Hi,

I have read so much great advice on these forums, I was hoping one of you experts might be able to help me on the best defense I have from repossession.

Here are the facts:-

Barclay First Plus secured loan, 3rd time I went back to them for re-financing.

Salesmen convinced me my best course of action was to consolidate all previous borrowing, unsecured loan and credit cards, in total borrowed £100K plus took out PPI adding £20K

Few points on the PPI which I am in the process of challenging:-

I have received the tapes; during the call after being told many times this is optional PPI I say, “Ok can you re-quote without the insurance”. Very disappointed sounding salesman says, “oh... ok let me take a look”, comes back and says “sorry I can’t make this work, because there is a significant discount on the settlement figure if your renew your PPI and without it I would need to lend you more than 100K and that’s our maximum”

Also, really didn’t realise it was payment protection only the 1st 5 years or a 25 year loan... Sales person did mention 5 yrs but presented it with an emphasis on that’s when I would get my repayments back… and also, whilst employed at the time of the loan I owned 35% of the company which employed me, which I understand would make the PPI worthless...of course now understanding the small print, I will receive no payments back because I have arrears… Criminal Corporate Deception and Theft in my opinion by Barclays Bank!!!!

So far I’ve been offered the standard response from Mr. Green at Barclays FirstPlus, amounting to a few thousand pounds off the balance figure…

One other point on the loan, I had a few months previous asked FirstPlus if I could re-finance, they said no I was at my maximum lending… I was called by a person claiming to be from FirstPlus asking if I needed refinancing a few months later… He hooked me up with the salesperson who sold the loan and PPI, took my details and then the salesprson called me back... on the call I say, “I was surprised you can help because a little while ago I was declined further borrowing”… However, the tapes don’t contain the call from the person who initially called, is this right, could someone else ( a third party) have been farming for sales commission opportunities for a person inside of Barclays FirstPlus and is that allowed?

The loan details:-

Took out the loan almost at the peak of the housing market (mid 2005) I have a first charge on the property with a sensible mortgage rate provided by Lloyds TSB for £220K…

Barclay FirstPlus lend me another £100K plus the £20K PPI… although I can’t seem to see that they did a market valuation based on the disclosure documents they sent me…

Had some arrears on the Lloyds TSB and a suspended repossession order but have made arrangements and have serviced them without fail for the last 6 months… I estimate the house value would now possibly cover the first charge if I was lucky and assuming someone was interested in buying in this climate…in effect I have about £120K of negative equity

So Barclay FirstPlus have no chance of recovering a penny from repossession and Lloyds TSB may end up out of pocket on a forced house sale…

I have completed a detailed income and expenditure and I calculate I am about £250 down per month based on my income and current commitments, including the agreed payment to Barclay FirstPlus...

I put it to Eversheds that if the interest was reduced to a fair and reasonable level, currently 11% (9% at the time of the mortgage) then I could guarantee a sustainable monthly payment in additions to the arrears top-up…

Current arrears to Barclays FirstPlus are about £9,000… luckily my business is just starting to turn the corner and my co-directors and shareholders have agreed that I can take a directors loan for 9K if it is absolutely necessary, so I have, on stand-by, the ability to pay the Barclays FirstPlus arrears in full…

What I want is for Barclays FirstPlus to offer a permanent reduction in interest rate to a fair and reasonable level which would make my monthly payments sustainable in the long term (they are aware of this as I have written to them with details). Have I any hope of achieving this outcome and if so what is the best way to present my case…

Many Thanks In Advance.... Richard

Have you returned the defence papers to the court?

No, I have returned detailed income & expenditure to FP and my offer request... Nothing returned to the courts yet.

....but you have received court papers for a possession hearing next Tuesday? when did you receive them?

Hi Ell,

Just checking the papers here, I received the forms on 18th Nov 2008..

I have not send back the defence form, I have been in corresponding with Eversheds and they have received very similar information to that requested by the courts.. But the courts have received no information from me directly..

Ah right, you should have sent the defence form back at least 14 days before the hearing date. However courts will usually accept them in the week before the hearing.

Have you filled in any of the forms at all? If you can complete all of it except Q.27 (the most important part), I will try and draft a defence for you for that.

I should be on line this evening and will probably need a bit more information from you so I can complete the defence.

You will then need to get the forms to court asap (hand deliver).

Ell-enn

Thank Ell-en,

I am filling out the forms right now, I will leave the Q27...

I can hand-deliver the documents as soon as thier are prepaired, just let me know what other information you need and I wil get it turned around to you as quickly as I can...

Cant begin to tell you how much of a relief it is to have such great support through this forum and from you and the other members here

Hi there. OK, while I understand your request to FP to lower the interest rate in order to make payments affordable, unfortunately the court does not have the power to alter the terms and conditions of your loan.

