Car Payments - 2 in one month?!

iaks

Hi,

Apologies if this isn't in the right part of the forum but I wondered if anyone else has had the same problem as us and what our rights are?

My wife took receipt of a new car on a PCP agreement at the end of June. The monthly payments were to be taken by Direct Debit. We feel we (and the dealer) worked hard to get to find a car at a monthly price we could afford as we're not made of money and my wife is currently on maternity leave so funds are tighter than usual.

However, my wife received a letter on 2nd August to advise that the first payment (July's) hadn't been taken due to an Administrative error on the car company's (financial services) side and that July's payment would now be taken on 15th August, with August's payment then taken 6 days later on the usual date of the 21st... essentially she has to make 2 car payments within 6 days of each other. The money for July is gone (we have a toddler and a new born so it got spent)

We've just called the car company and were told that we "should have had the funds still available because they didn't take the payment" and that there was nothing they could do other than put us through to the complaints team. The complaints team are going to look and see if they can "offer us any assistance" in making the payments - which to my mind sounds like they're going to try and put us on some sort of special repayment terms which would likely put a negative mark against her credit scores. We've made it clear we're not willing to enter any special measures as this is their error. We're waiting to hear back from them next week as to what they're going to do

But we wondered - Does anyone know what rights we have in this regard? We accept we owe the car company the money, but to our mind the right thing to do would be to take July's payment in August, then August's payment in September and simply roll everything on a month... but we're told that would involve changing the credit agreement.

Is it just me that think we're being treated poorly here? Would anyone else expect to make 2 car payments in a month 6 days apart as the result of an error not caused by us?

Any advise would be helpful and very much appreciated!

Caz3121

iaks wrote: »

The money for July is gone (we have a toddler and a new born so it got spent)

We've just called the car company and were told that we "should have had the funds still available because they didn't take the payment"

I think this is the crux of it. They admit they took the payment late (often happens with the first payment) but you spent the money on other things.
Did you not realise that the payment had not gone out?
By moving payments you will constantly be a month behind every month which could put late payment markers on your credit file

Nearlyold

They will probably not want to run the agreement permanently 1 month behind as that will cause endless complications. I'm guessing the payments are reasonably substantial so it's not clear why you did not notice the payment had not been taken and then went and spent the money. I think you just need to wait and see what the complaints team come up with - as to your "rights" I can't think of any other than they are right to expect you to still have the money in your account- sorry if this is not want you want to hear.

pelirocco

Without being too harsh , no you aren't being dealt with too harshly , the money should have been kept aside ,although I know thats not very helpful . The good thing is you have come to the right place for help with managing money going forward , and in years to come if you can get a grip now it will pay dividends in later life . Hopefully you can juggle money around this month as the last thing you need is a default .

It sounds as though you might have been struggling elsewhere if they had taken the money at the correct time ?
Coincidentally I have a similar thing at work as its the company insurance renewal time , with several different policies with different companies and experience has shown me that they may or may not take the first payment out on time , or they may take two payments the following month , so i have to keep a very close eye on them

jellie

iaks wrote: »

Hi,

Apologies if this isn't in the right part of the forum but I wondered if anyone else has had the same problem as us and what our rights are?

My wife took receipt of a new car on a PCP agreement at the end of June. The monthly payments were to be taken by Direct Debit. We feel we (and the dealer) worked hard to get to find a car at a monthly price we could afford as we're not made of money and my wife is currently on maternity leave so funds are tighter than usual.

However, my wife received a letter on 2nd August to advise that the first payment (July's) hadn't been taken due to an Administrative error on the car company's (financial services) side and that July's payment would now be taken on 15th August, with August's payment then taken 6 days later on the usual date of the 21st... essentially she has to make 2 car payments within 6 days of each other. The money for July is gone (we have a toddler and a new born so it got spent)

We've just called the car company and were told that we "should have had the funds still available because they didn't take the payment" and that there was nothing they could do other than put us through to the complaints team. The complaints team are going to look and see if they can "offer us any assistance" in making the payments - which to my mind sounds like they're going to try and put us on some sort of special repayment terms which would likely put a negative mark against her credit scores. We've made it clear we're not willing to enter any special measures as this is their error. We're waiting to hear back from them next week as to what they're going to do

But we wondered - Does anyone know what rights we have in this regard? We accept we owe the car company the money, but to our mind the right thing to do would be to take July's payment in August, then August's payment in September and simply roll everything on a month... but we're told that would involve changing the credit agreement.

Is it just me that think we're being treated poorly here? Would anyone else expect to make 2 car payments in a month 6 days apart as the result of an error not caused by us?

Any advise would be helpful and very much appreciated!

I'm afraid my view is that the fact you spent the money is your error.

You don't say how much the payment is, but if the direct debit had been taken, you would have overspent in July by that amount, possibly resulting in overdraft fees/interest. Or, you saw that you had more money than you thought you should have and, instead of looking to see why this was, you just decided to spend that money.

I would say the least you should expect is that you don't pay any additional interest, nor have any late payment marker on your credit file, as a result of the missed payment.

You should also probably review your spending, especially as you say that funds are currently tight.

iaks

Thanks all for replying.

Although we'd been told July for the first payment, I think in all honesty when no payment went out we just assumed the payments were going to start in August because we took receipt of the car so late into June.

I can completely see where the car company are coming from... I guess I'd have just expected a little more support from them rather than "pay double this month please".

Let's wait and see what they say on Monday!

Gaz83

What more support do you expect? It might be helpful if you say so, as someone might have been in a similar position previously.

ratrace

Again not being harsh but if money is so tight then maybe getting a car on payments was not the right decision at the moment due to your other half going on maternity, if you dont even have a few hundred to fall back on the what will happen if an emergency pops up, sorry dont want to sound harsh but we have to think before we commit long term

AnotherJoe

ratrace wrote: »

Again not being harsh but if money is so tight then maybe getting a car on payments was not the right decision at the moment due to your other half going on maternity, if you dont even have a few hundred to fall back on the what will happen if an emergency pops up, sorry dont want to sound harsh but we have to think before we commit long term

My thoughts exactly. If you didn't have emergency savings for just this sort of contingency then this was a foolhardy purchase, and if you do have those funds, what's all the fuss about ?

ratrace

AnotherJoe wrote: »

My thoughts exactly. If you didn't have emergency savings for just this sort of contingency then this was a foolhardy purchase, and if you do have those funds, what's all the fuss about ?

I do feel a little guilty when telling people straight as sometimes its the only way they have they real lbm, an emergency fund is extremely important it eliminates this kind of situation arising in the first place

It dosent have to be a huge ammount £1,000 to start off with then one can add to it as and when

takman

iaks wrote: »

Thanks all for replying.

Although we'd been told July for the first payment, I think in all honesty when no payment went out we just assumed the payments were going to start in August because we took receipt of the car so late into June.

I can completely see where the car company are coming from... I guess I'd have just expected a little more support from them rather than "pay double this month please".

Let's wait and see what they say on Monday!

Like others have said you need to take this a lesson to really get a grip on your finances and sort them out before you end up in trouble!.

Getting a brand new car on credit when your partner is on maternity leave is cazy!. Plus when you also consider that you don't even have any savings to even cover the extra car payment makes it even worse.

It's also obvious that have no budget and just spend until every penny is gone and wait to be paid again.

You really need to start getting a budget in place and a plan to have some emergency funds. It's only going to get worse when you have a child to feed as well.