Thread: County Court Claim has been issued against me for a Money Judgement - please help!

Hi, I'd be really grateful if some of you kind people can offer me some advice.
Ok, the story goes.....
I took out a finance agreement with BMW for a vehicle and agreed to pay £260 a month.

Last year it got to the point where I simply could not afford the repayments and I ended up in arrears.
I phoned BMW to inform them I was having difficulty paying but they would not reduce my payments and simply said I had to pay the arrears.
I couldn't do this so I was eventually contacted by a solicitor from BPE to say that as I had not kept to my side of the agreement, my only options were to

1. pay the full outstanding amount of the finance and purchase the vehicle, which I couldn't afford to do, or
2. surrender the vehicle and be liable for any shortfall after it is sold at auction.

I had no other option than to surrender the vehicle and agree to pay the balance in affordable installments.
The same day (Oct '09) a bailiff arrived at my house at 8.30pm demanding the keys for my car and drove it away.
I couldn't believe it, I was given no notice at all when they were coming to take it.

I then received a couple of letters to tell me the costs for recovery etc, but nothing to give me an option to propose repayments for the outstanding amount.

Then, a couple of days ago I received a Claim form from Cheltenham county court for the outstanding balnace (£3,200).

In it it says I did not reply to a letter they sent me in January notifying me of the shortfall balance that was due but I never received this letter!

I phoned BPE today to tell them this and they said that Royal Mail hasn't returned anything to them so there's nothing they can do so they are going ahead with the Judgement.
I do not want to defend the claim as I appreciate I didn't keep to the agreement but I want to repay the money and for it to be over.
Now they are probably going to issue a CCJ against me and I'm terrified.

I rang the Mediation helpline and they said if I stress that I am keen to mediate and pay the balance off asap then they might accept my proposal and not enter a Judgement against me,
but BPE said they probably would even if I propose to pay them £200 a month as it will take ages to clear the balance.

Please help, I don't want to go to court or have a CCJ.

I have heard about Tomlin Orders and wondered if they would be appropriate?

Thank you

As asked above, need to know how much of the agreement payments had been made, if a default was issue. Sure I have read on the site, that there could be big problems for BMW if you have paid over a certain amount, and they have taken the car without a court order.

Thanks you so much for your replies, it's nice to know people are there to help and listen as I have been chewed up by this.
It was a HP agreement dated 20/03/2007. It is confusing as the Particulars of Claim does not mention how many payments I had made. It does, however mention that £10 is the Purchase Fee which I don't think I should have to pay as I never technically bought the car at the end of the agreement and a second installment of a credit arrangement fee of £40 payable 1 month after the final monthly rental is paid.
It says: On 15/07.09 the claimant sent a notice of default to the defendant by first class prepaid post stating the total amount of the payments overdue and requiring the defendant to pay the same to the claimant by 01/08/09. On 02/08/09 the defendant had failed to pay the overdue payments and the claimant became entitled to terminate the agreement and demand return of the vehicle, which it did by written notice to the defendant on 07/08/09. The defendant did not respond. The claimant's solicitors made a written demand for the return of the vehicle or payment of the outstanding balance on 25/09/09. The defendant voluntarily surrendered the vehicle in writing to the claimant's solicitors on 20/10/09. The vehicle was recovered by the claimant's recovery agent on or around 24/10/09. They are claiming:
1. arrears at termination £1810
2. late payment interest £22.39
3. legal costs £154
4. future rentals £8320
5. recovery costs £276.50
6. sales costs £226.55
less sales proceeds £7700
Total £3109.44
They are also claiming interest on the balance of £2429.56 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of notice of shortfall to today's date in the sum of £31.95 and continuing on the total amount claimed at a daily rate of £0.53.
They have attached the copy of the agreement:
amount of credit £12631.08
duration 60 months
total amount payable £15750 (£260 a month @ 9% apr).
credit arrangement fees and purchase fee = £3118.92.

Under termination - your rights, it says you have the right to cancel this agreement. The person you make your payments to will then be entitled to the return of the goods and to half the total amount payable ie £7875. If you have already paid at least this amount plus any overdue installments you will not have to pay any more. If you do not keep your side of the agreement but have paid at least one third of the total amount payable under this agreement, that is £5250, we may not take back the goods against your wishes unless we get a court order.

The POC does not include any of the letters they say they've sent me which surely they should include to prove they sent the letters? I haven't kept any of them (stupid I know) so I don't know how much of the balance I had paid off and how many installments I had made. Does this info help?

Thanks again

2 questions...

1) How much have you paid in total?

2) Did they have a court order to remove the vehicle?

Oh and I have a query with this:

"The claimant's solicitors made a written demand for the return of the vehicle or payment of the outstanding balance on 25/09/09. The defendant voluntarily surrendered the vehicle in writing to the claimant's solicitors on 20/10/09"

What letter did you send them?