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Please help, repossession Santander Consumer Finance


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Hi, I have done as much research this morning as I can on this subject, and also tried to contact citizens advice but low and behold they are not open in my area today and I am really at my wits end. I was wondering whether anyone on here could give me some advice.

 

Basically my partner took out a finance agreement with Santander in May 2009 for our car, we have always made regular payments and we also have our mortgage with them which is has always been paid since Jan 2007. We moved house in September and consequently changed our bank details and in amongst the confusion of all this as well as having to deal with a toddler and being pregnant with no 2 i missed two payments ( i deal with all finances). Some of the letters went to our old address hence why it wasn't sorted quickly but eventually we rang at the end of October and made a payment of £180 which left approx £204 in arrears, the lady on the phone told us that as we have a joint account we would both need to sign a new direct debit form and that we could also enclose a cheque for the remaining balance. All was left fine....

 

On around the 5th November I had a demand letter which I just dismissed as having made the arrangement the previous week assumed that all was in hand, the following day we received the direct debit form which was signed and returned to include the cheque as requested. This was sent back within a few days.

 

In the mean time since then we have had the exact same direct debit form through the post once a week, another payment had also become due in the mean time but I also again assumed that a direct debit would be taken and the cheque would be banked, atleast within the month.

 

We have received no correspondance apart from these direct debit forms, no phone calls or nothing.

 

Then at 10 to 7 this morning (2nd December not even a month after) in the dark and snow, a man turned up saying he had been sent from santander to take the car, he had ID and insisted we owed £490, wouldnt let me reason that everything was in hand and if we owed them money, payment could be made immediately. Obviously I couldn't ring at that time of the morning because the office doesnt open until 9am. He then re-assured that it would be taken to a local compound and could be picked up when the debt was settled. We then had to empty the car of all our possessions and he towed it away.

 

We waited until 9am when the office opened and rang immeadiately to be told that they had not received the cheque or form and that it was the customers responsibility to make sure that the previous arrangement was followed through as agreed and that they didnt need to contact us further. Also that our finance agreement had been terminated and to get the car back we would have to pay the finance in full £5700 approx.

 

To be honest I am absolutely flabbergasted that they can do this, I know it is probably partly my fault for not realising the cheque hadnt been banked but I have been extremely busy preparing for new baby and christmas. Distraught is not the word to explain how I feel as it is my day to day car and we have no other vehicle that can accomodate our growing family. We tried to reason on the phone and tell them we could pay but they don't want to know and I really feel like we are being wronged!! I can't afford to pay the finance off or even buy another vehicle. Surely they should have let us know this would be happening as it would have been stopped immeadiately, i love my car :( Can anybody please advise what we should do next?

 

I have contacted a solictor who said our best bet is to negotiate with Santander, but at present they are insisting they have done the right thing and provided the best advice. It just all seems ridiculous to me.....

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Hiya, just to update, my other half was on the phone to santander for most of the day yesterday, they are point blank refusing to allow us to pay for the 2 months we owe, we have even offered to pay more than we owe but they won't even have that. We have requested a manager to ring today as apparently there were no supervisory staff in the office at the time, but as yet have heard nothing!

Today i have dug through all the letters etc i have had in the last couple of months and there is no default notice at all. I have had the same direct debit form about 6 times, but no other correspondance yet they claim to have been sending letters out to us, informing us what was going to happen.

I have also checked my other halfs credit report and is showing that we have missed two payments but there are no other entries to indicate repossession or a default notice. I don't really understand experian too well so do these two missed payments indicate a default notice or has it not been updated yet or what?

Can somebody please please help me?

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This is the personal e-mail of the boss of Santander - the CEO.

 

[email protected]

 

I would e-mail him with full details of what has happened quoting a/c numbers for both mortgage and car finance. Explain everything in full and ask if he can help as you've always been happy with Santander up until this point, and the front line operatives are doing absolutely nothing to help you resolve your situation, despite you making every effort to do so. If you have the times of phone calss and names of people you spoke to etc.... include those as well.

