V12 Finance & Direct Debit issue

iscrimger

I have a V12 Finance (Originally Clode Retail) credit agreement, I've had it for sometime. It's been an interesting company to deal with.

I had a direct debit payment plan of £10.81 until the balance was paid off. The balance was due to be paid off this year...

Since the start of this year they have been requesting sporadic payments of various amounts from £3 to £55 and even one of over £100!!!!

They've made no attempt to tell me the monthly debit is changing, can they do this???

At present the outstanding balance on the account is late payment fee's. I could get into another debate about those and how some of them are down to V12 failing to take payment after changing DD details. Also the varying debit amounts has resulted in 2 failed payments and additional charges.

Edit: At the start of the year I queried the first varying payment and was told it was for a missed payment + charges. As a good will gesture they'd settle the entire account for £120, I agreed and said they could request it via DD. I was told they couldn't do this. I don't seem to have followed up on this and the varying payments have continued.

[Deleted User]

Can't quite follow what has happened here. But it looks as if if the debt is almost paid off (you say it will be gone by the end of the year).

I'd suggest you get a final settlement figure, make a payment for that amount and cancel your DD (telling them you are doing so, so that they do not make any further attempts).

Or just let them take the final payment this month, since there's only a couple of weeks to go.

iscrimger

I think it was due to end in January.

It's not so much the balance but the varying direct debit amounts that concern me as they are not telling me what the amount will be. I asked over the phone and was told £10.81 a month.

Tixy

If you have missed payments then it would be usual for the DD amount to vary. The problem with talking to them by phone is you do not have a record of what has been said to you, so cannot easily dispute it if something different happens.

I would write to them and ask them for a full list of all transactions on the account from the date it was opened, and also details of the current balance and the date and amount of future collections they will make.

That way when they write back you will know exactly what they will take when, and can check through the statements to see if you will have paid the full amount by the time they have taken all the DDs.

iscrimger

I accept that if I missed a payment (for example) this month that next month I'd pay the normal payment + charges. But since March there is no set amount.

Here is a list of the activity this year.

31/12/11 - 10.81
31/01/12 - 10.81 (Declined)
17/02/12 - 10.81 (Missed payment collecton)
01/03/12 - 55.81 (Requested payment - Declined)
02/04/12 - 40.81 (Bank charged £5 Unplanned overdraft)
01/05/12 - 3.38
01/06/12 - 12.00
02/07/12 - 12.00
01/08/12 - 10.81
01/09/12 - 10.81
01/10/12 - 3.38
01/11/12 - 48.00
10/12/12 - No payment has been requested this month.

On the 2nd March I received a letter telling me I was to be charged £55.81. This letter arrived a week after the payment was requested. The transaction is recorded with my bank on the 1st March.

I have various emails and a letter from them around March, none state a change in payments.

Janie4Now

Have you called them to ask? Did you call them on the month's you were undercharged?

Looking at this, you should have paid £129 over the 12 months, in fact you paid £162 but there were two missed payments and two significant underpayments in there. So it would appear you've been charged £33 over the agreement which is probably accounted for by non-payment charges......

Should they have charged you varying amounts without advising you? Probably not, but neither have you kept to your side of the bargain (you didn't pay anything in January or March). It may also be the case that it might state in their T&Cs somewhere that should the outstanding balance fall below £50 then they will collect the full amount in the next direct debit.....so the account could now actually be clear.

I'm not sure where you are planning to go with this, to be honest.

iscrimger

I contacted them in March about the £55 payment, I remember calling them to pay that and used a different card. Those transactions listed are from my bank statement. (When I call them I have no record of what's said so I've e-mailed or they've mailed)

This is a direct debit so I cannot control the underpayments.

When I contacted them in March I was told the £55 payment counted towards 2 monthly payments + charges.

I've no idea where I'm going with it, I'm merely curious as I'm sure under the Direct Debit scheme they are supposed to notify you first. As with the £55 debit that incurred a direct debit return fee and late payment charge from them & my bank. But they issued the letter on the 2nd and requested the payment on the 1st. Had the letter arrived prior to the 1st there would be no issue.

I changed my details with them a few years back, they didn't activate the new direct debit (I didn't check if the payments were leaving) and I was charged for failing to pay. The charging just seems a tad unfair.

Janie4Now

I still don't know what you want from this.

Refund of charges? Compensation? An apology for what you believe they have done wrong?

I can't honestly see that you have any particular case though I guess you could complain to them they haven't been advising you of the amount to be deducted each month.

I am not saying that V12 are in the right/wrong, but you are arguing about £30 and YOU started the problem in the first place by not sticking to the agreed payment plan.

iscrimger

Thank you for the slightly less than helpful response.

I'm not talking about just '£30' or I clearly wouldn't be posting.

Janie4Now

I'm sorry if you don't find my reply helpful. I must have missed the point.

So what exactly is it all about then? what do you want to have happen?!?

Apples2

When you start missing payments all regard to the original agreement is moot. You will be incurring all sorts of charges.
The more they take, the better for you (because it leaves less outstanding to incur interest on).

It is common for lenders who expect the request for payment to decline, to try taking small amounts. If that goes through, request more.

This is all your own doing for missing payments.