finance company problems

akicros

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right section or not so sorry if I have got it wrong !
I just wrote a really long post explaining everything then lost it so heres the shortish version.....

Feb 2006 we took out a hire purchase agreement on a new car thinking we were financially secure.
March 2006 I was found to have a tumour and had to give up work.
we continued with payments using savings for a few months, then had to pay reduced payments as we began to struggle financially.
this situation was mirrored throughout all companies we dealt with. We eventually sold our house and moved to rented accomodation as the car was badly needed for mobility reasons. We used what the small amount from the sale to catch up with some arears through all companies and credit cards. Then continued to catch up wih arears a small amount each month. However my husbands work then closed and he was moved which reduced his salay greatly. He is now awaiting a voluntary severce payment.

Jan2008 we changed from a monthly payment to a weekly standing order for £75 per week as agreed with the HP company. All was fine until April when we recieved a horrible phoncall demanding arrears to be paid immediately. We agreed a new payment plan of £80 per week and asked for confirmation in writing..we never received this but all seemed fine. This arrangement continued until two months ago when the phonecalls began again, they denied all knowledge of an agreement and informed us we had recieved charge for every month we had been behind which we were unaware of, we spoke to a manager who agreed to honour it anyway and hold all late charges providing payment continued, which it did. Again the written conformation never arrived. Today another phonecall ! again denying any knowledge of agreement. We asked for the complaints dept but were informed there was none. We called back and asked again for a complaints dept, again told they had none. We were then told that they would pass the case to the agreements dept and they would call back. phone rings and its the first women we spoke to earlier today again demanding payment. We asked for the manager that agreed plan two months ago and have been told he is unavailable. We then told them we would clear all arrears on 8th Novemeber if they honoured the last agreement and removed the past two months late charges at which point she told us no and they were issuing a default notice.

I know it is our best interest to clear them anyway but its frustrating that they can get away with the lies they told to us. We would have cleared the arrears long ago but are simply paying them hundreds of pounds of late charges.

Is there anything I can do ? We tried to go down the route of wrong charges but have been unsuccesful.

Sorry for the long post ! And thankyou to all for the great advice on this site, its saved us a fortune and definitely helped us through the worst of our financial difficulties.

standupguy

Firstly I would request a full statement of account so that you can see the exact state of the account together with the reason and amount of any charges added.

You could also ask to see any other information held on your account - that is computer notes on your account and any manual notes on your file

As it is Hire Purchase you do have the right to terminate the agreement if you have paid half the HP price - this figure is shown on your agreement.

Add up your payments made and the original deposit and compare the two figures.

If you have negative equity - that is the value of the car is worth less than the balance owing on the finance - you can voluntary terminate the agreement if you have paid half the HP price.

If you have paid over a third of the HP price - again this exact figure is shown on your agreement - then the car cannot be repossessed without a court order and it is likely that any court action would result in a suspended order subject to you continuing to pay what you can afford.

The extra charges you can challenge if they could be considered unfair and there is a complaints procedure you can go through and take it to the Financial ombudsman service if you need to.

Can you say which Finance company it is as this may help with the best approach to take?

In other words are they respectable or sharks?

akicros

Thankyou

The purchase price was 13300ish and we currently have £4500 outstanding although thats including the final payment of 3200 which is to be paid in january. I have thought about ending the agreement but we need a car for work anyway and have paid so much on it that it seems silly to hand it back when we'd have to pay a few thousand for a reliable car to replace it.

The company is peugeot financial services.

We tried to claim the charges, they sent us a letter saying hey would not refund them and we would not be succesful as the unfair charges didnt apply to them. My husband phoned someone fsa maybe (?) who told me we were but due to the date the contract began to contact another company who would deal with it. We then did that and were told by them we couldnt do it.

All but a few of the advisors that I have spoken to are awful. they almost bully you on the phone. Its horrible but with no complaints dept I cant even seem to put in a complaint about it.

standupguy

Have you tried contacting the Financial Ombudsman service on 0845-080-1800 - the line is open 9 to 5 and they will give you free of charge the correct advice about the potential unfair charges?

If you want to complain to the business first you should contact

Paul Watkins
Peugeot Finance
Quadrant House
Princess Way
redhill
Surrey
RH1 1QA

email: [EMAIL="ukcustomerservices@mpsa.com"]ukcustomerservices@mpsa.com[/EMAIL]


From what you say you will have paid well over half the HP price so you could voluntary terminate the agreement if you wanted if their is negative equity.

Alternatively if the car is worth more than the settlement figure - you would need to telephone them to get an up to date settlement figure - then you could sell the car, settle the Finance and put the balance towards another car?

If you wanted to keep the car then even if they took you to court, then given your circumsdtances and the amount you have paid to date,the court would be sympathetic and not allow repossession subect to you paying what you can afford monthly- so do not be concerned about the ramblings of an arrears clerk.

What will you do in January as that is the time the final payment seems due? - have they got a clause which will allow you to repay the last payment over a longer term? Or will you sell at that time and settle the £3200 from the sale proceeds?

This business is very tightly regulated by the FSA and OFT - they can only go so far and must keep within the FSA regulations - do not be bullied by their staff and show them that you have a genuine complaint which you are prepared to take further if they cannot resolve this satisfactorily and within the time constraints laid down by the FSA regulations.

akicros

Thankyou very much for all the information, I really appreciate it.

I'm going to go write a letter now to send to the company regarding them piling charges on because the feel like it despite agreeing not too and also just to complain about the manner of a few staff of which i have the names. I really feel that offering to pay all arrears in return for the honouring the agreement from two months ago by removing the past two months charges is fair and should have been at least considered instead of hanging up the telephone. Its all more a matter of principle, as I said we have dealt with many companies and have resovled everything with little or no problems and have been lucky to deal with staff that can sympathise with the situation or at least speak to you like a human being, but I feel its terrible that peugeots staff have the ability to reduce you to tears with a phonecall when they feel like it and due to this I really feel they need to issue training to staff members who deal with these matters. I know its unlikely but hopefully if others have done it too they may take it on board and save others the heartache.

As for the charges, thankyou for that number, I will try it tomorrow and see what happens as it certainly cant do any harm. My husbands redundancy payment arrives at the end of the month so that will be put aside to pay of the car, unless he gets a fantastic job or I win the lottery in which case I can maybe go on holiday instead !!

Its typical, I'm a month away from finally having the money to clear the arrears and pay the final sum and they decide to send me a default notice !

standupguy

IF they send you a default notice you will have at least 17 days to pay the arrears amount on the default notice and they cannot add in the extra charges on this notice.

And remember this, it is very important, if you do get a default notice they are not allowed to contact you again until the expiry date on the default notice - this is laid down in the consumer credit act.

So, if they phone you etc during the period that you receive a default notice and the expiry date let them know that what they have done is to breach the Consumer Credit Act and make sure you keep a record of dates times etc.

Once they realise you have some knowledge they will back off