Eviction date set - help needed.

[tonydaytona]

Hello.

 

I am sure everyone here is very busy but I would appreciate some help with my problem.

 

In 2006 all was well and had a year left on my current mortgage deal, but following a gale I needed to replace my roof after a severe leak. I contacted a company that had arranged my mortgage with and was advised to take out a secured loan of £8500 over 15 years but to then after one year consilidate both the mortgage and the loan with a new mortgage deal. I was told that I would get the secured loan deal if i took out insurance which would only cost a few pounds over the short period before I consilidated.

All was OK for sometime until I began to suffer a mental health problem called 'adjustment disorder' following a break-up of a relationship. In 2008 I had to finish work and I contacted the loan company and informed them by telephone, they said I was unable to claim because the condition must have been present before I took out the insurance, they then sent me back part of the money which had been put onto the loan for the insurance, this was approx £1600. A few weeks later ended up in hospital for 6 weeks.

When I was released from Hospital I was helped by a mental health advocate to sort out my finances and she was able to negociate with the loan company a £20 a month (normally £110) whilst I was unwell and unable to work. She also questioned the insurance issues and asked for copies, these were never sent to her. I continued to pay £20 per month for many months and never missed a payment.

Last November after making progress I was able to find part time work under a 'pathway to work' scheme. I was able to still claim some disability payments and part of my mortgage was paid by housing benefits, I covered the sortfall plus some money off the arrears. I am still able to pay this.

 

In March this year the secured loan company got impatient. They continued to charge me £60 a month penalty and got an eviction date. When they phoned me to discuss the date they said they would only ask for the eviction date to be cancelled if I paid £110 plus £120 off the arrears. Despite my reservations I agreed, but I said that my son would be helping me and that I was still finding my feet after restarting work that they could take £110 each month but to contact me for a payment off the arrears, this was due to me receiving 3 different payments on different dates and I could not be sure how much money I had on given dates plus my son would be making a payment off the arrears. I paid £50 that day with the first payment starting in April.

On the 10th April they took £247 from my debit card in one go. This was not what was agreed and despite the loan company saying they would listen to the original telephone conversation they have never come back to me. With the exception of one person, the loan company have always been threatning and hard to talk too, to the point I would refuse to speak to anyone except this one person. I have never experienced stress like what i do when speaking to this company. The mental health advocate has never been good at returning calls to the company so they ended up always contacting me.

Due to what happened in April I cancelled my debit card with them knowing the details.

In June I was hit by a car and was off work for 6 weeks. I sent the loan company copies of the Police report and my Solictors letters to prove this.

In August I started making direct payments to the company again, and said I would look at my situtation weekly and make regular payments above the normal payment. I paid £120 and then 2 weeks later a further £30, on this occasion the guy who took the call started to demand a fixed amount and that I was to phone them weekly. It got heated and I slammed the phone down.

 

Last week I paid a further £110.

 

On Friday i got a call to say they had set another eviction date and I would get a letter shortly. I asked why they were still charging me £60 a month. They said they would only refund it if I showed a consistant track record. When I asked why they didn't take the charge off when I paid £20 a month consistantly, they said that amount was not acceptable. I did stress that I was told that it was back then.

 

I have been going backwards with all this. They change there strory every time I talk to them. On Friday they said if I pay them 3 months payments and agree a payment scheme they would cancel this eviction. But again said they would only cancel the £60 a month fee if I showed a consistant track record of payments.

 

They have charged me £60 every month for close on 18 months.

 

Despite all the money I have paid them, I now owe over £16,000.

 

I was reluctant to want to enter into another arrangement with them on Friday, and said it maybe best to go to court so i could question the £60 a month fee and get a court order that was affortable and pay off the arrears over a longer period than the 12 month they are demanding.

 

And as I write this post I have just got the dreaded letter from their Solicitors with an eviction date of the 10th October. So I now have to do something.

 

The CAB who the menatl health advocate was from is very unrealiable and I think I feel strong enough to deal with this myself. I am fully up to date with my mortgage payments and arrears payments. My only problem is that I can get 'tongue tied' under stress. My memory is also not brilliant, the above is accurate as far as my dealings go, its the dates that may be wrong, But it is truthful.

 

Your help would be much appreciated and thank you in advance.