To be fair GEM's Solicitor did apologise and said it was nothing personal and he was just doing as he'd been directed to by his client and he wished us well on the way out. He wasn't helped by the fact that the Court service had failed to send GEM's lawyers copies of our defence papers! What he did have though was transcripts of the few telephone conversations I had with GEM's Litigation Department whilst I was attempting to come to an agreement prior to the hearing. That just proves that any communication with these companies should always be by letter wherever possible; your telephone conversations might be used as evidence in any consequent Court hearing. The Analyst

UPDATE. In Court yesterday morning, and with the wife as well in her wheelchair; there was no way she was going to let me go through it on my own. It could not have gone much better; the DJ totally 'got' our situation and had obviously read our 5 page statement and all the medical evidence. There was no way GEM was going to get the house despite their Solicitor constantly requesting an outright possession order due to the length of time the arrears have been outstanding. The DJ adjourned the case for three months with no right of appeal. That gives us time for either the interim payment to be processed or the compensation claim to get to Court in Scotland. My only worry was the fact that we have horses might get picked up by GEM - and it was. Again, the DJ totally understood that the horses are my wife's daily mental therapy and he refused to discuss it and that was the end of that. A big stress over for both myself and, especially, the wife. Again, a BIG thank you to all, especially Ell-enn, for your help - 'Failure to prepare is preparing to fail'. The Analyst

OK, will do all that. Other than the length of the statement (I'm fighting for my house and my wife's life here so I'm going to put down everything I can think of that might help our case) is there anything in it that, in your experience, should not be included or could be a problem. Also your comments on the I&E. This is based on one provided by CAB some years ago and has been modified by me to be even more detailed than the original.

Ell-enn (and anyone else who would like to comment), Please find attached to this post my defence statement and Income and Expenditure as they stand at the moment. Please look through them and give me your honest answers as to their content. I'd like to get them in the post on Friday so we don't have much more time to get them right. The Analyst Money4_update.xls Court2011_updatecab.doc

sillygirl1, It's an idea but I don't think we have enough time prior to 26th Jan.

Interesting. I'd just assumed that it was necessary to use the forms provided by the Court and if you didn't it would be a problem. You learn so much from this forum! What about the Statement of Truth signature? Will the Court accept the evidence without my wife signing it? The Analyst

I've decided not to tell the wife about the repossession action; she's not in any fit state mentally at the moment and I dread to think what she'll do if she finds out. Still waiting for our Solicitor to e-mail the letter requesting the interim payment so I'm holding back on completing the statement until I receive that - hopefully in the next couple of days. A question or two about the defence forms: if I only need to complete one set of defence forms how do I go about correctly adding both our details; Q1 only has space for one persons name, address and DOB. Q18 How to include two persons bank details? Q24 states 'Do not include any payments made by other members of the household out of their own income' - so how can they be combined? Finally, the Statement of Truth. Can I sign on my wife's behalf as she is not to know about the action. Can I sign as her 'Litigation Friend' as well as co-defendant? It just seems that the forms are designed to be completed individually rather than as a combined form. Thanks for your help so far. The Analyst

Excellent, thank you, I'll include that. I've just spoken to our Solicitor dealing with the compensation case and he's going to write to the defendants asking them to make an interim payment to help our situation - he's going to ask for £30,000. Apparently, this won't affect the main case and as they have already offered £80,000 to settle (which we rejected, obviously) he doesn't think that will be a problem. The only hitch will be the timescale as it's a French insurance company and, if they agree to the payment, it could take anything up to 8 weeks for the cheque to arrive. He's going to send me tomorrow, via e-mail, a copy of the letter plus anything else regarding the compensation hearing in Oban - which he still thinks will be around April time - that might help our repossession case. Because the Solicitor is in Scotland he is unaware of English Law and repossession cases so I might need your guidance if he wants further information. So I'll need to mention all of this on the statement as well - I'll check the wording with you once I've seen the letter tomorrow. I'm continuing to complete the defence forms anyway so I'll be asking some questions later about them. Hopefully, all of this better news is going to make it easier when I tell the wife over the weekend.

£250.80

We've just started making a 'goodwill' payment of £25 per month; we could probably go up to £50 or £75 at a push.

