Problems with VW payment holiday

husky54

Is anyone else being declined payment holidays and have their credit file affected as late payments because VW fail to respond on time and are giving incorrect advice?

Galloglass

You can be declined a payment holiday if by giving you a holiday (postponed payment) would lead to greater harm. 

Do you have a poor credit history?

husky54

No I don’t. They said it was because it was 1 month in arrears but that was because I’d applied for the payment holiday. I’m now 3 months because I’ve been waiting 2 months for them to deal with the complaint and had previously been assured they’d made a mistake and the payment holiday was in place. They’ve recorded 3 months late payments with credit reference agencies and have now said I can apply again for a payment with one month arrears? That’s exactly back to the point at which they declined it. I‘m at a loss what to do now as the FCA guidance states that if companies delay in setting up arrangements or don’t respond in a timely manner then consumers credit records must not be affected,

jjames1985

husky54 said:

No I don’t. They said it was because it was 1 month in arrears but that was because I’d applied for the payment holiday. I’m now 3 months because I’ve been waiting 2 months for them to deal with the complaint and had previously been assured they’d made a mistake and the payment holiday was in place. They’ve recorded 3 months late payments with credit reference agencies and have now said I can apply again for a payment with one month arrears? That’s exactly back to the point at which they declined it. I‘m at a loss what to do now as the FCA guidance states that if companies delay in setting up arrangements or don’t respond in a timely manner then consumers credit records must not be affected,

I'm guessing you stopped making payments after you applied?  If so that's probably the problem, you shouldn't have stopped paying until the holiday was granted.

husky54

I received the following when I applied:

Thank you for submitting your payment deferral request via our online form.

Payment deferral request for Agreement number: 

We are pleased to confirm that you have passed our initial checks.

We can confirm that your contract has now been suspended, with the most important benefit for you being that all monthly finance payments will be stopped with immediate effect, where possible*.  

Whilst we review your payment deferral request, you will not be able to review your agreement online. Your contract does remain in place and will re-appear online once your request has been reviewed, and a communication on your eligibility for payment deferral provided.

*PLEASE NOTE that if your next rental payment was due to be taken via Direct Debit in the next few days, it may not be possible for us to stop that payment – it may have already been claimed from your bank. 

Any payments deferred will not be considered as in arrears or report as a negative impact on your credit file. Any pre-existing arrears will continue to report at the same level during the payment deferral period. If you feel your credit file is incorrect please request a ‘notice of correction’ with the Credit Reference Agencies directly.

We trust that this exceptional and immediate support at this stressful time relieves the financial pressure you are under as a result of the current pandemic.

Next steps:

• We will review your request carefully to ensure it is the best option for you and your individual circumstances, and will be in further contact with you. 
  
  PLEASE NOTE that whilst your contract is in this interim suspended state, we will be unable to make changes to it, so please hold any requests until we are able to confirm the result of our detailed review. 

• 
  

jjames1985

husky54 said:

I received the following when I applied:

Thank you for submitting your payment deferral request via our online form.

Payment deferral request for Agreement number: 

We are pleased to confirm that you have passed our initial checks.

We can confirm that your contract has now been suspended, with the most important benefit for you being that all monthly finance payments will be stopped with immediate effect, where possible*.  

Whilst we review your payment deferral request, you will not be able to review your agreement online. Your contract does remain in place and will re-appear online once your request has been reviewed, and a communication on your eligibility for payment deferral provided.

*PLEASE NOTE that if your next rental payment was due to be taken via Direct Debit in the next few days, it may not be possible for us to stop that payment – it may have already been claimed from your bank. 

Any payments deferred will not be considered as in arrears or report as a negative impact on your credit file. Any pre-existing arrears will continue to report at the same level during the payment deferral period. If you feel your credit file is incorrect please request a ‘notice of correction’ with the Credit Reference Agencies directly.

We trust that this exceptional and immediate support at this stressful time relieves the financial pressure you are under as a result of the current pandemic.

Next steps:

• We will review your request carefully to ensure it is the best option for you and your individual circumstances, and will be in further contact with you. 
  
  PLEASE NOTE that whilst your contract is in this interim suspended state, we will be unable to make changes to it, so please hold any requests until we are able to confirm the result of our detailed review. 

• 
  

So were you paying by DD and did you cancel the DD or did they not take it?

husky54

I cancelled my direct debit and they said that was ok as they had suspended any action

jjames1985

husky54 said:

I cancelled my direct debit and they said that was ok as they had suspended any action

Where did they say that?
And when did you cancel DD, when was it due and when did you email them about the holiday?

Galloglass

FCA guidance is what you need. You've said you've read it.

https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/finalised-guidance/motor-finance-agreements-and-coronavirus-temporary-guidance-firms

Financial Ombudsman if there has been harm (tort) so that will be your next step if they do not sort it within the default time (8 weeks) but it may be varied.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/coronavirus

husky54

I sent them this reply yesterday:

Please see my response below. I have tried to respond to this in the timeline that this situation arose and I’d be grateful if you would read this thoroughly and respond as soon as possible.

During this time there was a lot of information available stating that credit files would not be impacted.  Your email of the 8th April was also leading me to believe this was the case give the statement it incorporated: If you have fallen into arrears or are concerned that you may fall into financial difficulties as a result of COVID-19 please do not be alarmed, we are taking exceptional steps to support customers impacted by COVID-19. You may still receive our standard letters informing you of these arrears however we are here to work with you to find a suitable solution.

