I Took Link Financial To Court

[matteus]

This morning (09/11/10) I took Link Financial to court and won my case!

 

I took them to court for breach of a court order (which they got against me) and illegally trying to repossess my vehicle before applying to the court bailiff for repossession.

 

The judge expressed his disgust at the way Link Financial had treated me after failing to take payments in March and April and wouldn't co-operate with any attempt I made to contact them to bring the account up-to date.

He agreed that Link Financial were in breach of the court order and that he is considering further action against Link Financial and Burlington Credit for acting 'illegally' and they will be dealt with accordingly by the court.

 

He praised me for my actions and apologised whole-heartedly for what I had gone through since April and that this matter should not have gone back to court.

 

As a result of today, Link Financial have been ordered to pay my court fees within the next two weeks and that I was no longer libel for Link Financial's court fees which I had been paying on top of my monthly payment. He told me that any repossession orders were stopped and no further was to be taken against me as long as I kept to the court order.

 

I hope this news is a ray of light to those who are experiencing similar problems like this. All I can say is don't be bullied into giving your car up to debt collection bailiffs. If they claim to be acting on a court order, tell them to leave as you want to check it out with the courts first. They have to give you breathing space to do this which you might just find like I did that the suspension on the court order was still in place and the debt collection bailiffs were acting illegally.

 

If they take your car against your will and this was agreed by the court this morning, this is seen as theft and can be reported to the police.

 

If the suspension on return of goods has been lifted by the courts, you will given a hand delivered letter by a court bailiff stating a date and time of when they'll return to repossess your vehicle as they did to me. The bailiff actually gave me six weeks to either pay the outstanding amount or to appeal the decision. I thought this was a quite generous time period to get things sorted.

 

Hopefully this will be the end of it all and the only news I hope to hear is from the courts telling the action they've taken against Link Financial and Burlington Credit. If they do, I'll keep you informed.

[rebel11]

Hi Matt

 

Good Stuff, please keep us updated.8-)

[Leakie]

Well done Matteus

It's nice to see some one beating the bad Guys for once

By bad guys I mean company's who work outside the rules

 

All the best

Leakie

[rcl]

Well done you for fighting back and sharing your story. Very inspirational

[jennyjoyce89]

nice one , just read your thread. I am currently dealing with Link financial since Ford credit sold my debt to them. I owe 3grand which was a final payment on my 11 grand car after paying £210 a month for 3 years on Fords Optipns agreements. Normally you just trade the car in after the 3 years for another new one but my credit file is ruined after an ex partner stole my identity and took out loads of credit in my name hence the reason Ford dumped a good customer onto Link. Anyway they have given me til xmas week to pay this balance or they want the car , they wont negotiate a smaller settlement nor a payment plan .I have tried being nice to them promising they will have the money by this date but its hard getting it together but i just wonder what my rights are , have they got that much power to take the car (presumably with a court order) even though i am willing to pay but then again i cant give them what i havent got !! .When i try speakin to these people they just want the full amount on this date but when the deadline arrives and they phone for a credit card payment and i dont have the full amount surely then they will ease up a bit and take a reduced settlement or perhaps set up a direct debit payment plan ?

[BIGMAN2708]

Hi, good to see people standing up to these horrible people. I am in the same predicament myself. I have a car on finance with British Credit Trust, they passed the account to Ram Recovery to either pay off the arrears (£1500) or 50%, neither of these were possible for me to do. I had been in touch with BCT on several occassions via email and phone stating my financial situation and the difficulties I was having. But all they could do was offer me a repayment plan which was far too much for me to keep to. Hence why it has now been passed to Ram. I told Ram I needed time to see if I could get the money together, but there is now way I can get over £800 together. I have received several pushy and somewhat nasty text messages from the manager/owner of Ram during this period. I did state that I was going to transfer the funds to try and buy some more time, but he just sent an even nastier text when I didn’t. He has now told me that he has applied for a court order and will personally be round to collect the car. I see this as a rather abusive and threatening manner. With regards to the court order, will he just get an order and come to collect car or will I be able to make a claim against this at a hearing? I have spoken to BCT since they passed the account to Ram but they don’t want nothing to do with it and just tell me to talk to Ram. Also I am know in the position to make monthly payments and chip away at the arrears, there is only 17 months left on the loan out of a 48 month loan contract and have paid over 50% of the loan so far. Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

[matteus]

Hello again, thought I'd give you all an update in the now ended dispute with Link Financial while I've got a few minutes spare

 

So as you read in November 2010 I took these to court and won my dispute. However, the story doesn't end there.

