Martin was retrenched in March 2014. He had a car loan with a finance company which he could no longer pay in full. He therefore contacted the finance company and explained his position and asked for his car loan to be varied because of his financial hardship. He was told a hardship application would be sent to him. However, there was a delay in the finance company sending him the application and he was not able to submit it for about two months.
The finance company then failed to respond to Martin’s hardship application. He contacted the company but was told to pay what he could and that someone would get back to him.
Last week the finance company tried to repossess the car. Martin refused to allow the car to be taken. He has started a new job, but cannot pay a lump sum to pay off the arrears at the moment.
He filed a complaint with the Credit and Investments Ombudsman because the finance company was a member of this dispute resolution scheme. In the complaint he alleged that he made an application for a hardship variation but this was not responded to and he requires a determination (decision) of his hardship variation. He also requested that any enforcement costs incurred after he made the hardship application should be waived.
