Due to him losing his job

my husband is 2 months behind with the payments for the car to welcome finance.

First they bombard us with phone calls-and are still doing so despite us sending 2 letters telling them not to phone.

The today a girl from welcome phoned and said unless the payment was made immediately

then they will come and get the car and if necessary get the police involved.

Can they take the car without a court order?

How much of the HP loan has been paid off?

We have paid 2,500 on a loan of 6000.

What they said was that they will take the car and keep it until we resume payments.

Well as you have paid more than a third they would need a court order to take the car if it is an HP agreement.

This is what is known as a return order.

There would need to be a court hearing though (usually at your local court).

If you can pay back the debt in reasonable instalments,

the court may let you keep your goods.

Do you have a copy of the agreement?

You need to check whether it is an HP agreement or a Conditional Sale agreement.

The relevant statute is Section 90 of The Consumer Credit Acto 1974, which you can quote if they do try to bring police with them to recover the car:

90.—(1) At any time when—

(a) the debtor is in breach of a regulated hire-purchase or a regulated conditional

sale agreement relating to goods, and

(b) the debtor has paid to the creditor one-third or more of the total price of the

goods, and

© the property in the goods remains in the creditor,

the creditor is not entitled to recover possession of the goods from the debtor except

on an order of the court.

That's if its an HP agreement pinky. Sometimes they are a Conditional Sale agreement, which is completely different. It's impossible to give the appropriate advice until we know which type of agreement it is.

The Act says quite clearly that it pertains to both a hire agreement and a conditional sale agreement (see above)

They may very well do it but is it legal? Not according to the Act it isn't.

Rory's post between mine disappeared!

Sorry pinky I deleted my post as I hadn't finished typing it when my computer throwed a wobbly.

As I stated if it's a conditional sale agreement they may repossess,

usually the technicalities of the law are not something they are overly bothered about

and in this area the police unfortunately just are not aware of the legislation.

They would require a complying bill of sale in order to do this though

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collectors-debt-collection/112358-bill-sales-repossession-goods.html

Yes - and I suppose if they turn up at your door, the police will just want to get it over and done with and turn to other things. Then it will be up to the couple to get it back through the courts. We all know the law sometimes is simply ignored and the finance companies get away with it.

Welcome are very vocal in their threats and love to call over and over again, visit and cause a huge pain in the neck, amongst other things.

Not to say it would happen now, but when hubby had his account active some time ago, they never got any further than vocal threats of further action.

Tonight someone from welcome left a message on our answering machine

saying that they dont care if we miss our rent or mortgage payments and get evicted if it means they get their money.

Should I report this to someone?

Yes. Report them to Trading Standards. You can find your local one in your yellow pages or just enter your postcode on their site here Trading Standards Central - Trading Standards and Consumer Protection information for the UK

We have paid welcome finance £2879 out of a £7000 loan.

We were paying £310 a month then we got into difficulties so

my husband signed a new agreement to reduce the payments.

He then lost his job and we have missed 2 payments.

This morning a man from welcome turned up and said they are taking the car Monday

I explained that we have paid 1/3 of the payments

he said that when my husband signed the new agreement it cancelled the old one so

therefore the £2879 that we payed on the old agreement does not count.

Is this right?

The "experts" on here can go into specifics with you about what u asked at the end etc...

But i felt the urge to reply & inform you that he has no more right to take your car than i do & will be simply be theft if he does.

Next time 1 of them calls, politely ask them to leave - if not, call ur local police and that should send them on their way.

You have the legal right to request that the company cease all contact with you & if they dont,

a complaint to trading standards and the OFT can be made against them.

If you and your husband are genuinley struggling then cease all payments to this company immediately.

Find out on here & elsewhere all ur legal rights regarding finance companies & DCA's - there's so much out there.

The company will no doubt start all sorts of "we're gonna do this/that & the other towards you"

& "commence legal action" etc...but thats all it is usually, a threat.

If it ever got to court - you & your husband would just decide on an amount to repay that u can afford

with the court, which can legally even be £1 per month if necessary.

The finance company wont like that 1 bit...

.but tough on them, they'll have to either like it or lump it.

Then you & your husband will have the last laugh

Thank you

I really need someone to tell me if they right when they say

that the payments on the old agreement were cancelled out

when we signed a new agreement to reduce the payments.

Because what they are saying is that the money we have paid has been for nothing.

They still cannot take your car. If you have paid one-third of the credit of either a hire agreement or a continuous sale agreement, they cannot legally take it, no matter what they say. If they try to, call the police and tell them that under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the action proposed by the finance company is illegal.

If you haven't paid one-third on the new agreement, then they are within their rights to take the car - it depends on what level the refinancing was and you don't mention that.

They will stop at nothing won't they?

It is an HP agreement.

Okay so they can't come and take the car, they would need a court order for that.

Thank you very much for all your help.

from my own experience dont let welcome get to you.

the reason you are getting this flack is its near the end of the month,

they are getting pressure for results due to targets

they may bully you but dont take it personel,

just use the law/statutes against them

mine has been a long battle, yours is just begining

just remember plenty of people on this forum have been in your shoes and have got over it with cag help

good luck and keep fighting

Excellent advice

It is possible to win against these people too Angel104, I sent them a S.A.R. - subject access request letter on behalf of hubby and as they couldn't provide all the paperwork, they wrote to him apologising and stating that they would no longer be pursuing payment on this account and consider it closed.

Be strong and don't let them get you down.