Thread: My Bro VS GE Capital

Just had an interesting chat with my brother in the pub!
He is really struggling at the moment with a hell of a lot of bills...

Unfortunately he suffers from mental illness. He will never work again. I feel the banks are taking advantage of this fact and basically taking everything they can from him.

At the moment all i know is that he has has bailiff coming to his house looking for 122 pound. My mum is currently dealing with his accounts, but ended up in tears after speaking to this bailiff. My brother never answered the door, and only received a note, which my mum tried to call. As you may have read from my other threads, my mum has her own problems and can really do without this. So now i have decided to take over his account and fight for it. I just hope you guys will help me.

First thing to do is get his bank statements (because he believes his payments have been going out via DD every week). and i will also get SAR for GE Capital... but hpw can i strop the bailiffs???
please help...

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ok, got some of the info my brother could find... this looks more serious than i thought.

I have his last burtons statement before this turned nasty. Total Balance = 1122.58
Amount due immediately 305.18
Paymet due date 11/09/2006

How any company can let someone in his situation get into this much debt is beyond me.

I then have a letter from 11/8/06 from THAMES CREDIT LTD. This is saying...
'We write to advise you that Aktiv Kapital Asset Investments Limited has bought the interest of GE Capital Bank Ltd in the debt that you oe them under the above agreement. We are acting as a collection agent on behalf of Aktiv Kapital Investments, bla bla bla.
Our records show the total balance outstanding, inclusive of all accrued interest, amounts to 113.32.'
Then it goes on... bla bla bla.

From what i can tell, it looks like he did the silly thing and panic and ignore any contact anyone tried to make to him... cause the nxt bit of info i got from him is a Claim form issued on 6th december 06. With the claimant being CL Finance Ltd. In the POC it states that this is about the money owed to GE Capital Bank. Amount Claimed 1122.58, Court Fee 110.00, Solicitors Cost 80.00, Total amount 1312.58.

What happened next i am unsure of, and he doesnt understand or even remember due to his illness.

Next letter i have is 'Judgement for Claimant (in default)'
This is asking for installments of 125 per month, first payment being 10/01/2007. This judgement is dated 28/12/2006.
I understand my mum tried to phone them, basicvally telling them he is completely unable to pay this amount as he simply does not have it. Then they gave her a form to fill out showing incoming and outgoings, etc. (N245)
This was done and sent by 10/1/2007. But... it got returned with a letter dated 1/2/2007, basically saying the proof of benefit was out of date, so my mum now has up to date proof of his benefit and we will be sending this out tomorrow along with the original form.

So thats th story so far... or at least what i can make out. I just really dont know how to help him out. I cant put the stress back to my mum, she has enough of her own. And my brother just doesnt understand any of this or the seriousness of it.
The bailiff came round a few days ago, he didnt answer and they left a card through the door, saying, 'I have called on a Pre-Bailiff visit on behalf of CL Finance but was unable to make contct with you, please phone URGENTLY.'
Then it gives a mobile nuimber and 'Tim or Mack' as a contact.

Is there anything i can do? Also, i am a bit lost as to what is actually happening now and which companies these are (like the Aktiv Kapital Investments one).

Please can someone advise... i'm starting to panic a little here.

Hello, sorry to hear this tale, but it is one we often hear.
Well done on taking this up, banks are counting on the fact that the weakest in society will not be able to complain....
Take a look at the bailiffs section of the site to read up about that side of things.
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bailiffs/
The problem is that your poor Bro has buried his head in the sand, and lovely Mr Bank has taken full advantage of this.
It's important to get this sorted out, and quickly.
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk.../general-debt/
My advice would be to see the local CAB, asap. Get the first letter off to reclaim charges, hopefully these will help to clear this debt for your brother.

Cheers hsbcrusher...

Can i stop the bailiffs coming round by explaining that i will be disputing the debt... ? (i believe the majority of money owed is down to charges over the last 5 years)

If you say that the amounts are in dispute, then the bailiffs should leave you alone.

ok, will phone them tomorrow and let them know. Will also try to find out who they are from... cause i'm confused atm/... i got correspondance from GE Capital, CL Finance, Atkiv, Thames finance.... will see what i can find out.
Will let you know the outcome when i get home from work tomorrow

Originally Posted by HSBCrusher

If you say that the amounts are in dispute, then the bailiffs should leave you alone.

Should i give this in writing do you think? if so, is there a relevant template? or should i make my own!? (not too good with wording letters, but will try)

Originally Posted by Br4ndyb00b00

ok, will phone them tomorrow and let them know. Will also try to find out who they are from... cause i'm confused atm/... i got correspondance from GE Capital, CL Finance, Atkiv, Thames finance.... will see what i can find out.
Will let you know the outcome when i get home from work tomorrow

It all seems a bit of a mess.... are you sure who these bailiffs represent?
I am not aware of an official bailiff template.
take a look at

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...bailiff+letter
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...bailiff+letter

some useful info.

interesting stuff mate. But you are right, its a complete mess.
The slip the bailiff put through his door does actually say he was there on behalf of CL Finance. But i think my mum has tried phoning himand asking who sent him, she got no good repsonse. She phoned CL Finance who said it was the court and not them. She phoned the Court and they said it was not them. She really struggled to find out anything really.

The bailiff couldnt say who he represented?

