Help with mortgage arrears

[welshmishy]

Hi sorry this is my first time doing this, i am in need of help as no one i go to knows what to do with my case?

 

My mortgage was sold from oakwood to someone called Mars Capital in June 2009.{ no one knows who this mortgage company is which is a big worry} i had arrears of £5523 due to our monthly payments being £785, my husband was self employed { a roofer} and work went very quiet.

 

He then got a fulltime job and retrained as a NVQ assessor in march 2009, we had made an arragment with oakwood to pay at the end of april 2009 when his fisrt wage come in of the monthly payment plus an extra £150 which we did and done this until i phoned at the end of june 2009 to make our payment as always and was told our mortgage had been sold off so they can't take the payment.

 

We then had a letter off Mars saying they had taking over our mortgage so i paid them junes payment plus the extra £150 as agreed with oakwood. In the letter from Mars it states their are no changes to our terms and conditions and it would all stay the same.We have made all our payments on time and to the letter of our arrangement but in september 2009 we had a letter for a repossession of our property, since then we have had 4 court hearings and cost added to our arrears of over £1500. Even the judge can't understand why we are there? they have now put all fees for arrears and cost on our arrears and are now saying our arrears due to date are £6237.14 due in full? we have not missed a payment for the last 12 months and even have paid £200 extra in november 2009 and december 2009 but still they are going for a suspended possession order which keeps getting rejected by the courts.

 

It is now in the hands of the Financial Ombudsman and they are looking in to it as they say their is a case. The last hearing { 17/3/2010} the judge said mars had to pay for this hearing and have asked them to explain why we are even in court in the first place? they are trying to say they have owned our mortgage since January 2009 and we missed 3 months in a row which we did at that time, they are also paying all the court cost off with the extra money we are paying towards our arrears in stead of paying it off our arrears. We are waiting for yet another court date but the judge has said he will not be happy if they take us back with out real reason.

 

They also put on our mortgage statement that possession was granted and even told the FOS that it was granted and the courts had also granted them the extra £150 amth which we have in writing from the courts that we have to pay the monthly payment plus £50 on top but we still pay £150 to try and help us.

 

I could go on and on to what they have done to us , please can someone help as even their solicitors can't believe what they are doing to us. They have changed how the arrears are showing as oakwood would put all there £50 amth fee on our balance but mars have added it to our arrears along with the court cost? Its states in our terms and conditions that all third party charges be put on the outstanding balance is this not court costs? but there solicitors say its not very clear and is up to the mortgage company?

 

we don't know which way to turn any more please can someone help

 

Thanks

 

Edited March 23, 2010 by welshmishy

[midge61]

Hi

 

What a nightmare for you! Are the FOS aware that this should be made a priority case due to court?

 

I would send Mars a SAR and ask for all info including a full statement of account and a statement of arrears.

 

Make sure you have a file with all paperwork you have recieved from them and the court. Copies of bank statements showing all payments made.

 

Also check out MArs on companioes house and fsa register and see what you can dig up.

 

I'm not sure how else to help you but I'm sure others will be along soon.

Good luck

[welshmishy]

Hi thanks for your help

 

The court have ordered they send all this info to us and the break down of arrears, fees and courts cost twice now and still no reply from them:mad:

 

Have also made it clear to the FOS that we were back in court this month{march 2010} but all they say it will take time to look into this case.

 

The one judge told us off the records but infront of there solicitor to take it to the FOS and the FSA as he didin't think they should even be able to lend to people due to the way they treat people! but still no luck

 

We have checked with companys house and there has been a few companys closed that have used some of mars 's name , just don't trust them. The judge asked why we went to them as he has never heard of them in all his years of doing this! our answer was simple didn't pick them and wasn't asked about the selling of our mortgage to them.

 

I have about 4 folders with all our files and proof which we always take to court and there solicitor never has the correct info so it goes to another date at our expense:mad:

 

The reason for being back in court in march 2010 was the courts were told by our mortgage company we breached the order, when the judge asked us about this we showed him the bank statement showing our payment going out on the 28/1/2010 for £655.56 at 1.18pm to the mortgage and it was approved, my husband then spoke to me and i said thats not the right amount it should be £555.36, so he phoned the mortgage back and told them it was to much and only left us with £40 for the month. They said no problem we with return the payment and it will go back in straight away,we even asked them to send a fax to the bank to cancel the wrong amount but they said no i phoned the next day and told the mortgage that the money had still not gone in the bank so they faxed a letter to the bank at the end of the working day which was a friday!! so it didn't go in the bank until the 1/2/2010 which we then paid them straight away. We had the right idea of getting all this info off our bank with proof of all this that happened and when we showed the judge he did ask if this is what they are saying is the breach but the solicitor didn't know why or what? the judge then replyed i hope not as you can clearly see it was paid but the wrong amount and then again at 1.28pm on 28/1/2010 for the right amount and i don't expect anyone to have 2 loads of mortgage money just sat in the bank.

