Those following the saga of the Barclays Partner Finance (BPF) and Azure, especially those 1,400 or so affected by the illegal brokering of finance agreements to purchase timeshare with Azure will be relieved to know the BPF have capitulated.
According to an article published in the Financial Times on Saturday 19th June, BPF admitted in November that it had been told by the Financial Conduct Authority to repay interest charged on loans issued between April 2014 and April 2016 by now-defunct timeshare operator Azure Services.
Originally the proposal from BPF, accepted by the Financial Conduct Authority, placed an offer on the table to refund all interest previously paid by loan holders together with an offer to pay 8% interest and cancel all forward interest, however, the outstanding principle would still have to be repaid.
According to lawyer Adriana Stoyanova representing a considerable number of claimants, this offer didn’t go far enough. Her appeal triggered the need for a further hearing of the Upper Tribunal (Tax And Chancery Chamber) in London to be presided by the original Tribunal Judge Timothy Herrington.
According to Ms Stoyanova the original FCA investigation didn’t address such important issues as inadequate financial affordability and the high pressure selling techniques employed by Azure sales staff, these areas plus others would form an integral part of the appeal process. Barclays has now dropped its opposition and agreed to reimburse debt payments in full in addition to the 8 per cent interest on the loans. This decision has been taken rather than face a potentially damaging public tribunal
The agreed decision will now totally cancel all finance including those BPF customers who still have outstanding finance, in other words, it’s as if they never took out a finance agreement, plus of course the agreement still stands for BPF to pay 8% interest.
Although not confirmed, BPF will refund about £30m of principal and interest to customers and write off the remaining debt on its balance sheet. It will also remove any adverse entries on clients’ credit files related to the loans.
“This is a huge win,” said Adriana Stoyanova, a lawyer who represented the claimants. “It is everything we have fought for . . . We felt that these loans should be nullified completely.”
Although unsubstantiated we have heard that BPF have carried out an audit and have established there may be over 6,000 other Azure loans that are unenforceable, these were brokered by Azure before the original start date in April 2014.
Campaigners state a much higher figure is at stake; however BPF said the £48m figure cited was too high but declined to provide a figure it considered accurate.
At TCA we consider this to be a fantastic victory for the small man. It’s always daunting when David takes on Goliath but due to the tenacity of Ms Stoyanova it proves that even the mighty can fall. We further feel that the fallout from this case will send shockwaves through the timeshare industry sending a very pointed message that they, once again, have been proved not to be above the law.
In a brief conversation we had with Ms Stoyanova, naturally she is extremely pleased with the outcome of this case after four years of hard work but not wishing to take all the glory she expressed extreme gratitude to Ivor Williams, the representative of a support group who were part of the references included in the Upper Tribunal proceedings. She thanked him for his persistent efforts and assistance, “we collaborated throughout the proceedings” Ms Stoyanova commented.
The members of his group also wrote to their MPs and would not allow this matter to be swept under the carpet.
If you purchased a timeshare with finance, maybe now would be a good time to seek professional opinion as to the validity of your loan agreement. Not all finance agreements have either been mis sold or are illegal but this case certainly means that a review would be an extremely good idea.
Please feel free to contact us if you feel you may have been affected by any points raised in this article.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk