Logbook loan - car repo'd off private drive without consent.please help

[Potato2016]

Hi

 

A bit of a long post, i took out a logbook loan a couple of years ago for £1000 and have really struggled to keep up with the payments on the account. I should never have taken it

 

When i first ran in arrears they sent someone to repossess the car and after a lot of back with the police involved i ended up paying the arreas and charges so they didnt take the car this was last year just before lockdown i got the payments back on track and set up again

 

However this year i ended up hospital and missed a payment on the loan this was in may i have since been trying to get in touch with them via txt and email (partially deaf and cant hear on the phone)asking them to take payment as this is what i had done in the past and the automatically take card payment and what's happening with the account

 

as i have received no reply from them

i still had no reply to date

i also advised i was no longer working .

 

this morning i have gotten up and found that my car has gone from the drive

i contacted the police to report it stolen and they advised me a finance company had it and i need to get in touch with them.

 

The car had my 4 month olds pram car seat and other belongings in, there was not a letter posted to advise it had been taken.

The only 14 day dn i received was last year, does this still count

 

I think the remaining balance to pay was about £750 

 

I dont know what to do as i dont want to lose the car 

 

Can anyone please advise

 

Thanks

 

 

[dx100uk]

opps they repo'd the car from private property?

 

 

[Potato2016]

Hi. Yes they took it from the drive

 

ive spoke to the logbook company this morning the want £1000 to release the car and £300 set up on a payment plan, i asked why it was now £1300 they said £300 recovery charges and £200 admin fee, this was applied in may

 

ive got 6 emails/txts asking for them to take payment since then and they said there was nothing they could do as they had already passed it over to recovery. i told them could have advised me, they also said a dn was sent in december .

[dx100uk]

A guy with a flatbed like Anglia or Burlington s are NOT court BAILIFFS and are totally powerless.  AFAIK even if the bill of sale is correctly registered and you've had a default notice, they cannot repo from a private drive without a court order, or your permission at the time. else they void the agreement and you can demand the car back + compensation.

 

tell them you want the car back in 24hrs or you are going to launch a court claim and sue them.

[Potato2016]

Thanks DX, i have paid the £1000 to release the car and set up a payment plan for the remaining £300,i just wanted my car back as soon as possible as im taking the kids on a short break this week, im really not happy about the whole dealings with them from start to finish since i took the loan in 2019

 

I have kept every txt, email that i have sent and they sent me

 

Shall i request a sar(will this include bos)

Check bos

Make formal complaint

Complain to ccta

Proceed to fos if unresolvable

 

Thanks

[dx100uk]

are you saying you don't have a copy of the bill of sale?!!

[Potato2016]

Hi Dx

 

Im not sure if i have a copy ive been totally hopeless in the past.

 

Would this have been with the paperwork when i signed for the loan 

 

i haven't been clued up at all. I thought stupidly id take the loan and pay it back as fast as i could i was desperate for the cash at the time and stupidly took this loan out not realising the consequences it would bring financially and mentally 

[dx100uk]

yes must be there

 

dx

[Potato2016]

Hi DX

 

I have had a good look through everything i have the bos appears to be okay. Can i do anything retrospectively with the bos if it hadnt been registered correctly with regards them having instructed collection of the veichle twice in the past.

 

Also im not sure if this can have any bearing but i signed the agreement on the 31/08/2019 the company signed it on the 03/09/2019 the solicitor witnesed it on 02/09/2019 and the court stamped it on the 04/09/2019

 

Im just going theough everything and it seems a complete mess 

[dx100uk]

you mean the bill of sale was stamped within 7 days then its legal.

 

now there is an associated loan agreement regulated by the consumer credit act there too?

and ofcouse you'd paid more than 1/3rd of the agreement sum (disregard extra fees to date!)

 

and whats this about multiple fees on other repo attempts?

 

you are not telling us the full history from day one please...

 

now if the BOS negates this i don't know yet but i don't think so.

 

it APPEARS to me you have a good claim under section 92 for ALL you money back if the BOS plays no part in extra repo laws which i don't think it does on private property..yes you DRIVEWAY is private property 

[Potato2016]

Thanks for the reply 

 

Here goes from day one.

 

I took out a logbook loan in Aug/Sep 2019 for £1000 total in 78 weekly instalments of £35.90 total repayable was £2800.20 secured by way of my car (valued at £4500 at the time.

