial Services or maybe we can call them (edit)

 

Moderated : please do not post what may be seen as libelous comments on this forum , thanks

[DJ Tazzz]

MCVEY123,

All I can comment is that it would be extremely difficult to approach your question with out first understanding what actually happened.

If you were not made completely clear about what the charges were for, then you may have a case for miss-selling. In the case of the insurance premiums, they would need to show you the costs up front and ask you directly if you wanted the insurance or not.

From my experience, it is no easy task to prove miss-selling even though I have affectively done this now. It took me about a year from start to anticipated finish (Still current). In the first instance, you may want to approach your lender and let them know you are not happy with the out come of the loans you held with them and would like them to investigate. Set out your concerns clearly and get them to address each point. They generally have to complete the process within 8 weeks as set out in the Banking code. I doubt that they will acknowledge any wrong doing but you will need to wait until they finish the winding up nonsense. From the point of final response from them and you not being satisfied, lodge a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). They will review and decide accordingly.

With regards to late payment charges, I would suggest to try following a similar course of action as the bank charges penalties as they would be the same as I would see it.