Not upheld: unfair credit relationship; alleged breach of Timeshare Regulations; inadequate information provision complaint against Clydesdale Financial Services Limited (trading as Barclays Partner Finance)

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained that Clydesdale Financial Services Limited (trading as Barclays Partner Finance) was party to an unfair credit relationship when it financed his purchase of Fractional Club membership (a timeshare product) for £13,910 in June 2017. Mr S alleged the Supplier breached Regulation 14(3) of the Timeshare Regulations by marketing the product as an investment and failed to provide adequate information about ongoing costs. The ombudsman found that while a breach of Regulation 14(3) was possible, Mr S' recollections—written seven years later and containing multiple inconsistencies—were insufficiently reliable to establish that he was motivated by investment prospects or that he would have acted differently with proper information. The ombudsman concluded the credit relationship was not unfair under Section 140A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and rejected the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while it was possible the Supplier breached Regulation 14(3) by marketing the Fractional Club as an investment, regulatory breaches do not automatically render a credit relationship unfair under Section 140A. The ombudsman was not persuaded by Mr S' recollections, which were written seven years after the sale and contained multiple omissions and inconsistencies. The statement appeared to have been influenced by the Shawbrook & BPF v FOS judgment. Critically, the ombudsman found insufficient evidence that Mr S' decision to purchase was motivated by the prospect of financial gain, which would have been necessary to establish that a breach of Regulation 14(3) rendered the credit relationship unfair. Additionally, even if the Supplier failed to provide sufficient information about ongoing costs, there was no evidence Mr S would have acted differently had such information been provided.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website