Advantage Finance taking us to court

[Cheybies]

At the end of March 2006 we got a car through Welcome but finance was through Adavantage Finance. At the time we got the car we was private renting, and in June we recieved an email from our landlady saying she was putting the rent up (she had never put the rent up before then, and we been living in the property nearly 2 years). We said we could not afford the rent she wanted so we moved out and into my husband's parents.

We had to get a mortgage because we could not stay at parents for ever, and didn't want to go back in to private renting.

With my husband's parent's help we managed to get a mortgage but it meant we could no longer afford the monthly payments of £332 for the car each month + £75 for insurance. We rang Advantage saying we could no longer afford to keep the car and please could they take it back. They said if they take it back they would knock off £5k for the car which left £8k left to pay. And they asked what could we afford and we said £20 a month, and they refused it. So the next thing was they sent us a default letter etc and they actually took the car away just after xmas this year.

Then they filled a court claim online saying we failed to rectify in paying the arrears which we already offered them a payment we could afford each month.

They are claiming £14824.02 + court fees of £250 taking it upto £15074.02.

When we got the car it was £7500
Interest on the amount of credit was £3756.92
Insurances £4720.32
Then credit on the insurances is £1614.90

What we find strange is when the bloke came for the car, he said it was going to a garage to be sold not an auction. And we have never been informed how much they got for the car? I thought be law they have to tell you what they got for the car and to deduct it from outstanding balance?

This doesn't seem to be the case with Advantage. And when we took out the car through Welcome they said we HAD to take the insurances out otherwise we wouldn't have the car.

Advantage has not taken anything off the amount for the car at all. I would have thought that what ever they got for the car would be taken off the total, and insurances taken off also? surely you don't pay the insurances when you no longer have the car? and it was mis sold to us.

Also I had requested a Data Protection Act from Advantage and it became very interesting read. It says on there that they took the car to Belgravia 1st Car, and a lil bit further on it says Car owes them £9.7k. So why are they trying to con us out of £15k?

Plus in total to date we had already paid £2,384.26 which includes £500 deposit at the time we got the car.

We did some calculations and we took the £9.7k away from the £14,824.02 and it totalled £5,124.02. Then we took the insurances off which is £4,720.32 and that left £403.70, and we have already paid £2,384.26, so surely they owe us money?

We are defending all of the money in court, we just sent back the AQ with proof that the the garage owes them £9.7k for the car.

Also the court case will be in our local court, and Advantage is 258 miles away, do you think they will turn up for court? coz we don't think they will.

Am I right with the sums of money that Advantage is suppose to deduct?

Please any help regarding this would very much be appreciated as I have been stressing over it for weeks.

Cheybies

[Cheybies]

Got letter from the court today.

We got a small preliminary hearing on 24th July @ 10:30am.

To determine if we got a defence. Also Advantage has to send a list of the calculations, and then we got to respond to it within 14 days afterwards.

Has anyone else ever had this?


And will Advantage turn up? considering they are over 200 miles away.

[norvernrob]

Hi, my parents were in a similar situation earlier this year. They wanted to voluntary terminate their agreement and return the car, as the early settlement figure Advantage quoted was ridiculously high. However as they were 3 months in arrears with the payments, Advantage refused, then defaulted them and took back the car (with the full consent of my parents - it had been sat on the drive waiting to go back months anyway)

Advantage then issued a court claim for the whole amount left payable on the car - nearly £3600.

I wrote a defence out for my parents, detailing how Advantage had sent letters with differing amounts for my parents to Voluntary Terminate. One letter said the shortfall insurance had to be paid, the next said it was optional, etc etc.

A couple of days before all the paperwork had to be sent to the court Advantage telephoned my parents and offered to settle for just the arrears and their court costs - a total of £600ish, £3000 less than the court claim. They then agreed payments of £2.50 a week.

I havent studied all your sums in detail but it appears it's well worth contesting the claim. You were missold the insurances in the first place by them forcing you into taking them out, read some of the Welcome threads for information on this.

They rely on people being scared of a court claim and simply paying up, make it as difficult as possible for them, write a defence out and include all your sums. Extortionate PPi terms are increasingly being contested so this definitely helps your case. So does the fact you made Advantage an offer which they refused.

It also seems that Advantage included all the insurances when they sent you an amount to pay in order for you to return the car - this is misleading as you do not have to settle any insurances, you can continue paying monthly as it is a seperate agreement.

I doubt it will go as far as court, but make sure you make your defence as detailed as possible and include absolutely anything which may help.

Hope that helps

Rob

[Cheybies]

Hi,

Thank you for your input on Advantage.

Yesterday we received statement of account from Advantage.

