Car Finance Bill of Sale Query

splodge1983

Good Afternoon. My partner and I have Car finance with a company called CLS Finance. We have been paying this religously since last year when we took this out, however, I made a mistake on our internet banking which resulted in missing 2 payments. Since then this company have been making our lives a nightmare.

I wrote to the company and advised of the first missed payment and explained that I would make a double payment the following month. For various reasons (due to my complete banking inneptitude) this did not happen and we only made a single payment (although I was not aware of this as, according to our internet banking it had gone). The following months payment was not made (although, again, I was not aware of this as, according to our internet banking statement it had gone without any trouble).

My partner then received a phone call from the company. We live in a river valley and do not get great signal and, as such, the call dropped from my partners phone straight away. 10 minutes later we then received a text message from my mother in law advising that the finance company had been ont he phone to her, threatening her and advising that our behaviour in relation to the matter was completely unacceptable and he would be coming to visit us. My mother in law was understandably shaken by this. 2 minutes after this, my partner then received a text message advising that the company had authorised someone to visit our home and workplace. Little did I know, but in these 12 minuted, my mobile phone had also has 4 missed calls and the text messages threatening to visit my home and place of work.

My partner then contacted the company and advised that according to our banking system we were up to date and could they double check and get back to us (also complaining about the way in which my Mother in Law had been spoken to). The person we spoke to advised that he would look into it and call us back.

We then got a call just before close of business on friday advising that they could not locate the payment. I spoke to the man and said I would visit the bank first thing on Monday morning and be in contact as soon as their office opened on Monday morning. This I dutifully did, and, having discovered the error, put together a written payment proposal to pay off the arrears and immediately faxed it through to them 5 minutes after their office opened.

I then received a call from another of their representatives advising that this payment plan was fine, but they would need the minimum of a full months payment by the end of this month. I arranged to borrow the money off my sister and made an extra payment so that, when my additional money came out on Monday they would have had a full months payment.

Three days later (and 5 days BEFORE) the end of the month I received 2 text messages from CLS finance. The first, advising that the full payment was due today and the second (obviously meant for someone's girlfriend) asking if we were both going to be ready for 6.30 baby!!! My partner immediately rung them again and was advised that they had told me the payment plan was completely unacceptable and they never agreed to any such thing!! They eventually agreed to wait until Tuesday as originally agreed with me.

Obviously, I now want to complain to and about this company but do not know much about bills of sale etc and who would regulate them. Our agreement (dated June 2011) was with CLS Finance Ltd, however, I have searched the financial services authority register and they stopped being registered in March 2011. On our agreement is also mentioned a credit intermediary of CR Services Ltd (again, on searching the FSA register they ceased to be registered in Nov 2011). In addition to this, I have the Bill of Sale attached to my agreement but there is no number on it so I cannot take this further with the courts. They keep threatening to take our car and I do not know under what financial act I am fighting this through.

I am sorry for the incredibly long winded post but I am desperate for some guidance before I take this any further.

Many thanks

BugsyBrowne

But you were the one who messed up in the first place and on your agreement you signed that you would make all payments on time which you failed to do.

eschaton

splodge1983 wrote: »

Good Afternoon. My partner and I have Car finance with a company called CLS Finance. We have been paying this religously since last year when we took this out, however, I made a mistake on our internet banking which resulted in missing 2 payments. Since then this company have been making our lives a nightmare.

I wrote to the company and advised of the first missed payment and explained that I would make a double payment the following month. For various reasons (due to my complete banking inneptitude) this did not happen and we only made a single payment (although I was not aware of this as, according to our internet banking it had gone). The following months payment was not made (although, again, I was not aware of this as, according to our internet banking statement it had gone without any trouble).

My partner then received a phone call from the company. We live in a river valley and do not get great signal and, as such, the call dropped from my partners phone straight away. 10 minutes later we then received a text message from my mother in law advising that the finance company had been ont he phone to her, threatening her and advising that our behaviour in relation to the matter was completely unacceptable and he would be coming to visit us. My mother in law was understandably shaken by this. 2 minutes after this, my partner then received a text message advising that the company had authorised someone to visit our home and workplace. Little did I know, but in these 12 minuted, my mobile phone had also has 4 missed calls and the text messages threatening to visit my home and place of work.

My partner then contacted the company and advised that according to our banking system we were up to date and could they double check and get back to us (also complaining about the way in which my Mother in Law had been spoken to). The person we spoke to advised that he would look into it and call us back.