In December 2010, I wrote to them demanding they send me a standing order mandate so I can set up payments as ordered by the court. Instead I received a letter threatening bailiff action as I was in breach of the court order. Again, they refused to co-operate so I reminded them of the new court order set in place and a month later I received the form and sent it back within 24 hours with the first payment stated by Link as being paid on the 15th of February 2011.

But on the 4th of February 2011, I received a letter from the county court stating that I had to pay up the full remaining amount I owed to Link Financial or I would have the car seized. Here we go again!

After contacting the court regarding the letter, I found out that Link had actually took me back to court in January to appeal the decision which was made in November 2010 and I wasn't notified by the court to attend.

I wrote a letter to the Judge who held the hearing and received a full apology from the Judge stating I should have been at the hearing. So the Judge decided that he was going to suspend the order made at the last hearing in January and set a new court date in May 2011.

 

On February 15th, my first payment was taken by Link but later that day I had a knock at the door by a bailiff with a flatbed lorry to seize my car.

I asked to see the court order and asked what type of bailiff he was. All he had was a letter from Link asking the company to seize the vehicle. So I asked was he a court bailiff where he replied 'I work for the court'. So I said 'That wasn't what I asked', when he then admitted he wasn't a court bailiff just a debt collector. Being the helpful guy that I am, I stated to him that only a county court bailiff could seize the vehicle and produced the court letter stating that all action was to cease until the hearing in May. He handed the letter back and stated 'You know your stuff. You're right in what you said as we do this on a wing and a prayer knowing that most people will cave in and hand back the vehicle' - very naughty and for a debt collector to admit this was surprising yet shocking.

Before he left I got a calling card from him saying he was from a collection agency called JCS. I looked these up by searching the phone number provided on the card and suprisingly I found out it was actually Burlington Credit acting under a pseudo name.

 

The next day, I received a phone call from the same debt collector again saying that Link Financial were prepared to accept 80% of the outstanding amount if I paid in full there and then. I warned him he was acting illegally and I deal with it at court - I then hung up the phone.

 

Anyway, I heard nothing further from them since then and payments were being taken every month.

 

In May, I attended court with my case file I built since all these problems started and surprisingly a solicitor acting on behalf of Link Financial also attended.

Before the hearing their solicitor wanted a chat, so I agreed and after reading my statement of events and the evidence I produced prior to the hearing, Link Financial had instructed the solicitor to make an agreement and accepted liability for everything - Whoa! Did I hear right there? He then disclosed what he was going to submit to the Judge and did I have any objections to their statement. I told him I didn't have any objections as they now admitted to obstructing the previous court order which prevented me from making payments.

 

Well, the court case couldn't have gone better. The solicitor stated that Link admitted to obstruction of the court order and that they had been receiving regular payments since February 2011.

The Judge stated it didn't matter whether or not they owed up to obstructing the court order as the case would have gone in my favour nevertheless due to the evidence and statement I had submitted. He showed his disgust at Link Financial and stated that if we both appeared in court again and its proven Link are to blame. I would have my debt wrote off and Link Financial would face further action.

I also received another apology for the mishap in January.

 

So at last, Link finally admitted to the court they were messing me around in order to have my car seized. Which is disgusting and to be honest, the court should have taken further action for the breach of court. However, payments have been taken on time and I've heard nothing from them at all.

 

Again, all I can say to you if you're experiencing the similar problems. Turn the tables on them! Keep all correspondence you receive from them, note down all telephone calls or even record the calls. You will have to disclose to them that the call is being recorded. If they refuse to co-operate, tell them to send you a letter instead as you therefore refuse to continue with the call.

