Santander refused VT template letter

[Riggy42]

As the title day sent a vt template letter from here to Santander on the 4th march , they have taken two weeks to reply and refused , saying temple letter unsuitable and to reply to the email stating ""I would like to voluntary terminate my finance agreement " and then they will call me to discuss wether I would like to proceed.
I doubt this is proper procedure and it's no coincidence that a payment is due in 1-2 days are they just stalling to collect another payment

Here's my letter.

Santander Consumer(UK)plc
T/A Santander Consumer Finance
Santander House
86 Station Road
Redhill
Surrey
RH1 1SR
By first class post and email :customerservices@santanderconsumer.co.uk

Agreement No:

Termination letter under S.99(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974

Dear Sir or Madam,

Termination of hire-purchase agreement in accordance with section 99(1) of the
Consumer Credit Act 1974 (“CCA 1974”)
I am writing to inform you that I am exercising my right to terminate the above hire-purchase
agreement with immediate effect in accordance with Section 99 of the CCA 1974. Under
Section 100(1) of the CCA 1974, my liability is limited to one-half of the total price payable
which, according to the terms of this agreement, is £15,745.20. As of today’s date, I have paid over this amount and I am therefore no longer required to make any further payments.

I have also inspected the vehicle and I am of the opinion that it is in a reasonable condition
given its age whilst accounting for fair wear and tear. Photographic evidence has been taken
in the event of any future dispute as to the state of the vehicle. The vehicle is available to
collect from the above address on giving reasonable notice, otherwise if you prefer to have it
delivered to another location, I am willing to consider this provided that you agree to pay my
reasonable costs and expenses.

I would appreciate if you could contact me on __________within the next 14 days
to discuss the next steps.

Yours faithfully,

[R0b]

Hi

Complete rubbish from Santander, they do like to come up with a range of new excused from time to time. Did they explain why the notice was unsuitable (I'm guessing not)?

You could simply reply along the lines of the below, but feel free to tweak as you wish:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am responding to your email of [date] whereby you rejected my voluntary termination notice as unsuitable, but failed to give any reasons why the termination letter was deemed unsuitable. As a reminder, section 99(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 provides me with the right to terminate the agreement at any time before the final payment becomes due, by giving notice to Santander. The Word "notice" is defined in section 189 of the Act as in writing.

My notice of termination was sent to Santander by email, which was in writing and as such, I have satisfied the notice requirement on 4 March 2024. As far as I am concerned, the agreement terminated on 4 March 2024. Please therefore process the termination and contact me to discuss collection of the vehicle, otherwise if you do not agree, please treat this email as a formal complaint, which I expect a full response from Santander as to why my termination letter did not meet the requirements of section 99(1) of the Act.

[OPTIONAL] I will allow 7/14 days for you to respond to this email but if I have heard back from you by then to discuss collection arrangements, this email should serve as notice that you the vehicle will be deemed as trespassing and a daily charge of £20 will levied for each day the vehicle remains on my property on the basis that the vehicle is being stored.

Also bear in mind once you give notice you are no longer required to pay any more money. If next payment is due in a couple days you may want to cancel your direct debt. This is where Santander start to get arsey and threaten to damage your credit file, which they did to me when I had a HP agreement with them but I sued and they settled in the end. Just take that in mind but you shouldn't really be paying them any more beyond the notice of termination as it's not due.

[Riggy42]

Thanks rob,
I've replied with their "requested" phrase just to get it moving as it's been over two weeks since I initially terminated, but going to phone them in the morning and ask why my initial letter was unsuitable , I suspect it's just to buy time to get another payment out of me not that they will confirm that of course .
Also I spoke to an advisor on there live chat who stated that any money they take after VT would be refunded, just wish I'd screenshot that.
I'll report back tomorrow .

[R0b]

Assuming you have a direct debit, you can always use the direct debit guarantee scheme and seek a refund. Obviously if this drags on and the longer you leave it the more difficult the bank will agree to refund without proof.

Let us know how it goes and if you have any issues.

[Riggy42]

Ok so woke to an email this morning asking me to phone them despite the last email saying they would phone me , freephone number so ok , 15 mins waiting got through to a rather nice chap who explained the process of termination and everything I might be liable for , standard fare alloys , paintwork mechanical etc all within the bounds of fare wear and tear , he did mention the BVRLA guidlines.
All good, said I could drop vehicle off to local collection company or have them come pick it up for £70 chose to have them collect they will then do an onsite examination of the vehicle,
I mentioned above my next payment is due on the 21st he said to cancel the DD as I am no longer required to pay anymore money , I would get a letter saying Ive missed a payment but he said to ignore this and they would sort it their end as its too close to the payment date to stop the letter going out but assured me I would not be blackmarked on credit score for missed payment (we,ll see).
Next step is vehicle would go to auction then once sold I would then be billed for any damages as recorded when vehicle was picked up, dont know why they wait till then but thats what he said .
As for my original email requesting VT being not suitable he said due the legalities of voluntary termination they require customers to state exactly "I would like to voluntary terminate my finance agreement" and supply agreement number or reg plate and nothing else as its a legal process they need this exact phrase , wether thats right or wrong who knows but the guy was pretty decent to be fair , although we,ll see how the next phase goes picking up the car , that could be another story .
timescale he reckoned 1-2 weeks to arrange pick up.
I,ll report back when this happens.

[R0b]

Voluntary Termination is a simple phrase that was coined to explain that a consumer was exercising their right to terminate the agreement of their own will under section 99(1). The phrase doesn't exist in the legislation so the explanation given by the customer service rep is wrong as it is not a legal requirement to stat you are writing to voluntarily terminate the agreement, your previous letter said as much when you referenced 99(1)!

Anyway, that's irrelevant now since you have moved past that stage, the collection fee is not something you are responsible for but if you have agreed then you will have to stump up.

You may want to revert back to the guidance where I talk about vehicle collection and taking photos of your own in the meantime.

[Riggy42]

Thanks Rob
Yeah I'll ensure to take plenty pictures and video and sign nothing unless it's favourable to me of course.

[jojopa]

Hi, New to this I'm looking for advice please on close brothers finance voluntary termination on motorbike. Paid £1,000 deposit on motorbike and my agreement ends in November 9 months left i owe £4,000 on finance, all payments up to date never missed all MOts etc brand new tyres on my advice is my husband had a accident at work and had finders amputated dominant hand and has no grip so he's been told he cant ride his bike, we don't have the money to pay the outstanding finance. We have a small dent in the tank but hasn't cause any paint to come off that it. everything else is fine. so we are looking at this and have been told what ever the bike goes at auction doesn't matter and we aren't liable if it sells for under what's left on the finance we may only be liable for any costs if its out of the wear and tear situation but to me this seems are best option as if they come back with a 500 bill for repairs im sure i could get that or she said we could pay for these monthly. looking for advice or if anyone has been successful for VT

[Riggy42]

So update
today nice chap from vehicle recovery company arrived checked over the car found no faults at all so after thoroughly checking the small print and getting copies I was happy to sign .
Cars now away so just waiting on Santander coming back to me.
Only info I got from guy was a copy of the charges made by Santander for damages , I'll attach it below , seems fair enough.
And he also noted that if the charges amounted to less than a certain amount they wouldn't chase you for them as it's not worth their while , what that amount is , is anyone's guess.
so I'll update again once Santander have got back to me.

[Riggy42]

Santander got back to me approx a week later , cars all good only fee is the £70 collection fee and im all done , relatively simple process , think as long as your car is in good condition and not over the miles allowed then you should be fine.
thank you to legal beagles for the advice and the use of your templates,