oldswanste
Mar 12, 2008, 10:39 AM
Hi,
My name is Stephen Thomas I bought a car on hp about 3 years ago. I took out the loan with black horse finance the car was 16,000 and after paying off over 10,000 I lost my job and fell behind on payments. When I started to get the nasty letters I tried to claim on my loan protection insurance which I then found out only pays out if you die whilst climbing mount Everest or something. Some weeks later I arranged to have a meeting with a man called Ian Cotton who worked for a company called close assistance who are a debt recovery agency for black horse. He gave me three options.
1) settle areas of £1,762.65 and continue making my monthly payments. ( which was impossible giving my situation at the time although I would love to have had the opportunity to do this.
2) pay a lump sum of areas £500 or so and add the rest onto my monthly payments. A better offer but still one I could not afford.
3) voluntarily surrender vehicle which would wipe out the debt. He knew the position I was in and I confided in him telling him of the other missed payments I had made on other bills due to losing my job. He made it clear that this was my best option and the only way to get "these people" off my back using the term "these people" to describe black horse finance. He told me the car would have a 90% reserve on it and in the unlikely event it fails to sell for enough to cover the outstanding balance I would only have to pay this 10% the outstanding balance was £5,715.35p so at worst I would have to pay £570.
My car was my pride and joy and after paying off over ten thousand pounds on it I reluctantly agreed to give it to them. I heard nothing for several weeks and then received a letter from black horse telling me I needed to make arrangements to pay the outstanding sum of £1,700. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and so called Ian Cotton back at close assistance an he assured me it was a mistake he told me to ignore the letter as it was computer generated and he assured me there would be nothing more to pay. A few weeks passed and I was still receiving these letters but ignoring them on the advice of Ian cotton. Finally I called black horse finance and told them my situation they were less than sympathetic and told me I had to pay this money. Over the next month or so I was passed from one company to the next receiving letters and advice from one that totally contradicted the other. I then discovered they had both been taking money from my account not huge amounts £25 hear and there. I called black horse first and I asked them why. They told me this was for the shortfall as the car did not sell at its target price. I then asked them how much the car had sold for and they told me they did not know and I would have to ask close assistance. I called close assistance who told e the car had not even sold yet nor had it gone to auction. They said the reason for them taking money was to start to pay off the debt as so much time had passed black horse had insisted on this.
I then went to the citizens advice beuro and they advised me to stop these people from taking any more money and recommended I should request all the data both companies had on me including any payment I had made. I did this and included £10 cheques to each company to pay for this facility. Both cashed the cheques but only one sent me the information that was black horse.
I then haired nothing for months and then finally last month I got a letter from Nationwide Collection Services (black horse) telling me to pay them £1,700 or else, and so almost a year later the saga continues. I called and told the lady everything I have written here and she agreed it all looked a bit fishy she told me she would speak to her supervisor the next day and let me know the outcome. Sure enough she called the next day to tell me my case was being reviewed by her superiors and she would keep me informed. Three weeks passed and no phone call but more of these letters its like being in a bad dream. I called them back today and although they new the lady I was speaking to Nichola Findley .They had no notes on the conversation and so I had to tell my story all over again to yet another person who told me they would look at my file and call me back.
This is as far as it has gone, how can I resolve this?
Do I have a case against close assistance for miss leading me?
If I new after surrendering the vehicle I would still have to pay arrears I would not have done it. I have never received any kind of letter detailing what the car sold for etc.
Can I take them to court?
How can I stop this?
Please help.
My name is Stephen Thomas I bought a car on hp about 3 years ago. I took out the loan with black horse finance the car was 16,000 and after paying off over 10,000 I lost my job and fell behind on payments. When I started to get the nasty letters I tried to claim on my loan protection insurance which I then found out only pays out if you die whilst climbing mount Everest or something. Some weeks later I arranged to have a meeting with a man called Ian Cotton who worked for a company called close assistance who are a debt recovery agency for black horse. He gave me three options.
1) settle areas of £1,762.65 and continue making my monthly payments. ( which was impossible giving my situation at the time although I would love to have had the opportunity to do this.
2) pay a lump sum of areas £500 or so and add the rest onto my monthly payments. A better offer but still one I could not afford.
3) voluntarily surrender vehicle which would wipe out the debt. He knew the position I was in and I confided in him telling him of the other missed payments I had made on other bills due to losing my job. He made it clear that this was my best option and the only way to get "these people" off my back using the term "these people" to describe black horse finance. He told me the car would have a 90% reserve on it and in the unlikely event it fails to sell for enough to cover the outstanding balance I would only have to pay this 10% the outstanding balance was £5,715.35p so at worst I would have to pay £570.
My car was my pride and joy and after paying off over ten thousand pounds on it I reluctantly agreed to give it to them. I heard nothing for several weeks and then received a letter from black horse telling me I needed to make arrangements to pay the outstanding sum of £1,700. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and so called Ian Cotton back at close assistance an he assured me it was a mistake he told me to ignore the letter as it was computer generated and he assured me there would be nothing more to pay. A few weeks passed and I was still receiving these letters but ignoring them on the advice of Ian cotton. Finally I called black horse finance and told them my situation they were less than sympathetic and told me I had to pay this money. Over the next month or so I was passed from one company to the next receiving letters and advice from one that totally contradicted the other. I then discovered they had both been taking money from my account not huge amounts £25 hear and there. I called black horse first and I asked them why. They told me this was for the shortfall as the car did not sell at its target price. I then asked them how much the car had sold for and they told me they did not know and I would have to ask close assistance. I called close assistance who told e the car had not even sold yet nor had it gone to auction. They said the reason for them taking money was to start to pay off the debt as so much time had passed black horse had insisted on this.
I then went to the citizens advice beuro and they advised me to stop these people from taking any more money and recommended I should request all the data both companies had on me including any payment I had made. I did this and included £10 cheques to each company to pay for this facility. Both cashed the cheques but only one sent me the information that was black horse.
I then haired nothing for months and then finally last month I got a letter from Nationwide Collection Services (black horse) telling me to pay them £1,700 or else, and so almost a year later the saga continues. I called and told the lady everything I have written here and she agreed it all looked a bit fishy she told me she would speak to her supervisor the next day and let me know the outcome. Sure enough she called the next day to tell me my case was being reviewed by her superiors and she would keep me informed. Three weeks passed and no phone call but more of these letters its like being in a bad dream. I called them back today and although they new the lady I was speaking to Nichola Findley .They had no notes on the conversation and so I had to tell my story all over again to yet another person who told me they would look at my file and call me back.
This is as far as it has gone, how can I resolve this?
Do I have a case against close assistance for miss leading me?
If I new after surrendering the vehicle I would still have to pay arrears I would not have done it. I have never received any kind of letter detailing what the car sold for etc.
Can I take them to court?
How can I stop this?
Please help.