 

he said the mortgage company has to tell him what the breach was in the next 10 days and said they need to have a good hard think about there reply to him.

 

Thanks again for trying to help no one knows the answer not even the judges:(

Edited March 23, 2010 by welshmishy

[welshmishy]

Can anyone help with my case please?

 

I would like to know if we should pay all the court cost due to it not really beening any need to be there in the first place due to us making the last 12 mths payments in full and on time with £150 on top. If they can add all court and fees to our arrears?

 

We think they have changed our terms and conditions which they said wouldn't happen and they keep saying our arrears are more than they should be due to the courts cost and fees but keep putting this on our mortgage statement which looks really bad for us if we need to show it to a new mortgage company if we can ever remortgage?

 

Any advice would be gratefull this has made my and my famillys life hell since they took it over 12 mths ago, i have been put on tablets due to depression and don't answer my land line anymore due to all they wanted us to do was sell our house off.

 

We can't phone them anymore because they twist eveything we say or take the wrong amount when we phone to pay them so now we have to pay on line!

 

all over xmas and new year we had court case's hanging over us.

 

any help please thanks

[welshmishy]

Just had a letter for yet another court date {27/4/2020} we have made all 12mths plus the extra off arrears and our mortgage company are still not happy with this. We need some help please

 

They have sent a withness statement saying that our courts cost and fees have to be put on our arrears as if put on the mortgage balance it will have interest added and cause our balance to rise so will need to put our payments up to cover it.

 

They also state the arrears add up tp 9 missed payments but all the arrears was made with our old company and at the time the monthly payment was £785 amth its now £404.The reason for taking us to court in the first place is said to be due to previously poor and erratic payment history with our last lenders. They also said it will take 76 mths to repay the arrears at the £50 amth the judge set but we have been paying £150 amth and even 2 at £200 to get them down, we still have about 13yrs left on our mortgage.

 

Because the 2 judges said in the hearings that we should complain to the FOS, the mortgage company now wants the FOS to deal with the arrears and court cost and have said they don't want the judge to look at this part of the claim anymore.

 

please can anyone help thanks

Edited March 29, 2010 by welshmishy

[ohitsonlyme]

Welsh Missy you are not on your own I had a similar situation with Mars and the Judge was very angry with them as they had not followed pre court protocol see cpr 5.5 ,5.6 5.7

The lender has not followed pre action protocols 5.5.,5.6,5.7

5.5 The lender should respond promptly to any proposal for payment made by the borrower. If the lender does not agree to such a proposal it should give reasons in writing to the borrower within 10 business days of the proposal.

5.6

If the lender submits a proposal for payment, the borrower should be given a reasonable period of time in which to consider such proposals. The lender should set out the proposal in sufficient detail to enable the borrower to understand the implications of the proposal.

5.7

If the borrower fails to comply with an agreement, the lender should warn the borrower, by giving the borrower 15 business days notice in writing, of its intention to start a possession claim unless the borrower remedies the breach in the agreement

The defendant has kept to the agreement made with the claimant

 

THey are not following protocol

I think you are doing pretty well already the judeg is clearly not happy with what is going on in your case

Take a look at this link there is lots of help in this thread

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/repossessions/193647-help-notice-eviction-received.html

 

Mars are in the business of repossessions not mortgages They buy loans that are in a rrears for a large discount (simililar to DCA's) But you are in a stron position the worst any judge will do is give a suspended possession order I beleive if you got your figures right the judge willpossibly adjourn fully.

dont worry you are doing ok

Tell the judge about the fees added to your account without being agreed by the court

 

Onlyme

[welshmishy]

Hi Onlyme

 

Thanks for your help , there is a lot of info we can use here and you are right their not following protocol. I need to try and find some more out on Mars as we had the idea that the only reason they took over our mortgage was to sell our house as eveytime we spoke to them from day one thats all they kept saying to us that we should sell up.

 

Thanks again

 

welshmishy

[welshmishy]

Does anyone know where we can get in writing that charges are not arrears and should not be put on our arrears as now the mortgage companys solitiors are saying because we have not paid the court cost up to date they have now become arrears as they were due.

 

Thanks any help would be great

[ohitsonlyme]

Does anyone know where we can get in writing that charges are not arrears and should not be put on our arrears as now the mortgage companys solitiors are saying because we have not paid the court cost up to date they have now become arrears as they were due.

