Not upheld: unfair termination of finance agreement / arrears management complaint against BMW FINANCIAL SERVICES (GB) LIMITED trading as ALPHERA Financial Services

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained that BMW Financial Services unreasonably terminated his hire purchase agreement, claiming he did not receive correspondence about arrears and termination notices due to difficult personal circumstances including bereavements. BMW Financial Services maintained the account was in significant arrears, notices were sent to the correct address, and numerous contact attempts were made. The ombudsman found the account was materially in arrears meeting ICO default thresholds, notices were properly issued to the address Mr A provided, and there was insufficient evidence the firm was responsible for postal delivery failures. The ombudsman concluded BMW Financial Services acted fairly and reasonably in defaulting and terminating the agreement, and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that BMW Financial Services acted fairly because: (1) the account was materially in arrears, meeting ICO thresholds for default registration; (2) statutory notices were sent to the correct address Mr A had provided, and there was insufficient evidence that the firm was responsible for postal delivery failures; (3) it was reasonable for the firm to communicate by post as this is standard practice for statutory notices; (4) the account remained in arrears for a sustained period despite Mr A's claims of wanting to resolve matters; and (5) the firm was therefore entitled to default and terminate the agreement.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website