Repossession hearing...

[Ell-enn]

OK, keep us up updated

[Esio Trot]

Well the letter provided by Ell-enn got sent off almost 2 weeks ago now still nothing back from Prefered or the court, so we will just sit and wait see what happens.

 

I will post back of any new developments...

 

Don't just sit back, as you need to do a bit of work.

 

You will have no doubt heard in the media over recent months that the government have put more pressure on mortgage companies to not start possession proceedings unless it is the last resort.

 

Thus you need to make sure that you actions mean that they can't use the "last resort" reason.

 

So:

 

• Preferred is now operated by Capstone Mortgage Services. It would be helpful to you if you could find out if they both or either of them subscribe to the Mortgage Code issued by the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
  
• If so, read this code carefully. It tell you what they will do when customers are having difficulties. If they are not following this code, write to the solicitors and point out that they are in breach and why.
  
• If you can't pay the full amount, pay what you can. Try and pay at least the interest-only amount. (If you can't work it out, post the figures so we can do it for you).
  
• Read the following leaflet from the FSA and follow the advice
  
• Unless a last resort do not make or accept phone calls about your arrears. When you are stressed it is difficult to think straight. With a letter, you can ponder its meaning; put it down and go for a walk before re-reading it. Communicate only in writing.
  

Hope this helps.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Esio Trot
Added FSA leaflet link

[Esio Trot]

Well the letter provided by Ell-enn got sent off almost 2 weeks ago now still nothing back from Prefered or the court, so we will just sit and wait see what happens.

 

I will post back of any new developments...

 

Don't just sit back, as you need to do a bit of work.

 

You will have no doubt heard in the media over recent months that the government have put more pressure on mortgage companies to not start possession proceedings unless it is the last resort.

 

Thus you need to make sure that you actions mean that they can't use the "last resort" reason.

 

So:

 

• Preferred is now operated by Capstone Mortgage Services. It would be helpful to you if you could find out if they both or either of them subscribe to the Mortgage Code issued by the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
  
• If so, read this code carefully. It tell you what they will do when customers are having difficulties. If they are not following this code, write to the solicitors and point out that they are in breach and why.
  
• If you can't pay the full amount, pay what you can. Try and pay at least the interest-only amount. (If you can't work it out, post the figures so we can do it for you).
  
• Read the following leaflet from the FSA and follow the advice
  
• Unless a last resort do not make or accept phone calls about your arrears. When you are stressed it is difficult to think straight. With a letter, you can ponder its meaning; put it down and go for a walk before re-reading it. Communicate only in writing.
  

Hope this helps.

[nicolee2931]

Well we got a letter from the court this morning stating that a court hearing has been set for the 24th June 2009 at 12:45.

 

Furthernore the date which has been set we are not available to attend the court as we will be on holiday, my mother has paid for us to go on holiday with her, can anything be done to get this date altered until we get back.

 

Prefered have sent us a form to fill out with our incomings and outgoings and our account is being looked at by the loans department. I did speak to a guy from the loans department and I asked him if court action will cease if we come to some arrangement and he said possibly. They are going to look at the form I am going to send them and then decide what they can do to help us, I did tell the guy I want it in writing.

Edited May 26, 2009 by nicolee2931

[nicolee2931]

Well we got a letter from the court this morning stating that a court hearing has been set for the 24th June 2009 at 12:45.

 

Furthernore the date which has been set we are not available to attend the court as we will be on holiday, my mother has paid for us to go on holiday with her, can anything be done to get this date altered until we get back.

 

Prefered have sent us a form to fill out with our incomings and outgoings and our account is being looked at by the loans department. I did speak to a guy from the loans department and I asked him if court action will cease if we come to some arrangement and he said possibly. They are going to look at the form I am going to send them and then decide what they can do to help us, I did tell the guy I want it in writing.

[Esio Trot]

Most county courts now have a duty solicitor.

 

May I suggest that you take your paperwork, plus the hearing letter down to the court and see what the lawyer can do for you.

