posted 7th December 2023
Point of sale (POS) finance, also known as "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) or instalment financing, can offer convenience and flexibility for consumers, but it also comes with certain risks and dangers. The most significant risk that the Banks ever made was to allow timeshare companies to have access to their point of sale finance facilities.
Banks, like any other company, are in business to make money. Their business is selling money. The more loans they sell, the more money they make. As such, they partner with companies they feel will sell lots of products and, therefore, loans.
Barclays Partner Finance, Shawbrook Bank and Hitachi Personal Finance partnered with timeshare companies such as Club La Costa, Diamond Resorts, Silverpoint and Club Paradiso. These Banks provided point of sale finance for the purchase of timeshare products, which in many cases, were being sold in there hundreds every week.
On average, Banks charge their partners, such as Club La Costa, a lending commission of 10% per loan. For example, if you took out a loan for £20,000 with Barclays Partner Finance to purchase a Club La Costa Fractional membership, 10%/£2000 would have been included in your purchase price and paid to Barclays. This is also sometimes known as a hidden commission.
As well as earning a lending fee, Banks also profited from the ongoing interest fees they were charging clients. Point of Sale loans are well known for having high interest rates; in some cases, timeshare owners paid as much as 19.9%. The average Club La Costa or Diamond Resorts member will pay back double what they have borrowed over the 15-year loan term.
Timeshare presentations are based on lies and pressure selling. If you are a past or present timeshare owner, it is most likely that you will agree and have experienced the coersive nature of timeshare mis-selling for yourself.
The horrendous reputation of timeshare and timeshare selling tactics is a widely accepted fact that authorities in the UK have never been brave enough to challenge. This is because the timeshare industry has always had deep enough pockets to influence decisions and committed most of its mis-selling abroad. Under The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulation 2008 it is clear that many of you will have had first-hand experience of multiple mis-selling breaches when you were sold your timeshare. In light of this well-known fact, why did UK Banks agree to provide point of sale finance to timeshare companies well known for grievously mis-selling their clients?
We can't answer for the decision makers at Barclays, Shawbrook and Hitachi. However, what is obvious is the amount of money they made, and the huge amount of consumer detriment that was caused as a result of this decision to partner with the timeshare industry.
UK authorities, Banks and the timeshare industry have done their level best to silence us over the last ten years. Propaganda campaigns, misinformation, spurious decisions, and High Court challenges have not stopped us fighting for the rights of British timeshare victims. Due to our determination Club La Costa, Diamond Resorts, Azure Resorts, Silverpoint and Club Paradiso victims are all now receiving compensation from the Banks that provided their point of sale finance.
And in 'breaking news', all of the timeshare companies that were mis-selling the timeshares, have closed down and run off into the sunset with the ill-gotten gains! Quelle surprendre.
In a recent landmark decision in the High Court on the 5th of May 2023, Mrs Justice Collins Rice upheld the decision of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), and gave the green light to Club La Costa and Diamond Fractional members that took out point of sale finance, to claim their money back. This compensation package also includes the write off of any outstanding finance, statutory compensation, and timeshare memberships cancelled.
We specialise in financial claims and are authorised and regulated by the FCA. We provide a 100% No Upfront Fee claim service, meaning that you pay us nothing unless we win. To check if you qualify for compensation, get in touch.
