cygnet finance are ripping me off

[jackie.lawson68]

I have had a car from ACF financed with Cygnet, i have kept up to date with all the payments, i only owe them 38 pound to which they agreed that we would pay this friday 3rd june, they sent a tow truck to my house this morning and took the car, called them up and got a very NASTY man on the phone being very abusive to me, said if i didnt give them keys they would still take it anyway, they are now going to sell this car at auction and whatever is left over we have to pay them, what do i do, pls help.

[sequenci]

Hi there.

 

Prior to the tow truck coming did you receive any paperwork from them at all?

 

Do you know what type of finance you took out? e.g. was it a hire-purchase agreement or a log-book loan?

[jackie.lawson68]

Hi, no we did not get any letters or phone calls before they came for the car, the tow truck was at my door when i got home with the kids. the contract is for hire purchase over 4 years. jacqueline.

[Ell-enn]

How many payments have you made ?

[sequenci]

Hi, no we did not get any letters or phone calls before they came for the car, the tow truck was at my door when i got home with the kids. the contract is for hire purchase over 4 years. jacqueline.

 

Are you positive it's hire-purchase (please check the paperwork). I know that this firm also uses 'bills of sale' for their car finance agreements.

 

If it is HP, have you paid more than 1/3 of the amount borrowed, and if so have you ever received a 'return of goods order' via a court?

 

Finally, have you signed anything to hand the car back to the company in question?

[dcahelp]

oh dear, sounds like a wannabe thread.... have you read the thread by wannebedebtfreesoon, she had something so very similar happen....

 

Seems a bit extreme, but there again when are they not? Ok, you said you owe them £38, is that correct ( I may have misread)?

 

I would start with what sequenci said, knowing exacty what we are dealing with will enable us to help you more....

 

In the meantime i will PM wannabe, see if she can shed any light on suggestions for us.

[jackie.lawson68]

hi, my mistake it is a hire purchase agreement, we have worked it out and we have paid more than a third and no we did not sign anything when they took the car, it was just a man with a pick-up truck, we received a letter from them this morning 1st june explaining that we are in breach of agreement and because we owed them 38 pound they were terminatting the contract then it said at the bottom of this letter that we had five days to respond to this but the car had already gone by this time, the letter was dated on the 29th may we got it the 1st june. jackie

[sequenci]

How much was the car finance for, when did you take it out *this is very important*

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

Hello and welcome to CAG

 

I would think that in order to assist you further we really need to know some more details. It sounds absolutely despicable that you have lost your car over £38!

 

Firstly, do you have a copy of your original agreement and if so could you scan it and post it up minus your personal details?

 

Are you saying that you are £38 short of paying the car off altogether or are you just £38 in arrears??

[jackie.lawson68]

the finance started november 09, the balance war initially for 13,839, we paid 274.89 per month, the letter that we received today stated that we still owe 8,755.49, we were paying it weekly for a while at 70 per week, have all receipts on our on-line banking.

[jackie.lawson68]

we were only 38.98 in arrears. but we were paying more than we should of been when we were paying 70 per week instead of 274.89 a month. we just found it easier to pay weekly at the time. the next payment is not due until the 12th june2011. for a full month.

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

It is absolutely vital that you are 100% certain this is a hire purchase agreement as opposed to a bill of sale, do you have a copy of the original agreement??

Also, were there any PPI or other insurances added to the agreement?

[jackie.lawson68]

it is 100% hire purchase we still have the original paper work that we signed on the day of purchase, we did not take any ppi insurances with this car,

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

It all sounds good so far

What is the figure on the agreement under the "Repossession, your rights" section??

Did you pay any deposit or part exchange when you took out the agreement?

[dcahelp]

thanks wannabe.... knew you could help......

[sequenci]

Any news on this?

 

Basically if they've taken the car without a court order, and it's a CCA regulated HP agreement, and you've paid more than 1/3 - you're entitled to all your money back. And some CCA commentators feel that you may be able to recover the vehicle also!

[jackie.lawson68]

hi, i do not have a scanner available to scan this paperwork over to you, i can fax it through to you, if you can supply me with a fax number, i have read it over and over it mentions a few time that we have to have five days notice which we never got.

[jackie.lawson68]

oh and we paid 200 pound deposit to. and the finance started on the 7/11/09. first payment was for 250, and then 274.89 there after.

[dcahelp]

hey,

 

as this is a web based forum with people all over the uk, I doubt there is a central fax number for you to use, although asking doesnt hurt....

 

Ok in that case then, we need as much detail as you can provide... You say your 100% certain this is an HP agreement, basically you pay x upfron followed by x amonth for so many months at the end you own the car no further payments. Is that right?

 

If this is right, if you have paid more than 1/3 cygnet/acf should have applied for a court order, (I understand you felt intimidated etc) if they did not, naughty naughty....

 

have you read wannabe's thread, it will take you a while ( I think its uptos 84 pages long now) but it basically covers your situation as it is now, although wannbe is much further in.... You will find it has a mass of info on there that you could be using...... forgive me if you have already read it.

 

From your figures you previously provided it looks like youve paid more than a third..... Did you receive a default notice? Did you receive anything that my partner would call a death threat letter, ie pay us or else letter.... I would definetly start by going through all your paperwork and check termination rights, there should be something in there.... Ive not had an hp agreement since 2009 so I really couldnt tell you where on the agreement it will be. That will say what they should do, ie send default notices, notice of sums in deafult etc etc...

 

I wonder, have you previously been in arrears with them ( sorry to ask) I mean more than the 38 pounds you say now. You need to apply for an Subject Access Request (SAR) it will provide every email (internal or otherwise), letters, transcripts of phone calls, any administration works, charges etc etc etc, it will give you a better idea of what you are dealing with....

[jackie.lawson68]

No we only owe that 38 pounds, i cant talk to them they just hang up on me all time, they are so rude. only letter i got is the one i received the day after they took the car, i have read threw the original agreement and it does state in there they have to give us 5 days notice before taking it which obviously they didnt. i will read that wannabes thread when i get 5 mins from kids, (i wish). thanks for your help.

[sequenci]

All we need to know is if the payments that you have made up to this point total more than 1/3 on the amount financed when you took the agreement out.

 

This is really, really important.

[jackie.lawson68]

hi, yes we have paid over a third if the payments.