 

Thanks any help would be great

 

Tell them court costs have not been decided yet in your case

 

It will be upto the judge to tell them if they can charge you or more to the point what costs of yours can be paid by them

Make sure you put in a costs form the next time you go to court as a litigant inperson you are allowed to charge upto 2/3 of the solicitors rate this includes all the time for investigation letter writing / telephone calls court appearances etc etc etc

normally you will be allowed at £9.25 as a litigant in person but if you have proof that you earn more use that as the basis for your costs

[welshmishy]

Hi Onlyme

 

Thanks for your help again, we was told at the last hearing by the judge that we can put a claim in for all our costs but it may end up we owe more for doing this. He also said that he can't look at the costs as they have not been put in front of him, not sure what that means?

 

Our problem is that we have had 4 different judges so far but the last one did say that we don't have to pay for the last hearing in march 2010 and the mortgage company have wrote back saying thats not fair that they have to pay for it themselfs and it should be us who pays. We have the same judge again now in April so we hope this will be the end of it now.

 

But everytime we go their solitiors don't have all the right info or they say they don't know the answer to what was asked. In the first hearing we had all what was asked for by the judge but their solitiors didn't and the judge asked them to phone the mortgage company but they didn't reply so then it went into a second hearing at the expense of us !

 

My husband has had to use 4 days holiday already out of his 2 weeks for the year and he is getting pretty fed up with it all.

 

Thanks again

[ohitsonlyme]

Costs have not been decided by the court yet so thay cannot charge you for the cost of the first two hearings ask the judge about this.

 

Download form N260 Statement of costs From MOJ website and fill this in before the next hearing make sure you charge for all letters etc, all investigation, all telephone calls etc etc etc travelling at 40p per mile time in court etc etc etc when the judge has made his decsion in your favour ask him about the matter of costs and present him with your N260

give it to the other side before going in or email/fax to the solicitors

 

you need to go thro each of their items on the witness statement one at a time and pull it to pieces in your reply send or take this to court before you go and have spare copies available on the day so you can hand them out if they havent got them

 

 

onlyme

[welshmishy]

Hi Onlyme

 

Have found that form thanks for that will fill one in before we go, we have told the judge that we have had letters demanding the payments for the last three court cost and all the extra money we pay off the arrears they take off the court cost , so far we have paid £1600 off our arrears but this has been out weighed by their costs and our arrears are showing worse than before they took it over?

 

Their new solicitior is saying in his last withness statement {29/3/2010} that its up to the mortgage company to decide what they want to pay the extra money off, in our case its their court cost and not the arrears.

 

I know this sounds silly so sorry for this but why have the judge not told anyside that they can't charge us for the first 2 hearings as we have sent copys of the letters demanding we pay in full plus we have told the judge they are taking our money and paying the cost and not off our arrears?

 

Why is it taking so long to sort out this its been going on now for over 8mths now.

 

Thanks again

[ohitsonlyme]

The time it is taking is all in your favour as you are paying off any arrears as you go along and showing you are in a position to honour any agreement

Remember they have not followed pre court potocol you have an arrangement in place and they should not have gone to court!!!

therefore there should be no costs awarded against you.

Onlyme

[welshmishy]

Thanks onlyme for that you have been a real big help, glad i found this site it has helped, we will be glad when this is all behind us.

 

all the best

[welshmishy]

Hi everyone

Just had another bill for £268.38 for solicitor fees off the mortgage company asking for payment in full within the next 7 days? it does not state for what court date it is for and as we have had so many courts date its getting a little confusing now.

 

The last court hearing in march the judge told us he was striking the costs off us for march's and the mortgage company had to pay them, so is this bill for them and the mortgage company are not following what the judge has said as always or we have another court date at the end of april so is it for this date.

 

We never pay them but they just take it out of our monthly payments anyway so our arrears keep growing. We have just had our monthly statement stating court date set and arrears due in full is £6.200 but in the summary it shows arrears without fees £3,773.26 and with fees £6.200. so we don't know where we are?

 

So far court costs have added up to £1491.26 and fees for arrears are £1326.25. So our arrears are not really going anywhere, we are hoping the next court date will be the last but you never no with this mortgage company.

[ohitsonlyme]

Make sure you tell the judge!!

they have not followed protocal and you had an arrangment inplace therefore they should not have taken you court.

Their loss!!

make sure the judge gives you cost

[welshmishy]

Thanks onlyme

 

we are trying but they don't listen to the judge or us. Have to see what happens now at the end of april again.

[welshmishy]

need help again on this one, our mortgage company has just phoned us and said they have made a decision on our account and have now decided to adjourn the hearing for 27th april and just wait on the FOS for their finial response. We are not happy with this as when the judge said after the 2nd hearing that we should wait until the response off the FOS the mortgage company went against this and we have been back in court another 2 times.