The situation is that FP are taking you to court for possession due to arrears on the account - the judge can only consider how these arrears are to be paid in a reasonable time i.e. he will be looking for an offer of payment each month in addition to the normal monthly payment. Now, the fact that you have asked FP to reduce their interest rate in order to make payment of arrears possible will only interest the judge if there is any evidence to show that FP are in fact likely to meet your request. Is the loan on a variable or fixed rate?

What are you able to offer to the judge for him to consider? have you had any positive response from FP regarding the lowering of the interest rate? Have you done any calculations to show what the difference in the monthly payment would be if the rate were reduced?

Ell-enn

It may be worth you reading the thread a bit further down- Black horse a long story.

No reply from FP with respect to my request to make their rates fare and resonable, I have made some estimates with respect to the interest rate reductions. FP increased them by 1.5% from 9.9% to 11.5% and that had a net effect of £100 increase per month, so I am assuming this will work pro-rata, reducing the rate to a resonable 8% should reduce payments by £200?

I have received feedback from FP with respect to converting to interst only, they said NO.. can't increase the term because its at its maximum 25yrs.

My circumstances have changed in the last few months due to the turn around in my business, basically leveraged everything I had into it.. so, I can demonstrate that I can now pay the agreed sum and £50 towards the arrears based on my current income.. I can also as a last resort pay the arrears in full, I was hoping maybe this could be used as an incentive to help with the rate argument put to FP.. but from what you have explained this is of no concern to the judge.

one other point, properly very relevant, currently all my additional unsecured debt approximately £100K are being manged by payplan, so the payment I make is a fraction of what is expected, these arrangements have been agreed, interst frozen etc.. and are due for review in Jan 09 but i am not sure if I should be putting the agreed monthly figures or the payplan discounted monthly figures into my calcualtions regarding income and expenditure.

The backdrop to all this is I leveraged everything I had into my business, and made the stupid decision to purchase a very expensive property at a time when the market didnt give a damn. The business is now coming good, but i am feeling the effects of getting there as you can see.

Hi, did you make your requests in writing to FP and if so do you have copies of those and also their replies?

You should fill in the income and expenditure sections to reflect how your finances stand at this time. You cannot forecast what will happen next month so you need to list what you pay at the moment.

Do you have any dependents? is the loan in your name only?

Ell-enn

Hi,

Yes all the exchanges with FP & Eversheds are in writing and I have copies, I have 2 dependants aged 9 and 6, the mortgage is in joint names, myself and my wife.

ok, I'll complete the finances as you suggest as at this point in time.

Thank you Ell-enn

Thanks Jansus, I'l take a look through that thread

Hi, I will get the text for Q.27 to you in the morning. Am I to base your defence on the offer of £50.00 per month towards the arrears in addition to the normal monthly payment until such time as they reduce the interest rate?

Hi Ell-enn,

Yes, that sounds sensible, thank you..

Do you think that there is any value in bringing the PPI issue to the attention of the judge, or just deal with it later ?

Hi there, I have affixed the text for Q.27. In the box at Q.27 you need to write "please see affixed sheet".

You will need to enter the claim number and your names at the top of the sheet. Print off the sheet and then photocpy both it and the N11M form.

Also, take photocopies of the correspondence you have sent them asking for help and also their replies. On the top of each letter write the Claim Number (will be on the court forms) on the top left hand corner and Appendix 1 on the top right hand corner.

Affix the statement sheet and the Appendices securely to the Form. Make sure you have a complete set for yourself to take to court on the day of the hearing.

Any questions just shout.

Re the PPI, that is a separate issue to the claim for possession, I think it's best that you secure the roof over your head first and then tackle the PPI claim. You will get plenty of advice regarding that in the PPI forum.

Kind REgards

Ell-enn

Rmcott Q27.doc

Thank you so much for your time, support and help... I will hand deliver the defense later today and let you know how the hearing goes...

I will pick up the issue of PPI later and post it over the the PPI forum for tracking, I will let you all know if I have any success with the rate reduction request to FP on this thread..

Once again Ell-enn.. Thank you so much

Just got back to a computer after a busy week including the hearing on Tuesday...

Everything went very well, the council for firstplus put all the arguments on the table, the client cant afford this mortgage etc. etc..

I put my case forward and referenced the defence letter prepaired by Ell-enn...

The judge was very understanding and agreed to suspend the repossesion and accepted the offer I made to pay £50 per month against the arrears, essentially paying the arrears off over the remaining term of the mortgage...

From my experiance, if you have a sensible proposal the judge will be on your side, thanks you so much Ell-enn for your support and kind help.. )))

Wonderful news ! well done for being so brave. Hope you can now relax and enjoy Christmas knowing your home is safe.

Kind Regards

Ell-enn