Any comments about the contents of the statement? What was the case law you mentioned earlier - does that need to be included?

Hello Ell-enn, My wife needs as mundane a day-to-day life as it is possible to have. Just the word 'repossession' or 'Court'on a letter or envelope could be enough to set off a suicidal episode. If I can get the hearing adjourned until after the compensation case is over that is some 'good' news that might hopefully keep her calm. As expected GEM refused to accept the Mandate from our Solicitor. I've completed the first draft of Q27 and I am pasting it below for all to see and comment on. It is very long and concentrates on my wife's mental illness and her required therapy: 27. Give details of any events or circumstances which have led to your being in arrears with your mortgage (for example divorce, separation, redundancy, bereavement, illness, bankruptcy). If you believe you would suffer exceptional hardship by being ordered to leave the property immediately, say why. I would respectfully ask the Court to consider the following: In 1998 my wife and I were involved in a serious road traffic collision in Scotland. Although I came out of it relatively unscathed my wife suffered serious leg injuries. In the ensuing years her mental state also began to be affected by the after-effects of the collision. As a consequence we started a compensation claim against the Frenchman who admitted guilty to causing the collision. The Court Writ originally submitted in 2001 stated that the compensation claimed would be a minimum of £250,000 plus 8% interest per year until the completion of the claim. As of 2010 that writ has been recalculated and resubmitted to the Scottish Court at £750,000 plus 8% interest. The compensation case is now due before the Sheriff Court in Oban, Scotland within the next three months (date to follow) after nearly thirteen years of medical and psychological reports. On the 20th October 2010, following a meeting between Solicitors from both sides, the defendants in the case offered us a 5-figure sum to settle; on the advice of our Solicitor this offer was summarily rejected. Following the conclusion of the case in Court our Solicitor expects the final settlement to be in the region of £500,000 once loss of earnings and pension are included. At the time of the collision my wife was a highly paid teacher in a Secondary School receiving extra management points on her salary. Unfortunately, as time has passed, the worsening mental and physical injuries meant that she had to take early retirement due to ill health in May 2005. She now only receives a basic pension; my salary was reduced in 2006 due to a Local Government Job Evaluation exercise and I have not received any annual increase in pay since then. Whilst my wife was still receiving her full salary, and my pay was still pre-job evaluation, we took out a third, secure, mortgage with GE Money Home Lending. At this time we were able to make all the necessary payments. Now, because of the massive salary reductions, plus the personal expense of mental therapy, we have been unable to make the full monthly payments. Because my wife’s pension is above certain thresholds she is unable to claim any benefits whatsoever. Over the last twelve years my wife’s mental and physical injuries have been getting steadily worse. Mentally, she suffers from Chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with suicidal tendencies and Severe Depression. In March 2009 she had to have a total hip replacement due to osteoarthritis of her right hip. Because she is only 51 years of age she will most likely require at least one, if not two, more hip replacements over the next twenty years. On the 19th January 2011 she is due to undergo surgery on her damaged ankle to remove obstructive bone growth, again due to osteoarthritis, plus the removal of one of the screws inserted during surgery after the collision in 1996. On the day we received the Court Papers from GE Money we had just returned from Hull Royal Infirmary where she had been given steroid injections into her spine to ease crippling pain caused by fused joints (another result of the car collision). All of these medical procedures, the ensuing compensation case and now this unreasonable repossession action by GE Money are exacerbating her current mental condition to the effect that she is now experiencing disturbing dreams and is in great danger of suffering a serious mental episode and making another attempt on taking her life. To this end I would respectfully request that the Court take note of the highlighted sections on pages 9, 10, 12 and, especially, 11 of the report by Dr. Waseem Alladin, Consultant Psychologist, regarding the ongoing mental state of my wife and co-defendant Mrs xxxxxx. Although this report is dated 2003 the nature of PTSD is such that her mental condition will never be fully healed and, indeed, is probably worse now seven years on from the time of this report and, as such, all comments made in the report are still relevant today. I also include a more up to date report from Dr Ian Matson which agrees wholeheartedly with that of Dr Alladin. Also attached is a report on her physical condition by Mr Richard Warren as it relates to her hip and ankle damage. All of these reports, and many others, are part of the file for the compensation case detailed above. My wife cannot be amongst large crowds of people; even shopping is no longer an option for her as she suffers panic attacks. Very rarely do we socialise with friends; we no longer attend cinema or theatre nor pubs and restaurants. Our evenings are spent together watching television and discussing our future once we are financially secure following the completion of the compensation case. It is of primary importance that my wife has as normal a day-to-day life as it is possible to achieve in these difficult times. Because of the PTSD she needs to keep her mind as active as possible on ‘normal’, even mundane, things. The slightest anomaly can induce a suicidal episode. On 13th December 2009 she contemplated taking her life by parking her car on nearby railway lines. It was only my intervention when she rang me on her mobile phone to say goodbye that stopped this from happening. She was consequently referred to the local Mental Health Crisis Team who undertook an assessment and daily checks