Thread: Help, Van Repossesion And Debt Collectors

CALLING INTERNATIONAL RESCUE

I've got a van on lease purchase , from CVF Vehicle Finance who i'm sure are not playing ball. Had a bad spell with work and fell behind on a payment here and there , just missing payment dates . Made no difference though the charges came flying through my letterbox.

Bounced direct debit fee £40.25
Arrears letter fee £46.00
Arrears admin fee £74.75
Letter Fee £63.25
Repo admin Fee £115.00
Repo Agent Fee £230.00
Visa Fee £4.99

Apart from the repo fee's , i cop for all other charges every time i've been late with a payment . OVER £200 for missing a payment. WOWW
Then you get a letter saying that any payments received go towards paying off arrears before the monthly payment , trying to catch up is like chasing roadrunner beep beep.
Iknow i'm at fault for not making payments on time but surely these charges cannot be right
In November i had J P debt collectors post a card through my letterbox that just said ring this number to avoid further charges . I rang the following day ( Thursday ) , no answer , but left a message , they didnt phone back until Monday and said that the charges had gone up from just under £500.00 to £1640. He told me the van was out for repo and thats it , dont bother hiding the van just hand it back, its to late now. I phoned CVF and asked them to work with each other and they came back and said
£1242.00 was the least they would take. ended up paying it. £750 in charges from thursday to Monday. Ive been all through the forum picking up advice and looked at my contract and Consumer Credit Act and think there are a few issuse to fight back. But would really love some encouragement as to whether i can get them on
Unfair relationship
Extortionate Charges
Breaking ordinary Principles of fair dealing
Unenforceable regulated agreements
Plus probably some others ,
Could go on , but i would really appreciate some help
I've got another thread on over bank charges , and one to go on for Rossendales bailiffs over Council Tax. so as you can see , i'm spread out a little thin at the moment, but need to work on all three together. Fingers crossed
Thanks in advance

Oddball / Steve

3 more payments and thats half way through , so nearly 50% , the debt collectors are called jp collections . I have tried to find an address from the internet but nothing . Only a mobile number on the card, makes me think they are an in house, part of the same crew ,all working together which if they are ,to me would show manipulation of the situation and ties them together.

If you have paid more than one third of the payments, they cannot repossess your van without a court order. Do you know if those repo fees include the Court costs, or are they just plucking figures out of the air?

What makes you think your agreement is unenforceable?

Send JP debt collectors a CCA request and include £1 postal order. You should be able to find the template letter on this site.
Add the words in bold capitals [bold]ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE [/bold].
That will stop any further problems with them until the agreement is sent to you.

When the debt collector posted a card through the letterbox with the message on it there were no mention of amounts or a break down of charges . Before i send any letters of dispute i'm going to try and get them recorded with proof of the situations , so they don't just close up and can deny what what has been said verbally.If so , I have had nothing in writing showing any costs or any mention of Court proceedings from either the van company , a court or debt collector . Only a verball amount over the phone of £1640. So with a balance owing in arrears of less than £500 , the charges they were asking for added to approx £1140 with nothing in writing of how they were calculated , only after i asked the finance company to speak to the debt collector did they reduce it to £1240, i was never given a breakdown of the £1240 and when i phoned there office i was told that i was 3 months behind in payments and the remainder was letter charges . I told him that i was not 3 months behind and to send me proof . He told me if i wanted it in writing i had to write in , which i did.
Originally 1 payment in arrears , i needed to pay the company by the friday,or it would have gone to 2 payments in arrears, i contacted the collector to pay on the Thursday with no responce and no reply. They were asked to phone me back so that i could make payment. But did'nt. It was on the phone the following Monday that i spoke to the collector who said the guy i tried to speak to was off a couple of days with being ill and because the payment was not received on the Friday thats why the charges were added. What a load of bull, The finance company advice was that i have to deal with the debt collectors because it has gone to repo, ( no infomation given to me )they post a card , i try and make contact to pay and they dont reply .I dont have any other contact number or address so am stuffed. Or maybe the collectors think, oh yeh if we ignore till Monday then we can really stitch this guy up and screw him .
When i recieved an Email with breakdown of £1240 it shows 2 payment ( because i was unable to make payment )and the rest in fees for collectors and admin fees only. No court costs or mention of Court . Approx £750 total in charges .
As for unenforceable agreement ,
when i looked at original agreement it should have been recieived back to me within 7 days . It was signed on 11 feb and had there letter date on documents of 29 feb. Also i noticed it was faxed dated internally with 26 feb but signed and dated 28 of feb, so how can a document be signed by them and on the 28 feb but have a fax date on copy of form with signature of the 26 feb.
The wording in the document is barely legible and i have to use a magnifying glass to read it , the wording is that bad some of it you cannot make out.
Payments of arrears say on contract that they have to be paid immediately, Thats all. But in there letter it states that they have to be paid immediately but also any payments should reduce arrears 1st and then to any payment.
These are just a couple of areas where they might be out of order enough for me to have a go back at them.
I am in no way trying to take them for a ride . I have had a bad run with work and got into finacial difficulty , i dont expect to not be penalised for being late with a repayment , but expect to be treated fair and to pay a fair charge. Not to be screwed every way . As i see it if they can get the van off me then they will make a fortune on top by me paying additional charges for admin , auction costs , collection and selling costs etc etc as well as the full balance left on the agreement.
When i know i'm right , i won't give up until i'm proved right. I will carry on going through CCA and indications show quite a few areas where they are breaking the act but it's hard to interpret , but learnfast. Obviously having come across this forum its shows that a mass of people in similar situations working together is far better than working alone and actually gives you a feeling of being able to stand up and not to be afraid .
If a Company is regulated on how they should act, and fail , i want it to work back in my favour to help get back on track.
If anyone could spare some time on how to word a letter to the finance company and Debt Collectors i would appreciate it ,
Thanks again
steve.

