AIBU to want to loose the plot on this loan company lending to my VERY vulnerable and frail mum.

[endofanera]

Just found out my mum has borrowed money from a loan company before Chritistmas, it was a cold call to her home. She borrowed £350 to pay fuel bills and buy presents for her grandchildren. She now has to pay back £750 due to APR. A "man" calls at her house once a week to collect her repayments. I have no doubt AT ALL she was hoodwinked into this. She is currently in hospital and is really poorly, we are waiting t find out if she has a tumor on her liver. She is really vulnerable and gullable at the best of times. But, she has been so poory for a few months now and cant even afford to heat her home or eat due to having to pay this debt. We only found out all this when BIL went to take her clean clothes in hospital and found the loan agreement. I am really sickend by this. My poor mum. I want to do horrid things to these company's who prey on vulnerble disabled people. She is also really frightened to go home once she leave hospital. She cant afford to pay but is seriously afraid. I havent a clue what to do, other than string him up by his balls!!!

Phone the police if you think she was pressurised into taking out the loan. I assume the lender is not exactly a reputable brand-name company.

Can you help her out with £?

how old is your mum, how is she vulnerable? They are bastards but have to follow some basic rules under the Consumer Credit Act

Bloody bastards aren't they?? String em up. It's so unfair to prey on the vulnerable. Hope your mum gets better soon.

police op.

if she's as vulnerable as you say she is and potentially seriously ill they will take a dim view.

do you have legal advice/cover on your car/home insurance?

post this in legal section of mumsnet and get proper trained advice.

your poor mum, hope she is ok op! xx

Thinking of calling police but no direct threat made. May invest in hidden camera if needs be. My mum is in her 60's but has a miriad of health problems including MH. The loan comapny have a website, which reading it makes me bloody cry!!! Awful awful people. They promote the "door to door" loan like they are doing people a bloody favor!!! On the website the have a video of a woman debt collect who looks like butter wouldnt bloody melt. I cant belive this is bloody legal!!

I would start with the CAB, contact details here:

www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_protection_for_the_consumer_e/consumer_citizens_advice_consumer_service_e/if_you_need_more_help.htm

In the meantime, while she's in hospital, could you or BIL meet the payments?

My mum is doing better thankyou. Just waiting on test results to see if tumor. Will post in legal too. The fact she cant afford to eat let alone stay warm makes me so angry it hurts!

We are doing all we can to help, financially and otherwise but £750 is too much. And, on principle i want to get this debt wiped off. How dare they do this!!

Also try Financial Ombudsman.

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact/index.html

Thankyou JeanSeberg i will call tomorrow. Hopefully they can help get this wiped off!

Go to CAB as soon as possible.

Has she paid anything back?

The £350 is likely to have to be paid back but you could argue that the rest of the arrangement she wasn't capable of understanding and therefore she couldn't have 'agreed' to the loan terms. If it was me, I'd return the £350 to the loan company with a letter saying that your mother was of unsound mind, that she took it under pressure in her own home, and that as such the 'agreement' isn't valid. That way the loan company won't have made a loss, and they'd only go to court if they were sure the court would enforce the contract which isn't actually certain.

That the best idea i think AddToBasket. I truly believe the loan company wouldnt have a leg to stand on, but then i am not an expert and things seen to be getting pretty awful in this country right now for some people. Just an example of how confused my DM is atm. The other day she was pressing the hand gel dispenser for 30 mins thinking it was the lift button in the hospital!

She has paid some but not all back. We are happy to club together to pay the £350 but not £750.

These companies are no better than loan sharks. I keep getting letters from Provident and the like offering to, again, ruin my credit rating and make my life a misery.

Definitely take it up with the ombusman and visit CAB. I'd be fuming if it was my DM

OP please don't take this the wrong way but if you can convince the relevant people that your DM wasn't of sound mind when she took the loan out. The company have to choice but to back off. I know how you feel. My DM had these we are probably talking about the same one! in the past when she ran out of gas and electric etc. She has also been really really ill and was in hospital for Months. I let the person know at the beginning and told them he would have to back off as she might not even survive. He rang out of the blue last week 'to see how she was'. No you didn't. You rang to chase her up to balance the books. . Ordinarily perfectly reasonable to do. Its not in the slightest to do so to an ILL lady who's just recovered from more than one life saving operation. Good luck OP. Try the CAB they can refer to debt advisors who can ring/write on behalf of your mum.

Who's the company?

It is from Provident MollyDoubly Although how the loan has gone from £350 TO £750 i cant get my head around!! This is a whole new world to me. As if we havnt got enough to deal with.

They are a well known provider of this type of door-step loan. I personally believe we should have some sort of usury law in the UK to limit interest rates, but we don't.

I agree. And, do you think that having someone collect the debt from your own home is sooooo wrong!! I am sickend this is "sold" the way it is on the website. Misleading vulnerable folk into thinking its a community service!! So very twisted! My DM has a young large "man" call at her house, she is tiny, weak and frail. Of course she feels intimidated. I dont think my mum even understands APR or intrest rates. All she thought about was keeping warm and making her DGC happy at christmas

P iI suspect she's probably had more than one. It goes up as they have more out. For example you can borrow £100 and then the APR etc on top can make you pay x amount back. Then when they very nice sly bloke tells you you can renew your loan for £50 quid if you're struggling its very tempting. That's how the money accumalates. Because you then can borrow again and again every other month. Please talk to cab. They are brilliant at stuff like this.

Thankyou Misspixietrix I will. Want this sorted asap and without lots of stress.

Provident do pride themselves on lending responsibly to people without access to high street credit. I'd write to their CEO and explain the situation - I suspect he will listen and take action.

Local trading standards ? does she have any records of payments and the amounts ?

If you can find the rest of the £350 then I would repay it quickly an in one go. I would not pay over that amount because that could be tantamount to acknowledging there was an agreement - there wasn't an agreement because your mother wasn't capable of consenting - so don't let yourself get drawn into a haggle with the company.

Why its that amount is the huge intrest.

Provident have always been brilliant when I've contacted them on behalf of particularly vulnerable clients who should not have been loaned to in the first place. Most of the time the debt gets written off.

The CAB can sort it out for you.

I hate provident/greenwoods but I will openly admit they will resolve an issue if the loan involves MH/LD and if the condition she has is not enough to mean she shouldn't have been given the loan then bugger all will happen if she does not maintain payments.

They can be paid over the phone avoiding doorstep if you don't bother they just reduce repayments.

I've known agents get fired for not being responsible.