Hi I'm looking to VT my car currently on an HP agreement with Advantage Finance and I want to make sure I'm on solid ground as I think I'm only £400 away from hitting the magic 50% payment number. So could some kind soul(s) chip and confirm my thinking? I bought a car at 9750, paid 2250 deposit with remaining 7500 being funded by advantage finance, on my agreement it states total amount payable is 15425.28 which is made up of the purchase price of 9750 + interest and charges of 5675.28 The 50% barrier is stated as 7712.64 now by my reckoning I have currently paid 5155.84 in payments plus the 2250 deposit that was paid (it was a part-ex but that doesn't materially matter I don't think) takes me to 7405.84 so if I pay an additional 306.80 I'm home and dry with nothing more to pay. Am I right? Thanks in advance

Hi. It's a very long story but I bought an e60 bmw from a dealer. The dpf light came on. He took it back to get repaired. they are taking forever and constantly give me false information as to completion date. Almost two weeks passed and they're refused to give me a courtesy car. Then I threatened to take legal action and they suddenly had a courtesy car It was dropped off yesterday by a very rude dealer. I asked him if the car was safe. He said yes. I asked if it had even checked. He said yes. He made me sign a form stating the cars conditions. And then made me sign that any physical or mechanical damage to the car while in my possession is my liability. Fair play. I would only have the car two days and I'd be very careful. As I'm driving home. The engine light comes on. The whole car starts shaking like mad and goes limp. Few minutes later. It goes away. Then a few mins later. It happens again. Now, this is CLEARLY not my fault and I feel this dealer gave me a knowingly faulty car so he can get some more money out of me. I do motorway miles so imagine if the car went limp on the m25? Yes I signed the form but a car with the "service!" Warning and a sudden engine light and shaking issue surely cannot be my liability. I contacted him and told him what happened and his immediate response was "I TOLD YOU the car is your responsibility. I TOLD YOU you'll have to pay for repairs. I TOLD YOU the car was fine before I gave it to you" What can I do? I'm getting such stress from this rotten dealer. Not only has he kept my car for two weeks for a dpf issue he is rude and has now set me up in this trap of a car. I know he's going to try and make me pay for the repairs to the courtesy car. Even though no human can destroy an entire coil pack by driving ten miles. It was on its way out. And he is not listening to that just trying to make this my fault. As they still have my car I am reluctant to give him a piece of my Mind because trust me I want to have a massive go. But I'm so afraid that they'll Mess up my car even more and then give it back. Then take no responsibility. I can't reject the car. It's on finance and motonovo have said they won't cancel the agreement. And I can't go down that road of hassle at such an already stressful time in life

Hi, just want to say you guys do an amazing job with all the information and advise you give. To cut a long story short, my parents have a property portfolio of a few properties with Natwest bank on a commercial loan. Unfortunately in 2010 we lost my mum, Natwest have wanted to breakdown the contract due to my mothers death and want to increase the interest rate to a much higher rate almost making it impossible to make repayments. Our previous lawyer has managed to delay the case up until now, we havent signed the new contract as of yet, however natwest are pressurising us even more with threats to default our account. We have kept up with payments as stipulated in the initial contract. we have recently spoken to another solicitor (quite expensive lol) who has drafted two letters one to Natwest and one to Vince Cable MP out lining the situation as natwest have taken advantage of our tragic situation and made a business opportunity out of it. I appologise for some lack of informarion as my father was dealing with this but has been stressed and overwhelmed by the situation. I am trying to sort this out the best way possible and would appreciate any help and advise. I feel natwest have morally done wrong and taken advantage of the tragic loss of my mother.

