The Funding Corporation - threatened with repossession

[faye1970]

Hi

would really appreciate some advice

My husband took out a HP agreement with the funding corporation on 22/07/07, the price of the car was £6900 with all the interest and other things they add on the opening balance was £9009.16

 

He received a default notice which states total amount payable £11593.56 and total amount paid £4620.36 although he made two more payments totalling £526.88

 

He has now been made redundant and missed 2 payments on the car, the funding corp aren't intersested and want full payments each month, on 31/08/09 he received a letter telling him that the Hp agreement had been terminated and he is now in possession of the car without their consent. On Thursday 10/09/09 a man turned up at the house with a tow truck but the only person at home was my 14 year old son and the car wasn't here. He went away without any hassle. He left his phone number and my husband rang him. He said he didn't have any paperwork to hand but that he had been sent to collect the money he owed or take the car.

 

Is he legally allowed to take the car without my husbands consent even though he has almost paid half of the agreement. He would have paid more than half if it wasn't for all the extra charges they have added.

 

Hes coming back with his tow truck tomorrow and we don't know what to do.

 

Please can anyone help us

[gillypam]

hi faye1970.have a look at your paper work from tfc if its a bill of sale get it checked out because it could be void like ours and .phone stephensons on 01942 777777 first thing monday there dealing with our case with tfc.

[faye1970]

Hi gillypam

 

Thanks for replying so soon

 

The only paperwork we have is a pre contact hire purchase agreement, we have no bill of sale and have never seen one or signed one.

 

I just wondered if we had any rights to prevent them taking the car back.

Will the man need a court order and if so how will we know if it is genuine

[gillypam]

hi faye1970.like l said l don,t know but you are better talking to people who know like stephensons.they are dealing with alot of people just like us with this company tfc.you can give them a try for a cost of a phone call.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, can you have a look at the HP agreement - there should be a figure on it which tells you if you have paid that amount (usually a third) they cannot repossess the vehicle without a court order.

 

As soon as you let us know what it says we can advise you further.

 

Ell-enn

[faye1970]

Hi Ell-enn

 

Yes on the agreement it says if he has paid £3844.12 they have to get a court order but we haven't been in this situation before so I am unsure if we should have received something in the post or if they bring it with them. I don't know what to do!

[Ell-enn]

OK, he's paid more than £3844.12 by a long way so they can't repossess the car without a court order !!

 

You need to ring the guy with the truck and tell him unless he has a court order he can't take the car - tell him you have taken legal advice and if he takes the car without your consent you will instigate legal proceedings forthwith. Even if he did have a court order - if the car is parked on private land, only a county court bailiff can repossess it - so he's on a hiding to nothing really. No matter how forceful he is, do not give him the keys or sign anything.

 

If the Funding Corp had taken you to court you would have received court papers - at that point you would have the opportunity to defend. In most cases judges will allow you to keep the car if you can make payments going forward. If they do take you to court we can help you with defending, so don't worry too much about that.

 

Did they make you take payment protection insurance with the loan?

 

Ell

[faye1970]

I've checked the agreement and where it says insurances all the columns are zero, my husband thought he had taken out ppi but there is nothing on the paperwork to confirm this and when he informed them he had been made redundant they didn't want to know, they just wanted full payment.

So I take it from the paperwork he doesn't have ppi

[Ell-enn]

Doesn't sound like he has PPI then. The situation at the moment is that they can't take the car without a court order and you need to inform the recovery guy of that straight away!

 

What are your husband's prospects of getting work? are you able to make any payments at all? Did he receive any redundancy payment?

[faye1970]

My Husband was made redundant in February and we've muddled through on my wages since then, he hadn't been with his employer long enough for any redundancy payment, we've basically been robbing peter to pay paul!

We're behind on the mortgage and council tax and we struggle from day to day.

He signed on with 6 agencies straight away and was getting the odd day here and there but most weeks he hasn't had any work at all. He applies for jobs and doesn't even get a response.

He could agree to pay a little each month but they are very rude and do not seem to want to help at all.

Work should pick up from now because he is a class 1 driver and the agencies start to get busy in the run up to xmas, He already has 3 days booked for this next week

[Ell-enn]

OK, are you in contact with the mortgage company? how many months are you in arrears with them?

 

Also what is the situation with the council tax?

[faye1970]

We've come to an arrangement with the council tax so that is fine now.

we are about 6 months in arrears with the mortgage cos we can't afford to make full payments and they add on charges and interest every month, my husband is going to ring them tomorrow to try and sort something out.