 

• If Preferred are subscribers to the Mortgage Code, then you might well have grounds for getting the hearing set aside. This is because a possession hearing should be the last resort, not simply a timed process that Preferred follow without regard to communications and offers. The courts time is valuable and should not be used when there is any other way. If Preferred are ignoring your attempts at finding a solution (and their morals mean that this is the norm for them in my experience), then they are contemptible.
  
• As you will not be available on the day set, you need to apply for a postponement - again the duty lawyer can sort out the right forms to enable you to do this.
  

Do not just sit back.

[Esio Trot]

Most county courts now have a duty solicitor.

 

May I suggest that you take your paperwork, plus the hearing letter down to the court and see what the lawyer can do for you.

 

• If Preferred are subscribers to the Mortgage Code, then you might well have grounds for getting the hearing set aside. This is because a possession hearing should be the last resort, not simply a timed process that Preferred follow without regard to communications and offers. The courts time is valuable and should not be used when there is any other way. If Preferred are ignoring your attempts at finding a solution (and their morals mean that this is the norm for them in my experience), then they are contemptible.
  
• As you will not be available on the day set, you need to apply for a postponement - again the duty lawyer can sort out the right forms to enable you to do this.
  

Do not just sit back.

[nicolee2931]

Well we rang the court where the hearing is being held and they have no duty solicitor.

 

However I have written to Prefered again telling them under no uncertain terms that I want an arrangement as they have done nothing to help prevent this matter proceeding to court, I have also reminded Prefered that on 2 previous occasions I have asked them to supply me a copy of their code of conduct in what they do in helping in matters of financial hardship which they have failed to do, I also asked them to accept the letter I sent as a formal complaint. I did manage to speak to a solicitor who is provided in our home insurance policy and he said it would be a good idea to complain to the lender giving 7 days to reach a decision as time is short, if they continue to stall or are unwilling to help then report them to the Financial Ombudsman Service to investigate the matter at the end of the 7 day period. I have included all this in my complaint to Prefered and have sent a copy to their solicitor as well as continuing to pay what I can afford on the loan.

 

The solicitor did say that if the matter still proceeds to court and action is not withdrawn prior to the hearing I should inform the court that the matter is being investigated by FOS, the solicitor did say the courts frown upon lenders who do not withdraw action when the complaint is being dealt with by the FOS in matters of improper conduct. Is there any truth in what the solicitor has told me as I have searched the forum for this approach in tackling rogue lenders and nothing seems to flag up, or is this a totally new approach in dealing with lenders who fail to follow the guidelines issued recently by the government.

[nicolee2931]

Well we rang the court where the hearing is being held and they have no duty solicitor.

 

However I have written to Prefered again telling them under no uncertain terms that I want an arrangement as they have done nothing to help prevent this matter proceeding to court, I have also reminded Prefered that on 2 previous occasions I have asked them to supply me a copy of their code of conduct in what they do in helping in matters of financial hardship which they have failed to do, I also asked them to accept the letter I sent as a formal complaint. I did manage to speak to a solicitor who is provided in our home insurance policy and he said it would be a good idea to complain to the lender giving 7 days to reach a decision as time is short, if they continue to stall or are unwilling to help then report them to the Financial Ombudsman Service to investigate the matter at the end of the 7 day period. I have included all this in my complaint to Prefered and have sent a copy to their solicitor as well as continuing to pay what I can afford on the loan.

 

The solicitor did say that if the matter still proceeds to court and action is not withdrawn prior to the hearing I should inform the court that the matter is being investigated by FOS, the solicitor did say the courts frown upon lenders who do not withdraw action when the complaint is being dealt with by the FOS in matters of improper conduct. Is there any truth in what the solicitor has told me as I have searched the forum for this approach in tackling rogue lenders and nothing seems to flag up, or is this a totally new approach in dealing with lenders who fail to follow the guidelines issued recently by the government.

[Ell-enn]

Hi, I think you now need to send in a defence statement t court and I can help you write that. Gather together all the correspondence you have sent to Preferred and also their letter to you. Put in date order and we will send in copies of it all to back up your statement.