No further contact from VW although I had made numerous phone calls to try and speak with someone.

Breathing Space – this was not made clear that there would be an impact on your credit file.  Other financial companies were offering ‘breathing space’ without impact on credit files.  This I believe was misleading customers.

27th April – you sent me the following email:

On 27 Apr 2020, at 16:53, FinancialSupport

Please be aware that email is not a secure method of communication. Sharing information, particularly personal information, via this channel is done so at your own risk. By responding to this email you are confirming acceptance of this risk. 

Good Afternoon Mr 

Further to your email already received relating to vehicle registration   Thank you for waiting patiently while we have been working through an extremely high volume of customer contacts due to COVID-19.

We wanted to make you aware that since you first got in touch with us, a new option has become available which may well be of interest to you:

Our new payment deferral option may be suitable for you, as a form of exceptional and immediate support to our customers facing difficulties due to the current circumstances. The eligibility criteria for this option includes that you are; 

·       Experiencing temporary financial difficulty as a result of COVID-19

·       That you are not a corporate customer

We are aware that you may already have submitted your details online via our form, and we are sorry for the inconvenience involved in completing another form. It is very important that you read and understand how a payment deferral works, the conditions and changes to current agreements.

We look forward to helping you soon.

Kind regards,

 Mike Stewart
Collections Advisor
Collections & Recoveries
VOLKSWAGEN FINANCIAL SERVICES

30th April – I received an email stating that I was through the initial stages of Payment Deferral and this included the following statement:

We can confirm that your contract has now been suspended, with the most important benefit for you being that all monthly finance payments will be stopped with immediate effect, where possible*.  

Your credit file will remain completely unaffected by the payment deferral as the deferred payments will not be classed as arrears (please note, if you believe there is an error on your credit file you should  request a ‘notice of correction’ with the Credit Reference Agency).

At this stage there should have been no impact on my credit file but you have reported my account as in arrears to credit agencies – this is an error on the part of VW and needs to be corrected immediately.

There was then no further contact from VW until you responded to my complaint on the 13th May stating someone would contact me. I again had made numerous phone calls but could not speak with anyone.

18th May – emailing stating that my payment deferral was refused. Tried for several hours to contact someone by phone.

19th May – spoke with a gentleman in the payment deferral team and he was going to escalate this complaint as he couldn’t understand why it had been declined given the fact that I’d applied in the correct manner and had been sending regular emails.

19th May – further email from payment deferrals stating I was through the initial stage and again my credit file would not be affected.

19th May – Spoke with VW again, a lady called Clara.  Clara also referred this to her Manager whilst I was on the call and explained that emails had been sent in error and not to worry.  I had been approved for a payment holiday and this would take effect from the March payment.  My credit file would not be negatively impacted and in fact they would contact the credit reference agencies to rectify this error. – please listen to that telephone conversation if that is recorded? Clara assured me that I would get confirmation of the payment holiday in 5 days.

28th May – There had been no further contact from VW so I emailed you again asking for confirmation of the above. I sent this both to the payment deferrals team and the customer resolution team as you they had still not contacted me from your email stating you would on the 13th May.

4th June – I sent the above 2 emails again as had received no response from VW.

4th June – I received your response to my complaint.

4th June – I called the number given for Sobia but was informed that she could not speak to me as she didn’t have a phone???

I have paid the 2 months arrears and applied for a payment holiday again as you have suggested. 

I also spoke with the financial ombudsman yesterday and will be submitting a complaint unless you rectify the errors on my credit report and take responsibility for the way I have been misinformed about there being no impact to my credit file.

Statement from FCA – 17th April

Where customers have been unable to reach timely agreement with firms for a payment deferral because of firms’ operational difficulties and subsequently miss a payment which is reported to their credit file, or where they have entered into a similar temporary payment deferral arrangement with their lender as a result of the coronavirus situation which has resulted in a worsening arrears status being reported, we would expect firms to work with customers and Credit Reference Agencies to ensure that any necessary rectifications are made to credit files to ensure no worsening arrears status is recorded during the payment deferral period. Firms should also ensure no default or arrears charges are levied in relation to payments missed in these circumstances.

Required Resolution

The above statement by the FCA reflects my situation with you from the 27th March.  I have been unable to contact you on so many occasion’s and you have failed to notify me that a payment holiday was not agreed.  In fact you have admitted that you have incorrectly advised me but had made no attempt to contact me to tell me of that until you responded to this complaint.  This again added further delays and impact on my credit file due to misadvise from VW.

You declined my original payment deferral because I was 1 month in arrears but now strangely you have told me to pay only 2 months arrears and that 1 month is ok??  This is exactly the same position as to why you declined it in the first instance.

Worryingly my daughter, has followed the same process as myself and has had no contact from VW. I hope you have not impacted her credit file either.  

Personal Impact

The stress of this experiencing of dealing with VW has been absolutely immense on my mental health.  I am one of the extremely critically vulnerable and have been shielding for the last 10 weeks.  We have been loyal customers to VW and have purchased 5 cars from you over the last few years.  We have never missed a payment over these years and were hoping to either buy the car from you or another in November when this agreement finishes.  Due to you not communicating in a timely manner and not acting in the guidelines of the FCA agreement you have now ruined our credit record and made any future purchase with yourself impossible.

Please reflect on all the above information and reassess the complaint.

 

MovingForwards

@husky54 do you want to remove your surname and your daughter's name.