 

No credit checks, proof of earnings/benefits were requested only income/expenditure sheet as far as i can recall.

 

Things got of to a pretty bad start i was charged a £12 late payment fee for 7 day notice email as there had been no instructions in how to pay i thought the money would be deducted automaticly it wasnt.

 

I fell behind pretty quickly with a further 3 £12 charges added to the account and by January 2020 a repossion charge of £300 was applied to the account.

 

On the 12th february 2020 a rather angry man was banging on my door asking me to pay £900 or he was taking my car there and then by right of bill of sale which he refused to show me. I jumped in my car to stop him trying to hook it up to his flatbed and as he went to hook it up i drove it up and down  my drive he recorded me doing this and called the police claiming attempted assualt.

 

When the police came out i told the police what had happened and he was refusing to show me documentation which he showed the police quite happily the police agreed with him and said i couldnt stop him. I was told to pay or the car would be taken on top of this the police were now at the point of telling me i allow him to take the car or get arrested for attempted assult and he could take the car anyway.

 

He was on the phone to his boss who was telling him not to accept any payment and just take the car as they had had enough messing around i managed to borrow the £900 at short notice and make the payment this resolved the situation for now. I didnt want to tke it any further at the time due to fear of reprisal.

 

Following the next 12 months i became redundent and was relying on benefits to pay for the loan i advised them of this with no reply 

 

Fast forward to May of this year and i have been charged another 3 £12 late payment charges and a £200 admin fee and another £300 repossession charge as in the thread above

 

There is currently 

£213 left to pay

£3471 paid to date

£884 in charges inclusive of above

 

I have a copy of 

The bos

Fixed sum loan agreement regulated by consumer credit act 1974

Pre contract form

 

Hope that makes sense

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

the repo fees are unlawful and reclaimable and so are all the £12 charges and at their int rate.

 

pers if you can borrow the money needed i'd get this done and dusted and then raise serious complaints with them then off to the authorities

 

i'm still convinced that repo off a private driveway is unlawful and voids the whole agreement.

 

First read this especially 4.8.4 and 4.8.5

 

https://www.ccta.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Bills-of-Sale-Code-of-Practice-consumer.pdf

 

You need to make a Formal Complaint in writing on what you have learnt from the advised link

 

 

 

[theoldrouge]

Sadly once a valid dn has been issued and expired and not been remedied
they can and will lift off a private drive, provided no damage is caused to the private property
Annoyingly the Government decided to reject the Law Commissions findings regarding LBLs which leaves the DN as your only protection
However, the FOS has beefed up its attitude to LBLs (been lent on imo)
(see the link in the sticky, and read the sample case study)
So your plan of action is
Send a SAR to gather all the required information
Read the FOS link and the CCTA guide from 4.7 onwards
Compile a Formal Complaint
Post it up prior to submission
IMO you have a strong affordability case, and just look at the outcome in the FOS case study!!!

[Potato2016]

Thanks Dx and the theoldrouge i appriciate your time and advice.

 

I have recieved the sar information back

 

Just a quick few questions, i plan on complaining about affordability as i dont belieive they carried any other checks other than a income/expenditure sheet, they have also left the supporting documents/evidence blank on this sheet ie wage slips seen, bank statements provided i dont think they requested any of this from me

 

Other than the affordability side of it, im going to complain about the charges incurred which the only ones listed in the agreement are the £12 ones not the repo fees and definatly not the £200 admin charge which is now showing as a repo fee on top of the £300 repo

 

The fact they removed the car without offering me to remove goods or even tried to advise they were taking it there and then.

 

They ignored my  numerous messages telling them to take payment and asking what was happening with account, but replied as soon as they had car in possesion.

 

I told them i was in financial difficulty and also suffering with severe anxiety last year which they brushed off. I even had a message from one of their agents txting to say "ignoring this wont make it go away" after they had called me even though i told them to communicate in emails

 

Should i put all this in one complaint

 

Thanks again

 

 

[theoldrouge]

Yes, include everything after reading the links as advised
but be very concise, don’t waffle
they will reject it all anyway
you flesh it out at the FOS

[Potato2016]

Hi here is what i plan on sending

 

Formal Complaint 

 

Loan Ref; xxxxxxxx 

 

I wish to log a formal complaint in relation to unaffordable lending, Unfair charges, Car repossesion, Dealing with financial and mental difficulty

 

 

I feel to bring to your attention that I believe you  have irrisponablely lent to me because of the below points;

 

- You did not do appropriate checks. Should you have used the appropriate Due Diligence, you would have seen that I was under a tremendous

amount of financial pressure accompanyed by other debts that would make this loan unaffordable. This pushed me into arrears.

