Santander Car Finance/Loan

Wood.Justin

Hi there,

My OH has the above finance through Drive Vauxhall and has requested to change her DD date from the middle of the month to the 1st of the month. She requested this via post and they have sent a letter back stating yes they can do this but with a £25 "service charge". :eek:

Does anyone have any experiences with this? What the beeping hell is a service charge?! Do we have grounds to contest this?

Your thoughts please MSE people...

Regards,
- Justin

nelly12

Wood.Justin wrote: »

Hi there,

My OH has the above finance through Drive Vauxhall and has requested to change her DD date from the middle of the month to the 1st of the month. She requested this via post and they have sent a letter back stating yes they can do this but with a £25 "service charge". :eek:

Does anyone have any experiences with this? What the beeping hell is a service charge?! Do we have grounds to contest this?

Your thoughts please MSE people...

Regards,
- Justin

It takes someones time to change this so hence quite a few finance houses charge to change the date. It is quite clearly written into the agreements that customers sign so they can have no arguments. No grounds to contest so wouldn't waste your time.

Wood.Justin

nelly12 wrote: »

It takes someones time to change this so hence quite a few finance houses charge to change the date. It is quite clearly written into the agreements that customers sign so they can have no arguments. No grounds to contest so wouldn't waste your time.

Thanks, to be fair £25 IS a little on the heavy side just for someone to simply arrange a computer system to change a direct debit date.

The paperwork doesn't contain any reference saying that this £25 will be charged in the event of changing payment dates. However it does state this is the charge if a payment is defaulted, which is not the case.

Thanks again for your help though Nelly.

nelly12

Wood.Justin wrote: »

Thanks, to be fair £25 IS a little on the heavy side just for someone to simply arrange a computer system to change a direct debit date.

The paperwork doesn't contain any reference saying that this £25 will be charged in the event of changing payment dates. However it does state this is the charge if a payment is defaulted, which is not the case.

Thanks again for your help though Nelly.

Thinking again your only recourse might be with the dealer as it is up to them to explain such things. Was the finance proposed after the 12th January this year? If so it is up to the dealer to fully explain the new SECCI (pre-contract information) and it is clearly stated on here as a charge. Good luck.

lawrie28

Ryan air charge £40 to print a boarding pass at the airport, so this is value compared to that!

It is a little steep, but not out of the ordinary.

Is there nothing that can be done to organise the finances better so this is not needed - open a second account, have money transferred to at after payday and then have DD taken from this account mid month to avoid the "Oops I spent the car money" which is what I am guessing is happening....?

Wood.Justin

nelly12 wrote: »

Thinking again your only recourse might be with the dealer as it is up to them to explain such things. Was the finance proposed after the 12th January this year? If so it is up to the dealer to fully explain the new SECCI (pre-contract information) and it is clearly stated on here as a charge. Good luck.

Taken out Feb 2010 so I guess the above wouldn't apply... Cheers!

lawrie28 wrote: »

Ryan air charge £40 to print a boarding pass at the airport, so this is value compared to that!

lawrie28 wrote: »

It is a little steep, but not out of the ordinary.

Is there nothing that can be done to organise the finances better so this is not needed - open a second account, have money transferred to at after payday and then have DD taken from this account mid month to avoid the "Oops I spent the car money" which is what I am guessing is happening....?

Ryanair are a nightmare for extra charges eh? As for the finances, it's just awkward with it coming out in the middle of the month when all other DD's are the 1st day of the month. The money being spent is never an issue, she's really good with her money (better than me!).

Thanks again for all your help, we're writing back to them and if we have no joy we'll just leave it at that. The car is due a service next month so when we're in the dealership we might just have a word quickly with the guys there.

CLAPTON

is she trying to bring the DD forward i.e. a DD for 15th march would now be paid on the 1st march

or is she trying to move it backwards i.e. a DD for 15th march would now be paid on the 1st April?

Wood.Justin

CLAPTON wrote: »

is she trying to bring the DD forward i.e. a DD for 15th march would now be paid on the 1st march

or is she trying to move it backwards i.e. a DD for 15th march would now be paid on the 1st April?

Well she's asked for it to be actioned as soon as possible, it's usually taken around the 16/17/18th but she wants the 1st. I suppose it depends on how they read the request. As it could mean either of the above... Lol.

I know that sometimes changing dates i.e. from 26th to the 5th is an impossible request for them to deal with as they class that as missing your usual payment. I know I had troubles with HSBC because of this...

nelly12

CLAPTON wrote: »

is she trying to bring the DD forward i.e. a DD for 15th march would now be paid on the 1st march

or is she trying to move it backwards i.e. a DD for 15th march would now be paid on the 1st April?

Irrelevant with Santander.