 

An e-mail to the CEO usually gets things moving. Keep us updated!

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also

 

the guy had no legal authority to take the car

only a bailiff can do that and a s its not been to court........

 

 

you should of said NO!

 

anyhow ....

 

go get 'em

 

not got charges or ppi on the 'loan' have you

 

and how far are you into it?

 

dx

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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also

 

the guy had no legal authority to take the car

only a bailiff can do that and a s its not been to court........

 

 

 

And you of course mention that in your e-mail to the CEO reminding him politely that his company acted totally illegally and while you don't want to take this route, hence contacting him first, if you don't get a swift and satisfactory response along with your car you will be reporting the matter to the police.

 

Might be on slightly dodgy ground with the police bit as I imagine as you're only 1 1/2 ish years into it they still technically own the car. Certainly put in the first bit though.

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also

 

the guy had no legal authority to take the car

only a bailiff can do that and a s its not been to court........

 

 

you should of said NO!

 

anyhow ....

 

go get 'em

 

not got charges or ppi on the 'loan' have you

 

and how far are you into it?

 

dx

 

To be honest at 7am I didnt know what to do!! If I had been expecting i'd have had time to research my rights. The guy left me under the impression we could get it back so in the confusion we handed the keys over :(

 

Charges meaning as in late payment charges? Most probably as we missed a couple of payments when we moved and changed bank accounts. The last time we contacted Santander to ask for DD form we paid £180 and our usual payment is £136? We took out no PPI, only gap insurance.

 

I pulled the original agreement out last night and it was taken at the end of May 2009 so we werent all that far into it really.

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It was on the drive blocked in by my other halfs van, so there was no way he could have taken it without permission. I am kicking myself now, as I didnt realise I didnt have to hand it over. Never experienced anything like this before!

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Another update for you before I am about to write this email......

 

We never received the follow up call from a manager as promised, not really surprised about that one.

 

We received a letter on Saturday morning (4th December) It was a notice of termination as of the 24th November. The actual letter itself is not dated and neither is the envelope so I have no clue when it was sent. Obviously this letter has turned up very late considering its importancy but it still doesnt answer the question as to where the rest have disappeared too......if they were sent at all of course.

 

Lastly....and to add insult to injury, I picked up our house phone messages an hour ago and we had a call from a local santander branch to invite us to discuss our finances. They said they have noticed our numerous accounts e.g. mortgage and current account and would like to discuss special rates on overdrafts amongst other things...but the icing on the cake was "you have also been approved for a credit card which can be discussed in branch immeadiately"

 

I know its probably not all that relevant as they are a huge company but I mean that is ridiculous!!! I don't want your effing credit card I want to pay for my car!!!!

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Well good luck with that because from what i've seen so far they don't give two sh*ts about their customers, whether you owe £79.99 or £5000.

 

I have emailed the CEO anyway so I wonder what will happen, probably nothing; I won't be holding my breath anyway as to be honest at 8 months pregnant I am feeling utterly defeated!!

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also

 

the guy had no legal authority to take the car

only a bailiff can do that and a s its not been to court........

 

 

you should of said NO!

 

anyhow ....

 

go get 'em

 

not got charges or ppi on the 'loan' have you

 

and how far are you into it?

 

dx

 

Hiya sorry to keep posting but I was under the impression that they did not have to get a court order if we owned less than a third of the car, which unfortunately is the case. If you can advise otherwise I would be very interested.

 

Also if the guy was not a bailiff then what exactly was he? not to sound dense but he certainly looked like the sterotypical bailiff, he did not show us any legal documentation at all. In hindsight I beginning to feel more and more stupid by just allowing him to take it away.

 

Another amendment to my original posting also, what I thought was a default notice was actually a default sum notice making us aware of late payment charges. I have no problem with this but i do however have a problem with where the actual notice has disappeared too!!!

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Well its been 24 hours and we have had no response. :( Anyone know how likely it is that this bloke will make anything change?

