car finance

[santamonica]

I bought a car on hire purchase car finance in 2000. After losing my job in 2001 I fell behind with the repayments. The company took me to court and I received a court income/expenditure form which showed I could afford £175 per month (original agreement was £21.

I got a reply saying the company wouldn't accept this because of the arrears and a court date was fixed for me to appear. The thought of going to court terrified me and I panicked, phoned the company and offered to pay £275 monthly.

I couldn't afford this, and still can't, which has resulted in the payments being somewhat erractic. Normally I pay the 275 every 2 months but have occasionally paid £350. The outstanding balance is now £2899, including charges, down from £12000.

The question is how do I find out if they got a judgement against me, they said they were still going for this. I never heard anything from the court and it's not on my credit file.

Can they still came and take the car? I keep imagining walking down to the carpark one morning and the car not being there.

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[natalie]

They cant just take the car, you would have received a letter from the court if they had a judgement against you and it would be on your creditfile.

Data Protection Act them, get those charges back!

Natalie

[Robertxc]

If they got a judgement against you and you didn't know about it, you can have it set aside. This is actually quite straight forward and I've been told by a Sheriff before that in practice, they almost always grant an an application to have a case set aside (technically called a 'Minute Of Recall), if there is any question that the defender wasn't aware of it. HOWEVER, if they can prove that they sent you a copy of the original decree, then you're probably screwed.

Natalie is probably right when she says they can't just take the car, but on the other hand, if they can show that you haven't honoured your end of the deal they might be able to. You should contact your local Citizens Advice Beurau for guidance.

You should absolutely go back and do a Data Protection Act request on the lender to see how much you've been charged, because you'll need to deduct this plus interest from the final bill.

Good luck, and don't forget to keep us updated.

	County Court guidebook by Judge Patricia Pearl Follow this link to read the review of this excellent Small Claims Guidebook. This comprehensive and very accessible guide will take you through the process of suing or defending a claim. This guide will help you take control of your litigation and make you more confident about doing it yourself. Applies to England and Wales

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[casbah]

Hi
I have a similar problem, I purchased a car on finance, the company went bust. Part of the agreement was that after I had paid 50% of the repayments I could return the car and owe nothing. When I requested to do this I was told that I still had "insurances" to pay. i.e. ppp. I have my car serviced reqularly and mentioned this to my mechanic, who believed the company could not do this, the outstanding amount on the "insurances" is about £2,000. The contract is due to finish in November this year and of course, my car isn't worth anywhere near what I have paid for it! Any suggestions???