 

As for debt collectors calling for your vehicle. Don't be bullied by them! As you read here, the guy from JCS/Burlington Credit actually admitted to using bullying tactics.

If you've paid more than half of the debt, they company you owe money to would have to obtain a 'return of goods' court order to have the vehicle seized. If you receive one of these, don't worry as the court will listen to both cases and will generally help you. If you are struggling to make payments but can make a reasonable offer, you may find the court will grant a suitable payment method and will suspend the court order.

If you default on your payments, then the court bailiff will inform you that they will repossess your vehicle and will give you around six weeks to either pay the full amount or appeal your case at court.

 

Once a court order is in place, no-one other than a court bailiff can repossess your vehicle. So if you get a debt collector claiming to be acting on behalf the court, they're lying and tell them to leave or you contact the police as their acting illegally.

 

Good luck to everyone who are experiencing similar issues to me. Hope you get everything sorted soon and don't lose any sleep over these idiots.

Edited August 4, 2011 by matteus

[Mark&Janice]

Very well done Matteus

[Enigma38]

 

As for debt collectors calling for your vehicle. Don't be bullied by them! As you read here, the guy from JCS/Burlington Credit actually admitted to using bullying tactics.

If you've paid more than half of the debt, they company you owe money to would have to obtain a 'return of goods' court order to have the vehicle seized. If you receive one of these, don't worry as the court will listen to both cases and will generally help you. If you are struggling to make payments but can make a reasonable offer, you may find the court will grant a suitable payment method and will suspend the court order.

 

If you default on your payments, then the court bailiff will inform you that they will repossess your vehicle and will give you around six weeks to either pay the full amount or appeal your case at court.

 

Once a court order is in place, no-one other than a court bailiff can repossess your vehicle. So if you get a debt collector claiming to be acting on behalf the court, they're lying and tell them to leave or you contact the police as their acting illegally.

 

Good luck to everyone who are experiencing similar issues to me. Hope you get everything sorted soon and don't lose any sleep over these idiots.

 

Advise please?

 

I have a suspended repossession order in place and BC are trying to repossess my car because I've been unable to pay the arrears on my car agreement. BC are certified bailiffs and tried to convince me they had a warrant of execution, which they did not. However, the court say that the suspended repossession order is still in place.

 

BC told me they can either now get; a warrant of execution or a high court writ and get the car back that way. Also that I am no longer the legal owner of the car anymore and therefore my insurance is invalid.

 

Do you know if they are right in what they are saying and have any idea how long it takes to get either a warrant of execution or a high court writ in these circumstances? Are they correct, in any shape or form about what they said about the insurance being invalid.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Linda54]

These people will try to intimidate you in order to get repossession of the vehicle, and will do and say anything to scare you into handing the vehicle over.

 

Take legal advice quickly .. if you allow them to take the vehicle you will lose your bargaining tool and any further action will be futile.

[matteus]

Advise please?

 

I have a suspended repossession order in place and BC are trying to repossess my car because I've been unable to pay the arrears on my car agreement. BC are certified bailiffs and tried to convince me they had a warrant of execution, which they did not. However, the court say that the suspended repossession order is still in place.

 

BC told me they can either now get; a warrant of execution or a high court writ and get the car back that way. Also that I am no longer the legal owner of the car anymore and therefore my insurance is invalid.

 

Do you know if they are right in what they are saying and have any idea how long it takes to get either a warrant of execution or a high court writ in these circumstances? Are they correct, in any shape or form about what they said about the insurance being invalid.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi, sorry for the late reply.

 

First of all, you've said that you no longer the legal owner of the car. Who is?

If you've sold the car without permission from the finance company then you don't have a leg to stand on I'm afraid and it could land you in trouble as the car wasn't yours to sell until the outstanding balance was paid.

 

If you've had permission to sell the car or a family member or friend has taken over the debt when purchasing the car, then its them that BC and the court should be contacting not you.

However, if the car is no longer in your name but the debt is, then your still responsible for the debt and the car no matter who owns it can still be repossessed as it remains their property until at least 3/4 of the debt is paid.

 

Secondly, if the Return of Goods order is still suspended by the courts then BC cannot repossess the vehicle whatever they say or threaten you with.

