Lawyer Adriana Stoyanova compared to “Erin Brockovich” following Barclays timeshare loan win
In November 2020 Barclays Partner Finance (BPF) came under fire for its association with disgraced Maltese timeshare company Azure. An FCA ruling gave partial redress to the ‘mis-sold’ clients. This wasn’t enough for plucky lawyer Adriana Stoyanova, who battled the banking giant for full refunds. This month the banking giants threw in the towel…
Barclays Partner Finance admit defeat
After a 4 year, hard fought legal battle, Barclays Partner Finance (BFP) have conceded defeat to determined lawyer Adriana Stoyanova. BFP will cancel tens of million of pounds worth of loan agreements, issue full refunds, pay 8% interest on payments made, consider claims for further damages caused by their actions, and even wipe mis-sold customers’ credit files clean.
Unregulated loans
As previously reported by the Timeshare Consumer Association (TCA), Azure sales people who processed the loans were neither qualified nor licensed to do so. There were around £48 million’s worth of loans issued between 2014 and 2016 in this manner, which have been challenged via the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Pressure sales
Many timeshare loan recipients reported that commission-only Azure salespeople railroaded them into making big financial decisions on the day, and did little or no affordability checks before processing the paperwork. Numerous customers found it odd that the same person who was so desperate for the sale was also in charge of the loan procedure.
These clients reported that the salespeople used the credibility of Barclays to assuage concerns about the sale: “A world leading bank like Barclays would not be partnering with us unless our organization was beyond reproach,” was the message the customers say they were given. This implied backing by Barclays convinced many people to go ahead with life changing timeshare purchases.
‘Lukewarm’ victory
In August the FCA ruled partially in favour of the people issued loans by the unqualified Azure staff. Those people were awarded back the interest on their loans, but not granted their requests to have the loans nullified completely. This was not enough for Stoyanova who was determined to accept nothing less than full reimbursement for her clients.
Appeal announced
Immediately the decision was made to appeal the FCA ruling at the Upper Tribunal. Before the appeal date could even be set however, Barclays contacted the FCA to give in to all of the lawyer’s demands.
Victory
As reported in the Financial Times (18th June 2021) Barclays have decided they no longer want to fight Adriana. “They gave us everything we wanted,” smiles the soft spoken lawyer. “All 1482 loan agreements in question are nullified. The payments made so far will be refunded with interest, and importantly the customers will have their credit files wiped clean of any entries relating to these loans.
Adriana is grateful to Andrew Cooper, the CEO of European Consumer Claims (ECC) who funded the 4 year legal effort. “Without Mr Cooper’s huge goodwill and faith in what I was doing, I could never have achieved this success over Barclays Partner Finance.”
The relentless lawyer also believes that this victory is just the start of many more legal challenges against loans issued by partnerships of timeshare companies and finance houses. “This concession by BFP covers loans written by Azure salespeople in a specific period between 2014 and 2016. However there are many loans written before 2014, and also in many other timeshare resorts. These will also be of interest and the net may widen. My hope is that many other people mis-sold timeshare loans will have the same justice that these 1482 customers have received.”
Timeshare advice
For free, expert, independent advice this or on any timeshare related issue, get in touch with the Timeshare Consumer Association, on the contact details below.
Related links
- What is timeshare?
- Barclays Partner Finance under fire over association with disgraces Maltese timeshare company
- Barclays facing potential loss of £billions over fresh timeshare mis-selling claims
- Timeshare sales tactics revealed
- Appeal announced against Barclays Partner Finance judgement for Azure timeshare loans
- Daniel Keating contact details
- Timeshare Consumer Association contact details
- £120,000 timeshare victims. Brit couple facing retirement with crippling debts
- Financial times article on Barclays defeat by Adriana Stoyanova
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TCA provides a central resource of consumer information on timeshare matters for the media and other organisations — We work towards encouraging responsible, honest, timeshare operators. We also publicly expose negative consumer practices and organisations which operate in a manner detrimental to timeshare buyers and owners.
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First published on MyNewsDesk June 2021
