Hitachi Capital help!!

LolaSuki

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone may be able to give me some advice please.

Last year I bought a laptop from BestBuy for £387.00. I purchased it using a Credit Agreement through Hitachi Capital whereby the first year was payment free then resorting to 21% interest per annum (total credit amount £712.80) over 47 months.

The sales advisor told me that if I made monthly payments (online throught their BeSavvi website) and paid off the £387 in full by the end of the first year, the Credit Agreement would then be cancelled, effectively giving me the ability to pay off the original amount interest free over a year.

I religiously paid off £35 every month, and was under the impression that the agreement ended at the end of March. I have just logged on to make my final payment of £37 (as have paid them £350 over the year) only to find that my agreement ended on the 16th March and that if I now want to settle I have to pay £197 (!!) or pay monthly direct debit for the remaining term of the agreement (3 years!!). I spoke to them and they said there is nothing they can do.

Does anyone have any advice on whether there is anything I can do? Or do they have me cornered?

Am so upset as thought I was doing the right thing

KingElvis

Salesman being economical with the truth, leaving to the last min to pay, I would say you're stuffed there.

Good luck though.

Apples2

I'm surprised they are letting you off with only £197. The whole business relies on people wating until the very last minute to attempt to make payment.
Hindsight is wonderful but these type of deals should always be cleared a good calendar month before it is due to end.

Getting_By_2

Maybe you were given duff advice by the Best Buy employee.

I bought an iPad from Best Buy a year and a half ago with Hitachi Finance and I don't remember being told that I could pay monthly for the first year via the website to avoid any charges or interest.

All I was told was that I could pay the balance off in full (+ £25 admin charge) within the first year to avoid interest, which I did.

Do you have anything in writing from Hitachi Finance or the BB employee to corroborate this?

MonkeyMad

In which way was the advice duff? Pay it all off monthly over a year or in one lump before the first year is up? Seems straightforward enough. Your credit agreement should make it clear what your terms were.

CHR15

LolaSuki wrote: »

and was under the impression that the agreement ended at the end of March.

only to find that my agreement ended on the 16th March

There's the reason. The dates must have been on the agreement so you don't have much of a case. If anything, it seems decent of them to accept a reduced sum and not the full amount which is where most of these cases end up.
The Interest has been accruing each Month since the day you signed up. If you had cleared it before 12 months had elapsed, it would have been waived but now you have missed the date, that years worth of interest is added.

I can't see the difference between paying monthly to clear it by the end of the agreement, or making a single payment before the end.

Getting_By_2

I'm just looking over my paperwork from Hitachi and the back clearly states how to settle your agreement early. I seem to remember that I went onto the website before the end of the year and requested an early settlement quote and then paid it. Even though you were paying every month you still should have requested an early settlement quote.

I also got details in the post from Hitachi a week after getting the iPad clearly stating when the interest deferral period ends. I don't know who gave you the impression that your period ended at the end of March. If you had looked at your paperwork you would have been better informed.