Huge win for timeshare owners mis-sold Barclays Partner Finance Azure loans: £48m refunds + 8% interest

Barclays Partner Finance (BPF) has agreed to refund 1,482 Azure timeshare loans worth £48 million, following a four-year campaign led by specialist lawyer Adriana Stoyanova in collaboration with M1 Legal.

Barclays Partner Finance timeshare loans

Barclays Partner Finance has faced sustained criticism over loans provided to timeshare buyers in Malta, arranged through the now-defunct company Azure. Consumers say they were pressured into buying timeshare, and that commission-only sales staff were also involved in handling the loan application process.

It is alleged that standard affordability checks were overlooked, and that some customers were advised to split loans between applicants to secure approval. It is also claimed that while one Azure company (Azure Resorts Ltd) was licensed by the FCA to handle loans, the Azure employees processing the applications were working for a different Azure entity (Azure Services Ltd), which was not FCA-licensed at the time.

The individuals processing the loans were allegedly neither licensed nor qualified to do so.

Four-year legal challenge

Adriana Stoyanova, a specialist timeshare lawyer working with the team at M1 Legal, spent four years challenging Barclays Partner Finance and seeking reimbursement for people she believed were treated unfairly. This resulted in an FCA outcome that provided partial reimbursement to people who took out BPF loans through the Maltese timeshare firm.

Initial FCA decision

“This ruling gave people a refund of their interest,” says Stoyanova, who also worked with leading timeshare claims firm European Consumer Claims (ECC) on the case. “I and Andrew Cooper (CEO of ECC) felt this ruling didn’t go nearly far enough. The people sold those loans have had their lives turned upside down. There are reasons for regulations governing loan applications. Those reasons are to protect consumers.

“We felt that these loans should be nullified completely, all payments paid so far should be refunded, and we wanted to push for interest to be paid to the loan recipients on any payments they had made so far.”

Appeal

An appeal was launched and funded by ECC. “Adriana was the driving force,” says Andrew Cooper. “She showed true grit and determination, basically taking on the mighty Barclays Partner Finance by herself. It was a daunting task, and one which, privately, many people may have considered impossible given the resources available to BPF.”

The appeal hearing was due to take place in the Upper Tribunal towards the end of 2021. Adriana was working weekends and late into the night researching and investigating the case, with Cooper and ECC supporting her as much as they could.

Barclays Partner Finance backs down
As reported by the Financial Times on 18 June 2021, BPF decided to end the fight. They agreed to refund all loan payments made to date, pay 8% simple interest on those refunds, cancel the loan agreements, and remove any negative notations from consumers’ credit files connected to the loans. The total is £48 million, plus interest.

BPF also confirmed it would consider further claims where customers felt they suffered additional loss or inconvenience as a result of this issue.

“This is a huge win,” says Stoyanova. “It is everything we have fought for, and I have to thank Andrew Cooper for his huge goodwill in providing resources for me to take on BPF, and for showing faith in this ‘David vs Goliath’ challenge.”

Will you get an Azure timeshare loan refund?

If you are an Azure owner who had a BPF loan between 01/04/2014 and 24/04/2016, the latest decision by Barclays Partner Finance means you should be entitled to a refund of all payments made, plus 8% interest. If you do not hear from BPF about your refund within the next 60 days, please contact us.

Hope for other timeshare loan customers

This outcome may have wider implications, and other timeshare loan recipients could be affected. If you had a BPF loan before 01/04/2014 or after 24/04/2016, please contact us immediately.

Please contact us for further information.