Urgent Help Needed - Hp -

Erick_P

Hi,

I need some urgent advice, I think it is a bit of a complicated one.

My girlfriend bought a car on hire purchase back in early 2005, payments were fine and then she lost her job and basically couldn’t keep up with the payments. She notified the company which I think was GE Money and said they would need to collect the car or come to some sort of arrangement (We had paid over half for this by now). The months went on and we had some letters saying she was in arrears but no mention of the fact she had already said she could not afford the payments until she got a job. Finally she did and to our surprise we still had the car with not a murmur from GE apart from the odd letter, as my memory served there was not even a default notice. She called up and they said they wanted her to catch up in one payment which was buy this time £1800…. She said this was not possible and offered to carry on paying the monthly amount and maybe extend the term to include the missed payments, they said no and would be in touch.

Over the course of the next couple of months (by this time it was mid 2008). The next contact we had was from a company called LINK ( yes I have read lots about them on here and other forums) demanding the money, including interest in full and final settlement (£7987.00) or the to sign an attached form to relinquish the rights to the car!!!! I made sure my girlfriend did neither and we rung GE who said it was nothing to do with them anymore and all further correspondence was to be made via LINK.

We took advice and also looked at the forums and sent a letter to link requesting various information which they were obliged to do in a certain time. It took some time but then they sent the original agreement and the statement of account from GE saying the account was closed etc. We asked if we could make an agreement to pay as normal due to the fact that my girlfriend was then working and they refused and said they would only accept the full amount or we would have to sign over the car.

Now here is the exciting bit…

I smelt a rat and thought if they NEED us to sign over the car then that means they don’t have the power to re-possess without a court order and it would be likely that they would get thrown out of court on one or all of the following grounds

A) They did not respond in time to our request for agreements and statements..
We have documented evidence that we have tried to come to an agreement.
C) They do not have the powers to see this through due to the fact we have paid over half and we could just hand it back and walk away.

So we refused and repeated the offer of payment which was again turned down. We heard nothing and then…….

The engine literally blew up on the car!!!!!

We had it towed and looked at and they said it would need a new engine…. This in a fairly new BMW with only 34k miles on the clock… So we rung LINK and told them and they said to write in and explain the situation.

They said they might resign any interest in the car and just chase the debt. We thought if this is the case we might be able to get the car fixed and keep it or sell it for parts and then fight them in court so we can pay the debt over a period of time and not in one go. Oh I forgot to mention that I done an HPI check and it’s still got the agreement details for GE Money and not LINK also I spoke to LINK toady and they said we cannot have the car, they will chase us for the debt IN FULL and we would have to pay to send the car back to them and they would scrap it???

So fellow forum peeps my main questions are;

1. Why are GE still on the HPI check? Can I get that removed?
2. Do we have any right over the car
3. Is there anything we can do?
I am more determined than ever for her not to give it back!!! I don’t want her to not pay her debt but I think it I am sure if it goes to court they will not make her pay in full…

Any advice urgently would be great guys!!

Erick

standupguy

So fellow forum peeps my main questions are;

1. Why are GE still on the HPI check? Can I get that removed?
2. Do we have any right over the car
3. Is there anything we can do?
I am more determined than ever for her not to give it back!!! I don’t want her to not pay her debt but I think it I am sure if it goes to court they will not make her pay in full…


Speak to GE - have they sold the agreement or have they written off the account? - either way they need to remove their interest in the car.

Your girlfriend has legal possession but does not have outright title to the car.

If Link are just debt collecting on behalf of GE then there are things you can do direct with GE.
If they now own the debt then you could try and come to an arrangement with them?
You really need to know from GE what has happened to the agreement

Erick_P

Thank you for your reply, it is much appreciated.

From what I understand the debt has been sold to LINK. GE said this and also LINK said they had bought the debt. But it says WRITE OFF on the statement (see below)

As I said in the post, on numerous occasions we have tried to come to an arrangement with LINK and they have outrightly refused. They say they will only come accept FULL payment.

I will get her to ring GE.

