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

[AndyOrch]

[theoldrouge]

Loan Ref; xxxxxxxx 

 

Regard this as a Formal Complaint in relation to irresponsible lending, Unlawful charges, Car repossession, dealing with financial and mental difficulty in relation to the above referenced account .

 

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 at home, demanded payment without proof of bill of sale, alleged attempted assault and refused to accept payment as his Manager clearly 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 in total breach of PRIN 6

 

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 also demand substantial compensation for the unfair treatment I have received ,in breach of the guidelines, by yourselves, contained within both CONC, and the  CCTA code of practice.

 

Should you chose to reject my Complaint, then I will not hesitate to forward the entire matter to the  office of the Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

I look forward to your early, positive response.

 

[Potato2016]

Hi

 

Just want to thank you all for the support/advice, ill keep this post updated with what happens next

 

Thanks again

 

Hi 

 

Ive had response as follows pretty quick and looks like a template

 

Final Response

Thank you for raising your concerns to xxxxxx via your email. For clarity, we can confirm that we have received your complaint 
We can assure you that we take all complaints seriously and I am now able to provide you with an explanation and outcome of our decision.

Our understanding of your complaint
You made a complaint regarding the recovery of the vehicle

Our investigation of your complaint
All notes, email correspondence, documentation and telephone recordings held on file have been read and considered in this investigation and we formulate this response after having considered your complaint and all the documentation as outlined above.
Our Findings to your complaint 
We have considered the loan account and report as follows:

1.    You took a loan with this company on 31st August 2019 for the sum of £1,000.00 over a repayment term of 18 months.
2.    Payment terms where £35.90 per week.
3.    At the time of taking out the loan you provided evidence of income and expenditure and provided evidence of a disposable income of £384.15 per week.
4.    In addition, you signed a contract and statement showing that you believed the content of the statement and income and expenditure schedule to be true to the best of your knowledge and belief. 
5.    The loan was and is secured against the vehicle (as named above).
6.    Considering the historical aspect of your account, payments were not made in a timely manner and there is a pattern of non-payment on your account amounting to arrears, interest, and charges.
7.    As a result of your non-payment this company sought to recover the vehicle as is permitted by Law and the Bill of Sale signed by you at the outset of this loan.
8.    We attempted to rectify the issue of non-payment with you on numerous occasions whether that be by telephone, email and text, however, you did not engage with us in reducing and/or paying the balance of the loan agreement.
9.    Recovery Agents then recovered the vehicle from you with a view to selling the vehicle at auction in order to have our financial interest therein realised. However, an agreement was made whereby you were to pay a balance and the vehicle would released to you.
10.    Payment was made and we understand from the agents that the vehicle has been released.

Our conclusion to your complaint
Xxxxxxx reject your complaint on the basis that we have attempted to work with you in relation to the historical missed payments on your account.

 

As a result of there being no contact with you, we sought recovery of the vehicle as per the loan agreement and Bill of Sale. We can assure you that this course of action is a legal right.  

We understand that you have decided to take issue with the agent. Unfortunately, xxxxx are not part of this company and should you wish to make a complaint about paperwork or the recovery agent directly then that would be an issue for you to address with them directly.

For clarity, your complaint is not upheld.
We would also advise that this is not a complaint for the Financial Services Ombudsman, however, please note that, under the terms of our Complaints Procedure, this is our final response, and the complaint has been closed. If you are dissatisfied with it, you have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), free of charge – but you must do so within six months of the date of this letter. If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.
 

[theoldrouge]

Just as expected
You can now flesh everything out at the FOS
using you own words
For the record, for anyone finding this thread helpful
who are the LBL Co involved?

[Potato2016]

 Hi theoldrouge

 

Thanks, I wasnt expecting a response so quick from them its logbook money 

 

Thanks again

[Potato2016]

Hi All

 

Quick update and question, fos have taken on complaint and have asked me to provide statements, credit report and income/expenditure from the time the loan was taken out

 

The statements i can provide along with income/expenditure but i had a few default accounts that i wasnt paying at the time should i include theese and can anyone advise how i would get a credit report from 2019 or would i use a current one and highlight 2019 in the data 

 

Thanks

[dx100uk]

Credit report is a problem always

but anything else that shows bad times ins it all

 

[theoldrouge]

Yes include whatever you can 

that helps your case

[Potato2016]

Hi all

 

Just had the decision they are not upholding any of any of the complaint based on i had enough disposable income to cover the payments 

[dx100uk]

well in a way you've not lost as it cost them +£650 because the complaint was raised, 

they should be removing repo fees and unlawful penalty charges regardless.

 

so where does this leave you?

[Potato2016]

The loan is settled ive got the keys and logbook back but im not happy with the whole process it doesnt look like ill get any joy of the fos though

[dx100uk]

can we see the refusal please?

 

[Potato2016]

 Dear xxxxx

 

complaint about Logbook Money Limited

 

The complaint

Xxxxxx took out a logbook loan with Logbook Money. Xxxx told us Logbook Money didn’t carry out any affordability checks prior to the loan. Xxx said they have missed information on requesting evidence i.e. payslips and they have conflicting information about a utility bill xxxx provided them.