of her mental wellbeing. She also contemplated taking her life on 27th April 2010 simply due to the fact that she was going to have to travel to London later in the week for two further medical assessments demanded by the defendants in the compensation case. Just the thought of having to go through the collision in her mind again was enough to trigger the suicidal episode. Again, it was only the intervention of me, other family members and a mental health nurse that prevented the suicide taking place. As a result of these episodes she was referred to an NHS Clinical Psychologist who assessed her but who is unable to proceed with any sort of treatment at the moment until the mental stress of the compensation case is resolved. Such serious suicidal episodes can occur at any time. The one constant in her daily life is her love of our pets. We own dogs, a cat and horses and her days are spent attending to their care – 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Obviously this relies on a certain amount of money each month to maintain and I wish to be fully open with the court about this money as it affects our current situation regarding the repossession hearing. Wherever possible the financial outgoings have been kept as minimal as is feasible so as to allow for all our other monthly requirements. The animals are all insured and are fed and cared for as cheaply as it is possible to do without endangering their health. I wish to make it clear to the court that the ongoing care of these animals is vitally important to my wife’s mental health; this is her daily mental therapy. It is only being able to care for them that keep her sane and able to cope on a day-to-day basis. Not only I but her medical team agree that her care of her pets is the best medicine that she can have to keep her alive. It is because of this that I respectfully request that the Court accept this situation as vital and necessary ongoing medical therapy and that financial allowances are made to allow this therapy to continue unabated. It could be claimed by any of our creditors, and I’m sure will be by GE Money, that the amount of money spent on caring for the pets could be better used to help with paying the mortgage arrears. It is precisely because of this that I have constantly attempted to reach agreement with all parties so that this necessary and life saving situation can continue. In all of this ‘mess’ the one constant that I have attempted to ensure was keeping my wife healthy and, more importantly, alive. All of the involved parties have been kept fully aware of this situation and, with the exception of GE Money, have acted humanely and sympathetically. I have made it clear in writing many times to GE Money that any hint of repossession action may well be enough to trigger another suicide attempt. They were provided with the same documentation mentioned in this defence form plus others such as a DMHE form provided by the Consultant Psychologist who dealt with my wife following her mental health assessment after the first suicidal episode. GE Money staff have therefore been fully aware of how any action they take can influence the future wellbeing of my wife. Despite all the evidence provided and the opportunity to reach a suitable agreement with our Solicitor they decided to proceed with the repossession hearing nonetheless – and less than three months before the compensation case is due in Oban Sheriff Court. As stated previously, all our other creditors are aware of the seriousness of my wife’s mental illness and have been very supportive and all have reduced our monthly payments to a manageable amount on condition that when the compensation claim is finalised we settle all accounts in full. We sent them letters and other documentation from our Solicitor detailing the claim plus a copy of the original Court Writ. A detailed income and expenditure statement is attached. Since the Court papers have been issued I have made a token payment of £25, with another of the same amount to follow on the 1st February 2011 and subsequent months. This is the same amount paid each month to our Yorkshire Bank mortgage accounts. I requested the account details from GE Money to begin these payments before I was aware of the repossession hearing - it was not as a result of this action that payments were started – they were planned to be made anyway as a gesture of goodwill on our part prior to the conclusion of the compensation case sometime in the next three months. In an attempt to reach a short term agreement and the adjournment of the hearing, on the 4th of January 2011 at 10:40am, I rang the Litigation Department of GE Money and offered them the chance to accept a legally binding Mandate signed by myself, my wife and our Solicitor stating that all outstanding arrears would be paid at the conclusion of the compensation case and monies received. The agent I spoke to, [NAME REMOVED], refused to accept this very reasonable offer and insisted that the repossession hearing continue. I also backed up the telephone conversation by writing a letter to GE Money making the same offer. Had GE Money accepted this legally binding Mandate we would not have had to waste the Court’s valuable time with an unnecessary repossession hearing. GE Money Home Loans and the GE Money Litigation Department have both been given every opportunity to liaise with our Solicitor in organising a suitable arrangement for the payment of the arrears. They have been provided with our Solicitor’s details and the case reference number on numerous occasions the latest being August 2010. Obviously, our Solicitor has the main file for the compensation case and has copies of all medical and legal documentation and would have provided any such documentation GE Money requested to prevent any repossession hearing to be required. GE Money have failed to continue with these negotiations – had they done so I’m sure a suitable arrangement could have been made in the short term before the conclusion of the compensation case. The current value of our property is £160,000 and the equity is £44,500. Based on the above facts, I respectfully ask the Court not to grant possession but to adjourn the hearing until the conclusion of the compensation case noted above due in March or April when we will be in a better position to discuss payment of all outstanding arrears.

