BMW Financial Services - Voluntary Termination/Excess Mileage

[stuckcluckets]

Re: BMW Financial Services - Voluntary Termination/Excess Mileage

Just a quick update. I called the ICO on Monday of this week (23/10/2017) who informed me that they have received my email (containing my letter and associated attachments) and that it will soon be assigned to a case manager. They advised me to call back in a week or so, by which point it should have been assigned and they should be able to provide me with the case reference number.

Unfortunately though, they also informed me that there is a very large volume of cases being handled at present, resulting in the average waiting time being 3 months or more. Bit of a pain, as this means I'm likely to have to wait this length of time before there's any sign of a correction being applied to my credit file, but what can you do.

For anyone who requires it, please see attached a redacted copy of the letter that I sent to the ICO. I amended the template supplied by R0b to suit my situation specifically, so if you intend to use it, I suggest having a good read through it to ensure that the prose is accurate when used to describe your claim. Fill in the areas marked in brackets of course.

[stuckcluckets]

Re: BMW Financial Services - Voluntary Termination/Excess Mileage

If the VT letter suggests that liability is terminated and that your liability is zero, you should use that as part of your evidence to the ICO.

I recall sometime last year maybe that a person on here attempted to take on BMW where they reported a default on there, but received a response from their solicitors denying any breach. I think the letter scared that person off and nothing was heard since. If the ICO doesn't work then that may be your only option in order to resolve it.

I have had success with Santander in the past but they filed inaccurate data relating to collection charges. I did issue a claim and within a matter of a week, the issue was settled for £1,300 on the grounds that Santander did not want to incur further expense. Of course your scenario is different but given that they've accepted your VT and marked it on your credit report, that would imply that the agreement is indeed terminated. You might want to take a screenshot or print out your credit report as evidence.

Just written the letter up and sent it over along with a bundle of evidence PDFs. I'll wait to hear back and see what happens! Thanks again for your advice R0b.

[R0b]

Re: BMW Financial Services - Voluntary Termination/Excess Mileage

If the VT letter suggests that liability is terminated and that your liability is zero, you should use that as part of your evidence to the ICO.

I recall sometime last year maybe that a person on here attempted to take on BMW where they reported a default on there, but received a response from their solicitors denying any breach. I think the letter scared that person off and nothing was heard since. If the ICO doesn't work then that may be your only option in order to resolve it.

I have had success with Santander in the past but they filed inaccurate data relating to collection charges. I did issue a claim and within a matter of a week, the issue was settled for £1,300 on the grounds that Santander did not want to incur further expense. Of course your scenario is different but given that they've accepted your VT and marked it on your credit report, that would imply that the agreement is indeed terminated. You might want to take a screenshot or print out your credit report as evidence.

[stuckcluckets]

Re: BMW Financial Services - Voluntary Termination/Excess Mileage

Hello,

Court is generally the way to go for this, or the alternative is to make a section 42 request under the Data Protection Act to the ICO.

I've attached an example letter, though it is quick and doesn't relate to your circumstances so you would need to adapt it to suit your needs. You can post it to the ICO or you can email the letter to them at casework@ico.org.uk

The amount on the statement of account to me would suggest that is the outstanding credit balance that needs to be paid, yet despite this they have acknowledged that the agreement was VT'd and the excess mileage charges do not form part of the credit that was provided to you at the time of entering into the agreement rather they are an alleged debt for charges/fees. By implying missed/late payments on your credit file (especially when the charges are in dispute and BMW have refused to take the matter to court) gives the impression that the balance shown relates to the credit amount, when this in fact is untrue.

Never done a section 42 so not sure if it works, so the other option after that is a claim for damages for breach of the DPA.

Thank you R0b that's brilliant.

You're absolutely right - they have acknowledged that the agreement was VT'd, I even have this in writing. Their initial documentation surrounding the VT stated that I "might" be charged for excess mileage (as you would expect them to say) though nowhere did they attempt to claim that they would add this to my agreement as an outstanding balance. The recent account statement that I've received shows clearly that they've just slapped the excess mileage charge onto my account with them as soon as I started to contest it. It's almost as if they deliberately left the account open with the exact amount (spookily) that they believe I owe for excess mileage, because they're fully aware that they have no legal right to try and invoice for me it separately. Maybe by doing it this way they feel they're more likely to be successful in bullying me into paying the charge - claiming that the account has balances outstanding would be easier to argue than a separate excess mileage invoice.

As you rightly point out however, they've shot themselves in the foot by acknowledging the voluntary termination as this serves as their confirmation that the credit amount outstanding is cleared.

I'll look at your attachment and contact the ICO. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks again.

[R0b]

Re: BMW Financial Services - Voluntary Termination/Excess Mileage

Hello,

Court is generally the way to go for this, or the alternative is to make a section 42 request under the Data Protection Act to the ICO.

I've attached an example letter, though it is quick and doesn't relate to your circumstances so you would need to adapt it to suit your needs. You can post it to the ICO or you can email the letter to them at casework@ico.org.uk

The amount on the statement of account to me would suggest that is the outstanding credit balance that needs to be paid, yet despite this they have acknowledged that the agreement was VT'd and the excess mileage charges do not form part of the credit that was provided to you at the time of entering into the agreement rather they are an alleged debt for charges/fees. By implying missed/late payments on your credit file (especially when the charges are in dispute and BMW have refused to take the matter to court) gives the impression that the balance shown relates to the credit amount, when this in fact is untrue.

Never done a section 42 so not sure if it works, so the other option after that is a claim for damages for breach of the DPA.