Direct Auto Finances.....help please

[fairydee]

 

I have had ongoing problems for many years with Yes Car Credit and now Direct Auto Financial Services.

 

Originally I questioned the PPI and GAP I was charged and disputed the fact that it was never discussed when I signed the original agreement, after many letters to and fro I got a letter stating that they would cancel the 'PPI' and then changing how much they were charging me per month but that the GAP was "non-cancellable".

 

The monthly payment was also disputed since then as originally they told me that I would have to pay £262.84 a month and then had countless letters, charging me £15 a time, stating that I had to pay £263.34 and that each time I made a payment of £262.84 I was in arrears!

 

Recently my husband and I separated and I could not afford to make the payment for a few months, I tried to make an offer to them which was refused and did not answer any of the continuous phone calls demanding that I contact them urgently.

 

Recently when I did try and speak to them they told me that the debt was passed to a debt collection agency and that they were no longer dealing with it.

 

Today, I have received a 'Termination of Agreement' from them stating that they had issued a Default Notice and that this was a notice of termination of agreement and a formal demand for compensation of the outstanding balance :

 

Just for the record, I am over three quarters of the way through the agreement, the final payment was due in July this year.

 

The balance they are demanding is as follows :

Gross Outstanding Balance Less Rebate Net Settlement

 

Credit for Additional Insurances

602.44 1.76 600.68

 

PPP Rebate 0.00 0.00 0.00

 

Conditional Sale

for Vehicle 1,770.42 14.86 1,755.56

 

Total 2,372.86 16.62 2,356.24

 

They go on to threat court proceedings unless the amount demanded is received within 3 working days of this letter which is dated 3/01/2007.

 

They also say If we reposses the vehicle and sell it we shall allow to you credit for the net proceeds and that they will have the right to claim any further damages in accordance with clause 5, indemnity of the agreement.

 

So that is the story, thank you for bearing with me, I am not sure where I stand now or what I can do, I would be grateful for any advice or help from anyone as to the next step for me and them.

 

These people have been a thorn in my side from the beginning and I wish I had never been stupid enough to have bought a car from them in the first place.

 

Thank you for your help.

 

Yours in anticipation

*FAIRY*

[MARTIN3030]

Welcome to the site.

We have some people on the site who are not only clued up on this,but are either ex or currently active in the business.

I will post your thread there hopefully you will get better response than here .

[mummyemma]

Oh hon I may be just the person to help. Can I check a few things with you and then maybe I can help.

Have you paid over 50% of the agreement i.e. 24 payments or more if your term was 48m which I think is just what you said.

If that is the case you need to write to them stating you want excerise your right to voluntary terminate your agreement. This means that you can return the car and you are not liable for anymore payments.

I am currently having a sim argument to you with yes car credit and have just filed a defence as yes car have tried to issue a CCJ. Yes car have been a thorn in my side to and maybe we could help each other as i would love to know how you cancelled the PPI i have been argueing that one with them for a long time

I will try and help you as much as I can if you like.

Emma

[fairydee]

Thank You

[fairydee]

Hello Emma,

 

Have just re-read through the letter sent about the PPI and I have got myself totally confused now!

 

The first line of letter reads:

 

Thank you for your recent letter, concerning your eligibility to claim your payment protection insurance policy. Your letter has been passed to me and I must advise you that your request to cancel the payment protection policy has been declined.

 

BUT...IT GOES ON

 

we agree to cease cover on the Payment Protection element of the agreement. The GAP Insurance and Mechanical Breakdown cover are non-cancellable. This means that any benefit of the payment protection insurance will cease and your future payment will be reduced.

 

Debbie Wilson, Customer Service Manager.

 

My monthly payment was then reduced by £13.70, and I got a rebate for Insurance Premium £205.25 and rebate for Finance Charge £164.70.

 

I wish I could show you these letters!

 

I don't know if this clarify's anything I am confused myself now!

 

Dee

[mummyemma]

Am sending you a PM. But letters sound very confusing. Either way what we need to do is sort out the car. Do you want to terminate the agreement with them Ie return the car???