The reason for going for a separate adjournment hearing was to prevent my wife from having to attend a repossession hearing. I need to do anything I can to minimise the potential for her attempting her life again. Despite the cost an adjournment hearing is one that I would attend on my own; if it's successful it's one less thing for her to worry about and we can then concentrate on the compensation case which is going to be a stressful event in itself.

So the financial section of the form is for our expenses and outgoings as a couple not individually? For example. Q17, Money You Receive, take home pay would be mine and pension would be the wife's, etc. No need to keep everything separate, then?

Hello again Ell-enn. Thank you again for your help, although I'd hoped I wouldn't need to be here again. I assume you mean a N11M defence form as that's what we each have? I've already just about finished the statement part of the form. As I've included a paragraph regarding the offer of the mandate letter I'll leave pasting a copy of the statement here until I've spoken to GEM tomorrow. As stated previously I'm going to apply to the Court via N244 to have the hearing adjourned until after the compo case is over in March or April. To this end I've let our Solicitor know about the action and hopefully he'll be able to provide some sort of letter/evidence/statement to be included in the application. Unfortunately, his offices are in Glasgow and as they have an extra Bank Holiday up there it's going to be Wednesday until I can speak to him about all of this. The Analyst

Thank you for your replies so far. As far as I can remember the original Judge told us that the case was 'adjourned indefinitely' but not dismissed - no order was made. This is a new action. As for the Mandate we never made such an offer in the original case as the PPI option became available to us. I rang GEM this morning but the Litigation Department don't start back until tomorrow (4th). I'll be trying again with the Mandate suggestion and, if they refuse, I will be backing it up with a letter suggesting the Mandate option again. The letter will be part of our defence bundle along with their reply which I will ask to be forwarded to me ASAP. I'd like the DJ to know we've been trying to come to an agreement even at this late stage. I would seriously like to go ahead with the N244 to apply for an adjournment so any further help with that would be gratefully received. In the meantime I am working on the defence papers for the main hearing should that still go ahead. Luckily, I still have everything from the last hearing so I just have to update the financial statement section and update the 'Give details of any events or circumstances....' I'd like to concentrate on how repossession would affect my wife's mental health to the point were she might consider taking her life. There is a report I will be including in the bundle from a psychologist which refers to her suicidal tendencies (She's already tried twice). Her main therapy is to have as mundane and normal a day-to-day life as is possible. I've still to tell her about the action - not looking forward to that but it will need to be done in the next couple of days. The Analyst