This is what they put:

Balance at start of Agreement £15702.24

Amount paid by debtor £1934.26

Reposession Proceeds £5000.00

Balance outstanding exc interest £8767.98

Amount Breakdown

Balance on Account £8767.98
Default Notice and Termination £50.00
Returned Payments £35.00
Issue of N1 £250
Allocation Questionaire £100
Reposession of Vehicle £250

Total £9452.98

Interest as per claim form
From 26/10/06 to 13/03/07
at £5.08 per day £701.04

Total Claim £10154.02

We had to send a statment for a reply to that.

So we pointed out to the judge that the claim they filed for was £14824.02 and that they had signed at the bottom that the facts they stated on the claim form are true, so surely they have broken the law by giving false evidence because of the new amount?

We have also said to the judge that we still disagree with the figures, and that we want to see proper proof of what Advantage actually got for that car, as it says on the Data Protection Act that the garage where car went to owed them £9.7k. And I also pointed out, that they haven't taken off the £4720.32 for the insurances.

With the statement Advantage sent, makes them to look LIARS. And I have said to the judge it feels as tho they are swindling us. We have also said we feel they have not given a proper breakdown of balance at the start of the agreement.

I don't see Advantage ringing up before the court hearing on 24th July @ 10:30am, and I don't see Advantage turning up either, as they are over 200 miles away. And it says on the court letter if they don't turn up, then there claim will be struck out.

[norvernrob]

Thats another thing Advantage seem to do, I forgot to mention it in my post - they never told us either how much they got for the car, nor did they reduce the claim at all!

Just keep going, keep being stubborn and challenging their ridiculous figures and show them you will not give in. I can't guarantee they wont go to court but I honestly doubt it.

Best of luck.

[Cheybies]

Court case is coming too quickly on tuesday @ 10:30am, it's only about the allocation of the hearing. We had a big envelope the other day from Advantage with all the paperwork regarding the court case.

They are saying they believe that our only defence is buyers remorse due to over-commitment.

However there is alot there they have missed out on the forms, like the fact they refused our monthly offer of repayment. They just said we stopped paying, of course we would stop paying as we asked them to take the car back.

It also states on the hp terms and conditions that we have to continue to pay the insurances or other products taken out. I will say to the judge that i disagree with this, because at the time we was told we had to have it in order to have the car, and i'll be damned that i'm gonna pay for insurances etc when we don't even have the car.

I have also questions about this so called £5k they received for the car. Now the receipt they sent along with the paperwork is a Advantage receipt, not one showing any payment from Belgravia. And we are suspicious because on the Data Protection Act it states that Belgravia owed them £9.7k.

Isn't there some type of law about mis selling PPI's?

Hope someone can give me an answer for that by monday evening, so i can tell this to the judge.

I'm also suspicious of them putting the case to small claims, when it's suppose to be fast track because of the amount. they have said it's to save us costs? and since when did we have to pay for there solicitors? i know we end up paying court costs, but surely not there solicitors? they have got down £152.75 for that.

[blaneyjul]

Please help i am now defaulting on car payments to welcome finance.
The car i got was only £3,500 yet they ended up charging £8,000 due to high APR rates
WHEN I FOUND OUT WHAT THEY WERE CHARGING ON THE DAY I GOT THE CAR I ASKED CAR SALESMAN TO CANCEL AGREEMENT AS I COULNT AFFORD IT.He replied that i had to keep it as there was no cooling off period.
PLEASE HELP
LOVE JULIE
I cant afford £135.00 a month for another 2 years but am frightened about what will happen regarding this
Please can anyone help me
Love Julie

[calvi36]

Ok guys calm down, deep breath and all that!

Firstly we will deal with the ppi. Normal way of selling ppi is that it is added to the amount borrowed, reason for this is that normal practise is that the finance company pays the insurance company outright for the insurance for the duration of the contract. Therefore as it is added to the total amount borrowed then this is what you owe. You probably did not agree to be paying the insurance company seperately on a monthly basis for the insurance. So the finance company have infact paid this insurance policy in full on your behalf and charge you monthly for it.

Regarding them taking the car back did you authorise or agree to this or did they show up and just take it or did they take it with an order from court. Had you paid one third of the total amount borrowed?

If you believed someone owed you lets say 10k would you accept £20 a month? I think not as this would take 41 years to pay off. I am not coming down on the side of the finance company, I am merely showing you that £20 a month could be considered to be an unreasonable offer of repayment. Did you make your offer in writing?

If you believe that the PPI has been mis-sold, then on what grounds has it been mis-sold?

Before you go into court with all guns blazing, please make sure your facts are 100% correct.

Regarding the sale of the asset you are entitled to see the invoice from the person or company that sold it. Just as you have to make sure your facts are correct, so does the finance company.

I will help in any way I can, but read your agreement very carefully and gain a full understanding of all figures contained. I work in vehicle finance, not sub-prime as I hate to see people get ripped off.