Car Loan with GMAC

standupguy

jhodgso4 wrote: »

Hi
I have recently contacted GMAC to pay off my loan and they have sent me a final settlement figure. The settlement figure has nearly £600 worth of fees added to the account from letters sent out and from some missed payments. The loan is due to end next may in its 5th year and the loan was for around 10000. Can they charge this amount of fees and if not how do I go about getting them reduced or taken off my account so I can just pay it off.
Thanks for any help
Joe

The first thing to do is to ask for a full statement of account detailing the amount, reason and date for each fee or charge.

Next thing is to look at your agreement and see if the reason for the charge and amount charged are as per the terms of the agreement - if not you can challenge each on this basis.

If the charges are as per your agreement terms then you should take a personal view whether each specific charge or fee is considered a fair amount and not excessive or just a penalty charge.

For example £10 for a phone call to you would be just about reasonable but £30 perhaps not.

Make sure they have not added a charge during a period when a notice of default was in force as that would be very naughty of them

When you have taken a close look at each charge write to GMAC stating which charges you think unfair and why.

Tell them that you are making a formal complaint under the FSA complaint handling process and the guidelines of "treating customers fairly" and that you are prepared to take this matter to the Financial Ombudsman service if it is not resolved satisfactorily.

jhodgso4

Hi
I'd just like to thank everyone for the replys, I'm not sure I understand all the posts but I'll certainly follow the advice from the ones I do
joe