- Should you have done the appropriate affordability checks at the time of the loan, you would have seen that I had more than 1

loan on the go and a large proportion of my outgoings servicing other accounts. These included Credit Cards / Other Payday Loans /

High APR Finance /Other Debts.

 

- On my Credit Files with the 3 major agencies (Callcredit, Equifax / Experian), I cannot find any searches that had been completed at the time of a loan being offered. While the searches may have disappeared, I would have expected to see something that shows your firm did a “Hard” search to check my financial commitments and I would request that you prove you did complete this along with providing evidence you completed affordability checks that include proof of income.

 

I am bringing this to your attention because I believe that you as a lender did not treat me with comply with section 5 of the CONC Sourcebook on Responsible Lending or use Due Diligence upon my application and have allowed me to get into this position. I also would expect a company to check bank statements as part of their underwriting criteria. I would also expect that with your authorisation to trade under the OFT /

FCA, you would have had stringent underwriting criteria.

 

The charges that you have applied to the account seem unfair and unreasonable in total you have added £884 in total charges to a loan of £1000.

 

I would like to point you to CCTA code of paractice bills of sale 4.8.4

 

"Members shall not impose charges, of whatever nature, on customers who are in arrears unless the

nature of and likely amount of those charges are disclosed at the Pre-contract stage and are limited to doing no more than covering the member’s reasonable costs"

 

There are charges on the account that are not specified at pre contract stage and seem excesive of reasonable costs.

 

 

I would also like you to investigate the behaviour and practices of xxxxxxxx the third party company instructed with reposesion of the veichle the agent knocked on neighbours doors to see if i was home, demanded payment without proof of bill of sale, alleged attempted assault and refused to accept payment as his boss just wanted the car.

 

The second time the car was taken early hours sunday morning no attempt was made to notify me and as a result i believed my car had been stolen, as a result i didnt have the oppertunity to remove my personal belongings from the car including my 4 month old babys bag and pram with essentials.

 

Please be reminded that it is your responsability of any company/agent acting on your behalf and not up to me to contact the company.

 

Despite advising you of financial difficulty/severe anxiety/stress/pregnancy/partially deaf. You did not treat me fairly and appropriately and carried on with recovery of debt

 

You ignored messages of offering payments and asking what was happening with the account over the months leading up to the car being possesed but responded immiedietly once the car had been taken possesion of.

 

I did advise you i was partially deaf and you kept on trying to call me as opposed to email/message even one of your agents messaged me to say "ignoring calls wont make this go away"

 

I look forward to your response

 

 

[dx100uk]

needs lots of work including spelling.

[Potato2016]

Thanks DX do you have any pointers ill go through the spelling with a fine tooth comb im not very good at putting this together 

 

Im concerned about going into detail too much with waffling and pointless information

 

Should i quote the gudence more or is this not needed

 

Thanks

[AndyOrch]

A bit wordy and repetitive.....get to the point 2/3 paragraphs is all that is required....succinct. 

 

Andy

[Potato2016]

Thanks Andy

 

I have cut the complaint down to precise points is this any better

 

Loan Ref; xxxxxxxx 

 

I wish to log a formal complaint in relation to unaffordable lending, Unfair charges, Car repossession, dealing with financial and mental difficulty

 

I feel the need to bring to your attention that I believe you have irresponsibly lent to me because you did not do appropriate checks.

The charges that you have applied to the account seem unfair and unreasonable in total you have added £884 in total charges to a loan of £1000. There are charges on the account that are not specified at pre contract stage and seem excessive of reasonable costs.

 

I would also wish to complain of the behaviour and practices of xxxxxxxx the third party company instructed with repossession of the vehicle, The agent knocked on neighbours doors to see if I was home, demanded payment without proof of bill of sale, alleged attempted assault and refused to accept payment as his boss just wanted the car, removing the vehicle with no notification and no opportunity to remove personal belongings.

