Court case re: hire purchase agreement charges

[parasite_swatter]

I was in court yesterday as the defendant in a case brought against me for the repossession of my car due to arrears on a hire purchase agreement. I defended myself on the basis that the outstanding amount was made up largely of 'Late payment and administration charges' which I stated were illegal under The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, as they were disproportionate (as with bank charges!). The Judge refused the claimants application on the basis that I pay the amount outstanding under the agreement less the late payment and administration charges, which he directed the claimant to pursue via the Small Claims track, listed for a 3 hour hearing.

 

I feel as if Ive done ok so far in getting the court to recognise that Ive got a case! Id appreciate any advice on further preparing myself for the hearing (all the information to put together for my defence so far was gleaned from this site)

 

look forward to any replies

[bearo]

I think you have done amazingly well so far, you have had the bottle to stand before a judge and argue a case with facts that many are ingorant about!!

Please keep us informed.

Have you been given a court date yet or what is happening?

[BankFodder]

Could you let us see the court order/judgment when you get it. Please pm me and also link me back to this thread.

Thanks

[parasite_swatter]

my court visit was yesterday, remember I am the defendant in this, not the claimant...I managed to stop the repo of my car on the basis of my argument! The judge warned me that case law was very sketchy in this area of the law, my head was spinning a wee bit so I didnt get a proper note of his judgement, but there were a lot of directions to the claimant about timescales and evidence etc that would be required for the case to go forward to the full hearing.

 

Im half expecting the claimant, British Credit Trust, to contact me and offer to settle for a nominal sum...its likely to cost them a fortune in legal costs to go forward to a hearing, and i dont fancy their chances, so it would be better for them to make it go away really..

 

most of the charges relate to several 'Notices of Termination' that were sent to me when I was struggling to pay up...(I'd paid 90.5% of the sum due under the agreement). Ive got copies of three notices of termination, which they seem to charge £75 a go for, and Im sure there were a few more. So not only are they trying to screw me for the charges, the clowns have terminated the same contract about six times!

[bearo]

Any updates to this?

[parasite_swatter]

I finally recieved the papers back from the court this morning.

 

The court have directed that ' the matter be referred to the small claims track with regard to the validity / lawfulness or otherwise of the late payment and administration charges claimed by the Claimant'. ....'The hearing will be on 24 January 2007 with an estimated length of hearing of 3 hours'.

 

There is a list of other items on the papers relating to evidence / documentation etc to be circulated between the parties and the court; one of these is that the claimant must supply me with "a detailed breakdown as to how the sum of £1103.24, detailed as being 'late payment and administration charges' is made up, setting out each and every charge and the reason for it". The Claimant has been given until 1 November 2006 to do this.

 

I have an appointment for legal advice from my local university law school on 7th November, to try and source some case law documentation; ill keep you posted beyond this!

[breadline]

HI Parasite swatter

Have you made your personnel thread in the main forum you can share you can share your case and the steps you have taken with the whole site. you will get replies form people in the same situation as yourself

 

with out knowing the name of the company i can only suggest you start it in the link below

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-bailiffs-advice/

BL:)

[kingdom]

Well done, it was like getting a breath of real fresh air reading your thread.

 

I hope you win and get everything you have asked for.

 

I will be watching your progress with interest as you deserve to win for standing up to them, you must have heard this saying "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." some car finance companies think they have the absoulute power to charge anything they like, when they like, and to who they like.

 

 

Go for them, I'm sure everyone on this forum are all backing you, I'm having a go myself so you have really encouraged me.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Kingdom

[parasite_swatter]

This is a continuation of an earlier thread posted elsewhere on the site, see link below

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/welcome-our-forum/35936-court-case-re-hire.html

 

basically, Im the defendant in a case where the claimant, British Credit Trust, attempted to reposses my car through court action; I defended myself on the basis that the outstanding amount was made up largely of 'Late payment and administration charges' which I stated were illegal under The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, as they were disproportionate (as with bank charges!). The Judge refused the claimants application on the basis that I pay the amount outstanding under the agreement less the late payment and administration charges, which he directed the claimant to pursue via the Small Claims track, listed for a 3 hour hearing.

