BCT wont allow me VT after half of finance is paid..

[joannemcp]

PLEASE HELP.. I am new to forums and would love some guidance and advice with the finance company BCT.

 

I bought a car several years back and the finance was with British Credit Trust over a 5 year period.

 

After over 2 years of on time payments my husband lost his job and after trying to keep up he eventually had to give in

and ring them to say we just couldn't afford the monthly amount of over £250.

 

After their refusal of £50 a month until he found work,

we started to get letters regarding payments falling behind.

 

In December we received a default letter due to the arrears and other letters stating extra charges were being applied etc which we accepted as it was our fault.

 

After several missed months and arrears of over £1000

 

we received 2 copies of the same letter stating that if the arrears were not paid in full within the next 7 days,

the debt would be passed to a collection agency,

we wanted to avoid this for bad credit reasons and a family member came up with the cash for us to clear the amount.

 

When we called to pay this (before the deadline),

we asked them for a print out of the amount being paid and notification that the account was up to date and no further action would be taken.

They sent this and the info regarding the remaining monthly payments on the agreement.

 

We paid 1 more month and then decided to VT the finance and return the vehicle as we had paid well over half

and knew we were within our rights to do so as this was stated on the credit agreement.

 

We sent a written VT recorded delivery

which a week later rang them to check they had received this,

 

they said there was a letter in the post regarding this.

 

The letter arrived stating my husband could not VT as the credit agreement had been terminated by them.

They said they had sent this letter weeks ago which we never received and we told them we hadn't which they responded to with a duplicate copy.

 

It was dated the same time they sent us the 2 letters threatening to send the finance to the debt collector.

 

Several calls over several weeks were had with myself, husband and BCT,

they never once mentioned the termination of agreement and still when we paid the arrears and asked for the letter to make sure all was back to normal, nothing was said.

 

Even that letter stated what payments were left in the agreement.

 

This vehicle has now been sat on our drive for months and we refuse to pay any more of the finance and we refuse to do what they are asking which is a VS.

 

Anybody know where we stand HELP .

[giveITallback]

This looks like you may have a strong case here .. Hopefully one of the Site Team will jump on this soon and offer you some advice regarding what to do next!

[joannemcp]

Hope so. Need to get this resolved ASAP

[dx100uk]

you are correct.

 

they cant refuse VT you've paid more than 50%.

 

their problem now.

 

as long as the vehicle is in reasonable nick, you should owe nowt more.

 

if you had any PENALTY charges or were forced to

take out GAP/MACH breakdown/PPI etc etc

 

get reclaiming those too.

 

write a letter to BCTstating that the vehicle is on your drive and unless it is collected within 24 days it will be scrapped.

 

see what they say.

 

dx

[joannemcp]

The car battery is dead and has a flat. Other than that it just needs a clean. It's been sat there over 6 months. Every time we have spoken to them, they just say they terminated the agreement so we can't VT. We've received loads of charges.

Received another letter this morning to say we now owe over £2000 and sending somebody out to see my husband to make arrangements. We are not budging on this.

Thanks for the reply D

[Gaston Grimsdyke]

That is correct - if they have terminated you cannot VT. You can't terminate an agreement that is already terminated. Your best bet is to argue that by accepting payment of the arrears and continuing monthly instalments, there was a mutual agreement to reinstate the contract - a kind of "untermination" - which then reinstated your right to VT. It's not a great argument but it's worth a go.

[dx100uk]

The car battery is dead and has a flat. Other than that it just needs a clean. It's been sat there over 6 months. Every time we have spoken to them, they just say they terminated the agreement so we can't VT. We've received loads of charges.

Received another letter this morning to say we now owe over £2000 and sending somebody out to see my husband to make arrangements. We are not budging on this.

Thanks for the reply D

 

 

well they've no legal powers if they do turn up

 

go away little man

 

or i'll call the police.

 

have you all the statements?

 

dx

[joannemcp]

But like we keep telling them, we didn't receive any notification of them terminating the agreement. They said they sent us a letter after we had sent them our VT. We think they're trying it on to prevent us from trying to end the finance.

[joannemcp]

well they've no legal powers if they do turn up

 

go away little man

 

or i'll call the police.

 

have you all the statements?

 

dx

 

We will have somewhere. The only letters we have to hand are the ones since falling into arrears. Would you suggest we write to them and request copies of statements?

