Tweet
Hi
This is a bit of a long story so thanks to anyone who gets to the end and can help with their comments.
In August 2007 I took out a credit agreement for the purchase of a car through Welcome Finance for approx. £20,000 (including PPI, shortfall, initial loan etc.).
In November 2008 my contract expired (up until this point I was up to date with all of my payments) and so in January 2009 I requested to invoke the PPI cover. At this time I was told that, as I was a contractor, this would not apply to me so therefore I cancelled it in Jan 2009 (which would provide a rebate of £850). At this time I then took out a personal loan with them in Jan 2009 for a period of 4 years. – This has been paid back in full 1 year early and is now cleared.
In May 2009 I voluntary terminated the agreement at which point I received a letter stating that ‘Following termination of the agreement, your liability is £3300 of which £1000 arrears + £2300 for PPI insurance. Please note that this letter states that ‘Following termination of the agreement’
4 days after receiving the liability letter I then received a letter stating that they were the legal owners and that all ‘notices under section 87(1) of the consumer credit act had been served’. I assumed that this was just for their collection agents and did nothing waiting for them to collect the car. After reading up more on this section I thought that this was to do with default notices so that they can enforce full collection of the amount and the goods but as you can see there was no DN issued at this time and the account was fairly up to date with no late markers or any other letters. I also noticed that the PPI insurance had not been cancelled as I requested in Jan 2009 and the rebate on this had reduced to £740.
In mid-September 2009 I then started to get visits and calls from the local branch chasing collection of the liability. This was approx. £1000 when I voluntary terminated the agreement this was now £1600 so it seems that they did not cancel the agreement and were applying the same monthly charges as before the agreement was terminated. (I didn’t think that they could reinitiate the agreement after they have sent a letter accepting termination). I then received another home visit at the end of September asking for approx. £1600+. I then received another home visit from their collection agent in October 2009 where the amount was now £2000 – the initial outstanding plus that month’s payment. I then received another one in December 2009 for near £3000.
In between these vests I received a Default Notice in November 2009, stating that I had to clear the outstanding balance within 14 days. This also showed a rebate on the PPI which was now even further reduced from the rebate that I should have received of £850 and was now £400.
In a separate letter they have indicated that they issued another Default Notice in Feb 2010 but I know nothing of this so have requested the details of this.
In March 2010 I received another Default Notice with an even further reduced amount of the PPI rebate which was now £200 continuing to show that the PPI was still in effect at this time and almost £650 less than it should have been.
In March 2010 I then started to receive letters from DCA’s (which I then assumed meant that the account had been terminated form their side). These went on until Nov 2011 with veiled threats of doorstep visits, court action, attachment of earnings etc. But nothing materialised. I did contact each of them and ask that they initiate Court Proceedings against me just so that I could put forward my version of events, but sadly nothing.
During all of this time I was writing letters to them asking to collect the vehicle and why they had issued a Default Notice against me and was told that it was my fault that they had not collected the vehicle as they were unable to contact me (dismissible as I have letters which in fact state that they have attempted to collect the liability and not the vehicle) which is even more unbelievable as in the time that they said that they were unable to contact me, I was in regular contact with the same branch making accelerated payments on the loan to pay that off quicker so it makes a mockery of them saying that them could not contact me.
When I did speak to someone after the Default Notice I was told that I could not voluntary terminate the agreement but could surrender the vehicle but that I would have to pay the full amount outstanding. When I contested that they never attempted to collect it they said they did and the law was on their side as they had it noted that they sent out letters. I said that these letters were cash collection letters and no one contacted me about the car but it was useless.
I then wrote another letter complaining that about their various practices and requesting information as to why they had failed to collect the vehicle and all of the other issues listed above.
As expected they replied dismissing most of my claims. However one of the notable sections of their response was a section where they had stated that they had re-examined my account and have reimbursed £140~ of which £100+ they admitted in their own words are 'reimbursement of fees that they have deemed to be unjustified ' and £40 of the fees that are over £12 that the OfT considers to be justified.
I should also add that in Sept 2009 Welcome started to mark my Credit Record with payments late even though it was going through voluntary termination and to this date even though the agreement has ended they still mark it as 6 months.
I am not trying to get out what I owe, I took out an agreement knowing full well what the terms were and I understand I have a responsibility to repay according to the agreement.
What I am unsure about and can’t believe that they can get away is that they have failed to collect the car, are unable to produce any evidence as such and I am in the position where my excellent credit record has been trashed, it seems that if you voluntary terminate the agreement, they can refuse to collect issue a Default Notice and then you are stuck and there is no law to stop them doing this.
So I would like any advice as to what I can do, I believe there are some case laws regarding defective default notices etc. or even how to get Welcome to acknowledge that they have failed to carry out their duty whilst I suffer the consequence.