Hello all, The Analyst here again three years on and back in the same predicament. Those of you who posted to my thread at the end of 2007 will be aware that there was a compensation claim ongoing which we had been led to believe was to be settled within a few months. Due to the other side demanding further medical reports as to my wife's physical and mental health the case is still ongoing after 13 years! But we are now seeing the end of the tunnel with a Court date in Oban, Scotland due in March or April. The other side have already made a 5 figure offer to settle which we have rejected - hence the Court case going ahead. Now to the reason for the new post - GE Money are at it again! We are back in arrears with them and they have issued repossession documents (on Christmas Eve!) to go to Court on 26th January. At the time of writing this my wife does not know of the action - I've managed to keep her away from the post box and for a very good reason. Due to her increasingly severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder she has attempted to take her life twice in the last 18 months. It takes very little to set off one of these 'episodes' and certainly repossession action is more than likely going to be one of them. But at some time soon she is going to have to be told so I'm going to have to deal with that with the Mental Health Crisis Team on standby. The point is that GE Money have been made well aware of my wife's mental state and I have warned them on numerous occasions, in writing, of the fatal consequences that could occur if they start Court action. They have been sent all relevant medical reports plus I have asked them time after time to deal directly with our Solicitor in Scotland to try to come to some arrangement whereby they will hold off on any action until the compensation case is settled. They have ignored all of that and have basically put a price of £9000 on my wife's head and are gambling that she stays alive. Unlike the last repossession hearing we don't have the payment protection to fall back on. So I'm after more help from your good selves. This is what I'm proposing to do on Monday when GE Money re-open for business. I'm going to offer to provide them with a legally binding Mandate signed by myself, my wife and Solicitor stating that all arrears will be paid at the conclusion of the compensation case in either March or April. This type of Mandate has already been provided by our Solicitor to other creditors who have accepted it and held off any further action. Is this something that a mortgage company might accept to cancel the claim hearing? If this fails I'm also going to attempt to apply to the Court to have the hearing adjourned until after the conclusion of the compensation case. Is this also something I should try? There is a lot more I could write about this but I'll leave it there for now whilst you think about your answers. regards and Happy New Year, The Analyst

Hello all, The Analyst here again three years on and back in the same predicament. Those of you who posted to my thread at the end of 2007 will be aware that there was a compensation claim ongoing which we had been led to believe was to be settled within a few months. Due to the other side demanding further medical reports as to my wife's physical and mental health the case is still ongoing after 13 years! But we are now seeing the end of the tunnel with a Court date in Oban, Scotland due in March or April. The other side have already made a 5 figure offer to settle which we have rejected - hence the Court case going ahead. Now to the reason for the new post - GE Money are at it again! We are back in arrears with them and they have issued repossession documents (on Christmas Eve!) to go to Court on 26th January. At the time of writing this my wife does not know of the action - I've managed to keep her away from the post box and for a very good reason. Due to her increasingly severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder she has attempted to take her life twice in the last 18 months. It takes very little to set off one of these 'episodes' and certainly repossession action is more than likely going to be one of them. But at some time soon she is going to have to be told so I'm going to have to deal with that with the Mental Health Crisis Team on standby. The point is that GE Money have been made well aware of my wife's mental state and I have warned them on numerous occasions, in writing, of the fatal consequences that could occur if they start Court action. They have been sent all relevant medical reports plus I have asked them time after time to deal directly with our Solicitor in Scotland to try to come to some arrangement whereby they will hold off on any action until the compensation case is settled. They have ignored all of that and have basically put a price of £9000 on my wife's head and are gambling that she stays alive. Unlike the last repossession hearing we don't have the payment protection to fall back on. So I'm after more help from your good selves. This is what I'm proposing to do on Monday when GE Money re-open for business. I'm going to offer to provide them with a legally binding Mandate signed by myself, my wife and Solicitor stating that all arrears will be paid at the conclusion of the compensation case in either March or April. This type of Mandate has already been provided by our Solicitor to other creditors who have accepted it and held off any further action. Is this something that a mortgage company might accept to cancel the claim hearing? If this fails I'm also going to attempt to apply to the Court to have the hearing adjourned until after the conclusion of the compensation case. Is this also something I should try? There is a lot more I could write about this but I'll leave it there for now whilst you think about your answers. regards and Happy New Year, The Analyst

