Blackhorse Issues - Please help before I throw in the towel and admit defeat!

PNPSUKNET

carshaft and desperate normaly

buffness

standupguy wrote: »

There may be a lot here that can be challenged but more details are required: -

1. From your copy agreement what was the cost of the car as shown on the agreement, the amount of deposit and the balance financed?
2. What is the half HP and third HP amounts shown in a box on the front of your agreement?
3. Did you keep a copy of the termination letter you sent and when was it dated?
4. What was the date of the repossession?

The figures you give will help confirm one way or the other how and under what circumstances the Finance company took the car back.

It looks like they may have repossessed as under a third HP price paid but if that was the case they would have had to send you a notice of default prior?

Or, if they accepted your letter as a vt then your legal liability would be to the half hp figure on your agreement less the deposit and all amounts paid.

This is not simple but if you want to persevere with answering the questions then you just may be able to save yourself some money

Standupguy:

Thanks for the replies. Youve been a big help so far... and yeah I will keep answering as many questions that are thrown at me!!

1. When you say copy of the agreement, do you mean the Blackhorse Credit Agreement and/or the invoice from Motor Nation, this is where the car was purchased? Anyhow, in both cases:

• Blackhorse: Amount of credit - £9725.00 / Duration of agreement: 60 months / Total amount payable: £15,387.90
• Motor Nation: Selling Price - TOTAL: £10024.21 minus deposit paid of £100 - £9924.01

2. Half HP Amount: £6461.93 / Three quarters: £3852.26

3. This was my mistake - I did not keep a copy of this! I may be able to have a look around for it, but I am 99.9% sure that I didnt keep a copy of this. Also, in the response from the Financial Ombudsman Service, they say that Blackhorse did not receive a copy of this

4. I wasnt sure of the date of repossession as Blackhorse did not tell me or inform me of this - they arranged with my ex partner and liased with him to collect the car when was convenient for him. Blackhorse didnt keep me informed when it had gone - it was only through text messages from my ex partner as he told me when it went. Also, I have no paperwork or anything from Blackhorse to say that they were going to do this, nor did they sent me a default notice!

I will place a copy of both the Blackhorse agreement, and the invoice from the car sales garage underneath this response. If you need anything else, please let me know.

Thanks again!

buffness

buffness

buffness

samnor27 wrote: »

If you took the agreement out in April 2007 there may have been a breach in the contract which means you could have had a get out clause. I am with Blackhorse and having problems with them, basically im paying £15000 for a car thats not even worth £4000. I got it from carcraft and got completely ripped off. Im seeking advice to see if I can get out of the agreement in some way.

Samnor, what do you mean by breach in the contract?

standupguy

Thanks for your reply Buffness.

The figure I was looking for, a third of the hp price, you will see under "repossession your rights at the bottom on the left hand side.

The amount was £5129.26 and by my reckoning from the evidence you have posted you will have paid about £2749 - so under a third.

This means the Finance company can repossess without a court order BUT they must first send a Notice of Default detailing the full amount of arrears and the date by which you should make the payment to satisfy the NOD.

There is no charge or fee showing on your statement for an NOD prior to repossession and you state that you had not received one in the post - so it may well be that an NOD was never sent?

I suspect what happened was that they traced the wherabouts of the vehicle and took quick action for recovery - BUT, if this is the case, this is not in accordance with CCA rules and where a car is repossessed wrongfully you are entitled to a FULL REFUND of the deposit and all amounts paid.

The agreement shows that you made an advance payment of £500 but you say, and the invoice notes, a payment of £100 - If £100 was all you paid then the dealer has massaged the figures to show a greater deposit paid and this is against CCA rules.

We could go on to the penalty charges of £30 and challenge these as unlawful. The late payment interest charges though would be seen as reasonable.

So it seems to me you have much to complain about

So what can you do?

If you want to try and get more evidence to help you then a good ploy is always to ask for a copy of the full notes on your account - you are entitled to these under data protection rules.

The next step is to write a formal letter of complaint to the Legal and Compliance manager at the Finance Company.

You could at this stage keep things simple and go for a full refund of all monies paid.

Something along the lines of : -

I am writing to make a formal complaint about the wrongful repossession of vehicle registration number xxxxxx which is the subject of my account.

The vehicle was repossessed without the issue of a Notice of Default and as you are aware this is in breach of CCA regulations.

I now request that in accordance with the CCA legislation that you refund forthwith all monies paid under this agreement.

If this complaint is not resolved satisfactorily within the timeframes and guidelines laid down by the FSA on "complaints handling and treating customers fairly" then I fully intend to take this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Office of Fair Trading.

---

It is then down to you what you accept depending on what they come back with.

If you are prepared not to be fobbed off your best outcome could be a removal of the debt outstanding and a full refund - which looks to me to be around £2750?

If they wanted to negotiate and you were feeling generous you may settle for just the write off the debt?

If they did send an NOD then they will try and provide proof to reject your claim

Good luck

stumpjumper120

from your statement i can see that you got car in april and paid your first payment in august. usually blackhorse will repo immediately for a nil paid acct being so far in arrears.
i think you paid 9 inst in total and the acct seems to have had 15 fall due to aug 08. which means it was 6 or 7 in arrears at repo time
all defaults will be sent to the last known address.
the car wasnt £15000 it was £10225 with interest.
blackhorse copy all letters and defaults on to microfilm and can get you copies. i disagree that the repo was unofficial as you must have been aware that the account was in arrears and you must be aware of the consequences if not paid. it says so in the terms and conditions both on the front with halves and thirds and the back within the small print which people dont seem to read. only accounts under a third paid are repo'd without a court order. when you moved to dubai did you tell BH?
was the corre address yours or your ex's? the agreement is valid especially as its computer printed with less chance of typo.
bite the bullit, learn from it, dont take finance for others
make them a reasonable cash offer to settle in full if able, start at £3k and see.
if not make an offer in line with income and pay it.

stumpjumper120

standupguy

Blackhorse dont charge to send out defaults

£1 /day fee seems reasonable to me and note on the statement that several fees were waived.