Swift Advances, restricsions Lending by OFT

[great shot jack]

People should call swift Advances and ask to borrow money from them, NOT. hehe. Just called swift to see what poo they would come out with when asked if i could borrow £15,000 from them. From what i was told over the phone was SORRY we no longer lend money and are not sure if we will again in the future. When asked WHY the same old POO come out of my end of the phone again. They can never give a straight answer or tell the truth over the phone and never ever REPLY TO EMAIL THAT YOU SEND THEM. People should write to the OFT and complain every other day, The OFT have put restrictions on them and the old FSA fined them £600.000 about time people started the last push to close them down and get what they owe us back.

[determindator]

Thanks for telling us about that phone call gsj.

[John 1963]

I have seen it mentioned that they are in financial difficulties

[CatchtheMonkey]

People should call swift Advances and ask to borrow money from them, NOT. hehe. Just called swift to see what poo they would come out with when asked if i could borrow £15,000 from them. From what i was told over the phone was SORRY we no longer lend money and are not sure if we will again in the future. When asked WHY the same old POO come out of my end of the phone again. They can never give a straight answer or tell the truth over the phone and never ever REPLY TO EMAIL THAT YOU SEND THEM. People should write to the OFT and complain every other day, The OFT have put restrictions on them and the old FSA fined them £600.000 about time people started the last push to close them down and get what they owe us back.

 

In support of great shot jacks post..

CTM

 

Did you take out a mortgage with Swift?

 

Do you feel you were treated fairly? Many customers were not and it's something that has caught the attention of the industry regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

In September 2011 Swift 1st Limited (or Swift as it is commonly known) was fined £630,000 by the FSA for what was described as unfair treatment of customers facing mortgage arrears.

Customers who are facing arrears are vulnerable, worried and struggling. The financial regulator deemed the way in which Swift handled these customers to be inappropriate.

Swift has agreed to compensate customers who were affected; something that is likely to cost the lender £2.35 million.

What did Swift do wrong?

 

According to the regulator Swift is guilty of a number of serious failings in the way that it dealt with its customers who had fallen into arrears. The first of which related to several charges that were applied to the accounts of customers in arrears. The regulator believed the charges, which are said to cover 'administration costs' involved with handling arrears, to be much higher than they should have been and not reflective of the actual costs involved.

Swift charged a monthly management fee to customers in arrears, called an 'arrears management fee'; a 'default notice fee' which was charged as soon as an account fell into arrears; an 'unpaid mortgage payment fee' for when a cheque, direct debit or standing order was not honoured by the customers bank; and a 'litigation fee' when court proceedings were started. Customers who were, or had been, in arrears were also charged excessive early repayment charges.

But the failings don't end there.

 

According to the regulator Swift did not send all of its customers in arrears the necessary documents providing information on what options were available to them. This means customers who were already struggling, concerned and confused were left in the dark.

The lender was so concerned with getting its money back it failed to proactively engage with customers to work out what is known as an Arrangement to Pay, a payment plan based on their individual circumstances.

Finally Swift was fined for having inadequate systems and controls in place to deal with early redemptions, which resulted in some customers who redeemed their mortgages overpaying.

The fact that the regulator has stepped in validates those customers who believe Swift treated them poorly. The lender was under obligation, as part of the FSA's Treating Customers Fairly initiative, to do right by its customers. Evidently, it did not do so.

[John 1963]

People should write to the OFT and complain every other day,

 

and have you done this?