Fury at loan firm’s wicked’ 54 hidden charge
ELDERLY and vulnerable people are being urged to check the small print – after it emerged an unscrupulous loan broker was charging hidden sky-high fees.
Buried in a hard- to- spot footnote of its mail shot, Glasgow-based Bright Sky Loans reveals you will be charged £54 if you make a 15-minute call to arrange a loan.
And, incredibly, hitting people with such a large hidden charge isn’t even illegal.
The practice has prompted fresh warnings from experts who say such scams suck in thousands of elderly and vulnerable people every year.
David Hickson, of the Fair Telecoms Campaign, said: “This might not be a breach of the law but we are certainly in scam territory here.
“Making charges like this is wicked and moral exploitation. I’d urge anyone calling premium rate numbers to look closely at what they are being charged for.”
The call was echoed by Citizens Advice Scotland which said consumers should be “vigilant”.
Bright Sky Loans is run by controversial businessman David Drysdale, despite the fact he was slapped with a trading ban three months ago.
The company is currently bombarding homes with flyers offering short-term, unsecured loans with a typical APR of around 16%.
The highly-attractive rate is aimed at the most vulnerable in society – pensioners, the unemployed, broke students and single parents. Some loan firms offer four-figure interest rates.
But, hidden in the small print, is the £54 phone call charge.
Ferrari- driving Drysdale, 33, who lists his address as with his mum in Whithorn village, near Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway, was ordered to stop trading by an industry watchdog back in April.
But a Sunday Post probe can reveal his Bright Sky Loans is still targeting people with its outrageously expensive service. Amy Cairns, 19, a health and social care student at Springburn College in Glasgow, has recently received three letters offering her a loan via Bright Sky. She has no idea how the company got her details and said: “I’ve never applied for a loan before but I was on the verge of calling to arrange one before my parents said it looked like a scam.
“I can’t believe it would have cost me £54 for a single call.
“I’m worried about how they got my details.”
David Drysdale is banned from trading.
Bright Sky – set up in 2014 – makes its money from the exorbitant charge it hides in its mailshot bumph.
Individually- tailored letters sent to potential customers say “it is absolutely essential” they “complete the full 15-minute duration of the call” to successfully qualify for a loan.
But what they don’t realise is the small print details that the call is charged at £3.60 a minute plus the phone provider’s charge.
Understandably, Bright Sky Loans, and the way it operates, has prompted a flood of customer complaints.
Key among them is claims it has failed to arrange or pass on details regarding the promised loans it says it brokers.
As such, three months ago, watchdog body the Financial Services Authority banned Drysdale and Bright Sky Loans from trading.
It ruled the firm should stop entering new applications with customers and cease to use any premium rate service telephone subscription with immediate effect.
But, as in the case of Amy Cairns, the company is still sending out letters touting for business and claiming to be a “licensed credit broker”.
Last week, a simple call revealed its premium rate number was still active.
A Sunday Post reporter called it and was met with a pre-recorded message offering to arrange a loan.