Horatio1960
New Member
So you work hard build up some savings and invest in your passion of boating with your family buy your first boat build up some equity and three boats later you work your way up to your dream boat. You have done it the right way making sure that heaven forbid you have enough residual to cash in your asset if things get tough, or you need some money for a rainy day. After all those nice people at Barclays assured you they were there to “help make your dreams a reality”.
Oh dear that’s were the honeymoon ends Barclays sadly have built a cast iron reputation for giving customers the umbrella when it isn’t raining. Beware the first sign of a cloud and when you approach your financial friends at Barclays you will find they have long since run for shelter clutching not only the brolly but the raincoat, wellies and sowester to boot and that is where your troubles begin.
Reminiscent of the gentlemanly fox in the Beatrix potter tales who befriended the loveable but stupid Jemimah Puddleduck to assist in the delivery of her offspring you are encouraged to talk with your lender, let them know the situation, work with them to secure the best solution.
Whatever you do, don’t - you would be strongly advised not to hand over the boat, ignore the sugary assurances they are willing to help and by law they have to secure the best price for the boat, this is a blatant lie. This is now war and you are on your own. The dealer in this case Inwards will immediately start rubbing their hands with glee, knowing that anything above the outstanding mortgage will be accepted and that a fast profit can be guaranteed as long as they do nothing for a couple of months, an easy commission cheque is virtually guaranteed.
Suddenly the broker who was boisterously confident that £105k was a fair price having nearly sold it just 3 months earlier, now all of a sudden couldn’t possibly get more than 70k “sorry current market guv”.
What! Not even despite the fact your boat is featured in a Motor Boat and Yachting article for that month with a five star revue and a recommended price tag of £95,000 to £125,000. Your kidding tell me another one, ok the boat marque in question is probably the most popular and recognised in Europe and the pound is lower against the Euro than a pygmy limbo dancer, you mean you still cant get more than the outstanding mortgage and broker fees!.
How can that be, surely not! the same broker who assured you that using an independent instead of a main dealer would not affect your residual value, that their sales staff took pride in getting the top price for customers and now mysteriously your boat is only worth almost exactly the same amount to pay off Barclays, your brokers commission all over inflated costs pretty much to the penny, crikey that was a lucky coincidence. So what happened to the 40k equity you once had? I am afraid that has vanished faster than a Barclays Mortgage executive cashing in their bonus carrying your umbrella.
Funnily enough I do not blame the broker the chance of a quick easy profit will far outweigh any form of customer loyalty and with very little legislation in place to protect the consumer why should they care. After all you’re not buying another boat; they will understandably assume you must be a failure to have to sell it in the first place. I suppose that provides the necessary justification to screw you over “he had it coming, if I didn’t do it someone else would” besides no one will ever know and hey they loose one customer with no money, so what.
Sadly that is the culture of the world we live in were we can can’t see further than today, or the size of someone’s wallet. Grab what you can and damn the circumstances as long as I am alright Jack, who cares about anyone else with our largely documented good friends Barclays right at the front of the queue.
So how can we try to combat such greed and avoid being a victim? Very difficult I am afraid and you could end up like a well done stake – burnt, with the chips heavily stacked against you.
Still all is not lost if you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in this position take independent legal advice as soon as possible and observe the following tips.
1. Do not co-operate, get talked into giving the boat back or handing over the sale to your mortgage provider resist losing power over the sale at all costs otherwise you might as well say goodbye to your equity.
2. Do not put your boat on with any independent broker recommended or agreed by your mortgage provider.
3. If you do hand the boat back try to agree multi agent and a reserve price and have it written into the agreement.
4. Use only a main dealer and insist that so do your mortgage provider, these dealers will have an interest to maintain acceptable residual values.
5. Do not be foolish enough to trust your broker and assume that once your mortgage provider takes over the sale they will continue to act in your best interests.
6. If you are in a situation where you are trying to protect your equity and have to substantially reduce price, try to sell the boat yourself directly with an appropriate survey you can access all the same websites and sales avenues that your broker can, that way you will save on the broker costs and have a larger pot to play with.
I sincerely hope you find this advice helpful and please email me if you have found yourself in a similar situation with Barclays, Inwards or any other mortgage provider or broker as I would be most interested to hear your story. Consumer rights in the boating industry appear to be virtually non existent and given enough support a time for change is long overdue.