One important thing is that the statement has been sent to us from GE via LINK and the last thing on there is on 2nd of June which says the following;

2nd June - Litigation - Debit 7275.81 - Credit 7275.81 Balance 7275.81

3rd June - Write-Off - Debit 0.00 - Credit 7275.81 Balance -0.00

Balance Outstanding -0.00

So if we ask GE to remove the interest what is the likelyhood of them doing that??? Why should they???

Thanks Again....

Erick

Erick_P

Also if they remove the interest does that mean she legally own the car and can do what she wants with it???

standupguy

ok, so GE have written off the agreement on their books - so they should remove the interest they hold on HPI - ask them to do this.

It looks like Link are not interested in the vehicle - just the debt.

I would think once the HPI interest is removed you woulf be free to do what you want with the car.

Link will chase you for the money and if you search their name on here you may get some tips from other posters? Otherwise the Debt free wannabe board may get you more help with them.

They will not have paid much at all for the agreement from GE and at the moment they seem to be playing hardball.

If they take court action it will cost them further money for initial costs etc.

If they were reasonable in any way they should be taking some form of arrangement to pay or a full and final settlement figure to get some money in now?

In hindsight, whilst the agreement was with a main stream lender there was a chance to come to a deal - perhaps opportunity missed!

petermb_2

Can I ask a couple of questions here?
How did you get the loan? Did the forecourt arrange it?
Did you include PPI?

There may be a saving grace here.

Erick_P

Hi,

Thanks for your reply...
Not sure what PPI is? Is that Payment Protection Insurance? If so then no :huh:

Yes the forecourt arranged it?

She always said that the insurance was a rip off and i always told her to take some out!!!

petermb_2

The fact that the forecourt arranged it may just be the thing that saves your situation or at least forces Link to back off a little.

Erick_P

UPDATE!!!!

We have spoken to GE who said they needed to speak to LINK about releasing their interest in the car. This was done while my gf was on the phone and they refused!!! Can GE do this if they have written off the debt???

Can anyone help???

LINK are still refusing to come to an agreement and we are not prepared to give up the car and pay the money in full!!!

They keep sending letters saying they want it in full in one go!!! And they said they want us to send the car back....

standupguy

Your Girlfriend should write to GE requesting that GE's interest in the vehicle registered with HPI is deleted immediately and confirmed back to you in writing.

The reason is that the agreement has been written off on their books and the debt sold on and therefore they have no right to retain their interest.

( beware though this does not stop link registering their interest if they have purchased the agreement but it may well be they are not interested in the car so will not bother).

Back to GE, tell them that
"this is a formal complaint which I would expect you to handle under the FSA guidelines for complaints handling and please be advised that I am prepared to take this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service if I do not receive a satisfactory final response within the 4 week time period allowed under the FSA guidelines".

I am sure you will get the marker lifted by GE without the need to go to FOS.

ps. address it to the Head of Compliance at their Head Office address

ramp_3

Just caught up with this - questions:

1) is this a standard hp agreement -
2) did GE Money tell you they were passing/selling on to LINK
3) did your gf receive a copy of the agreement at the time she signed the agreement presumably this was done at the garage/forecourt premises

Assuming you have a copy of the agreement and it is an hp agreement showing deposit paid, monthly instalments and the months in total (i.e. 36/48 mths etc), if you refer to your copy agreement you should find entries referred to as halves and thirds - take the opening balance (this is the true cost to buy and will include deposit, interest and what they call a setting up fee) and deduct from it your deposit plus all instalments made - if the figure when totalled is less than a half of the opening balance but more than a third then you can return the car however they can continue to pursue you for the shortfall after they have sold the car and applied the proceeds to the account (however see below about condition of car) - if however the figure is more than a half of the opening balance then you can return the car and walk away.

One further point - if the car is faulty (you said the engine blew up) then assuming you will not get any joy from the supplying garage (often the case so no point in going there) then under the consumer credit act the finance company are liable for the cars condition (as they technically own it hence the term hire purchase) inasmuch as it blew up so you could counter claim for the cars condition against GEMoney/LINK - this may sound confusing at first but makes sense and it may get them off your backs.

Good luck