am I liable for payment the finance company forgot to take?

glamlovinkitty

I had an interest free finance agreement for furniture, and the contract clearly stated the last payment would be on 1 July. I waited til three weeks after this, checked the payment had been taken, and then cancelled the direct debit (as I'd read on here that this company had kept taking payments from people even after their loan had been cleared).

I then got a letter saying youve cancelled your DD, give us the money and you're getting a charge on top of it.

I contacted them by phone and they said, oh, because your furniture was delayed, we didnt take the first payment til a month later. Firstly, my furniture wasnt delayed so there was no need to do this, and secondly they never told me. I have about 40 DDs and obviously dont check every month that theyve all been taken. Id no reason to think it wouldnt.

I explained to them this would have been ok if theyd advised me in advance (and I have been in touch with them since taking out the agreement), but they didnt. Therefore in good faith I cancelled the DD after the date they told me in writing would be the last payment date. They told me Id have to write to them and complain if I wasnt happy. So I did.

I know there's no way I can be liable for the additional charge (surely!), but do you think Im liable for this last payment? After all, it was their mistake, certainly not mine, and as far as I knew, Id paid it. My online statements dont even go far enough back that I can check whether they didnt take the first payment on time. for all I know, they took it and are chancing it!

To add insult to injury Ive just had a second letter from them slapping on another charge because I didnt pay the money - but no mention whatsoever of the letter of complaint Ive written to them in response to the first letter! Ive written back to them saying, respond to my complaint before sending me any more demands.

What do you guys think? I have a spotless credit history and dont want this to muck that up, but I feel they are the ones who have breached the contract, not me.

Enfieldian

Short answer,

Yes you are liable for the final payment however you should reasonably expect them to cancel the late payment charge.

The only person breaching a contract is you, if you don't pay the full amount owed.

glamlovinkitty

Really, even though they changed the terms of the contract (ie the effective dates) without advising me?

woody01

Of course you are liable.
You didn't pay the full balance, and you knew full well they were late applying for funds.

Enfieldian

Yes.

Even if you feel that they have changed the "terms" that does not mean that you can decide to change the amount owed.

The terms were for a set number of payments, which at this point you have failed to make.

You can ask them for a statement of account to show the number of payments that you have made as proof if you think you have already settled the account.

glamlovinkitty

woody01 wrote: »

Of course you are liable.
You didn't pay the full balance, and you knew full well they were late applying for funds.

No, I didn't. I'd no reason to believe they didn't take the first payment when agreed, and I've been in touch with them in the meantime to change address and bank details and they didn't advise me then, either. My genuine understanding was that the thing ended on 1 July and the account was cleared.

Thanks for the replies - I'll agree to pay the final instalment (though my complaint about the way they've handled this stands) but I certainly won't be paying their late charges.

KiKi

Hi glk

Yes, you are liable - but! I would phone your bank and ask for a copy of all payments between yourself and this company first, to ensure that they are not chancing it, if you're concerned about it.

Absolutely refuse to pay the additional charges; if they sent you a letter telling you that the July payment was the final one, you had reason to cancel the DD. But you will have to pay the amount still owing.

Cheers
KiKi

glamlovinkitty

Update - I've now paid them the 'missing' instalment - but they are now chasing me for the fee, which I don't think is fair given that I had no reason to think the final payment hadnt been made by the agreed date. I'm not paying it.

sharpy2010

Well done on paying the final payment, it was owed to them whether or not their collection methods and rudeness are fair or not.

If it was me, I would also not be paying the charge, and I would write to the company again disputing this, and the reasons why. If they don't listen, write to the ombudsman.

Cheers.