Login

Home » FAQs

FAQs

These FAQs are about matters you might want help with once you’ve taken out a finance agreement with us.

For important information about things to consider before making a finance application and how the application process works, please see our Regulatory & Legal Information section.

 

Managing your finance

For general enquiries you can contact our Customer Service team by
  • phone on 0330 123 0332 (option 1)
  • email at customerservice@mivf.co.uk
  • post to Reading International Business Park, Reading, RG2 6AA
  • registering on our Customer Portal to contact us via our live chat service.
To make a payment or to discuss your financial circumstances contact our Collections team by phone on 0330 123 0332 (option 2), email collections@mivf.co.uk Please ensure you quote your MI Vehicle Finance agreement number.

Protecting our customers’ data in line with the data protection law is a top priority. We can only discuss your finance agreement with you unless you nominate a third party to speak to us on your behalf. To nominate a third party, please contact us.

An authorised third party can only discuss details about your finance agreement and isn’t able to make any changes to the agreement.

For further information on how we manage and protect your data, please see our data protection notice here.

You can download a copy of your agreement once you’ve registered on our Customer Portal.

Alternatively, please contact us to request a copy.

We hope that you won’t have cause to complain about our finance products or services but, if you do, please see our complaints section for further details or you can register for our Customer Portal to contact is via our live chat service.

If you have a problem with the vehicle, you may wish to contact your supplying dealer in the first instance as they may be able to resolve any issues quickly. However, you don’t have to do this and you can still make the complaint directly to us.

Payment queries

Yes, you can change your payment date. Please contact us to make this request. You can only change your payment date once in any 12 month period without incurring a charge.  

If you register with our Customer Portal, you can see a history of all payments made under your agreement on the Mi Vehicles section. If you don’t see the payment you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll be able to confirm if your payment has been received.

If you’d prefer not to register with the Customer Portal, please contact us using one of the other methods listed above.

Depending on the type of finance agreement you have with us, you may be able to make a lump sum payment. The ‘Make a payment’ page on our Customer Portal explains how to make a payment and how it might affect your agreement and any remaining monthly payments.

If you’d prefer not to register with the Customer Portal, please contact us using one of the other methods listed above.

Please contact our Collections team on 0330 123 0332 (option 2) to make the payment over the phone urgently.  You may incur late payment charges if you miss a payment.  Missed or late payments could have an impact on your credit report and your ability to obtain credit in the future.

When a Direct Debit has failed to collect (for example, if you didn’t have enough money in your bank account), we’ll automatically try to collect it a second time, usually within 5 working days of the first attempt. Please talk to our Collections team on 0330 123 0332 (option 2) or collections@mivf.co.uk,  if you’re concerned the second attempt will be unsuccessful.
We understand there may be times when unforeseen events affect how you’re able to manage your finance agreement. You should talk to our Collections team on 0330 123 0332 (option 2) or collections@mivf.co.uk, if you’re concerned about missing a payment as we’ve a number of options available to help you, depending on your individual circumstances. You can also make a “forbearance” request to us to reduce or stop your payments for a period.  You can use this form to do this if your agreement was not taken out for business purposes or this one if you are a business customer. There are also some useful websites you can visit for free and impartial advice if you’re worried about your financial situation. They give a range of information, from practical advice about managing your money to budget planning: www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en www.stepchange.org www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ www.nationaldebtline.org
This is a letter we have to send you by law if you fall behind by 2 or more payments. The wording used in this letter is also required by law. It helps to make sure you’re given certain information when you’re behind with your payments. Even if you’ve told us about your current circumstances and we’ve made an arrangement with you about your missed payments, we’re required to continue to send you these notices at least every six months until you’re up to date with your payment schedule. If we’ve not already made a payment arrangement with you to deal with the arrears, please contact our Collections team on 0330 123 0332 (option 2) or collections@mivf.co.uk to discuss the options available to help you.

Yes, it could.  We’re required by credit reference agencies to ensure the data we submit to them is accurate, up to date and meets agreed quality standards. If you don’t make your regular expected payment by the agreed time and/or for the agreed amount, this may be reported to the credit reference agencies and this can affect your credit rating.

Changing your details

It’s important that you let us know of any change to your personal details, such as your home address, so that our records are correct. You can request a change at any time in the Mi Account section of our Customer Portal.

If you’d prefer not to register with the Customer Portal, please contact us using one of the other methods listed above.

