At what point can a finance company pass VT excess mileage on to a debt collector

[R0b]

Re: At what point can a finance company pass VT excess mileage on to a debt collector

1. Correspondence would be to Link Financial if they have been instructed to act on behalf, but any proceedings brought would have to be in the name of Asset Link Capital (No.5)

2. I would wait for them to contact you and see what they say about it, they might call you and harass you over the telephone but I would politely remind them that you will only correspond in writing, and if they continue to call you by telephone then you will consider a claim for harassment. It is well within your rights to refuse to talk by telephone and withdraw your consent to them contacting you by telephone.

3. Other than the fact they ignored your letter, I don't think there is much more you can do to respond to Ford if they have passed the debt on, though if there are any default markers applied by them they should be removed immediately as they are no longer the legal creditor.

Do you still have a copy of the agreement? If so keep a tight hold of that as you may need it, if not perhaps a request from Ford to send you a copy or alternatively you could do a SAR request to them for all information they hold on you including any notes on your file and letters sent and received concerning your account, bearing in mind it can take up to 40 days

[Deakus]

I would like to come back to this post firstly for an update, I know there are lots of people out there facing excess mileage charges and some will be on voluntary terminations.

Secondly I would like some guidance.

Without going over the whole post in mid 2016 I handed back a Ford Focus under a voluntary termination with Ford Finance. They collected the car, noted the mileage and confirmed it was in good condition. Job done you may have thought. I later received a bill for £1400 excess mileage costs.

I dispute this debt at length in writing with Ford. First they claimed they could charge me under their terms and conditions. I pointed out that their terms and conditions could not override legislation and that under the consumer credit act the account was up to date when I terminated and as such there was nothing further to pay,

Ford then tried to claim that because of the excess mileage (it was on 42000 miles) the car had been kept in an unreasonable condition until I pointed out that first the car had a 60000 mile warranty and secondly on the handover slip they had marked the car as in "good" condition.

Ford then handed the matter over to Link Financial to recover the disputed debt.

Lin have reviewed the documentation, the dispute, gone back to Ford who have not written it off and we appear to be in limbo. I would be happy to defend myself in court but no-one is taking me to court (I suspect there are easier cases to deal with and this goes in to the "too hard to collect on now" pile). Periodically I get a text message from Link Financial telling me to call them and each time I get asked to set up a payment plan. I state that the debt does not exist, that I dispute and refuse. They then spend a few minutes reviewing some of the paper work and tell me a manager will call me.

They never do.

Link have my correct phone details and address. I receive nothing in writing and just a text every 3 months or so. This has now been 2yrs since I handed the car back.

I would happily sit back, let the 6yr deadline pass and wait for them to either prosecute or write off the debt however there is now a fly in the ointment.

I am emigrating to Australia in November and really want to understand what my position is. Ideally I would like this sorted by then. I believe I have been patient and they have not made any effort to resolve the dispute. I believe Link is a collection agency and guess that it is for Ford to write the debt off?

My questions are:

1. What is the ongoing role of Link and Ford. Link are collection agents but who writes off the debt?
2. Although they have 6yrs until the debt is no longer enforceable are they obliged to be "progressing" matters. If I have given them reasonable time (18 months) and notify them of my leaving the country to what extent am I exposed to future proceedings that I do not become aware of?
3. Should I contact them, put them on notice?

They have not marked my credit file to date and wish to prevent them from doing so.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

I will be happy to answer any questions. All communication with Link these days is them sending me random texts and me calling them. Then nothing ever happens. I have complained about this. Deaf ears as you might expect.

[Deakus]

I am going to start a new post on this, primarily because the issues/questions have changed now that the process has moved on from debt collection agency to the stalemate I find myself in.

I will link back to this post in the new one for those who want to follow the whole story from start to finish.