Santander threatening to take back car if demands not met

[chris131082]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice please.

This one is a little long winded but I'all try to keep it as short as possible whilst giving as much info as possible.

 

I took out a car on hire purchase finance which was provided by Santander

. I took the car out over 48 months.

I made 5 monthly payments but I reclaimed 3 of these payments through direct debit indemnity.

I know this was rather stupid but I had to pay almost £800 for car repairs and it was the only way was able to get that amount of money.

 

As a result I received a default notice.

I phoned and tried to set up the direct debit again to make my monthly payments as well as a payment towards my arrears until they were cleared.

 

My monthly payment is £235 per month.

I offered to pay an additional £20 per month but they refused stating that I had to repay the arrears over a maximum of 3 months therefore I'd be paying double £470 for the next 3 months.

 

I ended up speaking with a manager who told me that the minimum amount they would accept was over 12 months which workers out as £65 per month but they would only be willing to accept this payment if I provided them with an income and expenditure form that they would send me.

 

I asked them what I would do in the meantime with regards to my payment.

Is was advised that I could pay this by standing order until they had received the returned income and expenditure form which would allow them to reinstate the direct debit, given it was affordable.

 

This was 16th September I spoke to them.

I advised them in writing that my first payment would be on 28th September and every month thereafter.

I would pay £235 plus £65 towards the arrears so total payment of £300 per month.

I made the payment on 28th September and my next payment is due on 28th Oct (Fri).

 

I received a letter on 14th October asking me to contact their department in relation to my credit agreement.

 

I phoned them and they advised me that they had cancelled my credit agreement and the only option for me to keep the car was to pay the settlement amount of £12k immediately.

 

I asked them why they would cancel and they told me it was because I hadn't returned the completed income and expenditure form.

 

First of all I never received the form in the first place.

I assumed they hadn't sent it due to me already making the first payment as agreed.

They said they attempted to phone me several times but they had been using an old number despite me giving them my new number.

 

This was now passed to collections and they have threatened to hand this to solicitors in order to recover the car.

 

Despite only making two payment totalling £520 I made a deposit of £4300 so really I've paid almost £5k. It's not 1/3 but I know they can't take the car without my consent or without a court order (Scotland) regardless of the amount paid.

This is also confirmed in the small print of the finance agreement.

 

after going through their complaints procedure and threatening with the ombudsman they told me that they would reinstate the terminated agreement if I

a) supplied them with an invoice from the garage that carries out the repairs on my car and

b) completed a financial statement which has to include my last 3 months payslips, 3 months bank statements and a list of my other creditor with their statements where possible.

 

They told me that the £300 I paid at the end of September was a token payment and not part of an arrangement as one has not been set.

 

I asked them if I should pay this month and they said if you want but it would just be a token payment. I don't know if I want to pay this as I might use this as leverage when setting up a new direct debit. If it's only a token payment then they don't care if I'm paying £10 or £300 by the looks of things.

 

So here's the question.

 

I have no issue with providing them with an invoice for the car repairs considering they are telling me that I must do that or order for them to accept my payment arrangement.

 

I am however unwilling to provide them with bank statements (this is a joint bank account with my wife and she is not willing for this to be given out) and I am not willing to provide payslips or statements from other creditors as quite frankly I find this very intrusive.

 

I feel like they are holding me to ransom over this information but I believe in standing for what I believe in and I shall not be bullied by Santander.

 

I'm trying my best to rectify the issue but my understanding is that the only people who can order you to provide bank statements are the courts.

If I'm paying my monthly payment as well as an additional £65 per month I doubt very much the judge would entertain Santander.

 

I believe this would clearly show I was making an effort to pay as well as clear my arrears.

I will defend this on court if I have to.

 

Am I legally obliged to provide all this information to the creditor or would a completed income and expenditure be enough. If they did take me to court I would show this information to the judge only if necessary.

 

I never realised Santander would be so difficult to deal with but from checking lots of online forums it appears to be a common practice of theirs.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully someone can advise me of where I stand legally.

[fkofilee]

Is this Satans Bank Consumer Finance we are talking about?

If so, they are a real headache to deal with.

 

Oh welcome to the Forums too

[chris131082]

Yeah mate thats them. Honestly I can't believe how difficult they are. I've had car finance with bad debt creditors before such as First Response Finance and they are nowhere near as bad as Santander. Talking to them is like talking to a brick wall. Good luck to them trying to recover the vehicle. This could get messy.

[fkofilee]

So you have the car still? But they are refusing to continue the agreement without Bank Statements etc?

They are not entitled to see those unless a court orders them and then its normally the judge that would use them. However are they planning to use them to assess a new application to reinstate a credit agreement? Affordability etc etc??

This could get very sticky.

 

Token payments against what? Are they going to allocate what you've paid to the new agreement already?

 

Bare in mind that VT could be helpful here in the long run...

Edited October 25, 2016 by Andyorch
edited

[martin2006]

My first question has to be, why did you have an £800 repair bill 5 months into a car that you will pay £12k for? There must surely have been some warranty and then theres the CRA 2015 which would have helped.

[chris131082]

Fkofilee its justvto make sure I can afford to pay my monthly payment as well as the additional amount towards my arrears. Here is a detailed account as to what happened. I posted this on another site.

Edited October 25, 2016 by Andyorch
duplicate post

[chris131082]

What if I declare myself bankrupt will I be able to keep the car?

[martin2006]

What if I declare myself bankrupt will I be able to keep the car?

 

No you would not be able to keep the car if you declared yourself bankrupt, unless you could prove that you needed it to work, as in it was an essential tool of your trade.

[theoldrouge]

to answer previous points, unless they reinstate the agreement, vt will not be an option

if you go bankrupt, you will not be able to keep the car (this will be covered in the agreement)

 

just to clarify , you are in scotland?

I would first make a Formal Complaint in writing over their treatment of your proposals

should they continue to refuse your reasonable repayment proposals

or were they to take action(and you should point out that as you are in Scotland, they will require a court order to repo the car)

look into a Time Order, which have been rarely used in Scotland

this would give you the protection of the courts

 

read the following

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/S/factsheets/Pages/time-orders/Page-04.aspx#