Ford Finance - Have we been treated unfairly?

nickdj

What I mean is that we cannot afford the fee's and interest they are charging and have several creditors we are not able to pay the asking amount.

The car cost £8000 and, according to the person on the phone, there's £7000 left. We plan to sell the car for about £4000 and pay back the remaining loan.

We cannot afford £200 per month so will make a token gesture of £10 per month until our finances are more stable.

[Deleted User]

I can't understand how getting a new car, reduces your debt.

At all.

lol.

nickdj

My wife (not the sharpest tool in the shed) thought that by trading in her Ford Focus for a Fiesta would lower her monthly repayments. What she wasn't advised was that it was actually more expensive.

We want rid of the car since we don't want to continue paying for the load. It works out that after 4 years of repayments we will have spent over £10000 and the car will probably be worth £2000.

Anyway, we want rid of it and sell it. We want to then pay off whatever is left and just get a cheap banger. We hope that by having less outstanding we can save money and get rid of the debt quicker.

Currently we are struggling to meet all our creditors payments so will be contacting all of them advising that we need a temporary 'token repayments' until we both have jobs and an income that covers our household bills.

Had it been on Hire Purchase as first thought we could have handed it back and then just owed the remaining balance.

[Deleted User]

The purchase agreement and finance document she signed would of clearly said 'the score' if you had bothered to read it.

Running_On_Empty

Cars will always depreciate in value, especially brand new cars and especially in the first year. The value goes down very steeply.
Think this is the essential bit your wife did not understand when she thought that buying the Fiesta would be cheaper than continuing to pay for the Focus.

arby

you're complaining you paid loads of money and have nothing to show for it. this isn't true. you had a completely paid-for Ka. Which you immediately sold and bought a much more expensive car. This process then began again, but this time it was interrupted and again the debt was increased. Sure, Ford should have made it clearer that the reduction in monthly outgoings was only temporary, but you seem quite good with your numbers so surely you could have worked this out as well.

I do agree with your plan of trying to reduce the debt as much and as quickly as you can. If it's possible to sell the car and pay off a chunk of the remaining loan then I'd strongly consider working towards that. Owning a car is so much easier when you actually own it. They cost enough as it is without the extra hassle on top.

HalfPint

[quote=[Deleted User];37180750]The purchase agreement and finance document she signed would of clearly said 'the score' if you had bothered to read it.[/QUOTE]

Whilst this is a valid point, it doesn't really help the op.

Nick, what you need to do is contact the cccs, a free service which will help both you and your wife sort all this out. DO NOT go to anyone who charges for dmp's, creditors don't like it and it doesn't help you reduce the debt i.e only 65% of your disposable income is going towards your debts as opposed to 100%. The cccs will help you find the best solution with the car and all your other creditors, and setting up a dmp (debt management plan)

There is lots of help and information on the debt free wanabee board too, get a soa posted up on there too and they'll help you find some spare cash

I'm sorry I cant advise personally on the car but having been in debt..and still in debt, I know where you're at.

Best of luck to you and your wife.

HP x

themull1

why did she change cars when she had nearly ended the finance? if she had ended the finance she wouldn't have had to pay any more for her car, which would have been cheaper than refinancing for a dearer car - or have i got that totally wrong?

marmitedog

themull1 wrote: »

why did she change cars when she had nearly ended the finance? if she had ended the finance she wouldn't have had to pay any more for her car, which would have been cheaper than refinancing for a dearer car - or have i got that totally wrong?

Nope. She could have been running around in an 04 plate Street Ka with £0 per month payments. I think she wanted a new Focus but couldn't afford it, hence the finance.

mc33033

ilovebanksMCMLXXXI wrote: »

The Credit Consumer Act will enable you as a consumer to throw the car back to the finance house (Ford Finance) but that will affect your credit rating because you are basically breaking your agreement.

This is wrong, it is written into the agreement if it is indeed HP, it is statute legislation, you are not breaking any part of your agreement.