Career Development Loan default

[pf01]

I just wondered if you might be interested in the following case which I would like to pursue against Barclays Bank for the repayment of a Career Development Loan.

 

My wife took out a Career Development Loan in 2004 for £8000 to attend a course in Acupuncture. All went well for the first year but the college went into liquidation in June 2005.

 

Her loan was due to start repayments upon the course completion date Jan 2009. We now have to pay back the loan (@ £380.00 per month) even though we can gain no income as the course was never completed and no qualifications gained. Obviously by now we had hoped that she would be qualified and working successfully.

 

Had the loan been done on a credit card then I suppose we would have had some cover against not receiving the goods paid for and gained some refund or waiver. Our question is can we legally exploit any loopholes to avoid

partial or complete payment for a loan that has never provided the goods as expected. We now claim working tax credits and really can't afford another loan repayment without the expected income generated from passing the course successfully.

 

We have paid back £1000.00 so far and we tried to offer a full and final settlement figure which they have not replied to.

 

I am now basing my case on the fact that the college promoted the bank in arranging this loan to my wife and others- and even collected the application forms, stamped them and submitted them to Barclays. No copies of the signed agreement were ever sent to my wife and therefore no opportunity for any cooling off period, if needed. Our argument with Barclays hinges on the fact that we believe this is a LINKED agreement which is illegal. (CCA 1974 sect 11)

 

I have sent two letters the first requesting the agreement details, signed copy and statement. The second informing the bank that they failed to get me the credit agreement within the 12 working day deadline and they were now in default.

 

The first has been replied although well outside the 12 working day limit with the requested documents. A second letter was sent (which overlapped their reply) with an offer and we are still awaiting their reply.

 

Can I hold the bank in default and see if they take any action against us, so far they are still charging interest and sending statements although the phonecalls have now stopped.

 

I am sure we cannot be the first that this has happened to and it is not only giving us huge worries but is about to cripple us financially.

 

Is there anyone who can help us?

[cerberusalert]

Can you scan this agreement remove identifying details & post it up so we can give it some scrutiny?

[pf01]

Could do but do you required the total document? thanks for your interest will try to do it tomorrow

[cerberusalert]

The main part where it gives the details of the loan amount, %APR, repayment terms & signature (blank yours out though).

[pf01]

Hi please find the attached documents.

There is clearly a paragraph in the brochure that states that the loan is due for repayment if the course is not completed for any reason including cancellation of the course or failure to complete the course for ANY reason.

This still would not stand up if we are attempting to prove that it was a linked agreement between B Bank and my wife.

I am new to all this so I am not entirely sure about the execution of this site and uploading files etc. Apologies in advance

Barclay CDL Loan under the CCA.pdf

Also i would very much like to clarify if BB has sent back the duly signed application form (outside of the 12 day Plus deadline)

but has not replied to my second letter of a full and final offer figure are they in default of this request or can they simply ignore any approach from me and allow the debt to increase with interest and unpaid monthly standing orders.

[cerberusalert]

Can someone check these interest rates?

FOS do not take into consideration the legalities of an agreement, they even state the fact on their website & as they are in effect funded by the finance industry... well make your own mind up on their 'reasonings'.

[pf01]

there is no issue with the interest rates

The terms state 3.3% although we believed that it was interest free for the duration of the course then payable at 12.9% payable upon completion of the course.

If the borrower (i.e. us) ceases to attend for any reason the loan is repayable.

The total amount borrowed was credited to the College of Oriental Medicine directly by the bank and not sent to us to forward as fees.

The signed credit agreement was collected by the college and sent to BB.

That was the last we saw of it with no copies ever returned and no opportunity for any cooling off period or chance to double check the arrangement.

hope this helps

 the financial ombudsman ruled against me, still don't understand quite why,  I found the CAB unless and the odd solicitor who thought I had a good case but wanted £200.00 to start work which would probably end up at £1000.00.

 

Needless to say that stated that they didn't actually need the original agreement and as we started payments it confirms that we understood the authenticity of the agreement.

We used a 0% credit card to clear the debt as it was costing us a fortune in accrued interest.

They had us over a barrel.

I guess that because we have settled the debt with them we have effectively given in but I still wonder that if we have paid for this with another credit card could they be held responsible and liable to refund us if anything should change regarding legislation retrospectively.

 

[pf01]

I have been offer a full and final settlement from MBNA of £2000.00 against my credit card debt of £6500.00.

This has been agreed with minimal prompting on my part although I did explain six months ago that I was struggling tho make the payments and they put me on a hardship plan.

Their first request was a settlement figure of £3500.00 which I negotiated down easily to £2000.00.

My question is how can I limit any adverse credit scoring and can I insist on them not refer to this as an unpaid debt.

[cerberusalert]

They will probably mark your file as 'partially settled' but if you want to accept their offer you should have it in writing that it is a 'full & final' payment & try to get them to agree to removing any defaults on your file.