GE Money Mortgage and repossession

[The Analyst]

We'll do both forms, with individually modified finance and defence text and one set of appendices indexed on each form.

[Goldlady]

When I represented my friend at a repossession hearing we filled in forms for both her and her partner - took us ages - and the judge didn't even ask to see them:confused:

[Bona]

Every one needs to do what they think is best for them as litigants in person in nearly every case the judge will put you right if you make a mistake in the early stages its later that you have to be correct

[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?

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, good to hear you got the payment protection payment... that will make all the difference to your case.

 

You need to ring GE tomorrow morning and get them to acknowledge the payment has been made. If you have a fax machine, ask them to fax confirmation to you and to the court. You then need to ring the court and ask for their fax number to send them the letter from the insurers so they can put it with the papers for the judge (assuming GE haven't cancelled the case.

 

However, unless you have it in writing from either GE money or the court, you should still turn up on Tuesday. If all arrears payments have been made there is no case for possession, there is only a case if you are in arrears, but given that GE money have not confirmed this to you they may well not have cancelled the hearing.

 

Let us know tomorrow after you have rung GE.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[Goldlady]

Yes I would agree with Ell-en - in fact I would go to court even if they do say the money has been paid - I wouldn't trust them not to try and sneak a suspended possession.

 

You haven't said whether the PPI was through GE. If it was then I would say they have been severely negligent. At the very least you want the repossession costs refunded to your account and any defaults recorded to be removed.

[Ell-enn]

Absolutely Goldlady -that's what I meant to say

 

You should go to the court on Tuesday no matter what.

[Bona]

And take all your paperwork and ask for your costs as they havnt informed the court or you that they have recieved the money good luck

[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

[Goldlady]

The Insurance Company is First National (which I'm sure you know is part of GE Money - even the address is the same!!).

 

It seems that GE Money need to go and stand in the naughty corner. Whether the judge will be able to do anything if the hearing does go ahead is debatable - but they need to be punished for what they have done to you.

[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

[Goldlady]

Hmmm - if they take it off the o/s balance they will probably charge you for paying in advance:mad:. It is your money really as you managed to pay part of the payments for the period covered by the insurance. So they should send it back to you. In my opinion anyway.

 

Incidentally you also need to reclaim all the £40 charges - I am claiming mine back once I have repaid my GE loan (next week hopefully:D).

[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

[Bona]

When you go tomorrow be prepared for anything and remeber to say that you have tried to confirm that they have had the £6000, and it is their error and you should not be liable for costs

[Goldlady]

You need to throw the book at them - make sure you tell the judge everything that has happened to you. Chances are they will have a solicitor there ( or in the case I went on it was a bit of a kid in an extremely short mini skirt;)) who has absolutely no idea about the case and just expects the repossession to be rubber stamped. When we told her our defence she was horrified and had to disappear to make calls to her boss and the client.

 

Best of luck - be strong - and I hope you don't get wobbly legs on the way into the court - I did and I was only helping my friend

[The Analyst]

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

[Goldlady]

Fantastic news Analyst - OH and I have just had a good laugh trying to picture Mr Eagles' face! I bet the judge said it with real judicial sarcasm as well.

 

Keep us posted on developments.

 

Goldlady

[Bona]

great news get the insureres to check if the cheques have been cashed and when you go back make sure you do not get hit for there costs, rgardless whether they have cost indemnity they have to be reasonable and them cocking it up is not reasonableget the case dismissed.

[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!!

[Bona]

Try that if they cannot find the payments in he time not you fault as for case to be dismissed or you dont have tp pay costs good luck

[Goldlady]

We are paying GE off this Friday YIPPEEEE:D. They know this and they are STILL giving us grief about making a payment. In spite of being told that as long as the loan is settled by the 18th there are no further charges owing.

 

I can't wait to have my day in court reclaiming the money they owe me. I would never advise anyone to take a loan with GE.

 

I am sure you will be OK again in court Analyst, they have behaved so badly. Best of luck.

[Goldlady]

Update - paid the B*****s off today - YIPPEEEEEEEEEE! Let battle commence.

[sillygirl1]

Give yourself a hug from me for Xmas, hopefully once you start your claim for charges etc you will get a sizeable chunk back to use for a nice holiday next year.

[Goldlady]

Thanks SG. Analyst how was court today? Please tell us it went OK.

[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