... Says logistics, subscribers guarantors responsible for delay
By Matthew Denis, Abuja
The management of WhiteHorse Group Limited has debunked the allegations making round that it has breached a car loan contract with some subscribers from the Federal Fire Service.
Recalled that there was an allegation in some media that the company has failed to deliver vehicles loan contract as at the stipulated scheduled.
Speaking exclusively to Nigerian NewsDirect on Wednesday, the Managing Director of WhiteHorse Capital a subsidiary of the company, Mr. Elias Ojo Abutu said " we have a car loan scheme under the WhiteHorse Capital which allows clients mostly Civil servants to assess vehicles with a flexible payment system where they pay 50 percent of their choice vehicles then we spread the instalmental payment as long as 12 months.
" We actually entered an agreement with some staff of Federal Fire Service here in Abuja and it was extended to their state branches.
Explaining further the MD stated that it takes the company a period of 6 to 8 weeks to deliver the cars to clients who have paid the 50 percent of the loan vehicles.
He said " normal once our clients pay the 50 percent it takes between 6 to 8 weeks to deliver the cars to them. But somewhere along the line we had some hitches with our financial institutions.
" The money that our clients pay we take the money from the company's funds and we have some arrangements with our venders who also use part of their money to import the cars ship them to Nigeria clear them and then we pick them after we balance them and then we deliver to our subscribers.
Abutu stressed that because of the hitches they had during the transaction in the Covid 19 challenges they tried to source for Facility through their financial consultant with financial institutions but it continues to lingers for long.
" The first one we got was actually given to one of the commercial banks where we make all the payments and somewhere along the line we discovered that they didn't monetize the instruments we have given to them and that actually resulted to some breaches which were explained to our clients including those in the federal fire service.
" We explained and had meeting with them and even went as far as showing them some of our internal documents of the company just to be transparent and make them know that we have their interest at heart just to deliver their cars but it has actually lingers for some time now.
According to him they were giving their clients a timeline based on instructions from their financial institutions and consultants giving to them to access the funds for the agreement.
Default by a subscriber
Abutu cited a case of a personnel of the Fire Service, Gyenom Yawa Guga whom they delivered a Pontiac Vibe, 2005 model in December 2020 but has defaulted in terms of the instalmental payment for about five months now saying that she only paid for two months out of the seven months now which is one of the reasons the company is making concrete arrangement before disbursement of the cars to the subscribers.
He said " during our last year December disbursement of vehicles we had excess of Pontiac vibe and fortunately we checked our list and found out that one of the personnel want Pontiac vibe we decided to deliver it to her.
" After giving her the car ofcourse she was supposed to start the monthly remittance of the 50 percent balance But it so unfortunate that she hasn't make this payment for some months now. As a matter of fact the company became very uncomfortable with that considering the fact there are large number of subscribers from the Fire Service.
" if one person has defaulted in remittance for several months as a matter of fact the company has to be careful in delivery to them because even with this incident we still admit to deliver the cars to them.
Way Forward
The MD reiterated that in their usual agreement with their clients they always make provision for a refund should incase they are not comfortable with the scheme vice versa.
He said " We have however apologized to our clients for the delay and the inconveniences they have encountered and we explained to them also that we are still committed to delivering the vehicles to them. But be that with the present situation and the publication demanding for their refunds we will definitely refund their monies.
" They paid the money to us and we are not denying that fact and since they are requesting for a refund we'll surely do that.
" We are going to refund and those that still want the vehicles we'll deliver them between now and the first week of August, 2021
Guarantor's issue
The MD explained that the company always approach the cooperative of any organization or parastatals for smooth transaction which it was done at the fire Service too to easily recoup the repayment schedule.
He said " when we wrote letter to the service they replied us that the service itself will not stand for anybody which they have to come to us as individuals and we honored that from them.
" We must ensure concrete Guarantor for the individual subscriber before delivering the car to him or her so that the beneficiary will strictly abide by the monthly remittance guidelines. He stressed.
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