Volentery Termination Problem

[Angh]

Hi thanks for reading

I am having trouble with a finaince company CLS Finaince

took out a hp on a car 20 months ago and am unable to pay anymore due to lose of income i am £800 short of the 50% mark , i have send in proof of lose of income and asked for vt to return the car
have sent template letters form this site and am getting nowhere. i have explaned i can repay the owing by lower payments after car has gone

there replay

Mr & Mrs XXXXXXXX

Thank you for your email and the documents you have attached

Section 99 does not explicitly say the payment must be made before terminating... but it also does not say that it that it doesn’t so therefore is open to interpretation

What is correct is that in order to Voluntary Terminate you need to have paid half the total amount payable

Now of course, yes you can return the car to us

But in order for us to make a decision on a reasonable monthly repayment until you have reached the halfway mark

We need to have the Common Financial Statement sent back to us along with the requested supporting documents.

Otherwise we will expect your contractual monthly payment to be paid to us until you have reached the halfway mark.

Have you purchased another vehicle?


Kind Regards,

Richard
CLS Finance


my payment is due tomorrow and have no way to make there payment at the moment.. any help please

[R0b]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

Hello,

Depends what you want to do. Yes it is silent on the question under s.99 but when you read section 100(1) it also goes on to say the following:

"Where a regulated hire-purchase or regulated conditional sale agreement is terminated under section 99 the debtor shall be liable ... "

The above would imply that following termination you are liable to pay 50% if you have not already paid it. So I think it is quite safe to say that there is no need to pay before you terminate - If Parliament intended the debtor to have paid 50% before terminating then they would have qualified it in the legislation but they didn't and so it could not have been intended.

For a little bit of background, the purpose of sections 99 & 100 was to protect the debtor in the event that should they have difficulties in keeping up with the payments, they could terminate early and, to enable the creditor to recover its losses (or make a small profit), they would be entitled to the return of the goods plus 50% of the total price payable. Back in the day, debtors may have invoked this right and come to an agreement to repay the terms because they could simply no longer afford to make the monthly instalments or pay a lump sum of the remaining balance that makes up the 50%.

The choice is yours as to whether you want to cancel the DD but either way you should raise a formal complaint about this and then follow up with a complaint to the Ombudsman. Or you can carry on the payments.

[Angh]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

Ok thank you I can not afford to pay installments and struggling to keep car on the road. How do i go about making this complaint please?

[Angh]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

I have sent CLS a letter of complaint given them 7 days to reply with where to send car back to if not I will make official complaint in writing to Ombudsman as vehicle terminated and back to them under section 100 (1).

Let's see what happens now.

ps how do I contact Ombudsman

[R0b]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

You should set out your complaint in a more formal way than just a couple of lines, explaining why you do not need to pay 50% up front. If you make that payment, don't expect to be able to recover the sums you have paid during the complaint process - your likely going to have to go to court to recover that and it is not guaranteed to get your money back - even then it might not be worth the money.

Before you complain to the Ombudsman you need to allow them 8 weeks from the date of the complaint, its not a straight forward process.

[Angh]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

Ok I have cancelled standing order as can't afford it anyway but I have stated if not heard from them in 7 days will complain to Ombudsman I want to scare them a bit as they are us. I do intend to re play up to the 50% once they have car back in affordable installment.

[Angh]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

Ok I have cancelled standing order as can't afford it anyway but I have stated if not heard from them in 7 days will complain to Ombudsman I want to scare them a bit as they are us. I do intend to re play up to the 50% once they have car back in affordable installment.

Got this now:


Yes you are entitled to Voluntary Terminate your car loan agreement

The issue here is the amount required in order for you to reach the halfway point.

We expect that payment being made to us immediately

We understand you cannot do that

We are not obliged to accept a reduced payment until you have reached that point

We sent you the Common Financial Statement to assess your financial situation and then we are able to make a reasonable decision (I sent this they claim never received).

Until you send this information back to us, we cannot make a decision.

If you do not send it back to us then we will accept for you to VT the car and pay your monthly contractual payments each month until you have reached the halfway point.

[R0b]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

Bit busy at the moment but i'll answer this when I am on the train soon

[Tazin8or]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

I have sent CLS a letter of complaint given them 7 days to reply with where to send car back to if not I will make official complaint in writing to Ombudsman as vehicle terminated and back to them under section 100 (1).