It’s important that you let us know if you’ve changed your bank account so we can continue to collect your payments by Direct Debit. You can request a change at any time by visiting the change your bank details page in our Customer Portal.

If you’d prefer not to register with the Customer Portal, please contact us using one of the other methods listed above.

You can request a change at any time in the Mi Account section of our Customer Portal.

You’ll need to provide supporting documentation, such as your driving licence, deed poll notice (a certified copy), a passport, decree absolute or marriage certificate. You can upload a copy of one of these documents when you request the change. We may need to ask for original documents.

If you’d prefer not to register with the Customer Portal, please contact us using one of the other methods listed above.

If you’ve changed, or are planning to change, your vehicle registration number please tell us as soon as possible so that we can update your details. You can do so from the update registration number page on our Customer Portal. We’ll need to see evidence of the new registration number from DVLA.

If you’d prefer not to register with the Customer Portal, please contact us using one of the other methods listed above.

If the vehicle is to be returned to us for whatever reason, you must (at your own cost) have made the necessary arrangements for the personalised plates to be removed and the identification mark restored to its original condition before returning the vehicle.

If the vehicle is returned to us with personalised registration plates and you haven’t successfully applied to the DVLA for retention of the registration number, then we may sell the vehicle with the personalised registration plates.

Settlement queries

Under a hire purchase (HP), personal contract purchase (PCP) or lease purchase (LP) agreement, we’re the legal owner of the vehicle so you’ll need to settle your finance in full before you sell it. Please contact us for more information.

You can view the current outstanding balance for any finance agreement that you hold with us, from the Mi Vehicles section of our Customer Portal.

This is not necessarily the amount that you would pay if you settle your agreement early. If you require a formal settlement quote you can also request one from the Customer Portal.

If you’d prefer not to register with the Customer Portal, please contact us using one of the other methods listed above.

As long as the payment includes your agreement number or vehicle registration as a reference and isn’t coming from a third party, settlement will take up to 48 hours to clear if paid by bank transfer, and will take 7 working days if paid by cheque.

If payment is being made by a third party, please see “Can someone else settle my agreement on my behalf?”

Yes, but we’ll need to do some checks on the party who is paying (‘third party’) before we can accept the payment.

For any payment that comes from a third party or isn’t from the bank account we hold on file, we’ll need the third party or account holder to contact us with:

  • (Where the third party is a private individual or sole trader) their full name, address, date of birth and permission to run a security check against them. We’ll also need a brief explanation as to why they’re making the payment;

  • (Where the third party is a company) their full name, address, Companies House registration number, and an explanation as to why they’re making the payment

If you have a hire purchase (HP), personal contract purchase (PCP) or lease purchase (LP) agreement and you settle your agreement in full, including any optional final payment/option to purchase fee, you’ll then own the vehicle and we’ll remove our interest on the Hire Purchase Information (HPI) register.

When you are within 90 days of the end of your agreement, we’ll write to you to advise you of your options. You can let us know which option works best for you by either

The options are usually:

1. Purchase the vehicle outright and keep it

You can keep the vehicle by simply making the optional final payment on the optional final payment date. You must also pay any missed payments, late payment interest, default fees or other charges which you may have incurred. These must be paid in full before you can take ownership of the vehicle.

Once you’ve taken ownership of the vehicle, you’re free to either keep it or you may look into selling it. If the vehicle is worth more than the optional final payment you made to us, you’ll be able to keep any profit.

2. Re-finance the optional final payment

If you’d like to keep the vehicle but paying the optional final payment doesn’t work for you, we may be able to offer you an arrangement to refinance that payment.  Please contact us for more information.

3. Part-exchange your vehicle for a new one

All you need to do is go into a vehicle dealership and agree to part-exchange your current vehicle for a new one which meets your needs and budget. You can then authorise the dealer to settle your agreement with us on your behalf. We’d be happy to consider an application for finance on your new vehicle, so please contact us if you’d like to discuss the options. Please ensure the dealer pays the full settlement amount for your current vehicle as you’ll remain liable to make payments until the account has been settled in full.

It may be worth considering handing the vehicle over to your chosen dealership at least a few days before the optional final payment is due in order to ensure they can make the settlement payment on time. This is important to avoid us taking this payment from your bank account.

4. Return the vehicle to us

You also have the option of returning the vehicle to us at the end of the agreement. There are two ways you can do this.

