Debt Collection Help

cescesc

Hi Guys, you are always the ones to talk to for help, so here I am again :beer:

I have a few questions,

1st one. I had aquired car insurance on the 13th of November, I then bought a new car on the 24th November. At which point i called my current insurance about changing my insurance from the first car to the new one. The quote they gave me was far more than the one i could get if i moved. So I cancelled the account.

I asked them to end the account at the end of the month as that is what i had paid up to.

To me this is me cancelling within the 14 days "cooling off" period as the 24th is 11 days.

Swinton are now chasing me for a £50 cancellation fee.

Can they do this?

2nd One.

This has now been passed on to a credit agency and they are chasing me up on behalf of swinton,, despite my letters to swinton contesting the £50 charge.

Now Regal Credit consultants are ringing me at home saying I owe them £94.. £44 more than what I apparently owed Swinton.

In the last phone call i had with them i disputed this £94 because it was not an ammount i was familiar with.

The caller said it was a charge for "Credit on Risk" and an admin charge added by Regal because I havent paid the ammount owed.

When I put it bluntly that I wouldnt pay them anything until the £94 was broken down for me the caller said that I can expect a field agent round to my house to recover the costs in goods.

I work 8 to 6 every day of the week, leaving just my partner at home. I dont want her having to deal with any debt collectors so i am a little concerned now.

Is there any advice you can give me on this?

Thank you in advance

Cescesc

bargainbetty

Check the terms of your policy with Swinton. If it saves you have a cancellation fee of £50, then yes, they can do it. Check the cooling off period is 14 days too, and see what you are liable for. You did have 11 days insurance from them, they are entitled to something.

If you are liable, then you should pay the £50 immediately. Check the terms of the Swinton contract too for any collection fees that can be added, and refuse to pay anything that is not specifically listed.

cescesc

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I checked the paper work that i signed when it was sent to me and on the matter of cancellation it states:-

"IF YOU CANCEL THIS AGREEMENT

18. If you cancel this agreement in accordance with your statutory rights before any insurance cover has come into force in respect of any Policy no further payment need be made by you, the Policy will not be issued and a rebate will be made by us to you of all sums then paid under this agreement by you. If you cancel this agreement in accordance with you statutory rights whilst any Policy is in force you must within 7 days pay the balance of the Policy premium or notify us of the cancellation of the Policy, failing which you irrevocably authorise us as your agent to cancel the Policy on your behalf. In the event of any cancellation of the Policy, howsoever effected, you will be liable for charges made by the insurer for the period when you have had the benefit of insurance cover and you must return the Policy document for the Policy to us. Holders of a Motor Insurance Policy must also return the relevant current Certificate of Motor Insurance to us. Failure to do so within 7 days of cancellation of the insurance Policy is an offence under section 147 of the Road Traffic Act 1988"

I have a fairly good understanding of what this means, but i dont see where a £50 charge for "cancellation" as thats what they say the charge is for.

I understand i have to pay for the insurance i used in the 11 days, that is why i asked for my policy to end at then end of the month as i had already paid for that insurance.

Regards

Cescesc

Tixy

The cooling off period is not relevant I think.

You asked for the policy to be cancelled at the end of the month then that is 17days so that is not within the cooling off period. If you had chosen to have it cancelled immediately when you called you would have been within the terms of the cooling off period and only needed to pay for 11days insurance (so presumably would have recevied a small refund if you had paid for 17 days of the policy so far - how come you had paid an amount that was only equivalent to 17/365 of the policy?).

I would have thought the £50 cancellation fee was mentioned elsewhere in the document.

Edit - on my car insurance in the T&C there is the cancellation policy (pretty much the same wording as yours above) but in addition to that on the actual schedule of insurance there is a section headed 'charges that apply' which is on the schedule of insurance, which mentions the cancellation fee and fees for changes to the policy etc. Is there anything similar on your paperwork?

chalkie99

From the Swinton website:

What you will be charged if you cancel your insurance
1) Within the 'cooling off' period
If you cancel your insurance, before the end of the 'cooling off' period, you will be charged by the insurer for the service they have provided up to the point of cancellation. We will also make a cancellation charge of £50. Our New Policy Inception or Policy Renewal service charge and any credit card handling charge made for arranging your insurance will not be refunded.

You had 11 days cover for free by the looks of it if they have only charged the cancellation fee.

My advice would be to pay up quickly before it escalates further.

cescesc

Tixy wrote: »

how come you had paid an amount that was only equivalent to 17/365 of the policy?).

Long story short, My original car (which had the insurance) broke beyond repair, so i a new car, but i couldnt take delivery of this vehicle right away. So i bought a banger off ebay for the interim because i needed a car for work. I called Swinton and asked them to swap my insurance from the Original car to the interim car.

After a £25 charge and a signing on for another 12 months the insurance was changed to the ebay car. When i took delivery of my new car, I called again and asked them to transfer the insurance to the new car. Again there was a charge of £25 and the quote they gave me was £150+ more than i found from another broker. So I cancelled the Insurance.

As for the schedule of insurance i will dig it out now and let you know.

Cheers

Cescec

cescesc

chalkie99 wrote: »

From the Swinton website:



You had 11 days cover for free by the looks of it if they have only charged the cancellation fee.

My advice would be to pay up quickly before it escalates further.

I had paid for the full 30 days of november as when i swapped insurance over i was charge £25 admin fee and £36 first months payment.

So I would take that as not 11 days free.

Sorry i dont mean to come across as argumentative :A, just putting all the information down

Silly question, are they allowed to get you to sign an agreement that states all the terms and conditions of the insurance, with no reference to the website, and then charge you something in accordance with what is stated on the website?

Cescesc

chalkie99

cescesc wrote: »

I had paid for the full 30 days of november as when i swapped insurance over i was charge £25 admin fee and £36 first months payment.

So I would take that as not 11 days free.

That's fair enough but I don't believe you mentioned any of that in your original post - hence my comments!

re. your second point, I would be pretty sure you have that wording somewhere in the documents you have agreed to.

Cannot see any way in which Swinton are at fault here. Admin charges are standard practice and it was your choice to make those changes.

Sorry, but to repeat what I said before, pay up now before you dig yourself into a deeper hole.

cescesc

I must be a glutton for punishement with this

I am going to hit my insurance documents with a fine tooth comb and see if there is any mention of this.

When i took out the policy the whole procedure was conducted over the telephone. Not face to face or on the internet.

I still have all the paperwork with regards this policy, if there is no mention (in the paperwork) of extra T&C's on the website, and i wasnt told on the phone that i am agreeing to them, Is it reasonable to argue that i wasnt aware of this "cancellation charge".

Regards

Cescesc

DVardysShadow

cescesc wrote: »

... After a £25 charge and a signing on for another 12 months the insurance was changed to the ebay car. When i took delivery of my new car, I called again and asked them to transfer the insurance to the new car. Again there was a charge of £25 and the quote they gave me was £150+ more than i found from another broker. So I cancelled the Insurance.

You are still in pocket out of this. Quit while you are ahead.

chalkie99

I cannot imagine any company reading out their entire terms and conditions over the telephone and, if they did, I imagine most customers eyes and ears would glaze over after the first few lines.

You will have agreed to be bound by their terms and conditions and it is up to you to ask to see them, if required, before you proceed. Just about every company is going to charge for cancellation in these circumstances so they haven't done anything untoward.

My advice stands. You could hang on for someone to take your side with this and latch on to that but I don't believe it will alter the result.