Apologies for the delay in replying. Went back to Court. Judge told us that the case was now finished as GE Money had 'come to an agreement'. I asked what this meant; Judge just said that the arrears had been paid and the case was adjourned indefinitely, but not dismissed. I assume that means that as long as we keep up payments no further action will be taken, but if we default again it's back to Court. Consequently, a few days later we received a cheque from GE Money for just over £3200. The other £3200, kept by GE Money, covers the arrears, December's payment and the next 3 or 4 payments. Whether that's legal or not I don't know, but it keeps them off our back for a while. They have yet to write to us to let us know if this is what is actually happening with the money. Anyway, at least we can now have a Christmas. Thanks again for all your advice. In the end I didn't need to use all the paperwork I'd put together. Once the compensation claim is finalised we can pay off GE Money then start claiming back their charges! Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it and I'll be back here again should anything else go pear-shaped money wise. The Analyst

We're back in Court tomorrow morning. GE Money's Solicitors have written to us stating that they are going to ask for the case to be adjourned again (!). I can only assume they have still not found the cheques. We're going to Court even though their letter states there is no need to do so. We want to find out what's going on with them. My wife can certainly do without this!!

A small victory for the Consumer. Attended court and took up the offer of free legal representation. When shown the letters from the insurers she stated we should not have been there. She went off to find GE Money's representative but he was on the phone so wasn't told about the letters before we went into the Judge's chambers. GE Money's agent, Mr Eagles, said his bit - in arrears, wanting possession of the house, etc; etc. Our Solicitor then passed the letters to the Judge, who, having read them out loud said, "So Mr and Mrs .... are in credit?" He then looked over his glasses and said to GE Money, " I assume you know nothing about this, Mr Eagles?" To which Mr Eagles replied, "No Sir, I certainly do not, no." We tried not to smile too much. Case stood down whilst hasty phone were calls made to GE Money HQ. Back in Chambers half an hour later - GE Money never received the cheques. Case adjourned for 14 days, but more likely until after Christmas, to allow GE Money and Insurers time to find the missing cheques. Apologies from the Judge for wasting our time. Lunch in the Court Cafe. It's still not over yet; need to see what GE Money do next. Thanks to all who have helped with this case so far. I'll update again once GE Money have been in touch. I want to make sure that we get the balance from the insurance. The Analyst

Well, despite my best efforts I was unable to talk to GE Money about the £6000 in cheques they should have received. Either I got the musak for ten minutes or was cut off with the 'we are very busy, please call back later' message. There was nothing in the post from them today and the case is still shown as open on the PCOL website. So we don't know if they have ever received the money. I would have thought that it would be very naughty of them to go ahead if they have the money; it's more likely that the cheques never arrived from the insurers (their own company). Looks like it might be a nice surprise for their Solicitor tomorrow when they read our letter from the insurers. I suppose the Judge will adjourn the case so that GE Money can find the cheques? The Analyst

Another question. If GE Money have received the £6000+ what are they allowed to do with the balance after taking away the arrears? Can they keep it and use it as future payments, just take it off the outstanding balance, or should they send us a cheque for the difference? The Analyst

I've already e-mailed copies of the 2 letters from the insurers to the court using the e-filing system. The Insurance Company is First National (which I'm sure you know is part of GE Money - even the address is the same!!). The 2 payments of £3,226 each were actually for the 12 month period up to and including November 2006, not as I stated in my last posting. Doesn't make any difference, though, we were up to date with payments during this period too. Just putting the final touches to our paperwork for Tuesday (appendices currently stand at 9 and about 1cm thick). The Analyst

An update on current situation. We'd forgotton that we had payment protection insurance on the mortgage payments. We claimed and the insurers have sent over £6000 to GE Money to cover payments from November last year to October this year. So, theoretically, the arrears have been settled and there is enough left over to pay the next 11 months payments. As we'd made proper payments until we went in to arrears in August we reckon that they either owe us over £4000 after the arrears payments are taken or should use that balance to cover future monthly payments. BUT... GE money have not acknowledged that they have received the money (I have letters from the insurers that the money was sent) and the case is still ongoing on Tuesday. Can they still go ahead regardless?