 

So why all of a sudden does it suit them to now wait? we have contacted the courts and they said it's still booked in for the end of april and i also phoned the FOS today and they said it will take months to look at this case due to having so many complaints. Any ideas what we can do as we think the mortgage company thinks they will be better off by dealing with the FOS then the courts but we still have been billed for all the court cost to date.

 

We feel we need this to go to court and get sorted once and for all, any help would be great. thanks

[ohitsonlyme]

need help again on this one, our mortgage company has just phoned us and said they have made a decision on our account and have now decided to adjourn the hearing for 27th april and just wait on the FOS for their finial response. We are not happy with this as when the judge said after the 2nd hearing that we should wait until the response off the FOS the mortgage company went against this and we have been back in court another 2 times.

 

So why all of a sudden does it suit them to now wait? we have contacted the courts and they said it's still booked in for the end of april and i also phoned the FOS today and they said it will take months to look at this case due to having so many complaints. Any ideas what we can do as we think the mortgage company thinks they will be better off by dealing with the FOS then the courts but we still have been billed for all the court cost to date.

 

We feel we need this to go to court and get sorted once and for all, any help would be great. thanks

 

Hi Missy I think waiting for the FOS will put things more in your favour, your records are clear and at least you dont have the worry of a court hearing, I dont think it would work in your favourt to challenge the adjournment especially as the judge suggested waiting for the fos decision.

I suggest your write to Mars asking them to remove the court fees as these were not agreed in court and should not be shown on your statement as an arrangement was already in place I think the FOS would not like the fact that they have added them so you could put something along those lines in your letter

 

keep up the good work

 

Onlyme

[welshmishy]

Hi onlyme thanks for your help and advice, we are hoping the FOS will reply soon after speaking to them yesterday but the courts have said to wait for a letter off them to say the hearing is not going ahead just in case the mortgage company are not being upfront with us.

 

Thanks again

 

welshmishy

[welshmishy]

Hi all well the mortgage company got their adjournment , so its all down to the FOS now? can we still claim for all the court cost as the mortgage company said they have paid them off our account with the extra we pay every month because its in our terms and conditions that we have to pay for them and its not down to the judges awarding them.

 

The courts said they will be in touch with a new date when its needed? the FOS said they can't tell us what's happening because they have so many complaints, the mortgage company have asked them to look at the arrears on our account and nothing else. We need them to look at a lot more so do we need to write and explain about everything we are not happy with?

 

any help would be gratefull after coming this far { 8 months of court} we don't want it to be all for nothing!! and do the wrong thing by upsetting the judges or the FOS!

 

thanks

[ohitsonlyme]

Hi MIshy, I think you are winning and dont need to worry too much about it all

Let it run its course with the FOS, you dont have to worry about a repo hanging over you now they know they are on thin ice as they had an arrangement in place.

Send them a letter complaining about the charges mark it formal dispute and they will have to answer it fully

explain that they should not have taken it to court and therefore the fees were unecessary and that you will complain to the FOS if they are not creditted to your account.

Even if you get a negative response back you can put it to the judge should they pick the repossesion case up again after the FOS if they dont and they try to withdraw you can ask for costs at that stage

Keep up the good work

onlyme

[welshmishy]

Hi onlyme, thanks for your reply will do that this weekend. The FOS said it could take months and we are worried that they will not come out with the right answer and be a little to soft on the mortgage company, letting them get away with all that they have done with just a slap on the wrist!

 

We have had to go to the FOS with our bank about 2yrs ago and they was no help so maybe it will be different this time.

 

Thanks again for all your help

[welshmishy]

Hi onlyme

 

Asked the mortgage company to return the charges as we didn't need to go to court in the first place but they said no. The ombudsman now has our case and we have someone looking into it all, he said he will get on with it now as its urget and also told us that he has just had a letter off the mortgage company{13th april 2010} but its not very clear what their asking for and said it said something about if we are right they will pay all the court cost themself and take them back off our account but he needs more info off them as he said their very unclear in what they are asking for?

 

As always the mortgage company are just confusing eveyone but at last its now in the hands of the ombudsman and hopefully will be dealt with soon.

 

thanks for all your advice

[welshmishy]

Had a new statement off the mortgage company with yet another solicitors fee for £236? dated april 2010, we phoned them to ask what it's for and they couldn't tell us so they are looking into it and will let us know soon.

 

The only things it can be is for the hearing in march 2010 which it was ordered by the judge that they had to pay as their was no breach of our mortgage by us or they have charged us for the april one which they asked for it to be adjourned so we shouldn't have to pay for that anyway.

 

Have sent it to the ombudsman and are waiting now for his answer. This company are not on our credit files so were can we find out if it should be as the old company(oakwood homeloans) was and it just say's settled due to selling mortgage off.