[fairydee]

Hiya,

 

I wouldn't mind returning the car at all, but I do need a car to work as I am self-employed I suppose I could go and have a look somewhere else. It's trying to work out which is the best option, I would love to just say there you go, have the car now poke it! How would I fair out with all the charges they have put on to the account and any extra one's they will decide to add?

 

Dee

[mummyemma]

The charges you can claim back and on this site are the letters to help you do that. The charges im guessing are for late payments and arrears and these are all unfair and therefore you claim them back. Think about what you want to do re the car. But as you have paid over 50% you are entitled to return the car and no have to pay them a penny more, otherwise you need to sort out with them what you owe and make up the payments otherwise they could come and take the car.

 

Sorry not sure if this is any help

 

Emma

[fairydee]

Just a thought....will the letter regarding the request for transactions and charges work for Direct Auto?

 

I am wondering if this would buy me some time and I would like to know what information they have and exactly what charges they have put onto my account?

 

Fairydee

[mummyemma]

If you do a SAR it will tell you exactly what you have paid, what charges they have applied and shoould also tell you if they did refund you the the PPI.

 

Emma

[fairydee]

I have sent it off today via Recorded Delivery, the way I look at it I have nothing to loose, I have also sent a letter saying that I don't acknowledge the debt and requesting that they send me a copy!

 

I know this is clutching at straws but I don't think I have anything to loose at this point so will see what response I get!

 

I had a look at the file I have from letters to and from them and think I may consult a solicitor as there are so many discrepancies it's a joke!

 

*Dee*

[fairydee]

An update on the situation, I have started the following thread but has put it under Debt and Bailiff advise because I am trying to find out a bit about the company :

 

Here is what I have written :

 

Hello Everyone,

 

I have got an ongoing major headache with Direct Auto Finance (Yes Car Credit) and recently got into arrears.

 

See my other thread without explaining it all!

 

Direct Auto Finances.....help please

 

Anyway this morning I received a letter from CRYSTAL COLLECTIONS LIMITED, ROMFORD. The letter is on a very poorly written, unprofessional, badly printed paper which did make me laugh!

 

Anyway they have told me that my finance company (Direct Auto) have passed the debt to them, and to contact urgently the bearer of this letter to discuss arrangements for collection of the arrears or alternatively, the return of the vehicle as listed in the terms of the agreement.

 

I have sent to Direct Auto this week a Data letter and a letter stating that I do not acknwledge the debt and to supply me with a copy.

 

I am not sure now how to play this with 'CRYSTAL', do I send them same letters to them? Do I write to them stating that I have sent these letters to Direct Auto?

 

I would be really grateful for any of your thoughts, I would like to keep the car really as my payment finish in July and I have almost finished paying for it! But have considered returning the car voluntarily!

 

Thanks for you help and I look forward to your help.

 

*FAIRY*

[MollieUK]

Hi

 

This is my first post but I have been a member for awhile and the information here is just phenomenal and I wish you guys/gals had been around years ago when I needed help.

 

I also have a car with Yes/Direct and have had a little trouble with them over the last 3 years but am now wise to them. I do not profess to have the knowledge of some on this site, (wish I did!!) but I, thankfully, noticed the PPI when I first signed up for the car and told them to remove it as I had not agreed nor asked for it. The GAP I believe is not cancelable and even though you may be 3/4 the way through your agreement and it has been said on here that you can return the car with no further payments, I think that in the small print you have to have followed the agreement which states things like service records etc, if you haven't then you are in breach of the agreement.

 

I know that I could be wrong but my agreement reads this way so am on going by that so please do not shoot me down in flames, am only trying to help.

 

I missed a payment once and they hounded me and were very aggressive in their approach to me but I persisted and simply said 'OK take the car', that is when their manner changed, they don't want the car back with its over inflated price tag, just your money and I was allowed to pay the arrears over a 3 month period at an amount I could afford.