 

I recived the papers from the court recently, The court have directed that ' the matter be referred to the small claims track with regard to the validity / lawfulness or otherwise of the late payment and administration charges claimed by the Claimant'. ....'The hearing will be on 24 January 2007 with an estimated length of hearing of 3 hours'.

 

There is a list of other items on the papers relating to evidence / documentation etc to be circulated between the parties and the court; one of these is that the claimant must supply me with "a detailed breakdown as to how the sum of £1103.24, detailed as being 'late payment and administration charges' is made up, setting out each and every charge and the reason for it". The Claimant was given until 1 November 2006 to do this.

 

Its now 3rd November, and the Claimant hasnt complied with this direction (Im writing to the Court to inform them of this).

 

I have this morning recieved a letter from the Claimants solicitor offering to 'reduce' the charges to £600 if I pay this in 7 days; theres a veiled threat in the letter to come after me for the costs of the claim if I dont accept.

 

I wont be accepting the offer.

[parasite_swatter]

ive continued this thread in the main forum, see http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/vehicle-retailers-manufacturers/43445-court-case-re-hire.html

[breadline]

fair play, If it is made up of costs and charges then make them prove otherwise in court. I see that the judge has asked for full listings of the charges and costs, but wonder if he asks for full disclosure, the actually expense to them when you have a late payment. that would be nice.

[chiefengineer]

So it sounds like they are disobeying an instruction from the court itself? I don't think the judge will like that!

 

Jeremy

[Bookworm]

I have merged your 2 threads, it wil make things easier to follow than if people have to go back and forth. ;-)

[libbyb]

Hi Parasite Swatter! I have been looking around the site for advice to sort out my son's debts - most of which are because of car finance etc. I am committed to getting him on the straight and narrow before his next Birthday which is January. He has had his car taken from him and he had paid for two years. The DCA (which is also a firm of solicitors) are claiming £5,885 - he originally borrowed £5,000. Reading your thread was a revelation. I hope to send off an S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) today to the DCA and ask them for the full breakdown of this account, I just hope this isn't a waste of my time as I'm not really sure if they have any obligation to respond to it? Will they just see this as stalling tactics. I am hoping they will respond with a reduced figure offer as in your case. I hope you get your legal advice from the Law University and that you get to court in January and win this case!

[nicolacl79]

Well done and good for you!!!

 

 

Would anyone know how much the car finance companys, are allowed to charge you for administration costs? As I asked for a statement on my account and when I received it, found there to be numerous £50.00 admin costs added along with numerous £5 costs for the same reason...I have never been late or anything so wondered where these had come from and if they are allowed to do this?

 

 

Thanks for any advice!

[parasite_swatter]

read the small print of your contract

 

but the point is, if you didnt specifically negotiate your contract, the clause which says they can charge you may be an unfair term under The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999

 

see the SI here, Statutory Instrument 1999 No. 2083

[parasite_swatter]

Ive got a result!

 

Ive been preparing myself for court on the 24th January; I sent a detailed reply to the Claimants breakdown of the 'Late payment and administration charges', in which I admitted the claim in part, as I couldnt see a way around paying the additional interest accrued on installments which I was late in paying.

 

I wrote and offered to pay £290, which was the amount of this additional interest accrued on the account, but not the letter charges.

 

The solicitor for the Claimant, British Credit Trust has written accepting my offer as full and final settlement.

 

Alls well that ends well!

[JB9876]

Hi only just found out about all this!

I recently went through a smilar thing with BCT but I handed the car back after being assured that I could then just pay £5 a month back of course this didn't happen, court papers were issued, I stupidly (now as I know about this) admitted part of this but the majority of what I admitted to was late charges etc.

Although I now have a CCJ for this amount I admitted liability for can I still go back to reclaim these charges or am I too late?

[parasite_swatter]

In principle, the fact that you paid the charges doesnt make them legal.

I suppose you would need to approach it in a similar fashion to the method for reclaiming bank charges.