Could anyone point me in the right direction to try and reclaim package fees. We were sold this account to obtain a preferential rate on a loan but have not used the benefits otherwise. We have had the account since about 2000 - can claims go back that far and should I write to NatWest asking for all fees and charges on this account since the account was openend? Many thanks

I'm not really sure where I stand with this and really could do with some advice having read some of the many posts on advantage fifinance nothing is precisely like my situation. I took out finance with Advantage in July. A week later with the car I received a welcome call and confirmed with the advisor that I wished to have the 2nd of every month as my billing date. This was never put in place. When the next payment defaulted as there was no funds in my account on 16th July Advantage were quite hasty in texting me saying the vehicle May be repossessed. I contacted them to make a payment and then requested the billing date changed to the second of every month again, they had no recollection of the initial request ever being made. During this time I hastily had to move from my address due to falling out with aggressive situation there. I had updated the v5 but in all honesty didn't think on the finance company. I had to move to a privately rented accommodation and incurred bond and first rent payments which made finances tight. Consequently I had missed September and October's payments. While working away I had an email from their accounts manager stating I needed to contact urgently. I emailed back directly stating I was currently away with work but could I be emailed the outstanding arrears to resolve my account. Then had an email back the following day saying thank you for your email and a number. I was at the time unable to call. The following day from that I was at my work address when security came and said there was a gentleman outside to speak to me, a rare occurrence, this turned out to be a repo man collecting the car on behalf of advantage. I declined to speak to him at work, 1 not knowing who he was and because I hadn't heard from advantage. The repo man had barricaded my car in and was refusing to leave, when speaking to him again I said I was finishing work shortly and would be open to meeting him at home following conversation with Advantage. He handed me a phone with someone from advantage on the other end who informed me my account had be terminated and the car would be repossessed there and then. I remained on the phone to advantage for nearly an hour explaining my recent situation and email and he advised that nothing could be done the account was terminated and the car was being repossessed. Now I have to be honest, following this exchange relented, i was driven by the repo man in my car to where I was able to empty the vehicle and following an issue of a receipt which I didn't accept the vehicle was taken. I still have a key and the v5 document and there is a possession still in the vehicle of my partners. I ring advantage feeling I had been compliant only to be told the same thing that the vehicle will not be returned and I will shortly receive a bill for outstanding credit. That's the outlay of my situation, wanted to post it up for any advice. Sorry if my description is a bit unstructured, I just needed to get it out. Is there anything I can do?

Hello all, Today I received a random text saying ' Banks are refunding customers who have paid a monthly fee on packaged accounts' I had no idea what a packaged account was, so I looked it up on the web a lo and behold my Natwest Advantage Gold Account is one of them. I have read through part of this forum and I just wanted to clarify If I may be entitled to any form of refund of charges. Following are some facts: 1- I have had an advantage gold account since 1989 2- I was told that It would be easier to get an overdraft with this account. 3- For years I paid mobile insurance and I never realised it was covered in the package and when I did find out I read that the phone had to be registered with them 4- I have also taken out on numerous occasions travel/holiday insurance which again I had no idea was covered by the account. To be honest with you I since it has been so long ago since I've this account but I remember that my normal account was upgraded to Advantage Gold. I don't ever recall applying for one. Also way back then I don't believe mobile insurance was even included in the package and was introduced many years after when mobiles became prevalent amongst consumers. Am little worried that should I contact my bank they will give me the run-around and I would get disheartened and just give up. Any advice I could get would much appreciated.

Hi there I am looking for some advice with Advantage car Finance. I have a car that is due to be finished in the next 6 months have had the finance over the past three years. My questions are is there any rules that state what companies can charge you for phone calls letters texts unpaid direct debit charges etc ? Advantages charges are very high i was wondering if i could claim any back as unfair? they charge unpaid direct debit- £12 telephone call £7.50 text message 50p arrears management fee £12 (per week) letter £7.50 are these charges legal or anything i can claim back if so how? My second question is regarding the insurance i was mis sold when i purchased my car. I was sold GAP, MOT and mechanical insurance at the time i was not sure whether to take these but was told they could be cancelled at any time, i went ahead with them . some time later i called them when we were struggling financially and asked for them to be taken off. at that point i was told i had paid for them and they were in the finance and were £2000 even if i cancelled them i would still have to pay for them whether i wanted them now or not. my second question is can i claim for the mis selling of these insurance pollicies? and if so how do i do it ? Thank you in advance for any replies i receive. Michelle

Hi all has anyone had an unregulated secured loan with this lot? Has it been sold onto a DCA (namely Arrow). I would really appreciate your input as to what interest rate you have been charged and are being charged. My interest rate has not changed at all since 2009, despite it being linked to LIBOR (as per T & C's). My case is with FOS however they have not acted on it at all as they are waiting to hear what the outcome of the libor investigations are . I would really welcome any advice too ......

a little dickie bird just sent me a msg saying Advantis DCA are now using a series of mobile phones to try and get around debtors not responding to landline calls and letters. it took several exchanges to find out they were a DCA the caller just asked for the debtor by their first name saying they were an old school friend. he smelt a rat as he could here call centre chatter in the back ground. 07891891162 was the number others to follow or add them here if you know others dx siteteam.