 

Just today I phoned them as I received the usual threatening letter saying I was in arrears etc and they had charged me £15 for the letter, I paid on the 8th of the month as usual but depending on the time of payment, depends on whether it shows up on your account and the letter is automatically generated and sent. However, when I phoned to check this charge had not been put on my account I got a bolchy little s**** so I rose to it and stated that I wanted a statement in writing of every payment made and all charges on my account so that I could check this, this was agreed and I got a very curt 'Bye'. ha ha

 

The moral of this story; 'Don't mess with a hormonal female - I bite back' lol

[fairydee]

Hello

Just wanted to update the forum on the situation with Direct Auto with the hope that someone may find my tale a bit helpful!

On the 31st January I sent them a letter after receiving my statements etc from them listing all the charges they had added to the account, and stating that the charges added where unlawful, I have added the letter below for info. I received a letter back from them basically contradicting all of the figures I had quoted in my letter, I then wrote back to them on the 10th February 2006 (copy of letter added below) and then had a call from Direct Auto, I bravely phoned them and they have agreed to a lower settlement figure of £1,762.86 reducing the debt from £2,362.00. I am extremely lucky that a relative is going to lend me the money to pay them off, they did offer an arrangement of £265 per month/£67.00 per week for 11 months to pay off the £2,362.00 but the car payment were due to finish this July so I really didn't want to go down that route. This way, borrowing the money from a relative means that I can pay them back at a much lower amount than Direct Auto wanted, otherwise I know I would have ended up getting into trouble with them again!

I know this probably isn't ideal for everyone but I thought I would share my experience with you in case a little bit is of some help to someone. I am just waiting now for the confirmation of the final agreement, then to send the cheque off to them and then I will be free from them at last and can for the first time in years not have nightmare's about it!

Below are the last two letters I sent to Direct Auto, I don't know if they will be of help, but they might be useful to someone.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

31/01/07

Thank you for your information you sent to be regarding our account with your company.

Like you, we are extremely keen to resolve any outstanding issues remaining on this account and would like to work with you to make a mutually acceptable arrangement for the amount outstanding.

On studying the statements enclosed at the beginning of the agreement the initial balance was £6,991.00, added to the balance was £2,762.84 in Financial Charges, £2,579.50 Insurance Premium, £991.58 Insurance Charges and £150.00 Document Fee, adding £6,483.92 in Charges, increasing the balance to £13,474.92.

Could you please explain to us in detail what exactly these charges were actually for?

At present we have currently paid £11,360.93 to your Company for the car we purchased from you.

We have been charged fee‘s totalling £465.00

We would draw your attention to the terms of the agreement which you agreed to at the time the car was purchased. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

We are frankly shocked that you have operated the account in this way and your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived us into agreeing to pay them. Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented us from asserting our right until now.

Including the fees you have added to this account, the amount currently outstanding is £1,913.00.

If you deduct the amount of unlawful fees you have added to this account then this reduces it to £1,448.00.

We are prepared to enter into dialogue by letter with your company to agree to a fair and mutually acceptable final figure to pay on this account, we would request that the fee’s you have charged are removed from the account and that a reasonable figure of a total, final payment to settle the account is offered by you taking into consideration the amount we have already paid ie £11,360.93 and the fee’s and original charges added to the account at the beginning of the term.

We are prepared to offer a final amount of £199.99 to ensure that this account is closed and that there would be no future issues open regarding this, we are fully prepared to negotiate through the courts but am sure that we could both come to a mutually acceptable compromise.

We look forward to hearing from you by return

-------------------------------------------------------------

LAST LETTER SENT 10.02.07 PRIOR TO PHONE CALL YESTERDAY.

Thank you for your letter dated 07/02/07 in response to our letter dated 31st January 2007.

We appreciate your quick response, your explanation and clarification of the questions we raised regarding the actual figures within the statements you sent to us previously.

You state in your letter that the fee’s that have been added to this account are “wholly justified” as we have been in and out of arrears since 20th June 2003 and have not paid anything towards this account since 7th September 2006.

