Default & Affordability Complaint Question - Car Finance (HELP PLEASE)

LALALJ123

In 2012 at the ripe ol’ age of 19, I took out car finance (hire purchase). At the time I was on a tiny salary of £13,000 and already living in my overdraft (£1800 + each month). The salesperson at the car dealership said not to worry about bad credit, he would still get me a car but the interest rate would be high. So being young (and stupid) I proceeded. Black Horse agreed to the finance amount of £9500. I naturally fell behind on payments quite quickly, I lost my job and was abroad doing odd jobs.

In January 2013 I received a notice of default (I think I paid 1 months payment but didn't settle the arrears), and in March 2013 I started receiving calls from a debt collector, he demanded I paid £1060 or the car would be repossessed. I finally managed to get a family member to pay it off (I think partially, around £700). I think I continued to pay monthly for the rest of the year but soon fell into arrears again at the start of 2014. I am assuming it was passed to another debt collector as I have an old letter from Credit Style Limited dated September 2014 saying 'FAILED ARRANGEMENT' it goes on to explain that I have defaulted on my arrangement (lists Black Horse agreement number).

Black Horse sent me a list of payments I made, and it looks as though I was paying late most months. It is really hard to figure out exactly how much I was in arrears with them at any given time though, so I went onto checkmyfile and looked at the data credit agencies have and it's as follows:

March 2013: AR 4 (I had a default notice letter in Jan 2013 and paid a debt collector in April 2013 the amount)
April 2013 - Feb 2014: monthly payments (green ticks)

March 2014: 1

April 2014: 2

May 2014: 3

June 2014: 4

July 2014 - June 2015: AR

July 2015 - Nov 2015: 4

Dec 2015 - Jan 2016: AR

Feb 2016: 5

March 2016 - May 2016: 6

Jun 2016 - July 2016: AR

August 2016 - November 2016: 6

December 2016: D

The account is showing as defaulted on Dec 2016 and then until now it shows as unreported. I called Black Horse recently and they said that they closed the account and are no longer seeking the funds however it was closed and not marked as settled. I am pretty sure that I made some payments during the lengthy period of it showing as AR, but I am assuming it shows that as the whole account was in arrears even though I was making payments. So my questions are as follows:

 1) Based on my salary, age at the time, and the fact I was already living in my overdraft with poor credit, do you think I can complain based on affordability?

2) Should they have listed the default on my file back in January 2013 when I first received the default notice as they passed it to a debt collector?

3) If they come back to be and decline to make any changes, what should I do? Go to the Ombudsman?

I am trying to get a mortgage and have had zero defaults, CCJ's, late payment etc for over 6 years, it is just this pesky default which is stopping me, however, if I manage to get it backdated to 2013, I am guessing it would fall off the account thus making getting a mortgage a lot easier?

 Any advice would be extremely appreciated. Sorry for waffling on, I just wanted to put down as much information as possible. Thank you so much in advance!!

[Deleted User]

You could ask, but as you made up the arrears and carried on with payments, late 2014 seems a more likely date, if they're willing to swap the ARs.

I wouldn't expect the affordability angle to have legs, as both you and Black Horse agreed you could afford it and the loan was secured on the car.

sourcrates

I think this may have taught you a valuable lesson on what not to do, as part of the debt has been written off anyway, I would not go rocking the boat with an affordability complaint, you won`t benefit further from it, however you were 6 months in arrears in May 2016, ideally it should have defaulted before then, possibly July 2014 when you were 4 payments behind.

You could make a complaint on that basis, and try and get the default date put back.

LALALJ123

sourcrates said:

I think this may have taught you a valuable lesson on what not to do, as part of the debt has been written off anyway, I would not go rocking the boat with an affordability complaint, you won`t benefit further from it, however you were 6 months in arrears in May 2016, ideally it should have defaulted before then, possibly July 2014 when you were 4 payments behind.

You could make a complaint on that basis, and try and get the default date put back.

Of course, I was a kid then. Nearing 28, I'm a completely different person. Annoyingly this has been the only hiccup on my file! 

I read online that the account must be logged as defaulted before they can pass to a debt collector (which is what happened twice, firstly in March/April 2013). Is this not the case then? 

So when it's showing as AR, the account is still technically in arrears, isn't it? 

I'd be happy with 2014 as that means it would still fall off now. How would you go about arguing my case to them? 

LALALJ123

Deleted_User said:

You could ask, but as you made up the arrears and carried on with payments, late 2014 seems a more likely date, if they're willing to swap the ARs.

I wouldn't expect the affordability angle to have legs, as both you and Black Horse agreed you could afford it and the loan was secured on the car.

How would you suggest arguing my case. I've opened a complaint, but they've said it can take up to 8 weeks for them to come back to me. I've said I believe it should be back dated, but if they simply come back and say no, your account needed to be 6 months in arrears for example, would I have any grounds to argue this? 

D3xt3r5L4b

LALALJ123 said:

Deleted_User said:

You could ask, but as you made up the arrears and carried on with payments, late 2014 seems a more likely date, if they're willing to swap the ARs.

I wouldn't expect the affordability angle to have legs, as both you and Black Horse agreed you could afford it and the loan was secured on the car.

How would you suggest arguing my case. I've opened a complaint, but they've said it can take up to 8 weeks for them to come back to me. I've said I believe it should be back dated, but if they simply come back and say no, your account needed to be 6 months in arrears for example, would I have any grounds to argue this? 

You need to wait the 8 weeks first.
And guidelines state 3-6 months of missed payments so they’re within their right to refuse if you agreed to a payment arrangement. 

Yahoo_Mail

You may have been earning a tiny salary but I'm guessing, living with parents.

£1100 a month essentially to do whatever you wanted with. I doubt the car repayments were even close to that so it's not really their fault that you fell behind with repayments, bnor their fault that you lost your job.

You didn't default because you kept up some semblance of repayments.

LALALJ123

Yahoo_Mail said:

You may have been earning a tiny salary but I'm guessing, living with parents.

£1100 a month essentially to do whatever you wanted with. I doubt the car repayments were even close to that so it's not really their fault that you fell behind with repayments, bnor their fault that you lost your job.

You didn't default because you kept up some semblance of repayments.

I wasn't living with my parents, I had just got my first rental home. Surely I should have failed a credit check if I was continuously overdrawn and kept going into an unplanned overdraft? No, it wasn't their fault that I lost my job. I received a notice of default and then the debt was passed to a debt collector, I was under the impression that the account has to be logged as defaulted before it can be passed to a debt collector. The account was several months in arrears. 

[Deleted User]

The account can be sold at any time. 

sleepyjones

Did Black Horse Repo' the car?
Seems strange that they would close the account and not further seek reimbursement of the original debt / car.
If you sold the car, presumably it will show as outstanding finance?

adamp87

sleepyjones said:

Did Black Horse Repo' the car?
Seems strange that they would close the account and not further seek reimbursement of the original debt / car.
If you sold the car, presumably it will show as outstanding finance?

Possible it’s been sold on. If I was OP I’d let sleeping dogs lie with this..

If you’ve heard nothing till now, your address is updated I’d wait and see if anyone comes a chasing.

You had a letter saying your payments were in default most likely then you made a payment, getting a default back dated is incredibly difficult