www.iva.co.uk

Hi Everyone,
Dont know if anyone else has a secured loan with Picture, i took this out 3 years ago on a variable rate, assuming this variable rate referred to the Bank of England base rate, it could go up and down.
in the time that I have had the loan it has increased twice and never decreased even with all the interest rate drops, never has picture passed on the decrease, I have spoken to them and they said that there rates were not based on the Bank of England Rates, and were not passing on any of these decreases, ??????

My concern is that if the interest rates go up again, can they increase my payment, I'm struggling as it is, making my iva payment and the secured loan, good job Northern Rock have passed the reductions on to their customers, or i would be in a mess.

Thanks

Chappie

All, I can say is, that we had a secured loan with Picture and yes it just kept on increasing and increasing to the point where we could not afford it anymore, we tried to sell the house but Picture would not let us and it was in negative equity. We looked in an IVA at that point too, in the end we gave the house up and went bankrupt.

Hi Chappie,
I am assuming that Picture is run the same way as Firstplus (seeing as the owner originally owner Firstplus). The FP rate is based upon the finance house base rate and they can increase it twice the rate of the FHBR is a 12 month period. The FHBR has been fairly static for most of the year at 6% but increased to 6.5% in Nov and decreased to 5.5% this month. Morally they should decrease the rate but they probably don't have to. Give them a call and ask whether they intend to pass on the 1% decrease in the FHBR, it can't hurt!