We took out a HP agreement with Advantage Finance 3 years ago. Recently my husbands work pattern has changed and we can't always pay on the due date. Looking at a statement from them we have charges for late Payments which are £35 and a £12 admin charges and £1 for a phone call. All of this amounts to £480 we have asked if we can make payments by BACS so that I can pay when my husband gets paid but they tell me they can't give out their bank details. They are not very flexible when it comes to paying them. It seems so unfair these days that you get charges on missed payments increasing what you have to pay out. Is there anything we can do about these charges? If so what argument can we use? and can we insist they let us pay by BACS?

I have an agreement with Advantage Finance. I have had it 11 months. I had reduced payments due to illness last year and they were agreed with them. However, I am now on permanently reduced hours due to that ill health and cannot afford the payments for the car. I asked for a settlement figure as I hoped to sell the car and clear the finance but they stated the figure was £6000 and the car is only worth £4000 at most - therefore that was a no go. I haven't paid half off yet either as only 11 months in. My payments are £311.27 including arrears payments. I am in debt to creditors, have a court order for missed Council Tax payments, Notice to seek possession for rent arrears to - all occurred at the same time. I am a single mum (of teenagers) and was unable to manage my finances due to being unwell so everything got on top of me and left me in the state I am now. I am paying the Council Tax and the rent arrears, all other creditors get £1 token payment but I still am in deficit of £300 a month. Removing the car payments would ease that. I sink further into debt each month, robbing peter to pay paul just to make the car payments. I do not own my own home, have no assets and what's worse, will have a further income drop at the beginning of May of approx £200 a month as my son, in FT college education, turns 20 and all CB, CTC/WTC, CSA stop but he cannot find work despite applying daily for jobs. He is training to be an electrician and it is hoped that when he qualifies in July he can get work in the trade and finally have an income and contribute but I will have to support him from May until July. Any help to be able to sort this out would be great please?

Hi, Newbie to this site so i am sorry if this is posted in the wrong section.... First of all I purchased a car at a price of £5000, from a local dealer who arranged finance through Advantage Finance ( Also based in the same Town ) The repayments was £204 a month over 4 Years, due to my poor credit this was the only option i had available at the time. I got the Car in March of this Year, but unfortunately i had to move home and was forced to go into my accommodation stretching my financial budget beyond my limits of affording this car and the maintenance etc. I moved home in July 2013, I made contact with Advantage to hopefully offer reduced payments this was rejected and they made it quite clear i was able to afford this car regardless, They don't seem to have a heart i am afraid and i told them several times i can no longer afford it could you please come and collect it. I was served a default notice at the end of July and around a week later i had a phone call saying would i be willing to make a payment, which i explained i am unable to do so, within 10 minutes they came round to my property to collect the car, i surrender the car to them and signed a document stating i was terminating the agreement and handing the car back. I received a letter a little over a week ago saying the car had been sold and that i firstly owed £3200 if paid within a week, if not the debt would total £6800. I have now received a letter saying " they are disappointed that an agreement can not be arranged and they intend on taking me to county court for judgement which would mean an attachment of earnings being made against me if they are successful, unless i make an offer of repayment" I have emailed them as i dare not speak over the phone due to fears of being pressured into agreeing into a higher repayment, my emal contained an income and expenditure sheet which they told me to provide for offer of repayment, the sheets was done by the National Debtline service online so this is accurate to date. My offer of £26 a month was made. I received an email today stating they would not be accepting my offer as i have not provided hard evidence in the form of the last 3 months wage slips to prove my income. Firstly they did not ask this in their own letter and i have replied stating this is not legal binding as i have done everything they have asked of me which is give them a budget sheet and expenses and made an offer, yet they still decline this offer. What do i do now i am really at a wits end with this, i cant afford any more money to pay as i have other creditors i am arranging to make repayments of, i have around £48 left each month to pay for debts the big chunk going to advantage i just don't want to get to court to get a CCJ and have money start coming out my wages which would seriously get me into more debt.