As for Barclays Marine Finance and Inwards Marine my personal opinion is to observe extreme caution and remember poor Jemimah Puddleduck.
Good luck, safe and happy boating
Oh dear that’s were the honeymoon ends Barclays sadly have built a cast iron reputation for giving customers the umbrella when it isn’t raining. Beware the first sign of a cloud and when you approach your financial friends at Barclays you will find they have long since run for shelter clutching not only the brolly but the raincoat, wellies and sowester to boot and that is where your troubles begin.
Reminiscent of the gentlemanly fox in the Beatrix potter tales who befriended the loveable but stupid Jemimah Puddleduck to assist in the delivery of her offspring you are encouraged to talk with your lender, let them know the situation, work with them to secure the best solution.
Whatever you do, don’t - you would be strongly advised not to hand over the boat, ignore the sugary assurances they are willing to help and by law they have to secure the best price for the boat, this is a blatant lie. This is now war and you are on your own. The dealer in this case Inwards will immediately start rubbing their hands with glee, knowing that anything above the outstanding mortgage will be accepted and that a fast profit can be guaranteed as long as they do nothing for a couple of months, an easy commission cheque is virtually guaranteed.
Suddenly the broker who was boisterously confident that £105k was a fair price having nearly sold it just 3 months earlier, now all of a sudden couldn’t possibly get more than 70k “sorry current market guv”.
What! Not even despite the fact your boat is featured in a Motor Boat and Yachting article for that month with a five star revue and a recommended price tag of £95,000 to £125,000. Your kidding tell me another one, ok the boat marque in question is probably the most popular and recognised in Europe and the pound is lower against the Euro than a pygmy limbo dancer, you mean you still cant get more than the outstanding mortgage and broker fees!.
How can that be, surely not! the same broker who assured you that using an independent instead of a main dealer would not affect your residual value, that their sales staff took pride in getting the top price for customers and now mysteriously your boat is only worth almost exactly the same amount to pay off Barclays, your brokers commission all over inflated costs pretty much to the penny, crikey that was a lucky coincidence. So what happened to the 40k equity you once had? I am afraid that has vanished faster than a Barclays Mortgage executive cashing in their bonus carrying your umbrella.
Funnily enough I do not blame the broker the chance of a quick easy profit will far outweigh any form of customer loyalty and with very little legislation in place to protect the consumer why should they care. After all you’re not buying another boat; they will understandably assume you must be a failure to have to sell it in the first place. I suppose that provides the necessary justification to screw you over “he had it coming, if I didn’t do it someone else would” besides no one will ever know and hey they loose one customer with no money, so what.
Sadly that is the culture of the world we live in were we can can’t see further than today, or the size of someone’s wallet. Grab what you can and damn the circumstances as long as I am alright Jack, who cares about anyone else with our largely documented good friends Barclays right at the front of the queue.
So how can we try to combat such greed and avoid being a victim? Very difficult I am afraid and you could end up like a well done stake – burnt, with the chips heavily stacked against you.
Still all is not lost if you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in this position take independent legal advice as soon as possible and observe the following tips.
1. Do not co-operate, get talked into giving the boat back or handing over the sale to your mortgage provider resist losing power over the sale at all costs otherwise you might as well say goodbye to your equity.
2. Do not put your boat on with any independent broker recommended or agreed by your mortgage provider.
3. If you do hand the boat back try to agree multi agent and a reserve price and have it written into the agreement.
4. Use only a main dealer and insist that so do your mortgage provider, these dealers will have an interest to maintain acceptable residual values.
5. Do not be foolish enough to trust your broker and assume that once your mortgage provider takes over the sale they will continue to act in your best interests.
6. If you are in a situation where you are trying to protect your equity and have to substantially reduce price, try to sell the boat yourself directly with an appropriate survey you can access all the same websites and sales avenues that your broker can, that way you will save on the broker costs and have a larger pot to play with.
I sincerely hope you find this advice helpful and please email me if you have found yourself in a similar situation with Barclays, Inwards or any other mortgage provider or broker as I would be most interested to hear your story. Consumer rights in the boating industry appear to be virtually non existent and given enough support a time for change is long overdue.
As for Barclays Marine Finance and Inwards Marine my personal opinion is to observe extreme caution and remember poor Jemimah Puddleduck.
Good luck, safe and happy boating