 

I rang the repossession people to discuss belongings that were left in the car and they are saying there was nothing noted, I know for a fact there was even if it was just small items!

I also enquired about the auction date which she also had no idea of. She referred us back to Santander for

both issues. Does anyone on here have any experience of buying cars back through auction? Is it likely we will be able too and how long does it take before they will put it out for sale?

Any help appreciated. Thanks

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Do you know where the car is? Do you know 100% for sure who took it. If not I'd be inclined to go to the police and say you think you may have been conned and your car been stolen. I wonder how Santander would respond to a visit by the police?

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The bloke who came was from Anglia UK Ltd, he wouldnt tell us specifically where it was taken too, he said Santander would tell us after we paid the arrears but it would be a local lock up facility. This is who I spoke to yesterday they are based up north somewhere.

 

As yet we havent been in contact with Santander, when my other half got home the office was already closed so I don;t know whether they will provide the info either yet. Is there a legal requirement for them to tell us where it is and where it will be auctioned?

 

Realistically where will informing the police get me?

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I guess what needs determining is was the vehicle removed legally? They certainly have some of your personal possessions and not letting you have access to them to my mind effectively means they have stolen them. Theft is a serious crime. Blackmail too is serious. They say they will only tell you x, y and z when you've paid the arrears - this cannot be legal - they're blackmailing you.

 

Hopefully others will read and post their opinions so there is a balance of opinion to consider, but to my mind involving the police would be justifiable on the grounds mentioned above. What would they do? I don't know, fortunately I don't have much experience of the police, but they have to investigate and anything you can do to bring this person back into reality must be a good thing.

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I guess what needs determining is was the vehicle removed legally?

 

Well to the best of my knowledge and research it seems as we did not own a third of the vehicle they are perfectly entitled to repossess without a court order HOWEVER they are claiming to have sent us numerous letters stating this was going to happen yet we had not received any, which is mainly why I'm so bloody annoyed as I would have sorted it out. I am not in any abnormal financial difficulties, we would have paid if we had known they hadnt received the cheque and direct debit as we had discussed with them previously. I want to know where the notices have disappeared too? How do i know if this is all legal if I havent got them?

The actual Santander customer service agent stated the default notice they acted upon was dated 3rd of November, at this point (according to the new direct debit mandates we received on numerous occasions) we owed them £204 which doesn't even amount to two payments. The next payment was due 23rd November and they terminated the contract on 24th! How can they issue a default notice with the above date upon grounds of two missed payments if we didn't even owe them arrears of two months according to dicuments printed at a later date?

 

Another point is that really this guy was just a collections agent, he probably had no clue whether it was likely we would get the car back after the arrears were paid, he was just saying that in order to do his job, and unluckily for us we gave him the keys so technically he didnt steal it. We did it on good faith that what he was telling us was accurate. At 7am in the morning after being woken 2 minutes prior my brain wasnt working properly.

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SAR Santander. Amend this to suit:

 

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam

Data Protection Act 1998 Subject Access Request

Please would you kindly provide full and complete copies of any and all data you hold which relates to me and my entire history with your company. I have enclosed the statutory maximum of £10.

 

For the avoidance of doubt, take note that the enclosed cheque/Postal Order is payment for the fee relating to my Subject Access Request only and not a payment of any other kind or to be used for any other purpose. If you do not require a fee in order to process my Subject Access Request then kindly return or destroy my cheque / PO.

 

For your convenience I have detailed below a list of what I require, although this is not an exhaustive list by any means and is just an example of some of the information I require with regard to any accounts I may have had or may still have with your company.

 

1. Computer screen notes relating to the conduct of my account

2. Computer screen notes relating to transactions that have gone through my account

3. Internal messages or notes relating to the conduct of my account

4. Internal messages or notes relating to transactions that have gone through my account

5. Recordings of any telephone conversations, whether internal or external, relating to my account

6. Copies of any e-mail's, or other electronic communications, whether internal or external, relating my account

7. Copies of letters relating to my account

8. All information relating to litigation or pre-litigation that has taken place on my account

9. A detailed statement of account showing a breakdown of all costs charged, showing in each case the reason for the cost and the actual cost against that item

10. Copies of all reviews conducted relating to my account

11. Copies of all other paperwork relating to my account.

12. Copies of any and all documentation issued to me or left at my property regarding my account

I trust that the above is clear and should you be in any doubt as to your obligations as a Data Controller, then I would advise that you consult your corporate counsel.