 

You will also have to let the court know that you are unable to attend the hearing - it is very unlikely that Preferred will agree to postpone the date, as they will think your non attendance will work in their favour. However, with a good defence statement you should get a suspended possession order.

 

Ell-enn

[Ell-enn]

Hi, I think you now need to send in a defence statement t court and I can help you write that. Gather together all the correspondence you have sent to Preferred and also their letter to you. Put in date order and we will send in copies of it all to back up your statement.

 

You will also have to let the court know that you are unable to attend the hearing - it is very unlikely that Preferred will agree to postpone the date, as they will think your non attendance will work in their favour. However, with a good defence statement you should get a suspended possession order.

 

Ell-enn

[nicolee2931]

That would be great Ell-enn if you could help either with the N11M or a defence statement. To be honest when I said we were going away we were not going to foreign land we are only going to Devon for a week with the kids, my husband said he would travel back by himself on the day of the hearing just to be sure someone does attend it would mean a 320 mile 6 hour round trip but i'm sure its best for someone to be there. Does you have any ideas on what advice i've been given over the phone on reporting Prefered to the FOS, as to be honest I don't think they have conducted themselve fairly at all and sould I still write to the FOS at the expiry of the 7th day?

[nicolee2931]

That would be great Ell-enn if you could help either with the N11M or a defence statement. To be honest when I said we were going away we were not going to foreign land we are only going to Devon for a week with the kids, my husband said he would travel back by himself on the day of the hearing just to be sure someone does attend it would mean a 320 mile 6 hour round trip but i'm sure its best for someone to be there. Does you have any ideas on what advice i've been given over the phone on reporting Prefered to the FOS, as to be honest I don't think they have conducted themselve fairly at all and sould I still write to the FOS at the expiry of the 7th day?

[Redfish]

Hi Nicolee, I don't know if it's too late to think about this for your defence, but certainly if I was going to be repossessed I would demand this in a court case, before going to the hearing of course so that you could get your defence planned right - demand from the creditor proof that your mortgage has not been securitised - my understanding is if it has been securitised the debt has been sold on, and it seems that 80% of mortgages are. In that case it may be that the original lender is no longer the true owner of the debt any more, and therefore cannot demand you pay it.

 

See the thread on securitisation on the Consumer Credit Support forum and get in touch with Dragonlady on that forum.

 

and also this discussion

Mark Wadsworth: "Are securitisation companies above the law?"

 

It might be worth getting in touch with Dragonlady on that CCS forum to see if she can help you out, she might be able to help you find out if the debt has been securitised and also help you with your defence. They are very experienced people on that forum.

 

Best of luck. Red.

Edited May 31, 2009 by Redfish

[Redfish]

Hi Nicolee, I don't know if it's too late to think about this for your defence, but certainly if I was going to be repossessed I would demand this in a court case, before going to the hearing of course so that you could get your defence planned right - demand from the creditor proof that your mortgage has not been securitised - my understanding is if it has been securitised the debt has been sold on, and it seems that 80% of mortgages are. In that case it may be that the original lender is no longer the true owner of the debt any more, and therefore cannot demand you pay it.

 

See the thread on securitisation on the Consumer Credit Support forum and get in touch with Dragonlady on that forum.

 

and also this discussion

Mark Wadsworth: "Are securitisation companies above the law?"

 

It might be worth getting in touch with Dragonlady on that CCS forum to see if she can help you out, she might be able to help you find out if the debt has been securitised and also help you with your defence. They are very experienced people on that forum.

 

Best of luck. Red.

[nicolee2931]

Well an update as things have taken a promising turn for the better, we wrote to Preferred Mortgages at the beinging of June 2009 complaining about the poor service we recieved from them while in financial difficulty. We recieved a 3 page letter back from them regarding our complaint dated the 6th June basicly stating that although they had tried to assist they did feel they had not done enough to prevent to matter proceeding to court and explained their shortfallings in detail, which was nice of them to finally admit. They didn't mention anything about calling the court hearing off.