Ok, an update for you...

Firstly i phoned the bailiff this morning... I cannot believe how rude and unhelpful he was. I eventually found out that he is working on behalf of CL Finance. I explained the whole situation to him, and also that his visits are not helping his mental illness. And he said, 'To be honest, i do not care. I am not a social worker, i am a debt collector. And unless he pays me 125 pound, i will continue to visit.'
I told him that i have sent a letter disputing the amount, but he said that is of no concern to him, this money MUST be payed, and his visits will under no circumstances be stopped. When i suggested i phone CL Finance, he told me they will not speak to me about the case, it is in his hands only now. Then he hung up.
Then i phoned the solicitors of CL Finance, who i must say were the complete opposite to the bailiff. Very helpfull indeed. They explained the full situation from start to finish, and said the only way the bailiff can be stopped is complete the N245 form, and send back to the courts. When they recieve it and agree our offer, they will stop the bailiff. That sounded fair to me. So that form is being sent first thing in the morning.
Basically, my brother has a CCJ now, and we have filled in this form to show and prove his incomings and outgoings, and make an offer as to how much he can afford to pay monthly. This whole situation ha been going on for months, and it seems letters were sent to him before this, but he ignored. I think he was scared more than anything, so took no action at all.
Next i phoned GE Capital to try to find out exactly how much he has been paying per month (i have been assured by my brother he has always had a DD set up), and why these payments have not been sufficient. My brother had to phone them first to confirm that i can discuss his account with them, but they wouldnt even discuss the problem with HIM!! He could not correctly answer the security questions to gain access to his account. It now seems they have the completely wrong date of birth for him on their system. Thats when my brother told me he did try to phone them before but this same thing happened. They advised him to send his birth certificate!

I have today posted SAR to GE Capital.

Any other ideas on what i can do next? Bailiff is coming round tomorrow.

anyone?

told my brother he would be better off going out to my mums for the day. He has small panic attacks when people are shouting through his letterbox and banging on the door.

Ok.
a bit of info for you.
I think you can see where I am going with this...

This from Hillingdon Council

Quote:
Special Circumstances

The council has defined the following as "special circumstances", where levy should not be attempted. In these cases, the Contractor should report the particular circumstances of the case back to the council, in order that specific guidance and instruction may be given by Hillingdon Revenues Services.

• Evidence of physical disability or mental impairment.
• An elderly person who appears frail or confused.
• Evidence of long term sickness or serious illness, including mental illness.
• Recent bereavement.
• Evidence of severe financial hardship.
• A family whose sole or main income is benefit related.
• Evidence of marital difficulties or reference made to domestic violence.
• Where defaulter, or a defaulters' spouse is obviously pregnant, or states that they are pregnant.
• Where the defaulters' ability to understand is in question. This could be because English is not the first language, because of profound sensory deprivation, or illiteracy.
  (The council may be able to assist with interpreters, signing for the deaf, etc.)

This list is not exhaustive, and discretion should be exercised where the Contractor feels it appropriate, and depending on the circumstances of each case.

And this, although a bit old, from Hansard.

Quote:
Column 395
Debtors (Guidelines)

Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will place in the Library a copy of the guidelines that are issued to bailiffs and court officers when dealing with cases where a debtor is an in-patient at a mental illness hospital.
Mr. John M. Taylor : When a bailiff learns that a debtor is a patient at a mental illness hospital he refers the matter to his manager so that guidance can be sought from the district judge as to what action, if any, should be taken. No written guidelines have been issued about either the service of documents or enforcing warrants in such circumstances. The existing procedure for service is set out in order 10 rule 4 of the county court Rules 1981, which provides that, in the case of a mental patient, documents should be served on the person (if any) who is authorised under part VII of the Mental Health Act 1983 to conduct proceedings on the patient's behalf. If there is no such person authorised, documents should be served on the person with whom the patient resides or in whose care the patient is.

Although this does refer to in-patients.

Is there something similar where you live, I strongly suspect there is....

thats a good find mate... thanks VERY much.

The first statement is more relevant than the second i think. My brother now lives in rented accomodation, although has spent a few spells in a mental illness hospital.

You said, 'Is there something similar where you live, I strongly suspect there is....'
There probably is, but how do i find it? where do i look?
And if there is such rules, how do i enforce them?
I'm from Dover, Kent by the way.

You are going to have to speak to your council about this, I would think they have similar rules, and its up to them to enforce the rules.
I am not an expert in this area, but hopefully this is something to go on for you. If I discover anything else, I'll pop back with it.

yea, only thing i can find so far only relates to the Council Tax bailiffs (cant remember what they are called)... i think the 'Special Circumstances' you found may also relate to that.
But i'll keep on looking!
Maybe i should go to GE Capital... maybe they have their own regulations for their bailiffs?

perhaps, but I would say that this is not likely.

My brother has just had his benefit pay and has given me 125 pound to pay the bailiff. He can't really afford it, and has other bills to pay, but he cannot stand another visit from this bailiff. He gets scared and stressed as soon as anyone knocks on the door, and he realises these visits are not doing his health any good.
So now i need to pay this bailiff, or somehow make sure he never visits again...

any advice on what i should do???

I am working away as of tonight, and wont be home till weekend... so whatever i do, need to do it tonight.

How is it going?
I have been unwell, so not been about much.