Cygnet/approved finance

[lesley1978]

Hi,
New to forum and I would greatly appreciate your opinions/advice ......my ex partner and myself got a car off Approved car finance/cygnet at the apr rate of 72.3% which at no point prior to purchase were we made aware of .......Anyways I contacted them via letter in November My disabled son was having an eye op and was finding it difficult to pay so could it be refinanced or something ....They completely ignored this letter .....In January my partner and I seperated and it was decided that I have the car ( may I point out at this point I dont actually drive )Im also a single mum of seven one child is disabled .. I asked that the axa cover (£1600) be stopped as I dont want or need it on the contract it says i can do this at any point ...this still hasnt happened first requested in nov 06 .....
It is regarding my conversation with a representative from cygnet today that has distressed me the most......a week ago I was phoned to tell me that my payments were now £120 down from £188 and the first payment had to be there the end of the month which I agreed to and said I would try to pay it in two instalments on the 22nd and 29th and was told this is fine as long as its there for the end of the month.........Result !!! Or so I thought , today I recieved a notice of seizure .....I have little knowledge of the ammounts paid to date or ammount owing so shall be phoning tomorrow to request a statement of account including charges etc ....So upon recieving this notice of seizure I phoned them up .....I was put through to my accounts manager , she said that it was just to protect themselves incase I didnt pay ,which i accepted and asked if it would be inforced if I paid she said if we dont get payment by the 29th it would ....so I said ok I will pay the 29 th she said it has to be in BY then and it wouldnt clear ....so I asked if it was worth me paying .....to be met by a volley of abuse some of her little gems were " I dont believe you ll pay " " cygnet finance dont see the end of the month being the 29 th " " I believe you ve sold it " after i informed her actually she could view the car she said ok i ll come and look !!!! I informed her that she could check I havent sold it by contacting DVLA ......and at that point she said "no wonder your husband left you " .........then she said the manager will be contacting me and she d be reporting the car stolen ???
Anyway a few family members were visiting and like myself they were disgusted ( I popped the phone on speaker phone so they could hear how pleasent she wasnt )
My question is 1 )What can I do to either stop payments or carry on at reduced payments ...I cant afford to pay before the 29th ....
2) What can be done about the way I was spoken to......also Ive sent a e mail (letters disappear with cygnet ) at least i can prove i sent it etc
I detailed the issues and informed that I would be seeking legal advice
3) the car is parked in my dads garage ( safer as its not being used ) do I have do disclose its whereabouts before I get legal advice
4).....also I wanted to cancell axa cover december how can i get this ammount removed from my account
5)Does anyone know if they record phone calls and if so how do I go about getting a copy ...I do have witnesses who heard the conversation but obviously a recorded conversation would be better
...........the thing is Im prepared to pay for a car I may never use as I signed the contract and having only recently seperated from a 6 year relationship and suffering depression ,due to this ,this womans comments were perticually hurtful

[lesley1978]

Any ideas on how to get these people to at least acknowledge reciept of e mails / mail .......sent several e mails / one of complaint and one asking asking for all details of account movements conversations etc ......as of yet ive not even received an aknowledgement .....they re being a nightmare at present

[calvi36]

Hi Lesley, send them a CCA request, asking for copy of your agreement. Enclose a pound postal order.
http://www.passprotect.studio400 .me.uk/Consumer_Credit_Act_1974. PDF
The whole act is here. They have 12 days in which to respond, if they fail to respond after a further 30 days they will have committed a criminal offence. The debt is unenforceable until they produce the original agreement.
See this thread http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...agreement.html

Hope this helps and good luck.

[lesley1978]

CCA request sent today via registered post fingers crossed eh !!!!!

[calvi36]

nothing to cross, go for it, now you know where you stand, welcome to CAG, defenders of the free lol

[lesley1978]

HI,
Cygnet have yet to respond to my CCA they said someone will be collecting the car tomorrow unless payment is made ... I ve told them i need written proof of arrangements as the person on the phone said it d be takien regardless .......i also said whilst a CCA was out standing the debt is un enfocable ...the women said she didnt know what im talking about and that Im wrong ....can someone let me know if I am or if in fact she is....also they are threatening me with police action if I dont disclose the cars whereabouts saying they will say the car is stolen ......can they do this ????????Thanks again Lesley

[calvi36]

If she did not know what you were talking about, how on earth could she stae you are wrong. If uou have had the car more than 1/3 of the contract period they need an order to remove it.

[lesley1978]

Thanks again for responce I have had the car over a third of the contracted time ........so I shall hold tight and not just hand it over ...am I right to assume I will be notified of ant court action plus be able to put forth my argument ? thanks

[calvi36]

THE DEBT IS UNENFORCEABLE AS TO A REPO. they need an order from court to do this. Do not let them imtimidate you mate. halves and thirds are what it's known in the trad, 1/3 to repo, half to hand it back. Do not respond to them by phone again, Only in writing m8. You have to be notified of any action against you. If they go down that route, cag will advise in our multitudes, my mrs feels left out lol.

[lesley1978]

Ok thanks again ......And thanks to your partner too.......and hopefully I wont need any help tomorrow ......Ive got kids too (7 in fact) and seeing them grow up is an amazing experiance ......Enjoy the days when they re young (my eldest is a moody 13 yr old) .......thanks again mate .....

[lesley1978]

I ve sent several letters and e mails to approved ..yet to receive anything back also wating for DCA /CCA still nothing .....Im just querying a contract I have myself and my partner have signed it and it is dated 4/7/07 date of cygnets signature 12/7/07.......does this in any way affect the contract? the witness signature is just that has got a space for name and discription but not filled in.....Also upon reading it there was nothing paid for the car we took in as a deposit , plus no cash back which we were told we had ......all went towards the deposit (didnt though) a relative was present when this was all discussed so could sign a sworn statement if need be ........any new advice would be greatly appreciated ........

[lesley1978]

i got a letter today saying that cygnet were to agree to take reduced payments and that i have to sign and send one back saying I ,my name , agree to the modification of my account, to the conditions details and also to rescind the content of my two letters dated 25 th may 2007...........so is this them trying to attempt to sweeten me up to stop defeat?????they also offered to remove the accrued letter charges ......generous eh?

[lesley1978]

had a result with these guys thought i d share .......told the comliance officer/supervisor on the phone wasnt happy at how i was treated ....i also wanted all details of conversations ,tapes , computer notes etc as i was certain i d cancelled my ppi insurances within the stated 10 days ....he said there was no record of it , i explained that as that was the case as I d paid over a third I would consult my solicitor further and it would probably go to court ....No more than 24 hours later got a call saying as a "good will gesture " they would take off the total ammount of insurances paid to date reduce my monthly payments so they didnt include the insurance charges and my account was in credit ......shows sometimes it is worth perservering