 

However today out of the blue we recieve a letter from their solicitor stating that they want the hearing ajourned with the option to restore. So all in all a good result. We are currently in process of negotiating a payment with the intention to reducing the arrears. So it does appear the threats and promises of reporting their poor service and inability to follow pre-action protocols to the FOS does work. I even had the completed forms ready to send to the FOS on Monday 15th June 2009.

 

Thanks to all for the help especially Ell-enn, scales clicked.

[nicolee2931]

Well an update as things have taken a promising turn for the better, we wrote to Preferred Mortgages at the beinging of June 2009 complaining about the poor service we recieved from them while in financial difficulty. We recieved a 3 page letter back from them regarding our complaint dated the 6th June basicly stating that although they had tried to assist they did feel they had not done enough to prevent to matter proceeding to court and explained their shortfallings in detail, which was nice of them to finally admit. They didn't mention anything about calling the court hearing off.

 

However today out of the blue we recieve a letter from their solicitor stating that they want the hearing ajourned with the option to restore. So all in all a good result. We are currently in process of negotiating a payment with the intention to reducing the arrears. So it does appear the threats and promises of reporting their poor service and inability to follow pre-action protocols to the FOS does work. I even had the completed forms ready to send to the FOS on Monday 15th June 2009.

 

Thanks to all for the help especially Ell-enn, scales clicked.

[Ell-enn]

That's great news! well done for sticking up for yourself

 

Just one thing - make sure you telephone the court to ensure they have in fact cancelled the hearing. It wouldn't be the first time a lender "forgot" to cancel!

 

Ellx

[Ell-enn]

That's great news! well done for sticking up for yourself

 

Just one thing - make sure you telephone the court to ensure they have in fact cancelled the hearing. It wouldn't be the first time a lender "forgot" to cancel!

 

Ellx

[nicolee2931]

I will do that the middle of next week Ell-enn it will give the court chance to add the letter from the solicitor to the court file and set the ajournment. Thanks again for your help.

[nicolee2931]

I will do that the middle of next week Ell-enn it will give the court chance to add the letter from the solicitor to the court file and set the ajournment. Thanks again for your help.

[nicolee2931]

i have been sent a letter today from Acenden's Solicitors TLT stating,

that as we had as we had broken the terms of our suspended possession order Acenden were again going for repossession again

and that an application had been made to the court on the 3rd October 2012.

 

We had sent a letter to acenden back in August stating that our son who has a serious heart condition had been admitted to hospital to have heart surgery performed,

and we explained that due to a sudden loss of income from my wife taking time from work we MAY not be able to meet our financial commitments

but explained we would gradually make up the shortfall upon my wife's return to work.

We never heard anything back from Acenden until their solicitors today.

 

We paid what what we could in August, September & October and have calculated our shortfall to be around £800,

I cannot understand the brutality of these people considering what we have been through with our son over the past 7 weeks,

our son has only recently been discharged from hospital and I have only returned to work this week.

 

The question is what do we do now, the letter from Acenden solicitor states we will hear from the court in due course regarding an eviction date.

 

We were having a good run of it and stayed out of problems for 18 months and then our son got took ill suddenly then boom it all starts again.

 

Our other successful thread is below;

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?282746-Capstone-restored-possession-hearing.-**SUSPENDED**

[Lea_HTH]

Try not to worry.

 

If you had 18 successful months of meeting your commitments, and have proof of such until this blip due to your child's ill-health and his mother needing to take time off work to care for him, then you will have a very good explanation to offer the judge as to why you have fallen behind. It would be a very harsh judge who did not consider that to be a valid reason to stay an eviction.

 

When you receive the notice of eviction, you will need to file a stay application on form N244 in order to get a hearing before a judge- but as you have done this previously, you will be aware of the procedure.

[Ell-enn]

Hi, I replied on your other thread

[nicolee2931]

Thanks all, I will wait for the eviction date to come through but I will get the N244 ready in the mean time so I can just take it along to the court when I know what is going on.

 

If I get stuck I'll be back.

 

I have a good mind on the day of the hearing to take pictures along of my son in a induced coma in intensive care with a 10 inch cut up his chest just to show how despicable this company is.