Court Proceedings

[scared]

I have a car on finance which defaulted by 2 payments and have been taken to court for reprossion of the vehicle. I have had no notification from the court of the court date or time and after contacting the creditors solicitors was told on Wednesday that the court hearing was on the 8th April (today). I have tried seeking legal advice as it is not straight forward they say no contact with them since the beginning of January, but I have proof that I have been in contact and also made a payment. I have been in touch with a solicitor but as it was such short notice she was unable to represent me but asked if I could go to the court and get the hearing vacated to a later date. She told me what to write in the letter but the judge refused with no reason as to why. I have turned up today at 10 am and was told the hearing was not till 3pm this afternoon. The usher said to go tot he public counter and see what they said as I was unable to attend this afternoon due to work committments. All the lady said I could do is write a letter to say why I was unable to attend and hand in any paperwork. So this is what I did. In 20 mins I know they will win the case and take reporsession of the car and they have already said they will file for bankruptcy if I am unable to pay. The balance o/s is !9K and the book price is 9K how am I suppose to find £10k.

Does anyone know if they get possession today how long will I have to hand the car back and also how long before they will apply for bankruptcy

[emma_t]

Hi scared

I am going to reply to get your message to the top of the board and hopefully an expert will be along soon to answer your question...
Its beyond m I am afraid!

Sounds like you have had an awful day and I hope you manage to get something sorted x

[MelanieGiles]

Thanks Emma - you could find yourself a part-time job helping Admin!!!

To scared - there is no easy option here unfortunately. If the HP company are entitled to seek possession of the vehicle for non-payment then that is the risk you take when you enter into these agreements. What sort of car is it, because £19k is a lot to owe on car finance? And what has happened to cause you to default on the payments? Is this your only debt? Could you find anyone to help you pay off the current arrears and then try to persuade the HP company to let you carry on the agreement - after all they would rather get paid their ongoing interest rather than sell a second hand car at auction.

If bankruptcy proceedings do ensue, they will probably take a three month period. Do you have any other assets which would be at risk under such proceedings?

[Adam Davies]

hI
It may be worth writing to the court and asking for judgement to be set aside as you were unable to attend the hearing
Regards

[scared]

It is a Chrysler 300C I set up a wedding car business that didnt seem to take off. I did have another car a jeep which was also on finance but handed this back in to the finance company they sold it for the book price even though it wasonly 3mths old and still owe them £14k on this agreement. They wanted the full payment and will not take installments I think the only reason they cancelled was that I still owed them the 14K on the other agreement. I filled in a form a week ago to have the hearing vacated but it came back that it would still go ahead. Had no idea what time th ehearing was and went a 10 in the morning. The public office told me to write a letter with all the details of why I was unable to attend etc and any relevant paperwork to go with the case and she would put the paperwork in the file which showed that we were there.. My partner called the office this morning and was accused of not turning up at all. So the car has to go back now. My partner has now decided that he needs time to himself and to leave him be. Great so it just gets better. We do have a house in my name with no equity and have manged to solve the problem with the debts on the mortgage but not on the secured loan. This went to court a week ago also but again no post to confirm the hearing date etc...

[MelanieGiles]

I really feel that you need to seek professional assistance and guidance with regard to your financial difficulties before too much longer. Why not give an insolvency practioner a call and run through your options.

[Reviva UK]

Hi scared

I do know a couple of people that occasionally take over HP agreements so if you definately want to get rid of it i mighht be able to help - always worth a shot.

Suggest you speak to Melanie first then if appropriate speak to me about the car

take care

[scared]

I spoke to a solictor on Friday after speaking to the claiments solcitors and they were threatening to break in to the house if i did not hand the car back. The solicitor that I spoke to has saidi need to write to the court again as I had been un duly dealt with. I handed the letter in today as I had not received any paperwork from the court which was over a week. After looking into the fiule the court went in favour of me and has asked for the finance to be reinstated. THe claiment said they had no notification from me ince January, only there was letters on files from both the finace company and copies of my letters. The letters were in reponse to mine dated after January and also I had made payment. So all is well again for now I cannot believe the solictors was threatening me even though I had won the case.