Anyone noticed the very large differences in prices related to motor insurance between those provided online through one of the comparison sites, and those obtained directly from a broker over the phone? Last week I had an email from Go Compare regarding insurance, and they returned 43 prices ranging from £224 to £1200. As current insurance was through BISL (Budget, Dial Direct etc etc), and bearing in mind its sometimes difficult to get present brokers to disclose NCD details, I decided to continue using BISL. BISL price was £267 through their Dial Direct trading style, and having found the prices differed greatly between online and over the phone, I called the number provided for Dial Direct, and was quoted £434 for exactly the same cover whose online price was £267! When I queried this with the BISL phone drone I was forced to listen to what seemed like a mish mash of obvious lies and prevarication. The conversation was becoming extremely tedious so I terminated the call, immediately called back and was then quoted the price I had obtained online. Strangely enough the FCA is quite comfortable with practices such as this, even though it is clear that anyone without net access may well be required to pay far more for insurance products, than anyone who can access the net. I wonder are these practices common across the whole of the insurance sector, or are they only things employed by concerns such as BISL?

Hi all, hope someone can help me out, i bought a car on hp with advantage finance over a 36 month period. I had countless problems with the car when I got to the half way point I voluntary terminated the agreement. This was an easy arrangement between myself and the company, what followed was not so easy. when it came to returning the car at a specific point, I met up with a young lad from an outside company who checked over the car. He decided to take note that the two rear doors had been repainted ( although I had never spent any money on any work done on this car) because of this i am paying £67 a month for a car i no longer have, for work i never had done. is there anyway around this issue? As I can't think of a way to prove the work was never done. And surely I should not be left paying for something I never did whilst they have the car and have probably sold it on by this point. I hope someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks .

Hi in a mess I bought a car off Advantage Finance in 2009 costing 5k I did not get PPI but with interest needed to pay back in total about 9k. I paid regularly for a long time then due to job loss had to reduce payments. Got another job with less money and made an arrangement to pay £100 per month and did so for a while. I have paid in the region of 6500 but the noticed how much I was being charged , after a few phone calls they said they would remove charges but never did, to cut a long story short I requested a SAR sending the necessary £10 by recorded delivery 2months ago but have heard nothing but I have received a summons to a magistrates court were they have asked that our car be returned. I want to dispute these charges that they call late payment charges, have I the right to ? There is a lot more details I can give but hope you can get the general picture

Hi all Fortunately i am in a position to settle a HP Agreement i have with Advantage Finance early so i asked them recently for a settlement figure. They have told provided that figure to me but there is no rebate included in the calculation. In assuming this was an error i phoned the relevant department and to my amazement all they could tell me was the settlement figure is 'system generated' and that they do not have any details on how it is calculated therefore if i want more information i need to speak to Trading Standards or to CAB. The balance remaining is £2,379.42 with 9 payments remaining. The loan was a high APR one (31%) because when i took it out my credit score was very low due to VF Default (another battle im in court with) Can anyone help me out here? I assumed i'd be entitled to some form of rebate due to the early repayment but AF are saying that is not the case and i need to go to TS or CAB to prove it?? Thanks Shane

