Coronavirus / Car Finance Holiday Difficulty

Worried_2020

Hi everyone,
I was furloughed back in early May and expect to return to work sometime towards the end of this month. I have been received 80% of my normal pay. My partner is self-employed and has also been affected. When the FCA announced car finance payment holidays, I promptly contacted my finance provider, CLS Finance to request a 3 month payment holiday. I have been going back and forth with them since June, trying to get them to agree a break. I missed my June payment because it was the toughest time, I couldn't afford to pay. I had expected the finance company to agree the holiday, but all they're offering is a 20% reduction of the payments. I have made two payments of £50 each month since then as a token gesture (normal monthly payment is £180) but they're still refusing to budge. They're saying 'if a customer can afford to pay, they should' which they've apparently taken from the FCA but everything I've read suggests the finance company should be agreeing these without much difficulty. Now they've sent me a default notice requesting payment of the full arrears by mid-August. If they'd had agreed the payment holiday from June like I thought they would, none of this would've happened. Where can I go with this, their stubbornness is putting me into arrears when plenty of customers with over companies have been able to sort this out just fine. I've told them I can pick up my payments as normal from September. 

Worried_2020

Excuse the typos!

Thrugelmir

If you've been receiving 80% of you pay then being asked to pay 80% of the finance payment isn't unreasonable. Have you been paying down other debts at their expense?

Worried_2020

Thrugelmir said:

If you've been receiving 80% of you pay then being asked to pay 80% of the finance payment isn't unreasonable. Have you been paying down other debts at their expense?

No, I have been supporting my partner whose income was quite badly affected initially. All I asked for was the 3 month payment holiday - is it normal for companies to be so difficult about it? I've sat down with the FCA gudiance which says 'Firms to provide a 3 month payment freeze to customers who are having temporary difficulties due to coronavirus' - surely that should be it, and i've seen many others benefit from it. 

Grumpy_chap

If your partner is self-employed, have they benefited from SEISS?  Can they get BBL?
One way or another, any payment holiday is going to be expensive as the missed payments need to be paid back plus the extra interest on what was not paid.

stephenhouse2

Hi everyone I've been furlough since 25th of March and until now I have managed to pay my bills thanks to universal credit to top up my 80% wage , unfortunately as I am paid every 28 days I received 2 payments within universal credits cutoff date meaning I earned too much and despite my argument that I have to make this money last another 28 days they won't help me, so I decided to take a payment holiday on my loan and car finance the loan was easy and the call lasted 2 minutes however the car finance company startline won't let me have a holiday unless I agree to give a company called credit kudos access to my online banking which doesn't sound right to me. Has anyone had this same issue.

bazzyb

stephenhouse2 said:

Hi everyone I've been furlough since 25th of March and until now I have managed to pay my bills thanks to universal credit to top up my 80% wage , unfortunately as I am paid every 28 days I received 2 payments within universal credits cutoff date meaning I earned too much and despite my argument that I have to make this money last another 28 days they won't help me, so I decided to take a payment holiday on my loan and car finance the loan was easy and the call lasted 2 minutes however the car finance company startline won't let me have a holiday unless I agree to give a company called credit kudos access to my online banking which doesn't sound right to me. Has anyone had this same issue.

You can only get a payment holiday if the lender agrees to it. With subprime providers like Startline they will want to ensure that you are genuinely financially affected by COVID, the Open Banking link will allow them to verify that quickly so they can approve your payment holiday. 

Kody25

You're a very lucky man when you get 80% some people get 30% or nothing in Corona.