Advice on car finance arrears please

Bert04

Good morning guys,
Had £13000 finance with moto novo on a 5 year term. Unfortunately at the back end of last year the finance fell into arrears to the tune of approx £1000 when there was roughly only about £2800 left to pay. The account then got passed on to credit style who started chasing me for the arrears. In Feb this year I agreed an arrangement with them where I was paying back £331 a month up until Dec this year and the finance would would completely paid off. It just so happens this month I had to pay expensive repairs on the car so I've been unable to make the payment to credit style. Which in turn they have started bombarding me with phone calls and emails. They are saying on the emails unless I phone them up and make payment in full now they are going to make arrangements for the car to be repossed.
Does anybody have any advice on my best cause of action?

Austin0710

Check your original credit agreement with them. I am fairly sure, once a certain amount has been repaid, they can only repossess the car with a Court Order. They use that tactic to scare you into repaying.

sourcrates

Bert04 wrote: »

They are saying on the emails unless I phone them up and make payment in full now they are going to make arrangements for the car to be repossessed.
Does anybody have any advice on my best cause of action?

Hi,


Its just standard pay up or else jargon, designed to illicit a response from you.


Simply reply and offer a repayment structure you can afford, then try to stick to it, they cannot repossess the vehicle without an order from the court once you have paid more than 1/3rd of whats owed, or so i believe.


It depends on the type of finance, you need to check your agreement to see what they can, and cannot do.

National_Debtline

Hi Bert and welcome to the forum


It sounds like this is a hire purchase (HP) agreement given that they are threatening repossession. However if you are unsure, it is important to check your agreement. If it is a HP agreement they cannot repossess the car without a court order once you have paid over 1/3 of the original agreement.


Although you may be able to get the court to agree to a payment plan it's best to try and negotiate with Credit Style before it gets to that stage. You'll need to start with a statement of affairs (SOA) to show them what you can afford to offer. You can fill one in here http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php


If it's important to keep the car you'll also need to prioritise paying it over any non priority debts (these are usually unsecured credit debts). If you have other debts it's a good idea to seek advice on how to deal with your situation from one of the free debt advice agencies. You can find more information on HP agreements here https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/hire-purchase-debt/hire-purchase-and-conditional-sale.aspx


Best wishes


Susie
@natdebtline

Bert04

Thanks for the response guys. My current arrears are now currently £483 so I thought it would be a drastic measure for them to reposess the car at this point. They just sound so adamant on the phone that they are going to go down that route. I would have to dig out my original agreement to look at the T&CS but thinking back just now I'm sure it did say something about after I'd paid back a certain percentage there was a certain route of action they would have to take. So basically I'll just have to phone then up offer what I can afford and they can either like it or lump it?

National_Debtline

Hi again Bert


You will need to discuss a payment plan with them using your SOA. Makes sure you do the SOA first as you don't want to make an offer you can't afford to stick to. Ideally you would want to offer the contractual monthly payment plus something extra towards the arrears.


If they don't accept that offer then they can start repossession action. However the agreement would have to be terminated first. Do you know whether that has already happened?


If they prove difficult to negotiate with I would advise contacting one of the free debt advice agencies for more detailed advice on how to deal with court action.


Susie
@natdebtline

Bert04

Thanks for the replies. I'm not too sure if it has been terminated or not as of yet. I spoke with moto novo yesterday and they said at present I have to deal with credit style as it is out of their hands. But the last conversation I had with credit style last month they said once the arrears were upto date it would be passed back over to moto nova if that makes sense.

Fireflyaway

I was in the same situation a few years back and the finance company were horrid. Really rude and not helpful at all.
My advice would be to email so you have a written record. Agree on a repayment plan for the arrears but don't allow them to pressure you into an amount you can't afford. They will only use you breaking the agreement as leverage to come on all strong again.
Not long and once the car is paid you won't have to deal with them again!

sourcrates

Bert04 wrote: »

So basically I'll just have to phone then up offer what I can afford and they can either like it or lump it?

Your best making offers such as this in writing so you have a paper trail, and you know what has been agreed, and what hasn't.