We then got a call just before close of business on friday advising that they could not locate the payment. I spoke to the man and said I would visit the bank first thing on Monday morning and be in contact as soon as their office opened on Monday morning. This I dutifully did, and, having discovered the error, put together a written payment proposal to pay off the arrears and immediately faxed it through to them 5 minutes after their office opened.

I then received a call from another of their representatives advising that this payment plan was fine, but they would need the minimum of a full months payment by the end of this month. I arranged to borrow the money off my sister and made an extra payment so that, when my additional money came out on Monday they would have had a full months payment.

Three days later (and 5 days BEFORE) the end of the month I received 2 text messages from CLS finance. The first, advising that the full payment was due today and the second (obviously meant for someone's girlfriend) asking if we were both going to be ready for 6.30 baby!!! My partner immediately rung them again and was advised that they had told me the payment plan was completely unacceptable and they never agreed to any such thing!! They eventually agreed to wait until Tuesday as originally agreed with me.

Obviously, I now want to complain to and about this company but do not know much about bills of sale etc and who would regulate them. Our agreement (dated June 2011) was with CLS Finance Ltd, however, I have searched the financial services authority register and they stopped being registered in March 2011. On our agreement is also mentioned a credit intermediary of CR Services Ltd (again, on searching the FSA register they ceased to be registered in Nov 2011). In addition to this, I have the Bill of Sale attached to my agreement but there is no number on it so I cannot take this further with the courts. They keep threatening to take our car and I do not know under what financial act I am fighting this through.

I am sorry for the incredibly long winded post but I am desperate for some guidance before I take this any further.

Many thanks

It really is a novel.

What did you do that meant the payments were not made.

maginot

Bill of sale is your receipt showing what you have bought and for how much. This has nothing to do with your credit agreement.

If you feel you have been unfairly treated by the finance company, send a formal complaint to the company. If they still do not resolve your complaint to your satisfaction you can then take your case to the ombudsman.

However I'm not sure what your complaint is, you failed to meet to your terms of your contract, you then continued to mess them about for another month.
If this was just a simple banking mistake would you not still have the money in your account and be able to make the payment straight away?
I presume you gave your mother in law details to the finance company as a guarantor, otherwise how would they have her details?

I would recommend you contact them, apologise for YOUR mistakes, make your payments up to date and set up a direct debit with them to prevent this mistake happening again.

splodge1983

My mother in law was not a guarantor, we had to give details of three people in case we became untraceable (which we obviously were not). My problem is that I do not know under what rules they are trying to repossess the car, if it is under the bill of sale, should they not have given me a stamped copy of the bill of sale after it had been registered with the courts, and, if it is under the credit agreement, then should they not have been registered with the FSA at the time of taking out the agreement, which according the the FSA register they were not.

I understand that it is my mistake, thank you for pointing that out, I never have disputed this with them and I have made every effort to repay the 2 payments as quickly as possible, one of which has already been repaid. My issue is, firstly, that they can phone us (and our family members) up to 6 times in 12 minutes and send us 2 text messages in this time. That they agree a repayment plan over the phone then 72 hours later deny that they did this and start demanding more money (when they had alreday given us an extra 8 days to make the payment) and, finally, that they are incredibly rude and threatening when they do contact us.

There is no need for any company to behave like this, we are not being uncooperative in any way, we are trying everything to get this amount cleared asap and the amount of harrasment is unbelievable, we are now talking about an amount of less than £200 which has been outstanding for 16 days.

jonesMUFCforever

If you had just missed making payments then the money would be sitting in your bank account ready for them to take it.
The fact that it is not suggests to me that you have not given us the whole story here.
You will continue to get phonecalls etc until such time you are up to date with repayments.
That is the long and short of it - plus it will mess up your credit files as you are probably marked as a minimum of late payments if not missed ones.

Doesn't matter what the outstanding amount is - you entered into a contract and you have broken your side of it.

maginot

Why is the £200 still outstanding, I don't understand this if it was just a mistake paying.
Also you obviously were untraceable as you didn't answer your mobile and when they did get through you just [STRIKE]Hung up[/STRIKE] lost signal.

I don't understand what you want, the loan is secured against the vehicle, so yes they would be able to take the car if you are not meeting payments (although may depend on how much has been paid). Car finance firms are more likely to go to repossession than other lenders as a car depreciates every month you have it, so want to get back as much money as they can.

If they don't have a licence from the FSA then it is likely you are dealing with a different company who will have the debt and be licenced, it doesn't mean you don't owe the money!