They've taken the matter to the court, therefore if the suspension is lifted its the court bailiffs who will send you a letter warning you that unless the full outstanding debt is paid off in full then they will repossess the vehicle within six weeks. Giving you an opportunity to go back to court and explain why you've fallen behind with your payments. If its a valid reason to why you've fallen behind, then the court may continue with the suspension of the return of goods and set out a new payment plan.

If they decide that your unable to fulfill any payment agreements then they will continue to repossess the vehicle.

 

In the meantime, if BC make any attempt or successfully seize the vehicle they're in breach of the court order and can be reported for theft of motor vehicle. This is something I was advised on by the courts as I had to fight them for months with their threats. Threats included breaking into my garage to seize the vehicle, if they saw the vehicle out anywhere they pull me over and seize it. They were given a warning at court for their behaviour and eventually backed down.

 

If a BC bailiff comes to your door stating that they've come to seize the vehicle. Tell them to leave or you will call the police to have them removed. They will probably get cocky with you and refuse to leave. Tell them that only a county court bailiff is allowed to seize the vehicle not them (When I took them to court it did actually state this on the court order. If in doubt, contact the court where the court order was issued to clarify this).

If they continue to refuse to leave, then phone the police, explain that an unauthorised baliff is trying to seize your vehicle and is refusing to leave the property.

Remember, a bailiff cannot remove a vehicle if its on your drive way or on private property, they can only seize it if its on a public road.

 

Hope this helps you and you manage resolve your problem.

[woodywhite]

Unless they have high court writ

Hi, sorry for the late reply.

 

First of all, you've said that you no longer the legal owner of the car. Who is?

If you've sold the car without permission from the finance company then you don't have a leg to stand on I'm afraid and it could land you in trouble as the car wasn't yours to sell until the outstanding balance was paid.

 

If you've had permission to sell the car or a family member or friend has taken over the debt when purchasing the car, then its them that BC and the court should be contacting not you.

However, if the car is no longer in your name but the debt is, then your still responsible for the debt and the car no matter who owns it can still be repossessed as it remains their property until at least 3/4 of the debt is paid.

 

Secondly, if the Return of Goods order is still suspended by the courts then BC cannot repossess the vehicle whatever they say or threaten you with.

They've taken the matter to the court, therefore if the suspension is lifted its the court bailiffs who will send you a letter warning you that unless the full outstanding debt is paid off in full then they will repossess the vehicle within six weeks. Giving you an opportunity to go back to court and explain why you've fallen behind with your payments. If its a valid reason to why you've fallen behind, then the court may continue with the suspension of the return of goods and set out a new payment plan.

If they decide that your unable to fulfill any payment agreements then they will continue to repossess the vehicle.

 

In the meantime, if BC make any attempt or successfully seize the vehicle they're in breach of the court order and can be reported for theft of motor vehicle. This is something I was advised on by the courts as I had to fight them for months with their threats. Threats included breaking into my garage to seize the vehicle, if they saw the vehicle out anywhere they pull me over and seize it. They were given a warning at court for their behaviour and eventually backed down.

 

If a BC bailiff comes to your door stating that they've come to seize the vehicle. Tell them to leave or you will call the police to have them removed. They will probably get cocky with you and refuse to leave. Tell them that only a county court bailiff is allowed to seize the vehicle not them (When I took them to court it did actually state this on the court order. If in doubt, contact the court where the court order was issued to clarify this).

If they continue to refuse to leave, then phone the police, explain that an unauthorised baliff is trying to seize your vehicle and is refusing to leave the property.

Remember, a bailiff cannot remove a vehicle if its on your drive way or on private property, they can only seize it if its on a public road.

 

Hope this helps you and you manage resolve your problem.

[woodywhite]

Unless they have in possession a high court writ

[tigeress289]

Having read this thread with great interest, there is 1 point I would like to talk about. There is a statement which says after 3/4 has been paid the finance company are no longer the legal owners? So, if someone has paid off over the 3/4, could they legally sell the car and repay the balance or just carry on paying the remaining debt?

Say for instance there were 2 payments left and charges. Could they sell the car and then dispute the charges as a debt.