When we originally discussed purchasing this car from Yes Car Credit with the salesperson at Eltham, he was extremely persuasive and at the time assured us that to agree to purchasing the vehicle would be an extremely easy and affordable option, he never explained to us exactly how much the vehicle would cost and at no time explained to us details of any of the additional insurances that would be added to the cost of the purchase.

We explained to him that one of us was Self-Employed (XXXXXX) and the other was Unemployed (XXXXXX) as seen on the Personal Details Sheets you sent to us recently. This was brought up in March 2006 when we wrote to Yes Car Credit questioning why we were sold the PPI Insurance as being Self-Employed made us unable to claim as stated in Exclusions Section of the Insurance Information Leaflet, this being the case we should never have been sold the PPI in the first place.

If at the beginning we were not sold the PPI then the amount we would have had to pay per month would have been substantially reduced and therefore the arrears would not have occurred. If on the other hand we were rightly sold the PPI then when our income reduced we could have made a claim, but of course this would not

have happened as one of us was self-Employed and therefore excluded from the PPI in the first instance, and should never have been sold it, with or without our consent.

On the 15 March we received a letter from Debbie Wilson who stated that we were employed when the agreement was signed, this was not the case. She reduced the Payment Protection element of the agreement but at this point because we had already fallen into arrears fee’s had begun to be added to the account which increased the amount owing, therefore making it impossible to ensure that the payments were made on time, and any arrears cleared which due to our financial situation was almost impossible without the charges being added.

As stated above, if the PPI was not added to the account at the beginning then the monthly payment would have been more affordable, payments would have been made on time and this whole situation would never have happened.

Taking this into consideration the £1,679.50 PPI, not including the interest would have made the final amount owing substantially reduced. The current amount you state is £2,423.26, if you subtract the PPI this would reduce this amount to £743.76, then deducting the charges added (as you stated in your letter) £420.00, this would make the final amount £323.76, the charges would never had occurred if the PPI had not been added to the account at the beginning as we would have been able to afford the payments.

Ms Wilson did mention in her letter previously that we have a seven day no quibble return of the vehicle. We had no problems with the vehicle therefore has no reason to return the car, regarding the PPI it was not until much later what we realised that we were not eligible for the PPI. We were never told when we purchased the vehicle that the insurances were optional otherwise we would never have agree to it, let alone the fact the we were not eligible for it in the first place.

In your letter you state that the charges applied to our account were due to letters when payments were missed or when a reply was not received. On a number of occasions we have written to you but a reply was never received, I have copies of all of these letters therefore if you believe that your charges are justified because we never replied then this must mean that we could charge you for not replying to ours?

We have never responded to threats either my telephone, which at one point became harassment or by mail. When telephoning your Company we have constantly found your Customer Advisers extremely aggressive, rude and refusing to listen to anything we had to say, therefore we stopped trying to talk to your Company via telephone and preferred to enter into dialogue in writing, which you very rarely replied to making the problems regarding the whole situation impossible to solve.

 

We have always been extremely keen to negotiate and to work together with your Company to ensure that the account is handled properly, but have found it impossible to deal with you as you refuse to co-operate at all or compromise for the best interests of your Company or your Customers.

Yes Car Credit and Direct Auto Finance has caused both of us and our family extreme pressure which has caused immense stress.

We sincerely wish to come to an agreement over a final settlement figure, in your letter you stated that you are willing to negotiate a reduced settlement on this account, thank you. We would appreciate it if you could make an reduced settlement figure you are willing to accept in writing and we will respond as soon as possible.

We have negotiated with a third party to borrow an amount but they only have limited funds and will only be willing to settle the amount on behalf of us if they agree to the final figure. We are trying our best to solve a difficult situation and hope that for both our best interests we can agree on a suitable figure.

We would also appreciate your response to the issues raised in this letter regarding the PPI etc. and intend to forward the result of these issues and the outcome to various official third parties.

Thank you for your help and we look forward to hearing from you by return.