KUALA LUMPUR: Two women have come forward claiming that their vehicles were "repossessed", then auctioned off without their knowledge, leaving them without transportation and bearing the cost of the remainder of their car loans.
Siti Adawiah Ismail, 33, said that it all began after she failed to pay the monthly installments for her Nissan Almera for three months, from January to March, because she was suffering from anxiety disorder.
According to her, she bought the car for RM65,000 and she had already paid up more than RM60,000.
"When I was out sending my father to the Health Clinic in Taman Seri Rampai, Wangsa Maju, on March 15, two men approached me as I was parking the car by the roadside.
"The two men told me that they were going to repossess my car because I had failed to make the monthly payments for a period of three months before they showed me a piece of paper which they claimed was the repossession order from the bank.
"I admitted that it was my mistake for failing to make the monthly istallments, and I relented," she told reporters at the the Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) headquarters here yesterday.
Siti Adawiah said she was asked to pay for the repossession cost, the bank's processing cost and so on, but the financial troubles that she was facing prevented her from settling the remainder of the loan that she owed.
According to her, the bank's insistance for payment led to her brother who was also her guarantor to pay the remainder of the loan amounting to RM3,742.70 in August.
"However I was shocked when I found out that my car had already been sold to another individual in April, a month after the car had been repossessed. I did not receive any notification or information that the car had been auctioned of and when I asked the bank for an explanation, I was told that it was because I was behind in my repayments.
"I went to the Road Transport Department (RTD) and it was confirmed that the car's registration number had another person's name. However I was the one who was on the receiving end of the notice to renew the insurance and another check revealed that the car was still under my name.
"I was both baffled and puzzled because the car was no longer mine anymore even though I had paid up in full for the loan," she said.
Another victim who only wished to be known as Hamshe, 26, claimed to have been taken advantage of by repossessors after being slapped with a charge of RM20,000 in repossession fees and costs apart from being threatened by the group of repossessors.
According to Hamshe, she bought a Mercedes Benz from a used car company and paid a deposit of RM93,000.
"After that, I was unable to pay for the car's installments for two months because I was facing financial difficulties. I contacted the financing company to request for a postponement or deferment in payment, but I was not entertained.
"During negotiations, the officer asked me to return the car and offered a cashback of RM10,000. I did not agree to it because I had already paid RM93,000.
"On Sept 25, my car was repossessed and I was told to pay up outstanding arrears along with other additional costs.
"Based on the letter given, that amount that I had to pay up was ludicrous where I had to pay RM20,000 to get the car back," said Hamshe.
Hamshe said that she tried to negotiate to sort out the matter but was not entertained before being informed that the car had already been auctioned off.
PPIM chief activist Datuk Nadzim Johan insisted that the banks must provide explanations and not take advantage of nor oppress borrowers.