We have tried to make arrangements with them but they wanted too much each month and we just can't afford it. They are on the verge of applying for repossession

[Ell-enn]

Who is the mortgage company?

[faye1970]

Sorry for the delay, in middle of cooking tea, ironing and sorting kids school stuff!

 

Mortgage express, part of Bradford & Bingley

[Ell-enn]

OK, it's best to keep things in writing when dealing with mortgage companies. Have you written to them explaining your circumstances?

[postggj]

following this one

subbing

[faye1970]

No, only had dealings over the telephone

[Ell-enn]

If you think your situation will improve enough for you to make payments going forward you could write to them and ask for the arrears to be capitalised (added to the end of the mortgage). If you want help with a letter please let me know and I'll draft one for you.

 

You will need to send a budget sheet with the letter, I have affixed one to this post.

Budget Sheet.xls

[faye1970]

Thanks Ell-enn, that would be great, I would really appreciate that, I'll do whatever it takes to try and keep things right, I'm really stressed at the moment, I'm up at 4am every day and out of the door at 5. I work all the hours I can but its just not been enough. My husband was the main earner in the house so its been a big blow

[Ell-enn]

It must be a very stressful time for you and your husband. Let's see if we can sort some of the problems out:)

 

I will draft a letter for you and post on here later. In the meantime, fill in the budget sheet and let me know when you've done it, how it works out.

 

You will get lots of support on CAG from people who have been in the same situation as yourselves - I'm glad you found us

[faye1970]

Hi

Sorry I didn't get back to you. Had a nightmare week!!

Whilst I was online on Sunday evening my husband became seriously ill and I had to rush him to A & E. We both thought he was a gonner.

They are worried he has a bleed on the brain or a tumour so as you can imagine this has been at the forefront of my week. Because his attack subsided late Sunday night they let him home!! Now waiting for an emergency CT scan and been told that at the first sign of another attack must dial 999

 

Getting back to the debt problems, I spoke with the man who wanted to take the car and he didn't have a court order but asked if we would surrender the car. I said no. The funding corp have been ringing constantly but I don't know what to say and I don't even know if they will deal with me but my husband really isn't well enough for all this. If things are calm his bad headache eases to a bearable level but when he starts getting stressed it makes him more unwell.

 

As for the mortgage I spoke with a nice lady and she said they will do all they can to help and they absolutely do not intend to start any proceedings for repossession. They will help us to keep the house and provided we can make regular mortgage payments for the next six months they will defer all the arrears to the end of the term of the mortgage

 

Really sorry for not updating but inbetween looking after my husband I have had to keep going out to pick up my calls at work. If I don't do my allocated calls I lose money. I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment, my husband begs me to stay at home cos hes frightened what will happen if he has another attack but I really can't afford to lose my job as there are some redundancies looming in October

[Ell-enn]

I'm sorry to hear about your husband taking ill - it must only add to the stressful situation. I do hope he recovers soon.

 

Glad you have come to an arrangement with the mortgage company though... that's one less stress

 

Re the car - as you know they will have to take you to court to repossess the car and no doubt the recovery guy has told them you now know your rights!. If they do take you to court you can defend by offering payments you can afford and the judge will consider your offer i.e. if you need the vehicle to travel to work etc. but we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.

 

Hope you can both relax a bit this weekend.

 

Ell-enn

[HaggyB]

Please can you give us some advice as we also are having problems with TFC. We purchased our car through carcraft in Aug 06, they got our finance over 4yr with TFC. We have paid on time every month for the past 3yr and only over the past few month have we been a bit late with payments which although late have still been paid. TFC have sent us a letter informing us that we have defaulted and are no longer in possesion of the car under their disgression and they keep trying to add on late payment fees along with fees (ridiculious fees might i add) for sending letters. We have tried to speak with them in a civil manner but all they do is threaten to come and take the car. I am very aware that they can not do this without taking us to court as we have paid over 1/2 of the amount we borrowed and we have been making payments although they may have been made late. We have had nothing but trouble with the car and it has cost alot in repairs and now something quite big needs repairing, my husband does not really want to pay them this month. We are wondering if there is any way we can get them to write off what is left on the finance especially as the car is not worth a fraction of the amount we have already paid. I do apologise i have just realised that i have probably posted this in the completely wrong place..........first time on here!! =o/

Edited October 6, 2009 by HaggyB