Lost car finance payments

waspsandwich

Hi.

Im looking for some advice as the citizens advice hasnt really helped.

My partner bought her car with autolend for a total of £13000 last januaray and payments were going fine until july.

The payments have still been coming off her bank account every month but autolend have now contacted her to say they have not recieved a payment since july and have now closed her credit and got a debt recovery company involved.

They are saying she either does a volountary termination or they will reposess the car anyway if she does not pay the missing payments again.

As i said she has the records of the money leaving her bank account via the direct debit that autolend set up for her and had been using for the first 7 months of the contract.

She has contacted the ombusdman but as you know this can take up to eight weeks and the company are demanding action right away.

Whats the best thing she can do now as she needs a car for work and has done nothing wrong, she has also just paid out £800 in a garage repair which she clearly would not have done if she hadnt been paying the car off.

Apparently its down tonautolends discretion to let jer keep the car while they investigate but have decided to cancel the credit anyway.

Can her bank trace the payments or does it have to be autolend?

She is obviosly in a state at the threat of court action, damage to her credit report and the fact she is goingbto loose the car when she hasnt done anything wrong.

Has anyone had a similar situation or can anybody give me some advice on what she should do now as she has already invested nearly 4 thousand pounds in the car between payments and repairs.

Thanks in advance

Isthisforreal99

For a direct debit to be paid the lender must request it each month - does the reference on the DD stay the same throughout?

molerat

Do the bank statements show the payments going out each month and not being reversed ?

Is the reference shown on the bank statements and in the bank account DD list the same throughout ?

You need to raise this as a formal complaint with Autolend before you can go to the ombudsman.

eskbanker

The payments have still been coming off her bank account every month but autolend have now contacted her to say they have not recieved a payment since july and have now closed her credit and got a debt recovery company involved.

Do Autolend claim to have contacted her prior to this? It's not unreasonable to expect them to highlight the alleged issue at the earliest opportunity (August?) and regularly thereafter, rather than letting it go straight to debt recovery and credit cancellation.

waspsandwich

Hi thanks for the replies.

The direct debits have left the account and not been returned they also all have the same the refference has also stayed the same.

They contacted her once in august and she sent her bank statement in as proof there was no further contact until yesterday, she assumed it was all sorted as the money was still coming out the bank each month.

Autolend have just called again and have back tracked slightly after seeing her bank statements showing the money leaving the account. They might be pitting the repossesion on hold while they investigate further but that is a decision for the recovery team so the agent has to talk to them first.

If they decide not to grant her time to keep the car while they investigate is she better to let them take it or vt it and them try and claim her money back and fix her credit report or does that look like she is accepting the fault to be hers which it clearly isnt?

molerat

Ha she actually said to them "I want to raise a formal complaint" ? That moves things away from front line CS staff who can only see what is on the screen in front of them and rely on "computer says".

Okell

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81881667#Comment_81881667

"… They contacted her once in august and she sent her bank statement in as proof there was no further contact until yesterday, she assumed it was all sorted as the money was still coming out the bank each month…"

So after hearing nothing your partner just assumed it had been sorted out rather than seeking confirmation from autolend? (Hearing nothing was a red flag TBH)

Has she reminded them now that they previously contacted her in August and she provided evidence then that the DD had continued to be taken as per autolend's original instructions?

Has she asked her bank for confirmation of the destination of the DDs Autolend claim she hasn't paid?

This sounds like a communications problem that should be capable of being sorted out by talking to autolend and again providing evidence of payments - eg dates, amounts, DD reference, DD destination

waspsandwich

Yes i would have looked for conformation myself.

Yes she jas now done all of thw above and hopefully it will be sorted as there os clear evidence of her payong

born_again

No need for "Formal"

Partner needs to ring & tell them they are raising a complaint. As they are FCA registered. They have no choice but to raise the complaint.

Should be a few £££ for the companies error.

FOS takes a very dim view of companies that do not.

A_Geordie

This statement

have now closed her credit

does not align with this statement

They are saying she either does a volountary termination

Either Autolend have terminated the agreement or they haven't. If they have terminated, you cannot exercise a voluntary termination right. Depending on the current status of the contract i.e. whether terminated or still in force, will dictate the kind of legal rights available.

A few points to note:

• To terminate the agreement Autolend needs to issue a default notice and allow at least 14 days for your partner to remedy the issue. Only after that period, can Autolend terminate the agreement.

• Up until the expiry of the default notice, you can exercise a voluntary termination right which limits liability to one half of the total price payable under the agreement, so long as you give notice in writing.

• Autolend cannot repossess the car without a court order if at least 1/3 of the total price payable has been paid. They can repossess with consent of your partner by handing over the keys to them. If the repossess the car without consent, then Autolend has committed a breach of the Consumer Credit Act and the consequences are: (a) the agreement terminates automatically (b) your partner is released from all liabilities and [c] your partner is entitled to a full refund of all the payments made to date.

• If Autolend have already given notice to terminate the agreement then this would be classed as a wrongful termination. Legally, you cannot revoke a contract that has been terminated because in the eyes of the law, that contract no longer exists so a new one would need to be entered into. By wrongfully terminating the contract, your partner would be entitled to damages (compensation/loss) resulting from that wrongful termination.

• Worst case, if Autolend have lawfully terminated the agreement, then your partner's last resort to keep the car is likely to be an application to the court for what is known as a "Time Order". Not going to explain it but a bit of research will likely pull up some debt charities who have excellent information about time orders and the proces.

I see that Autolend have perhaps realised the error of their ways having now become aware of the bank statements which could have easily been verified by their finance department but hey ho. It's crucial your partner understands and works out what has actually happened because they could be in a strong position and may want to use that to their advantage e.g. compensation, complaint to Financial Ombudsman, accept the termination and exit the contract early without penalty etc.

waspsandwich

So a week has now passed and we are none tje wiser whatbis going on.

Every day she has phoned autolend fpr an update amd has been fobbed off.

They asked her on wednesday for proof of income? Which sounds like they are reconsidoring her loan, which i do not understand as she has been paying it off and it has been there mistake.

Her last contact was lunch time yesterday when she was assured she would.have answers by 6pm .... she has had no further contact

Whats our best move now as to me it looks lole they are in breach of contract which i feel she should be compensated for at rhe very least.

Can she now hand the car back to them without paying the 50% of the contract and have her credit rating fixed?

She had also.just paid out for a rather expensive electrical issue which she has recipts for would she be eligible to have this reinbursed of she did hand the car back?

What level of compensation should she be entitled to of she did hold on to the car , as obviously this has caused her a lot of stress and worry?

I am pretty bamboozled bybit all as its not something i have ever experienced with car finance before.