 

As detailed above, I have enclosed the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply.

 

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However, please note that the above address is the one to which all previous correspondence has been issued.

Yours faithfully

 

 

(Your Name)

This should give you everything you require, and if they don't comply within 40 calendar days you can force them to comply through the courts. If you can then prove they took your car without having sent out the relevant letters you have a right to be put back into the situation you were prior to all this happening.

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You can see then if these letters really exist

 

Surely that wont confirm for certain that a letter was sent out???? I could very easily write a letter and back-date it!!!!! How could this be proven for definate??? Michelle needs to bring this to light if a letter suposedly sent does appear!! Unless the postman remembers delivering it or they sent it recorded delivery then surely they cannot claim they sent it??? No proof!!! Even if they do appear!!!

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Surely that wont confirm for certain that a letter was sent out???? I could very easily write a letter and back-date it!!!!! How could this be proven for definate??? Michelle needs to bring this to light if a letter suposedly sent does appear!! Unless the postman remembers delivering it or they sent it recorded delivery then surely they cannot claim they sent it??? No proof!!! Even if they do appear!!!

 

Anyone could take that attitude in which case a lot of SAR's would be pointlless. If these letters appear then they need proof of postage. Michelle would need proof of postage were she to take them to court, so I suspect it works the same the other way round. Also if they write and back date letters they face really serious trouble. The SAR would go to their data handler and I'd be very surprised if they messed about to that extent. It is possible as you say and ultimately up to Michelle - I'm just trying to be helpful!

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Hi Michelle

 

If you google British Car Auctions you'll find BCA, this company is the biggest in the UK and in all probability will handle the sale of your car, you can email them through their site and give them the details of your car and the current dispute, they sholud be able to tell you which Auction House the car is or has been taken to if you tell them Anglia UK Ltd was the company that removed the vehicle from your drive.

 

Hope this helps

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Just another update with todays events, we are very lucky in that a family member is going to help us to pay off the finance and after informing Santander of this, they are like our new best friends! They haven't stopped ringing all day, they will be holding the car at a compound in Mansfield (65 miles from us - not very local as advised by the collections agent) for us to get the money in place until the 20th December and they have also admitted that there is in fact some possessions still left in the car, which yesterday was a shady subject.

 

I will not be dropping this however as I still believe its thoroughly wrong what they have put us through and I don't believe its been carried out in a legal or professional way at all. If its so easy for them to ring numerous times in a day today why did they not do this to inform us of the continuing arrears or the repossession to start with. I'm sending the request for information tomorrow, so I wonder what it will come back with!!

 

Thanks for everybodies help up to know, i'll keep you informed.

 

Michelle

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Just another update with todays events, we are very lucky in that a family member is going to help us to pay off the finance and after informing Santander of this, they are like our new best friends! They haven't stopped ringing all day, they will be holding the car at a compound in Mansfield (65 miles from us - not very local as advised by the collections agent) for us to get the money in place until the 20th December and they have also admitted that there is in fact some possessions still left in the car, which yesterday was a shady subject.

 

I will not be dropping this however as I still believe its thoroughly wrong what they have put us through and I don't believe its been carried out in a legal or professional way at all. If its so easy for them to ring numerous times in a day today why did they not do this to inform us of the continuing arrears or the repossession to start with. I'm sending the request for information tomorrow, so I wonder what it will come back with!!

 

Thanks for everybodies help up to know, i'll keep you informed.

 

Michelle

 

Brilliant news - really pleased for you Michelle. Just one final word of caution - get the car back and paid for before you start tackling Santander about their misconduct!

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