Blade1983 Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 .... was wondering if any legal buffs can help me... My girlfriend bought a car 2 to 2 1/2 years ago from Reg Vardy (before I started properly seeing her). She was talked into taking out the finance agreement through them - over a 5 year period. Anyway - we are now looking at selling both her car and my car and buying 1 car - basically we are spending too much money a month on running 2 cars. Anyway, we applied for a settlement figure from the Finance company (Barclaycard Loans) and we recieved the settlement figure on Monday. The figures (rounded off): *Original amount borrowed............... £3,000.00 *Interest...................................... £2,200.00 *Amount owed............................... £5,200.00 **amount payed to date................. £1,900.00 **amount deducted due to early payment....... £500.00 **Settlement figure....................... £2,800.00 *** APR rate........................... 29.8% (Ouch) the problem I have with those figures above are as follows: 1) She was @ss raped with the APR - no doubt - but that was her nieve fault 2) for paying off the loan 2 1/2 to 3 years early they are only knocking off £500.00 interest - bearing in mind the interest rate of 29.8% I have wrote to them asking them to relook at their figures and respond within 14 days. QUESTION If they refuse to budge on this settlement figure can we do anything??? EG: dispute it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medusa Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Basically, as far as I understand the law on these things, she signed for it, and unless it can be shown in court that these were unfair terms (which is a lengthy and expensive process), she is liable for all of it, unless you can negotiate with the company for them to reduce the payment through good will. If she were to keep to the agreement then she will eventually be paying them more than the settlement figure, and she's presumable not been a problem customer, paid the bill and all that jazz, so if they're prepared to wait for the remaining 3 years they will receive more money overall. If she's legally obliged to pay the money, and they'd rather receive the higher sum, albeit over a longer timespan, then the only alternative you would have (other than by negotiating with them and trying to make your case look good) is to consult the CAB and see if there are any things they know of that you can use in your favour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blade1983 Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 Basically, as far as I understand the law on these things, she signed for it, and unless it can be shown in court that these were unfair terms (which is a lengthy and expensive process), she is liable for all of it, unless you can negotiate with the company for them to reduce the payment through good will. If she were to keep to the agreement then she will eventually be paying them more than the settlement figure, and she's presumable not been a problem customer, paid the bill and all that jazz, so if they're prepared to wait for the remaining 3 years they will receive more money overall. If she's legally obliged to pay the money, and they'd rather receive the higher sum, albeit over a longer timespan, then the only alternative you would have (other than by negotiating with them and trying to make your case look good) is to consult the CAB and see if there are any things they know of that you can use in your favour. might be a daft question but what is the CAB? I understand what you're saying "She signed for it, didn't read the small print etc" but she'd just passed her test, got giddy, and went and signed the first thing that meant she could get in a car. thought maybe there was some law about being led down a garden path etc with these things - and I thought they have to explain the ins and outs with you - rather than just saying "read the small print". Anyway - CAB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medusa Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Sorry- the CAB is the Citizens Advice Bureau- they're the font of all sorts of knowledge surrounding the law and debt matters. As far as I know, there is no law which states that they have to spell out the down sides (or there wasn't at that time, there may be now, with things like secured loans having to point out that you could lose your house if you don't pay), and the cooling off period is a matter of days rather than months. EDIT- here's the local info on CAB in Sheffield Sheffield CAB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blade1983 Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 Sorry- the CAB is the Citizens Advice Bureau- they're the font of all sorts of knowledge surrounding the law and debt matters. As far as I know, there is no law which states that they have to spell out the down sides (or there wasn't at that time, there may be now, with things like secured loans having to point out that you could lose your house if you don't pay), and the cooling off period is a matter of days rather than months. Arrr - CAB - tried them, Sheffield office won't talk to me because I live in S26 - which means we pay Rotherham council tax, and Rotherham CAB never answer their phones, which is great!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medusa Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Maybe there will be someone on the forum who can tell you for certain if there's any way you can appeal or dispute the figure then- hopefully! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willman Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 you can try but in my experience with the likes of Black Horse it's a no go. although the do state apr's etc, they are usually dependent on the loan running its full term.the nominal reduction is basically a gesture, because you are in reality being penalised for settling up early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blade1983 Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 you can try but in my experience with the likes of Black Horse it's a no go. although the do state apr's etc, they are usually dependent on the loan running its full term.the nominal reduction is basically a gesture, because you are in reality being penalised for settling up early. not much of a gesture tho they have you over a barrell don't they! thing is - we want to settle it because we are simply spending too much on cars and can't really afford them - and yet we now can't afford to sell the car because it's worth less than the settlement figure, and we don't have a spare £1k to pay the difference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willman Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 had the same experince myself. the only way to get rid of the debt is to refinance it with a new car purchase, but this increases your new finance by the settlement amount. so you pay interest on the interest on the first loan. it may get you a newer car with a lower apr though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anj1364 Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 I work at a car dealers and have asked my Manager to work out the Apr. as it seems wrong. Can you tell me what the monthly payment is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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