Help on car finance - first post here

karen555_2

Long story short we are in quite alot of debt, we are dealing with but it is slowly and taking time.

My problem is with car finance - we defaulted a few months ago, was just short on paying the amount outstanding on the default. It got sent to debt collectors who added huge charges. We just about got the money together by the deadline agreed with them and they turned around on the day and said dont forget you have another months payment on top of that. We just couldnt stretch that far so they said unless we paid the full amount (1500) they wouldnt accept any payment from us.

I wrote to our finance company asking them to help us reach an arrangement, we had after all saved 1200. No answer. In fact they wont speak to us at all now.

Today I recieved a letter from another debt collector stating that they are going to apply for a return of goods order unless we pay the full balance oweing (which we do not have at all - in any way possible) or give the car back.

I am beside myself - if we give the car back I have no money for a car and no way of getting my children to school everyday. Since I lost my job everything has gone wrong for us, we used to live well and afford everything and now I cant afford a loaf of bread let alone a new car.

Anyone with any advice

Scarlett.1974

albertross wrote: »

You can get a decent car for £1200, so you could give them the car back, and buy a cheap runaround to tide you over until you are able to get a new job.

Give cccs a call, they may be able to help

http://www.cccs.co.uk/contact/contact.aspx

You might also want to post a statement of affairs on here, so people can collectively help you identify savings to be made.

That was absolutely my first thought too Use the £1200 to buy a car (you'd get something pretty decent for that ) and let them have the other one back. You'll then have the added bonus of not having to find the car finance money every month. Seems like a perfect solution to me unless I'm missing something?!

Scarlett.1974

Oh, and by the way, welcome to MSE

tigerfeet2006

AH! but had the rest of the money been mentioned before or after the £1200 had been paid over?

I agree though ring one of the debt charities as a priority and also post up an SOA and we will see if we can help. There is light at the end of the tunnel so don't panic.

see here for details on soa here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=562271

And welcome to the board.

g_attrill

Scarlett.1974 wrote: »

That was absolutely my first thought too Use the £1200 to buy a car (you'd get something pretty decent for that ) and let them have the other one back. You'll then have the added bonus of not having to find the car finance money every month. Seems like a perfect solution to me unless I'm missing something?!

Heck, you can get a decent one for half that, and have money left over for a repairs pot in case it goes wrong (or scrap it and buy another one!). Look for Nissan/Honda/Toyota for something which will be reliable at that price, my dad sold a perfectly good Hyundai for £150 that would have lasted another 5 years easily.

rog2

Hi Karen - rather than get into an argument about what sort of car you can buy for £1200, you need to know what your rights are first. You would get excellent advice by talking to CCCS or CAB.
You NEED to be carefull as the 'debt collection agency' is unlikely to 'let things drop' once they have taken back your car - they will, most likely, sell it for peanuts at auction, then pursue you relentlessly for the 'alleged shortfall' - this certainly happened to me, when Black Horse repo'd my car.
Also - how much have you paid - you may be eligible to simply 'return the car'.
Who was the original 'lender', how much of the original hp have you paid, and who are the 'debt collectors?

rog2

albertross wrote: »

Where is the argument?

Argument as in 'Discussion', ar, I am just concerned that the OP may end up getting fleeced by the finance company - I was.