Black Horse Personal Car Loan Issues

hbslc

I have a 5 year car loan with Black Horse that finished in June 2009. I did miss a few monthly payments, and they did send default notifications through. Originally these included debt collection fees of between £200 and £400 a time. However over the last few months they have been sending through monthly default notices of £30 a time for late payment fees. They claim I owe them about £2,500 and have passed this onto a number of DCAs. As per recent CCA changes they have sent me a statement which doesn't show the original debt collection fees, but does show another DCA fee of £65 which I knew nothing about. This statement doesn't add up to what they claim I owe them.

Lately a DCA has reissued a letter claiming Black Horse are willing to accept a settlement but that I must respond within 14 days. This is the 3rd identical letter from me.

What do I do? Your advice please? Thanks

GeorgeUK

I would reclaim the charges.
Do you have a statement of the transactions made on the account? If not it may be worth sending a Subject Access Request (cost £10).

After you see the amount outstanding and deduct the charges, you may then be able to offer a reduced amount for the remaining balance. You will need to make sure it is a full and final settlement and not a partial settlement though.

hbslc

There T&Cs claims that £30 will be charged for late payments, and I've signed this. Can I still reclaim all charges? I assume charges excludes interest? Does it exclude additional interest?

What would be a reasonable offer?

How do I get there DCA off my back?

hbslc

BUMP

I've been analysing this in a bit more detail and they've sent me a few statements each with different charges applied on different dates. Nothing appears to add up? So I don't really know what is owed? I'm all confused on what to do next...

PNPSUKNET

If it does not add up best to refer to the fos

hbslc

Sorry for the delay but what does fos mean? Also, by my reckoning I still owe a few months payment. Do I pay this and fight to clear the charges, or start negotiating a settlement?

I also suspect that the debt has now been sold onto a dca.

hbslc

Okay, a silly moment, I know what fos stands for. Can I send a request for unfair charges to be repaid?

I want to write a letter stating charges all 'collection activity fees', 'debt collection activity fees', and late Payment interest must be repaid with interest.

Then to agree what is outstanding, and to agree a full & final settlement. And for all defaults to be removed from my credit file.

Does anyone have a template letter I can modify? Thanks

hbslc

The case continues...

On 19th Sept I wrote to Black Horse to a) request all bank charges to be repaid, b) requested a letter/s of authority to clarify who was handling the loan, c) requested clarification of the amount outstanding, and d) the removal of all defaults lodged.

On 5th Nov I received an unsatisfactory response, by means of a ‘notice of sums in Arrears’ and notice that a DCA was handling my account. The ‘notice of sums in Arrears’ doesn’t clarify anything and just fuels my confusion. The payment due changes, and it includes deferred fees – whatever they are.

They have ignored my request for bank charges to be repaid (a), not really provided a letter/s of authority (b), not clarified the amount outstanding (c). They have removed all defaults from my credit file, because I’ve checked and they’ve never lodged any. However, they have lodged that I’m 5 payments in arrears. Can I ask them to remove these, as I don’t understand what payments are outstanding?

So, what are the next steps? I know I owe them something – do I pay? Do I respond to their letter as per the above? Do I refer the case to the relevant authorities?

Thanks

GeorgeUK

The 5 late payments shown on your credit file show that you have made no payment to them for 5 months.

There is a charge reclaiming board on the site so you should be able to get the step-by-step guide on how to reclaim properly. Just asking never works it seems.

They should have provided you with confirmation of the outstanding amount and who they have instructed to collect the debt. Right now you could state that the debt is in dispute as the amount owed is in dispute (due to the charges and the balance being unknown). Before you refer it to the authorities, you would need to have made an official letter of complaint so that may be the next step.