Gmac Online Finance/MCE Portfolio/Nolans - advice needed!!

lynseymak

Hi

I need some serious advice here folks. This is a bit of a saga but I will try and keep this as concise a possible.

In 2001 I purchased a car on HP with GMac/Online Finance. I ran into some serious debt problems a few years later and started missing payments. Debt collectors would appear at my place of work to take cash payments - and on at least one occasion took possession of my car when I could not afford my monthly payment. I was unable to continue to make payments and the car was returned to the finance company in 2006.

I (mistakenly) thought at the time that the debt would therefore be settled, unaware that the finance was still payable on the car.

I only recently received correspondance from Nolans Solicitors, acting on behalf of a company called MCE Portfolio who allegedly purchased the debt from GMAC. I sent the 'statute barred' letter and in reply received a letter from Nolans confirming that I last made a payment in May 2008, meaning the debt cannot be statute barred. I did make this payment (have checked with my bank) but cannot remember the circumstances - I can only assume I was pressured into making some form of token payment to MCE under threat of court action/bailiffs/doorstep visits etc.

I have now received a court summons for March 2013 as Nolans are claiming on behalf of MCE Portfolio. I have a few questions:

• Can I request a copy of the original credit agreement with GMAC? - I want to question the fact that these people came to my place of work to chase payment and also to take possession of my car when I failed to make payment. Is this even allowed?
• Can I request a breakdown of charges and how they have reached the total amount they claim I owe? The amount claimed for is over £4000 - more than the original credit amount!
• GMAC appear to be a lender guilty of unfair PPI charges - can this be claimed on hire purchase loans?

Any help or advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I cannot afford to pay this back nor do I need a county court judgement against me. I do also think that with the PPI, the doorstep collections etc, this lender has operated outwith OFT guidelines and this may just help my case.

Please help?

Lynsey

Tixy

Yes, You can request a copy of the credit agreement. You will need to do this in writing using one of the template letters and enclosing a £1 fee.

Creditors are allowed to send a debt collector to chase a debt unless you specifically revoke their right to do so (in writing).

You would need to check the terms of the agreement but as it sounds like a secured loan then depending on the level of overall payment you had made yes they can repossess the car against your will without going to court (if a person has paid more than a certain amount then they do have to go to court to repossess the car). If you handed them the keys yourself this is not repossessing the car.
Yes you can request details of the charges, a full statement of account would make sense so you can see all the interest and debt collection fees they added on each time you didn't pay the scheduled agreement and then see what they sold the repossessed car for etc.

Regarding PPI - you would need to establish if you had PPI on your agreement, and if you may have a claim for it being missold in your particular case.

If there is an unpaid debt then it is likely that the court will grant a CCJ. The judge should allow you to pay this monthly at a rate that is affordable to you.

lynseymak

Tixy wrote: »

Yes, You can request a copy of the credit agreement. You will need to do this in writing using one of the template letters and enclosing a £1 fee.

Creditors are allowed to send a debt collector to chase a debt unless you specifically revoke their right to do so (in writing).

You would need to check the terms of the agreement but as it sounds like a secured loan then depending on the level of overall payment you had made yes they can repossess the car against your will without going to court (if a person has paid more than a certain amount then they do have to go to court to repossess the car). If you handed them the keys yourself this is not repossessing the car.
Yes you can request details of the charges, a full statement of account would make sense so you can see all the interest and debt collection fees they added on each time you didn't pay the scheduled agreement and then see what they sold the repossessed car for etc.

Regarding PPI - you would need to establish if you had PPI on your agreement, and if you may have a claim for it being missold in your particular case.

If there is an unpaid debt then it is likely that the court will grant a CCJ. The judge should allow you to pay this monthly at a rate that is affordable to you.

Thanks - the car was handed back to the finance company by myself when I could no longer keep up re-payments. I'm not disputing this, I'm questioning the fact that when I missed payments a debt collector came to my place of work (uninvited) to either demand a cash payment or take my car keys until I could get my payments up to date. In hindsight surely this isn't right?

In terms of the credit agreement, I'm trying to establish just how the amount owed can be so high considering I did make payments on the car for a number of years. If I can see a breakdown of how the amount due was reached surely I can contest some charges as 'unfair' or 'unjust'. The original loan was for £5995 and the total claimed now is just over £4000?

Lynsey

Tixy

It will depend on your agreement. But it is usual on Hire Purchase that early on in the agreement, when you have paid less than a third of the total amount that yes if you miss payments they can locate the car wherever it is and repossess it.
When they come to repossess it they would ask you to make a payment to avoid that, but if you didn't pay them and didn't hand them the keys /give them consent to take the car then they could repossess it without the keys. If for example the car was in a locked garage they would go to court to get a court order to repossess.

You would need to get a breakdown to explain the balance they are claiming but a guess is that you were charged fees every time they had to come out to you to get a cash payment or take the car, plus you will have been charged far more in interest than the original agreement (as every time you missed a payment you would owe more in interest on the arrears), they probably sold the car on at auction for very little value to knock off the debt, then they will have been adding interest on the remaining balance since the date the car was auctioned off. Over the last 6 years that interest will soon mount up.

lynseymak

Update - this claim was dismissed at court this morning because:

Both Nolans & MCE Portfolio failed to provide myself and the court with copies of the original credit agreement as requested.

and

Nolans failed to provide a breakdown of charges that attributed to the claimed amount.

Case closed