 

Xxxxxx told us xxxxx had several large payday loans which all had defaulted including a large guarantor loan to amigo, and Logbook Money should have seen this when carrying out a soft credit checks as told. Xxxxxxxx also told us Logbook Money have applied £884 in charges to an initial loan of £1000.

 

 

Details of the agreements (Logbook Loans)

 

Loan number

Start date

Capital amount

Total repayable

Weekly repayment

Duration


31 August 2019

£1,000

£2,800.20

£35.90

18months

 

My understanding is the loan isn’t settled yet.

Findings

Our approach to considering complaints about unaffordable and irresponsible lending is set out on our website. I’ve had this approach in mind when considering what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint.

 

Did Logbook Money complete reasonable and proportionate checks to satisfy itself that xxxxxxx would be able to repay the agreement in a sustainable way?

 

Logbook Money have provided us with the documents they have relied on which includes customer information, income, and outgoings, driving licence, copy of the agreement and bill of sale. They told us they used xxxxxx bank statement to complete the income and expenditure at the time, however due to the lapse of time they don’t hold the statement any longer.

 

The income and expenditure from the time of sale shows net income was around £2,300, this includes private rent, child tax credit and DWP and her monthly expenditure was £764. This left xxxxx with a disposable income of £1,536 of which she would be expected to make a weekly payment of £35.90.

 

 

Considering everything, I think Logbook Money completed reasonable and proportionate checks based on the size of the loan, the interest charged, the monthly repayments and length of the agreement.

 

Did Logbook Money make a fair lending decision?

 

As I think Logbook Money carried out a reasonable and proportionate checks, I have gone onto consider whether it made a fair lending decision based on the information it obtained about xxxxxxx circumstances at the time.

 

Since Logbook Money said they don’t hold the bank statements any longer, I asked xxxxxxx to provide me with the statements. From what I’ve seen, xxxx monthly income across the xxxxx and xxxxxxx account appear to broadly support her income of £2,333 which reflects in the income and expenditure from the time. However, the bank statement I received from xxxxxxx shows outgoings were higher at around £1,344, which indicated a monthly disposal income of around £937 from which xxxxxxx would be expected to make the £35.90 weekly loan repayment. This indicates xxxx still had enough disposable income to be able to sustainably afford the monthly payments towards the agreement.

 

The screen shot of the credit report xxxxxxxxx sent to me shows Vodaphone, Three and Vanquis account has worsened in August 2019, however this information isn’t enough for me to understand what the credit report reflected at the time -  for e.g. if there were any large balances outstanding, defaults, CCJ’s, accounts in arrears, or missed payments

 

I asked for further information on 17 November 2021 – a full credit report from the time, including the statement of the account number xxxxxx and statements for all other active account +/-3months the loan start date. Since I haven’t receive the information, I can’t say what this would’ve looked like.

 

I don’t think there was anything in the information Logbook Money gathered that ought to have highlighted any concerns about xxxxxxx being able to sustainably afford the agreement. I therefore don’t think Logbook Money acted unfairly in approving the finance.

 

Did business act unfairly in any other way

 

Xxxxxx told Logbook Money xxxx is unhappy the way the vehicle was repossessed and how the debt was pursued. Logbook Money told us there were two attempts made to repossess the car prior to the actual repossession on 1 August 2021. The first attempt was made on 10 June and the second one was on 5 July 2021, however both attempts were unsuccessful. This would mean xxxxxxx was aware that the vehicle was at risk of repossession. Logbook Money provided us a copy of the default notice that was sent to xxxxxx in December 2020, which outlines the importance of clearing any arrears outstanding and the risk of repossession.

 

From the information Logbook Money provided us, it shows the vehicle was released to xxxxxxx after xxxxx made a payment.

 

Regarding the personal belongings xxxxxx said she had in the car at the time the vehicle was repossessed - Logbook Money told us the recovery agent left a message for xxxxxx to contact them to arrange to collect belongings.

 

In reviewing this case I’ve thought very carefully about the way the business pursued the outstanding debt and considered whether I felt that business fell short of its obligations in responding to xxxxxxx situation.

 

While I’m sure that this situation may have caused distress and/or inconvenience, I don’t think that this stemmed from Logbook Money making a mistake or acting unfairly or unreasonably. So, I haven’t made any recommendation in relation to this.


 Next steps

I think this is a fair outcome in the circumstances, for the reasons I’ve explained. But if xxxxxx decides that xxx doesn't accept what I’ve said, then please let me know by 10 December 2021. If I can’t resolve things then an ombudsman here can look at everything again and make a final decision. If I don’t hear from you by that date we might not be able to look at xxxxxxxxx 

[dx100uk]

thank you.

 

i'm surprised to see no mention of repeated? charges of the repo fee of about £300 a time? how many times was this charged to the balance ? and any mention of the other unlawful fees? 

did you not mention these in you complaint if any exist?

 

dx

[Potato2016]

Yes  i mentioned the charges and also the random £200 charge they applied i submited a copy of the complaint i sent, it appears to me that theyve based the whole complaint on the affordability side of it

 

The blatent lying from them is frustrating 

 

 

[theoldrouge]

You are able to take this up to 

an Ombudsman 

However you will need to provide evidence of the defaulted payday loans and the defaulted Amigo loan you said you had at the time of the Lbl application 

This should be straightforward to provide 

The Ombudsman May well then look more into the other matters