‘I used to be abused twice, first by my companion after which by my financial institution’

A girl whose controlling companion’s abrupt departure left her with an unaffordable mortgage has accused Barclays of refusing to assist her as she struggled with the fallout.

Sally James*, a mom of two teenage daughters, says the financial institution refused to restructure her repayments when she may not afford them after being left as a single father or mother. And when the ombudsman ordered Barclays to take action, it trashed her credit score rating.

Her story places a highlight on the large scale of financial abuse within the UK. Within the final yr, about 5.5 million UK women had their money and property controlled by a current or former partner, in accordance with the charity Surviving Financial Abuse (SEA).

Whereas Barclays claims it’s “there to support” victims of financial abuse, James says she would advise any girl who has been deserted to not inform the financial institution, as workers seem incapable of empathising or serving to correctly.

Her issues began in 2020 when her companion of a few years and father of her daughters upped and left, saddling her with the funds on their joint mortgage. Whereas she managed to maintain up repayments on her revenue, by early 2023 spiralling rate of interest will increase made it unaffordable.

“The banks at all times inform you to contact them if you happen to’re struggling, so I referred to as to elucidate what had occurred – how I had been left as the only real breadwinner. I requested to be placed on an interest-only deal, or to increase the mortgage interval for six months to provide me sufficient time to promote the home or discover one other resolution,” she says.

Nonetheless, as a result of her companion wouldn’t cooperate with the method – Barclays advised the Observer he put the telephone down on its workers – it refused to restructure her deal as each account holders had not agreed.

“The financial institution wouldn’t, or couldn’t, see that he was utilizing this as a strategy to get again at me – that I used to be, in impact, being financially abused. I supplied a letter from my physician to that impact however they ignored it,” she says.

She then went to the Monetary Ombudsman, which demanded Barclays take a second take a look at her case. The financial institution then agreed to restructure her mortgage to decrease the month-to-month funds, all of a sudden overcoming its earlier objection.

As a part of the discussions on the telephone final yr, she says she was advised by a Barclays workers member to not pay the total June and July repayments, which have been unaffordable, and to attend till the restructured plan was in place. She says she subsequently repaid each missed month-to-month funds, albeit on the decrease restructured fee.

After that, she says, she paid the newly restructured mortgage faithfully, discovered a purchaser for her house and a less expensive place to purchase.

However as quickly as she utilized for a brand new smaller mortgage with one other lender, she found that Barclays had utilized default notices to her credit score rating – scuppering the deal she was supplied and wrecking her capability to achieve credit score.

“I really feel as if I’ve been abused twice – as soon as by my ex-partner and once more by Barclays. I solely missed these funds on its recommendation and instantly paid for these months,” she says.

“I will need to have spent greater than 100 hours on the telephone making an attempt to resolve this. I’ve been a buyer with Barclays for over 30 years, with a mortgage for over 15, and have by no means, ever, been in debt aside from my latest dilemma.

“Employees have been dismissive from the beginning, and I’m so offended that they’ve achieved this to me. Simply this week Barclaycard minimize my credit score restrict from £4,000 to £200 on account of this.”

Barclays web site boasts that the financial institution has signed as much as the government’s mortgage guarantee scheme. This states that folks asking to decrease their funds, by going interest-free or extending their time period, is not going to be reported negatively to credit score reference companies.

The financial institution says this scheme was adopted solely after James’s issues got here to gentle, and it could not have utilized to her in any case.

Barclays says: “We don’t need clients to have trigger to complain, and sympathise with our buyer who has had some troublesome private circumstances. We agreed a decreased fee plan for an preliminary six months in August 2023 to offer our buyer with the time to achieve a conclusion with the joint mortgage holder, and have saved the decreased plan in place past six months.

“We settle for that there could also be events individuals can’t meet their contractual month-to-month funds, however we are going to at all times spotlight the influence on credit score rankings if contractual month-to-month funds can’t be met in full.

“When the fee plan was arrange, we wrote to elucidate that the distinction between the contractual month-to-month fee, and the fee plan, would accrue as arrears.

“The letter additionally set out that we might proceed to report account info to the credit score reference companies, which can have an effect on our buyer’s capability to acquire future credit score.

“We apologise that some interactions with our service crew haven’t been to the excessive requirements we set and, the place acceptable, redress has been paid to the shopper for any misery or inconvenience brought about.”

Sam Smethers, interim chief government of Surviving Financial Abuse, the one UK charity devoted to elevating consciousness of financial abuse, says James’s expertise will not be unusual.

“Present mortgage guidelines hurt victim-survivors by requiring the consent of the abuser to finish, or change, the joint mortgage, which allows their continued management. Perpetrators use this to plunge victim-survivors into monetary hardship by refusing to pay their agreed share, transfer to a greater rate of interest or fee plan, or promote up,” she says.

“We’ve heard of those that’ve had to decide on between placing meals on the desk, or paying the mortgage, due to the abuser’s actions.

“The price of residing disaster has solely made it more durable. Skyrocketing mortgage charges have led to some survivors having their houses repossessed as a result of the perpetrator refuses to pay their share, or promote.

“We’d like all political events to decide to working with the monetary companies sector to cease this type of financial abuse, so victim-survivors aren’t trapped residing in worry of ending up homeless.

“We’d like clearer steerage and regulation on how lenders can higher help them, in addition to authorized change to free survivors from being trapped in mortgages by the abuser. We all know that various lenders agree with us and likewise need to see change.”

A 3rd of individuals calling Cash Recommendation Plus, a charity which helps individuals handle their cash, want help to pay their mortgage, says Smethers, and the bulk are about loans with an abusive companion.

There’s a optimistic consequence to James’s case. A mortgage supplier has now agreed to supply her a deal after she was capable of present all her funds had been made. Nonetheless, it’s set to price her considerably greater than it could with out the defaults.

* Identify has been modified