Hi I hope someone could help with some advice on this please, Id really appreciate this as Im unsure what to do. Here goes, I recently volutary terminated my car finance agreement with Advantage Finance, the car has been collected but prior to collection they did an inspection on the car. I informed them prior to the collection there was a scratch on the car which was there when we bought it and all I was told was to get a report from the garage indicating this was at the point of purchase. This was unfeasable as I bought the car over 2 years ago and I didnt get any response on this from the garage or any joy on paperwork after a number of calls. Now due to the time they took organising collection of the vehicle and subsequent phone calls from me (advantage), the car was picked up when I was on holiday (at the rediculous cost of £80 might I add) my Dad signed for the hand over in my abscence as the holiday was booked abroad and I couldn't get out of it, upon collection my dad disputed the scratch with the guy collecting the car which they noted and off the car went. At the time of collection my Dad then hears the person collecting tell his colleague, the car's in really good nick and been looked after (which it was) and we should get £6000 for that, which is quite anoying when the settlement was for £4600. Sorry to drag this story out but its helpful to know the facts, so Im away on holiday while this has happened I return and I come back to find a bill for £120 for cost of repairs to the scratch and another mystery mark on on the car (which wasnt noticeable at the time either). My dad re-tells the tale and at this point I'm annoyed and think sod it I'm not paying them anything and I leave it at that. Its important to know at this point I also had GAP on the car and was told I could transfer this to my new vehicle (the balance is £550 roughly) and I had confirmed this prior to going away and the collection. I have today recieved a bill from advantage, which I'm going to dispute tommorrow but I wanted to get some advice. I have a balance of : GAP - £550 (which I intend to put on my new car) Repairs to the car - £120 Other costs - collection - £80 (which I paid by card prior to the car going) total amount £750 Then there's a note which says I have paid £103.59 to date (I can only asume the collection is in here, I guess but no idea what the rest is) and I now owe £640. Aside from transfering the GAP which I hope I can do, I would like to know the following: A) What can I do about these rediculous charges for repair? B) Due to the GAP amount will the total cost of the car still stay on my credit file or just the GAP amount? C) As I personally didnt hand over the car and therefore didnt agree to these costs are they still valid? I hope you can help, the amounts stated are noted by them as being reported to the credit reference agency and if I dont pay this will affect my credit rating. I'm very angry at all this and feel like Ive been taken for a MUG by them, Ive VT'd cars before with none of this hassle and any other dispute on cost Ive managed to get out of. I really appreciate any advice you can give! Thanks in advance BLUEGUY

hello people .forgive me as im new to here and dont know where to post this correctly i am looking for advice please on a car that i purchased through advantage fiance in may last year. the following day the engine management light came on on the dash board and i took the car back to the show room. they fitted a new battery and reset the faults on the car. that was fine for a week or two then the light came back on and i took the car back to the showroom again who asked me to take it to their repair garage that they use and pick up a courtesy car . after several days received a phone call from showroom informing me that the car was not cost effected to repair and he would like to find me a new car to replace the one i bought. i went to the garage to collect my belongings in the car ad asked the mechanic hat the problem was and was informed that it was the turbo had blown and it need a new steering rack/ after several weeks of driving around in courtesy car i received a phone call from showroom telling me my car was back from another garage and they couldn't find any faults i asked for the car to go to my garage which i have used for many years and received a report from him listing a load of faults with the car . the repair bill came to just under £500 and the engine management light was still coming on . my mechanic said that a fault could be developing but not showing up on computer yet. 6 weeks later the turbo blew on the motorway going to work and everybody denied the fault was in the car when i bought it. after many letters to and from both advantage and the showroom i was left with a car that i bought for £3000 sitting on my drive not moving . i have taken the car to a Peugeot specialist who has fixed the problem it has cost me £1600 to do so. i wrote to advantage this week asking for a refund of my costs and have been turned down as i quote a second hand car will have faults on it . do i have a case to take it to court to claim back my money as still paying for the car and i have driven it for about 6 weeks in total many thanks

Hi all, I have recently carried out VT with Advantage, and they have collected the car and sold it on at auction. They have billed me for the rest of the term of the GAP insurance, which seems a little odd as it can't exactly be used! However, I have now received a letter from them, in which they add a further £1,662 for 'Cost of repairs required to bring vehicle to a satisfactory standard under Section 100 (4) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. There is no explanation of what repairs were carried out, or even required. When the car was collected, the chap from the auction house carried out a brief inspection, and made annotations on a diagram which we agreed with and received a signed copy of. The car then appeared on their website, with a slightly more detailed inspection report - which was quite fair - and the overall impression is that it was 'sold as seen'. They certainly hadn't repaired any damage prior to the auction. I don't understand, therefore, where they have managed to find this amount. Can anyone offer advice? Many thanks.

