Completely ripped off by credit company - gutted to say the least

[Moomin]

I am SOOOO wound up, I can't speak. Have been trying to get hold of CAB and trading standards to no avail so thought I'd post here and see if anyone has any advice.

I bought a computer from Tiny 3 years ago on a credit agreement. This was 9 months interest free and then pay the balance at the end of this time or pay the rest off in installments with interest. When I was signing the agreement the salesman said to try to pay it all off within the 9 months as the interest charges were high - but that's it, no specifics. I thought he was talking about what the store cards charge, which is expensive. Like an IDIOT, I didn't read the small print, as I actually thought I'd be paying the balance off after the 9 months.

As it happened, when the 9 m was up, I was skint and so started paying monthly - £47. I moved house shortly afterwards and lost the credit agreement. I rang First National, the credit company, to inform them of my change of address and when they wrote back, that's the only bit of paper I've now got, with my a/c number on it.

We're re-mortgaging the house soon to pay off debts and have the loft done, so I thought I'd better find out what my settlement figure is so I rang them and they said they'd post the figure to me. So pay close attention to this!!!!!:
In Sept 2001 I owed them £695. I've paid them £47 since that time over 18 months. My settlement fee is £747.54!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm shaking as I write this. I've rung them up and the operator was very sympathetic and said it was up to Tiny to explain the rates very clearly, which they didn't, but at the same time I should have read the small print and Tiny have since gone bust. Anyone got any advice or have anything similar happen to them? I feel lousy - so stupid.

Sorry Moomin, I don't really have any advice for you except to say that you are entitled to ask the company to send you a copy of the agreement you signed if you have lost it. At least that way you can check the rates etc. that you signed up to. The rates do seem ridiculous to me - keep trying the CAB to see if they are allowed to set such high rates. Sorry I couldn't be of further help but good luck with it

If Tiny have gone bust surely you no longer need to pay??! Don't know, it's just a thought.

I think the credit agreement is not with Tiny, but with a credit company, unfortuantely.

A word of advice to people NEVER give bank details to companies over the phone.In order to rent a washing machine from Granada my partner was asked for bank details.As he had no account he gave them my details with the understanding that it was not his account and only to be used for credit reference purposes.They said the account would not be touched.we used to pay Granada £19 a month through their shop for the rental.4 weeks later I was receiving letters from the bank informing me I was overdrawn(charge at £5 per day plus £30 a letter)Granada had issued a standing order without permission from myself and there was nothing I could do about it.In the end it cost me over £300 in bank charges that had built up to pay off one £19 standing order that I did not authorise so please BEWARE.

IT's bloody disgraceful, isn't it? I phoned first national again and asked for a copy of my agreement. This operator wasn't as sympathetic and made me feel about so big. He said the interest rate wasn't even in small print - it was on the front of the agreement pack. I felt like saying - yeah, the INTEREST rate was there, but did it also say that the interest added onto the £695 debt was £800?!!!! There ought to be a law to say that this is the case so people can see very clearly what they're entering in to. After further investigations, today, it looks like I'll have to grit my teeth and pay up. GRRRRRRRRRR

Moomin, the same thing happened to me years ago. The salesman said interest free and would be paid off in 12 months. I stupidly didn't question it or read the details. When the year was almost up I asked for details about how much was left and found it was more than the original item had cost! I was fuming but it seemed so far down the line I didn't bother putting myself through the stress of complaining. I ended up getting a loan with a more agreeable interest rate to pay it off.

We know how you feel. We bought a front door from Anglian Windows. We wanted to pay in cash for the door but the salesman persuaded us to take an interest free loan out and said at the end of a year (I think) we could pay it off in full. Turns out we couldn't at all and to top it off it wasn't even interest free so we ended up paying the damn thing off for more than the door cost because of the redemption penalty. This was with First National. Never again Anglian and never again First National.
I think FN enjoy being a pain as I rang up to change the direct debit date but as the loan was in dp's name she wouldn't let me. I asked what would happen if I cancelled the direct debit and she said they would require dp to fill out a new direct debit mandate. Now bearing in mind it was coming out of our joint account I told her I thought it was ridiculous that I had to cancel the dd just to change the date. To top it off instead of just sending out the letter with the new dd mandate form they sent one saying they were taking me to Court because I had said I wasn't going to pay. I work for a solicitors and got a colleague at work to send a snotty letter and they sent out a new mandate form with an apology. You have my sympathy Moomin.

Thanks for the sympathy from everyone! Something else occurred to me earlier on. I was wondering why I hadn't paid the balance off and was thinking back to the time the reminder letter was dated to work out how and why I would have been so skint. Turns out letter was sent middle of August 01 and full amount had to be paid by 20 Sept. I was in hospital having dd. I had to be in for 6 weeks before I had her; had her on 10th Sept by c-section and didn't come out of hosp until 15th Sept. No wonder I wasn't in the right frame of mind for checking correspondance and settling up bills!!!

I've also spoken to my legal helpline that I get with my bank account. They basically said I didn't have a leg to stand on, despite stay in hospital, as First national are not actually obliged to send a reminder at all! THis is outrageous. Think of all the people much worse off than me that get knobbled by this kind of agreement. Have had a long chat to dh this evening. He was very understanding and said if we have to pay we will. He did suggest I write to FN and tell them of the circumstances, esp as the Tiny saleman did not make the terms clear. Maybe I can get some of the interest waived? Yeh, right!...Worth a try though I spose..

I wonder, Moomim, if you could get one of these combined current-mortgage accounts (Virgin One?). It works like a big overdraft secured on your house (so relatively low interest rates). Do a minimal or maybe even payment holiday from the mortgage and get the stupid high interest debt cleared as fast as possible.

I don't understand is how you can owe more now than you did originally. Surely whatever minimal payment you were paying should have been covering all the interest, as well as some capital? You were on schedule to never pay the debt off at all!