Just to add, there is no address on the DC card on main phone number so have no idea where they are based , i will use that as an excuse to speak to them and see if its inhouse with the finance company and get there address.

Thanks for the reply , i just looked on the link and it has some good advice and links . I will follow it up as you mention and take it further .

I'm still going to try and get some recordings of them ,pretty sure i will get something on tape which might help later on.
As soon as i get a responce i will update ,
If anyone can shed some light on any other points i mentioned , that would be great.
The more ways to fight them , the better.
Thanks again..

Hi , martin
Thanks for the reply , apologise if i have confused the situation in my wording, but i have not given the van back and am reluctant to do so.
I can see where lookingforinfo is coming from though, it's a case of wishing i knew then , what i know now.
I have got a lack of understanding on the way finance companies and debt collectors operate , but have really started to realise what a bunch of tos...s they really are.
I have downloaded and copied at least a hundred pages from acts of law covering a lot of areas , it's like revising for an exam, i've practically not spoke to the wife for 3 days ,she thinks i'm having an affair with the laptop

Thanks again

Just to add on Martin , after looking at section 32c ,MALICIOUS FALSEHOOD
ammunition for complaint against the debt collectors , they were taking advantage of my ignorance as you say, and if i had just given it up , i would have been knackered as well , unable to work and at a big financial loss to the finance company.
There is no way of proving what and how he said things , and there is no way he would put it in writing.
I am sure i can dangle a carrot on the phone and wind him up to be as he was on the day i spoke to him, arrogant and threatening.
Then with him acting as an agent for the finance company it throws a bad light on a massive multi national company and the way they operate.

Thanks

When you paid any of the extra charges, did you always pay in cash and did they always give you a receipt?

Hi lookinforinfo, paid in full £1240.00 with debit card , so theres a clear record of date and time etc, i got an invoice from the finance company which had no Breakdown.
It had been playing on my mind for a while before i asked ,so only managed to get the breakdown 3 days ago .

Cheers

That's good news. It would be great if you also had some sort of confirmation that JP were involved in the attempted unlawful repossession.

It's a shame that you have not got an address for them so that you could send the CCA to them. That would establish an arrangement between the two companies. Under the ACt, JP would have to pass on your enquiry.This would mean that even if you missed a payment, they would be unable to
pursue you while the agreement was being located. Don't suppose you have thought about deliberately missing the next payment in order fro them to show their hand? You are in credit with them taking the over the top charges into account.

At the same time, send CVF the SAR which should reveal the relationship between them and the debt collector.

I think you should also complain to Trading Standards after sending off both
requests.

Hi, JP were the one who told me it was out for repo on the Monday,CVF did not even bother to inform me , which in my eyes show that they instigated it ,and JP are just there puppets and are just acting on instructions. There is collaberation between the two of them because of the reduction in charges , so it shows they were acting together to rip me of .
I guarantee i will get both parties recorded with admissions of what was said on the day. CVF have already accepted there was a repo in action because it has been listed as a charge in the Breakdown of payments.
I will get the address for JP and do as you say with the SAR'S.
Once JP are on record agreeing to what and how they spoke .
That takes JPto another level with what Martin3030 said.
I followed his advice looked in the Limitations Act and that led me to look at Malicious Falsehood . I went onto UK Statute Law Database and under the Telecommunications Act ( C.27 (1) ) electronic communications
albeit verbal means JP are up sh_t creek. So it looks like it could all build up very nicely . I will also go to Trading standards as you say.
Another question for you if dont mind . In one of the previous posts i mentioned that all there charges for letters charged VAT in the total figure. It seems strange to me that they can charge for a letter . If it is wrong , which i hope i can get them through the VAT laws for FRAUD , i think.
Thanks again lookinforinfo.

Well, if you already have them admitting that they have instigated repo action
then you are virtually home and dry.

Have you read this-
Late Payment Penalties in the UK
it should help you.
However if they included the vat in their vat returns it might not be fraud-just an error.