Black Horse Car HP assistance

planty

Good Morning Guys and Gals,

I have a little situation I need your experience and expertise to deal with.

My partner has a car on Finance with Black Horse. This is a contract she took out a little over 6 months ago, and the vehicle in question was trade down from 2 vehicles and hence cheaper each month to run, as she has taken the decision to leave work and care for our baby son full time. We have been surviving very happily with just my wage coming in.

However, unfortunately she recently has been diagnosed with a herniated spinal disc and sciatica which has left her bed bound and unable to look after our son. This has meant I have been forced to take unpaid leave from work and care for them both until she is well enough to resume her motherly duties! At this stage she cannot even lift a bottle of milk, and the Doctors response was 'how long is a piece of string' when we asked how long this would take to heal.

We have been to CAB and have liaised with all the companies we deal with (mostly household bills - other than the car we only have a laptop and a sofa on credit!) and most of the companies have been great - freezing the account or willing to take smaller payments until this situation resolves itself. We have secured a small income via a few benefit claims again advised by CAB and my employer has been really understanding in holding my position open until I can return.

The one exception is Black Horse who are being totally unreasonable and have gone for the jugular as soon as we have advised them of the situation.

I have been away from work with out an income for 1 month but unfortunately in that time 2 payments have been due.

I need to clarify the following:-

1) We were told initially that because the finance is secured against the car that the CAB hold no sway with them - they will just reclaim the car if we do not pay - especially as it is such a new agreement - true?

2) Yesterday we were visited at home by a lady from the black horse collections team, who had said she was there to work out a solution that suited us and black horse to move forward as we wanted to keep the car (obviously?!). When she arrived she had no interest in our situation, only wanted to inform us that we must either voluntarily terminate the agreement and pay £8500 for a car we would no longer have, or they would move to repossess. Seems a little unfair?

3) What would the best next move be?


Sorry for the long post - I think (?!) all of the information in there is necessary!!

Thanks, Tom

beanielou

You really need to get specialist advice from CAB or similar.
Hope your wife is on the mend soon.

fatbelly

It's going to produce less debt if you do a voluntary termination than if Black Horse terminate it. I presume that's what the rep was saying. And if they haven't already done that, they will soon so your time for this option is limited.

There is a template letter and a comparison of the calculations in the factsheet:

Factsheet | Hire Purchase debt

In their example a VT produces a debt of £650, whereas a creditor termination produces a debt of £1495. Your numbers may be larger.

planty

All Citizens advice will tell us is that they cannot intervene as the finance is secured against the car, and that once the car has gone back they can then help, but I'm trying to stop this which is the point that has been missed - we want to keep the car, and under normal circumstances affording the vehicle is not a problem.

Its just the temporary situation we are in that means we need a bit of time/breathing space to get straight - and BH are not willing to be lenient.

I was hoping somebody would be able to advise a body we could complain to (FSA or OFT?!) that can help us. Its not that we are unable or unwilling to pay - we just need time!!

It seems really unfair that my partners credit history will be screwed up for one minor temporary discretion.

fatbelly

How many months will it be before you can re-start the contractual payments (plus something to the arrears)?

Your initial post quoted 'how long is a piece of string' which made me think that you do not know how temporary this situation is.

If you can be more certain about the time frame, time orders are designed for this situation and this factsheet gives some info about them.

Factsheet | Time order: hire purchase or conditional sale agreement

planty

That's what I was looking for! I knew the scenario couldn't be as bleak as it sounded! Thank you very much, ill call debt line tomorrow and get the ball rolling.