Thanks
This is a bit of a long story so thanks to anyone who gets to the end and can help with their comments.
In August 2007 I took out a credit agreement for the purchase of a car through Welcome Finance for approx. £20,000 (including PPI, shortfall, initial loan etc.).
In November 2008 my contract expired (up until this point I was up to date with all of my payments) and so in January 2009 I requested to invoke the PPI cover. At this time I was told that, as I was a contractor, this would not apply to me so therefore I cancelled it in Jan 2009 (which would provide a rebate of £850). At this time I then took out a personal loan with them in Jan 2009 for a period of 4 years. – This has been paid back in full 1 year early and is now cleared.
In May 2009 I voluntary terminated the agreement at which point I received a letter stating that ‘Following termination of the agreement, your liability is £3300 of which £1000 arrears + £2300 for PPI insurance. Please note that this letter states that ‘Following termination of the agreement’
4 days after receiving the liability letter I then received a letter stating that they were the legal owners and that all ‘notices under section 87(1) of the consumer credit act had been served’. I assumed that this was just for their collection agents and did nothing waiting for them to collect the car. After reading up more on this section I thought that this was to do with default notices so that they can enforce full collection of the amount and the goods but as you can see there was no DN issued at this time and the account was fairly up to date with no late markers or any other letters. I also noticed that the PPI insurance had not been cancelled as I requested in Jan 2009 and the rebate on this had reduced to £740.
In mid-September 2009 I then started to get visits and calls from the local branch chasing collection of the liability. This was approx. £1000 when I voluntary terminated the agreement this was now £1600 so it seems that they did not cancel the agreement and were applying the same monthly charges as before the agreement was terminated. (I didn’t think that they could reinitiate the agreement after they have sent a letter accepting termination). I then received another home visit at the end of September asking for approx. £1600+. I then received another home visit from their collection agent in October 2009 where the amount was now £2000 – the initial outstanding plus that month’s payment. I then received another one in December 2009 for near £3000.
In between these vests I received a Default Notice in November 2009, stating that I had to clear the outstanding balance within 14 days. This also showed a rebate on the PPI which was now even further reduced from the rebate that I should have received of £850 and was now £400.
In a separate letter they have indicated that they issued another Default Notice in Feb 2010 but I know nothing of this so have requested the details of this.
In March 2010 I received another Default Notice with an even further reduced amount of the PPI rebate which was now £200 continuing to show that the PPI was still in effect at this time and almost £650 less than it should have been.
In March 2010 I then started to receive letters from DCA’s (which I then assumed meant that the account had been terminated form their side). These went on until Nov 2011 with veiled threats of doorstep visits, court action, attachment of earnings etc. But nothing materialised. I did contact each of them and ask that they initiate Court Proceedings against me just so that I could put forward my version of events, but sadly nothing.
During all of this time I was writing letters to them asking to collect the vehicle and why they had issued a Default Notice against me and was told that it was my fault that they had not collected the vehicle as they were unable to contact me (dismissible as I have letters which in fact state that they have attempted to collect the liability and not the vehicle) which is even more unbelievable as in the time that they said that they were unable to contact me, I was in regular contact with the same branch making accelerated payments on the loan to pay that off quicker so it makes a mockery of them saying that them could not contact me.
When I did speak to someone after the Default Notice I was told that I could not voluntary terminate the agreement but could surrender the vehicle but that I would have to pay the full amount outstanding. When I contested that they never attempted to collect it they said they did and the law was on their side as they had it noted that they sent out letters. I said that these letters were cash collection letters and no one contacted me about the car but it was useless.
I then wrote another letter complaining that about their various practices and requesting information as to why they had failed to collect the vehicle and all of the other issues listed above.
As expected they replied dismissing most of my claims. However one of the notable sections of their response was a section where they had stated that they had re-examined my account and have reimbursed £140~ of which £100+ they admitted in their own words are 'reimbursement of fees that they have deemed to be unjustified ' and £40 of the fees that are over £12 that the OfT considers to be justified.
I should also add that in Sept 2009 Welcome started to mark my Credit Record with payments late even though it was going through voluntary termination and to this date even though the agreement has ended they still mark it as 6 months.
I am not trying to get out what I owe, I took out an agreement knowing full well what the terms were and I understand I have a responsibility to repay according to the agreement.
What I am unsure about and can’t believe that they can get away is that they have failed to collect the car, are unable to produce any evidence as such and I am in the position where my excellent credit record has been trashed, it seems that if you voluntary terminate the agreement, they can refuse to collect issue a Default Notice and then you are stuck and there is no law to stop them doing this.
So I would like any advice as to what I can do, I believe there are some case laws regarding defective default notices etc. or even how to get Welcome to acknowledge that they have failed to carry out their duty whilst I suffer the consequence.
Thanks
Comment