Let's see what happens now.

ps how do I contact Ombudsman

Ok I think you have done the right thing

[Tazin8or]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

I have sent CLS a letter of complaint given them 7 days to reply with where to send car back to if not I will make official complaint in writing to Ombudsman as vehicle terminated and back to them under section 100 (1).

Let's see what happens now.

ps how do I contact Ombudsman

I really for you

[Angh]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

Received this earlier are they starting to change?

The cover letter that was sent with the Common Financial Statement advises you to send the form back recorded delivery

So do you have the recorded delivery number?

It also advises you to keep a copy for your own records, so you could photocopy them and send via email

The car needs to be taken back to the branch where you got the car from and then sign the VT document upon returning the vehicle along with the V5 document and MOT

We need to know a date and time you will be doing this in order to arrange with the branch manager.

However your repayments are not on hold and I can see your monthly payment will be due tomorrow.

Unless we receive back the Common Financial Statement to assess and come to a reasonable arrangement with you, you will need to pay this in full and on time


I never sent in that financial statement as it none of their business.

[R0b]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

They seem to be contradicting themselves here, first they say that you can't VT unless you have paid now they are saying you can VT but they want payment immediately.

You need to stop rushing into sending emails back and forth and sit back and actually think about what you want to say.

As I have already pointed out, they cannot refuse to accept your VT - once you VT there is no going back you can't just 'undo' it. Technically, yes they are entitled to payment but it would be extremely unreasonable for them to expect you to pay for the remaining balance in a single lump sum especially when they know you are having financial difficulties. However it is possible that the way they are acting and exercising their rights could fall foul of s.140A of the CCA (unfair relationship).

Equally, they are regulated by the FCA and there are certain rules which they are legally obliged to follow. The CONC handbook under rule 7.3 refers to the treatment of customers and ensuring that treatment is done fairly who owe debt or are in arrears. The following rules are relevant:

7.3.6
Where a customer is in default or in arrears difficulties, a firm should allow the customer reasonable time and opportunity to repay the debt.

7.3.9
A firm must not operate a policy of refusing to negotiate with a customer who is developing a repayment plan.

7.3.10
A firm must not pressurise a customer:
(1) to pay a debt in one single or very few repayments or in unreasonably large amounts, when to do so would have an adverse impact on the customer's financial circumstances;

(2) to pay a debt within an unreasonably short period of time;

You are not obliged to send any post by recorded delivery, first class is sufficient provided you keep proof of postage receipt from the post office to prove you sent it to them.

You are also not obliged to return the car back to them but if it is local then you might want to consider it to get rid of it there and then. If you consider it too far you can refuse to collect it as it puts additional cost on your for which you are not liable for.

You need to consider offering a reasonable sum of money to repay the amount. £1 per month is not a reasonable amount if you can afford more because the length of time to pay would be considered very unreasonable. Do an income and expenditure yourself and work out realistically what you can afford - put it to them and see what they say. You only need to pay £800 which is not too much and if possible it would not be unreasonable to repay that over a 2/3 year period if you are really struggling. If they refuse then ask them why they feel it is unreasonable.

Though you are not required to provide them with an income/expenditure report it could be seen as unreasonable so you need to try and offer them something worth their while.

I would suggest you have a read of the above, cobble something together and make it formal and also reiterate that you have initiated their formal complaints procedure, they have 8 weeks and you expect them to fully comply by carrying out an investigation and providing you with a final decision. If they fail to do so or you are not satisfied with their response, you can take it further to the Financial Ombudsman.

If you want your response looked over, post it up before sending.

[Angh]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

Ok thanks Rob. I have offered to pay £75 a month to pay off up to 50% plus any other fees etc, however to do so I need to cancel insurance to free up money so need car gone as parked on road.

The next payment is due to them tomorrow which they not going to get so guess I will get threatened over that.

[Angh]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

had another email tonight
..............................................

Mr & Mrs Hart

This is the final time I will respond to your emails, if you have any other queries please call the office on 0161 379 0300

If you need to please use a payphone and reverse the charges to us.

We will not accept a reduced payment without you providing us with the completed Common Financial Statement to assess

Your payments are not on hold

Yes you can return the car – we need to know specific time and date to arrange with the branch manager

I suggest you urgently seek some independent legal advice


Regards,

Richard
CLS Finance

[R0b]

Re: Volentery Termination Problem

So what email did you send to them to provoke that response?