Ruthbridge and car finance agreement from 2004

whitepele

I purchased a car on finance i believe around 2004. I lost my job and couldnt meet the payments so agreed with the finance company they could take the car back and i wouldnt have to make any more payments. Now i have started to receive letters from this company, after reading information on this site i wrote to them asking for a copy of the agreement. They have sent me a copy of a credit agreement dated 2004 and a payment schedule which im not sure they havent just made themselves as one of the payments says it was made by cheque and i have never had a cheque book. the agreement says that if a certain figure is paid off around £2500 then the car can be returned. there schedule states i have paid around £5000. i dont really know what i should do can someone please help...

Tixy

When was the last payment made towards the loan?

The cheque could be in relation to the car being sold at auction and the car company paying off the proceeds to the finance company.
Do you know how much the car was sold for at auction and how much of this was applied to the loan? if not you need to find this out.

How much do ruthbridge say is owing now in total?

the agreement says that if a certain figure is paid off around £2500 then the car can be returned
how much had you paid in total before the car was returned? remember it will need to be £2500 off the debt and you will have also been paying interest. Did you voluntarily return the car before you started to miss payments?

whitepele

according to there schedule the last payment was 4 years ago, the cheque payment was apparently made long before i struggled with the payments and no i have no idea what happened to the car i was never informed there is no mention of a figure that the car was sold for on the schedule. they say i owe them just over £3500. and i had paid just over £5000 again according to the schedule. i did agree to them taking it i spoke to them on the phone as i had lost my job and couldnt meet the payments so they said that if they come and took it i wouldnt be liable for any more payments.

RAS

Was this hire purchase rather than a loan?

whitepele

if im honest im not too sure although i do know that after 4 years you could give the car back in exchange for another isnt that a hire purchase? although im sure the agreement they sent me said loan agreement at the top.

RAS

Hi

I think you need to talk personally to one of the debt charities listed here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help with the paperwork in front of you.

That should help you work out what your legal situation might be.

whitepele

ok thank you who would you suggest i talked to?

phil80

I have come across something along these lines before but dont hold me to it.

Did you take out PPI insurance when you purchased the vehicle as some car. The figure that you are being asked for may be the outstanding PPI insurance payments for the term of your agreement.

fermi

whitepele wrote: »

ok thank you who would you suggest i talked to?

National Debtline to start with. Tel freephone on 0808 808 4000.

They are easiest one to use when you want immediate advice.

phil80

I have found this on another post it sounds like the same thing as you and as i thought yours could also be relating to the PPI have a read

Hi!

In 2006 I took HP for a car with Approved Car Finance (they work for WF). On the day the rep I was talking to said clearly (I have witness) that if I want I will be able to return a car after 2year period (original agreement was 4years) and I will not have to pay any money after that. For 2 years I paid very high instalments but I was happy about it at the time. In around february 2008 I've sent termination request to WF as well as PPI repayment request to ACF. If I remember correctly I've received negative answer from ACF. I wasn't worried about it to much at the time as I wanted to end a agreement anyway and I was absolutely sure that I won't have to pay any more. It took several phone conversations and number of letters send out to finally made WF come in and collect a car in SEPTEMBER!. I was a convinced that this is the end. To my surprise WF started to chase me for over £3000 of PPI (which as they said have to be paid for whole 4 years despite what rep said on the day of which agreement was sign). In this sum they included charges of around £1000 for missing car tax, despite me trying to make them to collect the car for over a 6 months. When they informed me about charges I've contacted R James Hutcheon Solicitors and they was dealing wit he case from January 2009. Early on this year they asked Financial Ombudsman to have look but unfortunately I've been just informed that because of my PPI repayment request in 2008 they will not be able to investigate. My solicitors have told me that I can go to court but because low amount they will not be able to help me.

I'm totally terrified. As you probably already know I'm foreign and I don't know what to do next. If I have £3000 I would pay them just to forget about it not to mention spoiled credit rating. Unfortunately I dont have that kind of money. I feel that I was cheated big time by WF ACF and even my solicitors dont seem to great in helping me.

This was Hire Purchase Agreement, and it is possible to return a goods after period of time, in this case 2 years. I do have some paperworks for that. It wasn't repossession. At the time (when I send cancellation request) payments was up to date. I have no idea why they took so long to collect the car but I can only assume they knew time is playing to my disadvantage. At this moment whole amount due is PPI plus some unjustified collection charges. As far as I understand my solicitor won't put the case forward as final value is less than £5000. From yesterday I have contacted number of other solicitors and I have some responses. The only problem is that I don't want to spend another 18 months waiting only to be told they will not help me. Don't know which solicitor to chose. Or perhaps I should take different approach? I'm totally confused. Unfortunately, as I was told, because of my previous PPI repayment request in 2008, I have only 6 months to refer to Financial Ombudsman. Back in 2008 I didn't pursue getting PPI back as I was absolutely sure that after termination I will not have to pay anything.

bunty_79

My daughter and I had a car through our Limited Company in 2003 and after a year we were struggling. We spoke to the finance company in 2004 who agreed to take it back and said there MAY be a small fee of £500 due to them having to sell it at one of their designated car sales sites which they get best prices for them and it might take a few weeks so the price may need to be a bit cheaper.
Imagine our horror when three months later a letter from the finance company came through saying we owed £8,000!
I phoned up to query it and they said it was a mistake and it was £1,700 due to length of time it took to sell it.
I told them it was bought through the business but they said we had signed separately so it was our debt.
Nothing was heard for two years and then every year or so a letter comes through, mispelling the first name, from various DCA asking for the £8,000 and the £1,700 and then in the last month a card from Ruthbridge for the Occupier asking for us to contact customer services a lady called Julie.
I looked them up on the web and saw what an awful time people had with them and then this week, a letter saying they were going to try and make us bankrupt!
I have lost so much sleep over this and have serious health issues and spoke to CAB who advised us to phone but not admit anything, just ask for paperwork which I am awaiting. It would be 6 years in October that the car went back and if it was through the business it should have been written off but I get the feeling the paperwork will say its down to us even though the spelling of my name is incorrect.
Can anyone give advice as its so stressful.