Urgent help needed - Black Horse

[mother-of-3]

I am not sure where to post this as I am only new to the forum , and my post covers a few different issues. Just over two years ago my husband and I took out a loan with Black Horse Finance. My husband was self-employed and we wanted to borrow £20,000 to pay arears of PAYE, Tax and VAT to HMRC. Black Horse said we could borrow £20,000 as long as we also borrowed (from them of course!!) enough to clear another loan and credit card which we had at that time. So we ended up borrowing £30,000 + interest of £20,433.60. The loan is secured on our house.

They said we could only have the loan, which was arranged entirely over the phone, if we took out personal protection insurance. We agreed to this. The ppi cost us £5,919.88 + interest of £4,031.72.

My husband was declared bankrupt last year after a long struggle to sustain his construction business. We have not been able to make the repayments on this loan for quite some time. My husband has only recently started work again and for a period of some 8 months I was the only one bringing in a wage.

When I asked for a copy of the ppi plan, as I thought we might be able to claim as husband was unemployed, Black Horse said they did not have it and told me to ring LLoyds who they had purchased the plan from. When I rang LLoyds they told me we couldn't make a claim as husband had been self-employed. They were unable to give me a copy of the plan as they said they had sold the plan to Black Horse and I needed to contact them. Rang Black Horse again and they said no Lloyds would have the plan as they purchased the plan from them. I have been back and forth between these two companies and I still can't get my hands on the plan!

When I asked for a copy of the original loan agreement from Black Horse they sent it to me along with 5 other peoples documents. These documents included loan agreements, bankruptcy details, names addresses etc. (I even received one of their cheques made out to a firm of solicitors). All of this I have kept in a drawer for the last few months and have told noone.

Here is where I need some advice urgently. Today I have received court papers for a hearing in court for the reposession of our house by Black Horse, the hearing is in 10 days time so I need to be moving fast. Should I see a solicitor or have I enough ammunition to approach Black Horse myself.

I would appreciate any help anyone can give me as we are not in a position to repay arrears.

[havinastella]

This needs moving to repossessions as that is the urgent issue.

 

I'll ask for it to be moved.

 

Jogs

[maroondevo52]

Thread moved to Repossession Forum.

[mother-of-3]

Can anyone help me with this. It is going to court next week and I need to plan what approach to take with them.

[pubman1]

Regarding the PPI this has been mis-sold on a number of counts:

1. It was imposed as a condition of getting the loan

2. It was inappropriate as your husband was self employed - in fact the purpose of the loan was for his own business - and therefore would not cover him in any event.

3. There's probably more but that would be enough any way.

 

How much are the arrears? You would have an excellent chance of having the loan re drawn as if the PPI were never taken out. If the arrears would be cleared by that then you have a good case for adjournment - the amount of arrears are in dispute as there is a complaint for the mis-sold PPI. The key thing is to have evidence that you have actually made a formal complaint, have you done this yet? As far as I am aware you should complaint to the company that sold you the PPI ie Black Horse as it is they who mis-sold the product. As for the rest I am sure that someone will be along shortly to offer you more advice.

 

All the best.

[ettubrute]

HI Mother of 3

 

How did your hearing go? I've just read your post, and wished I had before.

 

First and foremost, I'd love to help, sounds like you have been pillar to post with blackhorse/lloyds which is understandably annoying.

 

I would suggest that you make an official complaint to them regarding the handling of the PPI request for documentation. They are, I believe, part of the same company, so should handle the request for info promptly and helpfully.

 

You said you received notification of the hearing 10 days before it was due to take place? Can you confirm the specific dates that the claim was issued, you received notification from the court, and the date that blackhorse informed you in writing of the court hearing?

 

I don't know a lot about PPI other than the basic workings, but mis-sold PPI can be reclaimed in full cost, and I believe, but don't quote me, invalidates some loans.

 

If you can get back to me, I hope I can help you in some way with the repossession action.

 

ettubrute

[mother-of-3]

Hi Ettubrute,

We were sent court papers in the post and received them 10 days before the court hearing. Black Horse did not write to tell us of a court hearing but a couple of weeks prior to us receiving the above papers we had a visit from a representative of their solicitors asking for details of who all lived in the house and their ages. So we sort of knew ourselves what was in the pipe line, although Black Horse did not inform us.

I wrote to Black Horse using one of the template letters available on this forum and I also sent an email to Paul Phillips, head of compliance at Black Horse, complaining about the mis-sold PPI.

I consulted my own solicitor on the matter and explained the situation to him. He wasn't much help, just kept asking could we afford to pay the arrears. I explained again to him that I thought we had a case for mis-sold PPI and if so, that should be enough to ask for an adjournment, because the amount of arrears they were seeking to recover included PPI payments. He had no knowledge whatsoever in dealing with mis-sold PPI and at first didn't know what I was talking about. Thanks to the knowledge I have gained from this forum and others I had to educate him and he just sat and asked "how do you know all this"? He really didn't have a clue. He then instructed a barrister to attend on our behalf at the court, as neither I nor my husband could get off work at such short notice. The barrister quoted that there was mis-sold PPI and the judge granted an adjournment until 28th June.

Since the court date we have heard nothing back from Black Horse, but there again there is nothing unusual in that!

What would happen if it went back to court and we still had no reply from Black Horse?

[mother-of-3]

anybody

[ettubrute]

You should have received notification of the hearing from the Court and Black Horses solicitors should also send a notice to the occupier. It might be worth mentioning this to your solicitor, and get him to check your paperwork to make sure the procedure has been followed.

 

It's a difficult one to call to be honest. If they still haven't come back to you about the PPI and your solicitor instructs counsel again, I would imagine there would be another adjournment. But counsel isn't going to be cheap, it will make your legal bill expensive.

 

The questions your solicitor was asking are pertinent ones, and it would be worth having back up instructions for counsel at the hearing, to say for example if in his opinion it doesn't look likely the hearing will be adjourned because of the PPI, to seek an adjournment for you to adhere to an arrangement. A barrister will be more than capable of convincing a judge to adjourn on terms rather than grant a suspended order.

 

I hope that answers your query, sorry if it is a little vague

 

Hi Ettubrute,

We were sent court papers in the post and received them 10 days before the court hearing. Black Horse did not write to tell us of a court hearing but a couple of weeks prior to us receiving the above papers we had a visit from a representative of their solicitors asking for details of who all lived in the house and their ages. So we sort of knew ourselves what was in the pipe line, although Black Horse did not inform us.

I wrote to Black Horse using one of the template letters available on this forum and I also sent an email to Paul Phillips, head of compliance at Black Horse, complaining about the mis-sold PPI.

I consulted my own solicitor on the matter and explained the situation to him. He wasn't much help, just kept asking could we afford to pay the arrears. I explained again to him that I thought we had a case for mis-sold PPI and if so, that should be enough to ask for an adjournment, because the amount of arrears they were seeking to recover included PPI payments. He had no knowledge whatsoever in dealing with mis-sold PPI and at first didn't know what I was talking about. Thanks to the knowledge I have gained from this forum and others I had to educate him and he just sat and asked "how do you know all this"? He really didn't have a clue. He then instructed a barrister to attend on our behalf at the court, as neither I nor my husband could get off work at such short notice. The barrister quoted that there was mis-sold PPI and the judge granted an adjournment until 28th June.

Since the court date we have heard nothing back from Black Horse, but there again there is nothing unusual in that!

What would happen if it went back to court and we still had no reply from Black Horse?