Hi, thanks for taking time to read my post. I took out car finance with advantage 3yrs and 4 months ago, i only have £800 left to pay. i have missed a couple of payments over the past couple of months...well not missed just been late paying by a week. i have now paid up to date. when talking to advantage they stated that i still have £160 owing for charges!!! i tried to argue this with them and have paid £60 of these - i called the other day to try and challenge the charges as some are for returned DD - i cancelled the DD 4 months ago as i prefer to make a manual payment over the phone, however they are saying that they were not aware of this....typical. the other charges are for text messages at 50p a go, phone calls, letters £7.50 each time, i wouldn't mind but i have never been late paying without notifying them on the day. i feel that these charges are unfair and basically just a way to get more money out of me. they even text, emailed, called and left voice mail the once all within 2 mins....and charged me for the privilege. when i speak to them on the phone they are rude and patronising - even sent me a letter saying that if i don not pay the debt (charges) on the account then they will repossess the car. 1 - do i have a leg to stand on with these unfair charges? 2 - can they repossess the car with only 7 payments remaining? 3 - any other advice would be great. thanks guys.

Hi Guys do apologise in advance if i am posting this in wrong thread as im totally lost on here. Need help and advice. My partner bought a Car years ago through Advantage Car Finance and after a few years had it repossessed, well he has already paid £4,800 back through his Detachment of Earnings but still has £4.000 to pay. PPI was given at the time he took the car finance out, he couldnt get the car without taking the PPI out. My question is can he claim this back and how does he go about it and also can he add interest to it? We are guessing if he can claim it back it will help pay the outstanding finance off and detachment of earnings will finally come to an end

I purchased a 57 plate Mondeo form Fowlers motors in Stoke on trent 8 days ago, funding was provided by Advantage Finance. I got the car home everything was OK until Wednesday of last week when I lost all water in the cooling system. On closer inspection there was a big water leak coming from the water pump and radiator. After phoning Fowlers who supplied the car and not getting any joy I got in touch with Advantage who supplied the finance, they told me to take it to a garage for an independent inspection. Off I go to a garage for a independent inspection and get a report, it was quite shocking, £4,000 worth of repairs wanted to bring the vehicle upto standard. I faxed the inspection report over to Advantage Yesterday a recovery truck turned up on the order of Advantage saying the vehicle was being repossessed :-x:-x:-x I phoned Avantage up who said the vehicle has been repossed because of a fraud on the account, I said fraud what are you on about? He said, that inspection certificate you provided us was fake. I was like "WHAT"? He said the vehicle is being repossessed end of story, you will be billed for any outstanding monies good bye. Anyone had any trouble with Advantage

Hi - if one had a secured loan with PPI would it be statute barred from claiming back the mis-sold PPI after 6 yrs (as claimed by the lender)? Also, amongst othe things wrong with it the cover is for only one person yet a joint loan - this is wrong isn't it?? thanks in advance:)

hi we are about to ask for VT OF OUR CAR as its a shed and should never have been bought i asked for a settlement figure abnd that was 5967.30 so i have now asked for a VOL TERMINATION going to send a letter tomorrow as we have found a funance deal way better for 155 a month which has been approved on my workings out we have paid £4950 so far we are 18 months in to agreement on a 48 month agreement so am i right in thinking the 4950 paid so far plus whatever they get for the car lets say 2000 so that would takje me well upto what ius required for the 50% rule infact the car was scrached bumper and i know this car will not pass its next mot can anyone advise if my thinking is correct

Help guys Car was brought from Carcraft in Feb, due to issues with Bank the June payment was missed and within a week a default notice issued (Only payment missed) I called and explained there were issues and I would make a payment. However I bank with Natwest and for obvious reasons the credits I was expecting did not arrive so a second DD bounced. This was last week. About 10 mins ago three people turned up, pushed my car from the private driveway and towed it away. I said it was on private property and that I did not think they could do that. They said they could do what they want. Spoke to Advantage and they said they did not care how their represenatives acted as long as they get the car. Was I right, was it illegal and anyone have any advice please Car was taken from Driveway No Paperwork left No Consent given No Keys given Finance is in Mrs Venom name and she was not here No Notice of Termination