  • You can ask us to come and collect the vehicle from you and we’ll charge a fee for this; or
  • We can advise you of the nearest drop-off centre for you to take the vehicle to.

Please note that with either option, our representative will complete a vehicle condition and mileage report. Please visit https://www.mannisland.co.uk/fairwearandtear/ for details of our fair wear and tear standards. 

On the day of handover please ensure that you have to hand –

  • The V5C registration document
  • Full service history
  • A valid MOT
  • All keys to the vehicle

It may also be helpful to note the following:

  • Please make sure that the vehicle is in a safe and clean condition, as well as insured and legal to drive on the day of inspection.
  • You should ensure that no personal belongings are left in the vehicle as we can’t guarantee that they’ll be kept safe or that you’ll be able to recover them later.
  • If you have a personalised number plate which you’re intending to keep, you’ll need to take the relevant steps prior to the handover.  This can take a number of weeks to transfer, so please start the process in plenty of time via the DVLA website gov.uk/keep-registration-number. If you don’t apply in time, we may sell the vehicle with the personalised plates or sell them separately.

General

We’re sorry to hear that there’s been an accident.  If the vehicle’s been damaged please let us know immediately and claim on your insurance (or, where a third party caused the damage, their insurance) to have the vehicle repaired. It’s important that you continue to pay your monthly instalments until the claim is resolved.  Any repairs must be in line with manufacturer’s recommendations.

If the vehicle is a write-off and the insurance payment doesn’t cover the outstanding finance, you’ll need to pay us the shortfall separately. Please contact us to discuss your options.  If you’ve taken out separate “GAP” insurance, this may cover the shortfall. 

Please contact us as soon as possible, contact the police and make a claim on your insurance. You must continue to pay your monthly payments until the matter has been resolved with your insurance company. Under the terms of your agreement, any insurance money must be paid to us by the insurer. If you receive any money from your insurer, you must pay it to us as soon as you receive it.

If the insurance payment doesn’t cover the outstanding finance, you’ll need to pay us the shortfall separately. Please contact us to discuss your options.  If you’ve taken out separate “GAP” insurance, this may cover the shortfall. 

The vehicle can’t be taken abroad permanently.  You can take your vehicle to an EU country without our consent for no more than one 28-day period in any one year but please let us know in advance if you want to do this.   You must ensure you have valid insurance, take all necessary documents with you and comply with any conditions of licensing for the country you’re visiting. You should be able to find this information at www.gov.uk. If you want to take your vehicle to a non-EU country or for a longer period please contact us.

You should contact the dealer immediately if there’s an issue with your vehicle – for example, a mechanical problem or if it’s not as described to you. But do contact us at any point if you’d prefer to speak to us or want to make a complaint. Please see our complaints section for further details.

If you have a hire purchase (HP), personal contract purchase (PCP) or lease purchase (LP) agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974, you’re entitled to voluntarily terminate your agreement and return the vehicle at any time before your final payment is due. If you’ve already paid one half or more of the total amount payable under the agreement, you don’t owe any arrears and the vehicle is in good condition, you won’t need to pay any more repayments once you’ve confirmed you wish to proceed with voluntary termination. If you’ve paid less than one half of the total amount payable under the agreement, you’ll need to pay us the difference between what you’ve paid and one half of the total amount payable. If you voluntarily end the agreement, you’ll need to return the vehicle to us in good condition and may have to compensate us for the reduction in value if it’s poorly maintained. You’ll need to confirm your intention to terminate the agreement in writing via letter or by emailing customerservice@mivf.co.uk.  Verbal notification sent via a dealer, agent or broker won’t be accepted. Your agreement will be marked as ‘voluntarily terminated’ with credit reference agencies.

We understand that it can be difficult to arrange financial affairs after the death of someone and we’re here to offer you our support.  Please contact us on 0118 922 3456 to tell us of the bereavement and we’ll take you through the process and provide you with all the information you may need.

Trustpilot

Creating good customer outcomes

Find out more about our commitment to delivering good outcomes for our customers and to lending responsibly.

FAQs

Discover more

Customer security check

Carry out a security check quickly and securely by completing our online form.

Received our security check letter?

Need to make a complaint?

We recognise that, despite the best intentions, things can go wrong. If this is the case, please let us know.

Complaint process
LinkedIn
Legal
Get in touch
Other Information

© MI Vehicle Finance Limited 2024

Cookie Notice

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our site. To find out more see our Cookies Policy. By Continuing to use our website without changing the settings, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.