 

Despite advising you of financial difficulty/unemployment/severe anxiety/stress/pregnancy/partially deaf. You did not treat me fairly and appropriately and carried on with recovery of debt

You ignored messages of offering payments and asking what was happening with the account. I did advise you I was partially deaf and you kept on trying to call me as opposed to email/message.

 

I look forward to your response
 

[AndyOrch]

Better.......but it requires a positive conclusion to what you now expect to happen and if not what further appropriate action you are prepared to take and who you will report to. If you have the relevant links/legislation to unfair lending drop them in also as to what you will rely upon.

[Potato2016]

Thanks again, right here goes

 

Loan Ref; xxxxxxxx 

 

I wish to log a formal complaint in relation to unaffordable lending, Unfair charges, Car repossession, dealing with financial and mental difficulty

 

I feel the need to bring to your attention that I believe you have irresponsibly lent to me because you did not do appropriate checks.

 

The charges that you have applied to the account seem unfair and unreasonable in total you have added £884 in total charges to a loan of £1000. There are charges on the account that are not specified at pre contract stage and seem excessive of reasonable costs.

 

I would also wish to complain of the behaviour and practices of xxxxxxxx the third party company instructed with repossession of the vehicle, The agent knocked on neighbours doors to see if I was home, demanded payment without proof of bill of sale, alleged attempted assault and refused to accept payment as his boss just wanted the car, removing the vehicle with no notification and no opportunity to remove personal belongings.

 

Despite advising you of financial difficulty/unemployment/severe anxiety/stress/pregnancy/partially deaf. You did not treat me fairly and appropriately and carried on with recovery of debt

 

You ignored messages of offering payments and asking what was happening with the account.

I did advise you I was partially deaf and you kept on trying to call me as opposed to email/message

Due to the above I would not deem it unreasonable for you to refund all charges and interest and revert to the financial position before the loan transaction took place. I would also request compensation for the unfair treatment I have received as per guidelines in CCTA code of practice.

If an unsatisfactory response is received then I will take the case to the financial ombudsman services.

 

I look forward to your response
 

[AndyOrch]

Still a bit lame " The charges that you have applied to the account seem unfair " don't seem they are.!!!!

 

" Due to the above I would not deem it unreasonable for you to refund all charges and interest "   Due to the above I demand that you reverse/ credit all charges and interest to the account.

[dx100uk]

Might it be better to drop the word unaffordable and use the correct term...irresponsible lending and unlawful charges relaiming??

 

Pers id also remove the begging.

I hereby raise a formal complaint.....

 

And also i feel? No i bring

 

and the i also wish.. No you demand they investigate the action s of flatbed fake bailiffs!!

[Potato2016]

Hi Dx/Andyorch thanks for your advice i have made the changes as below, is this good to go 

 

Loan Ref; xxxxxxxx 

 

I hereby raise a formal complaint in relation to irresponsible lending, Unlawful charges, Car repossession, dealing with financial and mental difficulty.

 

I bring to your attention that you have irresponsibly lent to me because you did not do appropriate checks.

 

The charges that you have applied to the account are unfair and unreasonable in total you have added £884 in total charges to a loan of £1000. There are charges on the account that are not specified at pre contract stage and are excessive of reasonable costs.

 

I also demand that you investigate the behaviour and practices of xxxxxxxx the third party company instructed with repossession of the vehicle, The agent knocked on neighbours doors to see if I was home, demanded payment without proof of bill of sale, alleged attempted assault and refused to accept payment as his boss just wanted the car, removing the vehicle with no notification and no opportunity to remove personal belongings.

 

Despite advising you of financial difficulty/unemployment/severe anxiety/stress/pregnancy/partially deaf. You did not treat me fairly and appropriately and carried on with recovery of debt.

 

You ignored messages of offering payments and asking what was happening with the account.

 

I did advise you I was partially deaf and you kept on trying to call me as opposed to email/message.

Due to the above I demand that you reverse/credit all charges and interest to the account and revert to the financial position before the loan transaction took place. I would also request compensation for the unfair treatment I have received as per guidelines in CCTA code of practice.

If an unsatisfactory response is received then I will take the case to the financial ombudsman services.

 

I look forward to your response.