Reposession of car on unsecured loan??

pauli

I'm on a DMP with the CCCS and all of my creditors have accepted their offer of payment with the exception of Santander Consumer Finance.

They have passed my account to a debt recovery company called Credit Style who phoned me at work yesterday to say I needed to give the car back as Santander "don't do" installments.

The loan agreement is a personal loan not secured against the car, it's not car finance just a "motor loan" and Santander have confirmed the loan is not guaranteed against the car whatsoever but that they could apply to the high court for the posession of the car as it is an asset - has anyone ever had this happen to them? And what do you think the chances are of that happening in reality?

Technically I suppose all my other creditors could also apply for posession of my car but none has...this has got me worried as I need my car to work in order to pay my debts, there is no public transport that could get me here so giving it back isn't an option as I wouldn't have the funds to even buy an old banger....

I'm wondering whether to "sell" it to my OH?

Tixy

I would say you were a way off needing to sell it.

First they would have to take you to court for a CCJ, if this happened and you receive court papers then you would ask the court if you could pay in installments (demonstrating all that you can afford). Then only if you didn't keep up with installments could they insturct baliffs who would try to levy and seize the car.

I would consider writing to credit style to insist that all further communication is in writing (presumably you don't want them calling you at work). Then just stick with your DMP.
If you ever receive court papers from anyone then don't send these to CCCS instead come on here for advice in completing them.

saltnvinegar

pauli wrote: »

They have passed my account to a debt recovery company called Credit Style who phoned me at work yesterday to say I needed to give the car back as Santander "don't do" installments.

The loan agreement is a personal loan not secured against the car, it's not car finance just a "motor loan" and Santander have confirmed the loan is not guaranteed against the car whatsoever but that they could apply to the high court for the posession of the car as it is an asset - has anyone ever had this happen to them? And what do you think the chances are of that happening in reality?

If the loan wasn't secured against the car then this is very very unlikely.

Stop talking to them on the phone and ask for all correspondance to be placed in writing. They will be very reluctant to place such claims in writing if they are legally incorrect!

Yes sell it to your OH if you wish, will make it more difficult for them, but I really do think that the DCA are not just chancing their arm but also are in a major breach of OFT guidelines.

You should also send a letter to the DCA to stop the phone calls at work. Send the letter below:

Dear Sirs,

Account No: XXXXXXXX

I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing. I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls and I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only. I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine. Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company may be recorded and used in evidence and I expect this harassment to cease immediately.

Yours faithfully

Sign digitally


Best

SnV

pauli

Thanks Tixy & Saltnvinegar for all your advice, I shall do what you recommend.

I forgot to say in my original post, the lady from Credit Style said to me that they would take legal action to which I said fine, i think she was abit taken aback and she said she had to warn me that they would apply for an attachment of earnings and tell my employer how much i owed and get it taken straight from my wages! I felt physically sick when she said that and was nearly in tears by the time i came off the phone - i told the cccs and they said they'd have to get a CCJ first and I would have to default on that before they could even consider the attachment of earnings - I know debt collectors aren't going to be all nicey nicey or else no-one would ever pay up but i don't know how they get away with telling lies to intimidate you.

It was after I rang the CCCS that I rang Santander directly, on the advice of the CCCS just to triple check it was a completely unsecured loan and it was Santander who said about applying for posession through the high court

I do feel more at ease though now knowing it's not as simple as them turning up with a tow truck one evening and taking it away.

And yes I'll send them that letter to stop the calls, i really don't want them harrassing me at work any more.

Thanks again :wave:

ilovebanksMCMLXXXI

Do a HPi on the car; if it shows finance outstanding with Santander they 'may' be able to claw the car back but as 'saltnvinegar' says; that is very unlikely if it's not Hire Purchase.

Best of luck

pauli

ilovebanksMCMLXXXI wrote: »

Do a HPi on the car; if it shows finance outstanding with Santander they 'may' be able to claw the car back but as 'saltnvinegar' says; that is very unlikely if it's not Hire Purchase.

Best of luck

Is that the one you can pay £20 for that tells you if it's a write off and things? If so i'll wait til payday for that one! Good idea though, the guy at Santander did confirm it is an unsecured loan, hence the reason I think the lady at Credit Style was "recommending" I give the car back rather than saying they were reposessing it, which if it was secured I'm guessing they would do like a shot, it was the applying to the high court thing that got me, i didn't know creditors could do that for unsecured loans, if you had "assets" such as a car it got me thinking where does it end? could they apply for posession of your telly and stuff?!, just as well they don't know about the luxury super-yacht i've got squirreled away in the south of france (i wish) :rotfl:

Hax

I have a loan for my car through Santander Consumer Finance and could have sworn that it mentioned HP on it.

Regardless, I have declared Santander as the "owner" of the vehicle for insurance purposes, whilst I still have outstanding finance on it.

If the loan from them was for the purpose of buying the car and if the money was paid directly to the garage the car was bought from then I would have thought that technically, the car belongs to them.

Normally for a personal, unsecured loan, you receive the funds into your bank account to do with as you please.

pauli

Hax wrote: »

I have a loan for my car through Santander Consumer Finance and could have sworn that it mentioned HP on it.

Regardless, I have declared Santander as the "owner" of the vehicle for insurance purposes, whilst I still have outstanding finance on it.

If the loan from them was for the purpose of buying the car and if the money was paid directly to the garage the car was bought from then I would have thought that technically, the car belongs to them.

Normally for a personal, unsecured loan, you receive the funds into your bank account to do with as you please.

They might do HP too, but I have rung Santander on 3 separate occasions now and asked if the car was secured in any way to the loan and they have said no, and I have also asked is it HP or a personal loan and they have said personal motor loan - unsecured.

katu

Same here, the loan was done through the garage and therefore purposly for the car and so HP. I didn't think that this company did any other kind of loan.

ilovebanksMCMLXXXI

pauli wrote: »

Is that the one you can pay £20 for that tells you if it's a write off and things? If so i'll wait til payday for that one! Good idea though, the guy at Santander did confirm it is an unsecured loan, hence the reason I think the lady at Credit Style was "recommending" I give the car back rather than saying they were reposessing it, which if it was secured I'm guessing they would do like a shot, it was the applying to the high court thing that got me, i didn't know creditors could do that for unsecured loans, if you had "assets" such as a car it got me thinking where does it end? could they apply for posession of your telly and stuff?!, just as well they don't know about the luxury super-yacht i've got squirreled away in the south of france (i wish) :rotfl:

That's the one. Although if you look on Google for 'mobile hpi' you'll find you can do it via text for about £3-£3.50.

The word 'court' often works in cases like this but if you confirm your position and your rights I wouldn't be too concerned at this stage.

If indeed the car was funded with an unsecured loan then it is what it is.......... unsecured.

A HPi would answer that 100%

All the best

Hax

The Santander Consumer Finance website seems to imply that is specialises in only car finance. One of the questions there under the "customer" section is:

What do I do if my car is written off or stolen?
Please advise us and your motor insurance company of the incident as soon as possible. We will then be able to provide you or you motor insurance company with a settlement figure so that your agreement can be settled with ourselves

This seems to imply that the loan is tied to the vehicle. It also implies (to me) that they "own" the car.

My agreement is a "Conditional sale agreement" and explicitly mentions the car as the "goods" that the finance is supplied for. In addition to this, it has a paragraph that states:

OWNERSHIP OF THE GOODS
2.1 You will become the owner of the goods if you comply with the terms of this agreement and when you have paid the total amount payable under this agreement. Until then the goods will belong to us even though you have possession