[Gaston Grimsdyke]

It doesn't matter whether you received the termination notice or not, as long as they sent one that's sufficient. What is the date they say they terminated and what date did you write to VT?

[havinastella]

Time to send them the SAR to see if they sent the termination!

 

You say you have a letter confirming the agreement to bring the account up to date. Have you sent them a letter saying you want to VT?

 

I would do this ASAP, sent Special Delivery, outlining what has happened and point out you paid the amount owed before the default date, so If the account was terminated, you will sue them for unlawful termination.

[joannemcp]

Time to send them the SAR to see if they sent the termination!

 

You say you have a letter confirming the agreement to bring the account up to date. Have you sent them a letter saying you want to VT?

 

I would do this ASAP, sent Special Delivery, outlining what has happened and point out you paid the amount owed before the default date, so If the account was terminated, you will sue them for unlawful termination.

 

They sent a default letter end of last year.

 

Another letter beginning of this year to say debt collectors would be calling unless the arrears were paid.

 

We paid arrears then another monthly payment then sent them a VT recorded delivery.

 

They wrote back to say we couldn't VT as they had terminated the agreement the month before and wrote to tell us so..

 

.. We never received their letter of termination.

 

We rang to tell them we hadn't received it which they replied "well it left our offices on xxx date"

We did receive a letter from them on the date they said but we also received the exact same letter again on the same day.

 

They sent 2 copies in my husbands name at the same time but never did he receive a letter to say the agreement had been terminated.

 

We suggested they should of sent it recorded delivery so they new it had reached us.

 

They just kept saying "we'll it left our office on such and such a date"

Just not sure where we stand with this!!

[giveITallback]

The important point is regardless of whether they sent it they accepted the arrears and allowed you to continue as normal. You then decided a on a VT so your argument is why did they allow you to proceed as normal if the agreement was finished. They're backtracking as its in their best interests.

[joannemcp]

It doesn't matter whether you received the termination notice or not, as long as they sent one that's sufficient. What is the date they say they terminated and what date did you write to VT?

 

We VT'd in Feb and they said they sent us the letter in Jan :/

[joannemcp]

The important point is regardless if whether they sent it they accepted the arrears and allowed you to continue as normal. You then decided a on a VT so your argument is why did they allow you to proceed as normal if the agreement was finished. They're backtracking as its in their best interests.

 

This is our thoughts exactly. Their letter after payment of arrears was made states "here are the remaining payments in your agreement"

[havinastella]

They CAN'T terminate if you brought the account up to date before the date on their letter. If you can prove you did, they are screwed.

[joannemcp]

They CAN'T terminate if you brought the account up to date before the date on their letter. If you can prove you did, they are screwed.

 

It was feb when we paid all arrears. They say they sent us the letter of termination in Jan :/ When we told them we hadn't received this letter they said they would send another. This was Feb and the so called copy of their letter they dated Jan

[dx100uk]

BCT tried this with me in 2003

sar'd them

there was no record of them sending the term letter

 

they wrote off the balance

 

its a typical trick of theirs.

 

dx

[joannemcp]

BCT tried this with me in 2003

sar'd them

there was no record of them sending the term letter

 

they wrote off the balance

 

its a typical trick of theirs.

 

 

dx

 

Good to know cheers.

Just been going through all paper work.

 

It was jan they reckon they sent the letter and jan we paid arrears, after their so called termination though.

 

Just looking through the letters they sent after we'd paid arrears,

 

they state things such as

"IT IS IMPORTANT YOU KEEP YOUR MONTHLY PAYMENTS UP TO DATE TO COMPLY WITH YOUR AGREEMENT"

 

and also the letter with remaining payment amounts on states

"I AN WRITING TO CONFIRM OUR ARRANGEMENT WITH REGARD TO PAYMENT ON YOUR BRITISH CREDIT TRUST AGREEMENT"

 

If there was no agreement as they say it was cancelled,

why would it state in letters after that there was????

Puzzles me.

 

If it goes to court then I'm hoping it goes in our favour with all this paper work I have saved which contradicts everything the say :/

[dx100uk]

thats might well be useful.

 

dx

[jomcp]

Had a letter from the courts this month, got a hearing. Any advice anybody? Got all the paper work with all of the above in writing so just hope the judge can see our point and that we tried everything we could to straighten things out and were within our rights. Suppose it's our word against there's in regards to them saying they wrote to us to terminate this agreement :/