Repossession - help needed with defence.

[tonydaytona]

Hi.

 

I took out a secured loan in 2006 for approx £8800, and the company made it a condition that I take out PPI insurance. The intention was to do a remortgage two years later for both the current mortgage and the secured loan. I did make a phone call when I saw the cost of the insurance that was being added but was told that 1. The amount would be rebated on a month to month basis and 2. They had to have PPI as part of their loan condition. I would presume this call would be recorded.

 

Approx 12 months later I became unwell with a mental health problem and I had to finish work, when I contacted the loan company they stated that I must have had the illness prior to taking the loan out, and I would not qualify for the repayments to be made under the insurance policy. They said in recodnition they would return part of my Insurance fee and I could use that to pay for future repayments of around £100 per month. I was not in arrears at this time.

 

As the months progressed and money getting tighter my health worsend with the same mental health coniditon and I was admitted to Hospital for some 6 weeks under a section. On my release I was allocated a Mental Health Advocate (from the CAB) to help me with me financial and other issues. The Advocate was able to get agreement to pay £20 per month for the loan to take the pressure off me and to show willing. All these payments were made. They did however continue to charge me £60 as a default despite them agreeing to the offer of payment, and they have contiued this ever since. The Advocate wrote to the loan company to question the insurance, she told me that they firstly told her I was insured and then told her I wasn't, she said she did not have the experience to deal with that side of it and advised that i continue paying the £20 per month and then seek professional help later to address the issue.

 

As my health began to improve, the loan company started to increase their pressure on me, in the end bypassing the Advocate altogether and just phoning me, almost daily. last year the loan company took me to Court for possession, this was suspended as long as I paid the repayment amount plus £50. This site helped me to fill in the forms and get the eviction suspended. This was fine for a few months until the Goverment decided to end Incapacity Benifit in favour of the new Employment & Support Allowance, and I had to reapply and attend a further medical. My mortgage interest payments have also been affected, which meant from 28 September 2010 to current I have received no payments towards the mortgage (payments have been met by my family) and just £65 a week whilst waiting for the results of my medical which took place on the 2nd Feb 2011. The result will not be known for sometime due to the 12 week delay in processing the new benefit. I will get all this money owed to me back dated which yesterday helped by a letter sent to the DWP from my mental health Doctor. The loan company have asked for £2000 to stop proceedings. The amount I now owe is now over £18,000.

 

The loan company has lost patience and again started eviction proceedings. When i received the letter I spoke to my family and they mentioned about the PPI issue and that I should follow this up. I contacted a company from Manchester called Lynx who agreed that i had a case and would take the matter up on a no win no fee basis. I filled in the forms and they said once they had them back they would contact me to discuss the evition. This was over two weeks ago, I have sent them emails and had no reply. I have phoned them and they promised the guy who was delaing with me would phone me back on my mobile, he hasn't.

 

With 9 days to go I am now starting to panic. I was hoping Lynx would give me the required advice on how to defend it, they may still do but I can't wait any longer. I wish now I had come here 3 weeks ago.

 

I know the loan compnay read the posts and thats why I have not named them but would do on a private message.

 

My family have helped me to put this explanation together which is truthful and accurate.

 

Your help and advice would be appreciated.

[rebel11]

Thread moved.

[tonydaytona]

Sorry for posting this on the wrong thread and thanks for placing it in the right place.

[Lea_HTH]

Hi.

 

I took out a secured loan in 2006 for approx £8800, and the company made it a condition that I take out PPI insurance. The intention was to do a remortgage two years later for both the current mortgage and the secured loan. I did make a phone call when I saw the cost of the insurance that was being added but was told that 1. The amount would be rebated on a month to month basis and 2. They had to have PPI as part of their loan condition. I would presume this call would be recorded.

 

Firstly, making PPI a condition of acceptance for a loan is a clear indicator of missold PPI. That said, all it really means is that you are entitled to have all the payments for the PPI returned to you.

 

Approx 12 months later I became unwell with a mental health problem and I had to finish work, when I contacted the loan company they stated that I must have had the illness prior to taking the loan out, and I would not qualify for the repayments to be made under the insurance policy. They said in recodnition they would return part of my Insurance fee and I could use that to pay for future repayments of around £100 per month. I was not in arrears at this time.

 

Just to be clear, are you stating that you asked your LOAN company whether you could claim and they told you 'no', or are you saying the insurance company turned down your claim? Did you actually make a claim?

 

As the months progressed and money getting tighter my health worsend with the same mental health coniditon and I was admitted to Hospital for some 6 weeks under a section. On my release I was allocated a Mental Health Advocate (from the CAB) to help me with me financial and other issues. The Advocate was able to get agreement to pay £20 per month for the loan to take the pressure off me and to show willing. All these payments were made. They did however continue to charge me £60 as a default despite them agreeing to the offer of payment, and they have contiued this ever since. The Advocate wrote to the loan company to question the insurance, she told me that they firstly told her I was insured and then told her I wasn't, she said she did not have the experience to deal with that side of it and advised that i continue paying the £20 per month and then seek professional help later to address the issue.

 

Your CAB advisor should have informed the loan company that once they agree to a payment plan, even if it's not particularly favourable to them (i.e. if it is less than the normal payment), then they should not continue to add arrears fees to the account. They could have refused to accept your payment offer after all, then would have been entitled to claim the arrears charges (they are usually contractual - whether they are fair or not is another argument).

 

As my health began to improve, the loan company started to increase their pressure on me, in the end bypassing the Advocate altogether and just phoning me, almost daily. last year the loan company took me to Court for possession, this was suspended as long as I paid the repayment amount plus £50. This site helped me to fill in the forms and get the eviction suspended. This was fine for a few months until the Goverment decided to end Incapacity Benifit in favour of the new Employment & Support Allowance, and I had to reapply and attend a further medical. My mortgage interest payments have also been affected, which meant from 28 September 2010 to current I have received no payments towards the mortgage (payments have been met by my family) and just £65 a week whilst waiting for the results of my medical which took place on the 2nd Feb 2011. The result will not be known for sometime due to the 12 week delay in processing the new benefit. I will get all this money owed to me back dated which yesterday helped by a letter sent to the DWP from my mental health Doctor. The loan company have asked for £2000 to stop proceedings. The amount I now owe is now over £18,000.

 

Write to the loan company stating that you do not want them to contact you by telephone, and that in future they should only communicate in writing. They are allowed to chase the debt, but they are not allowed to harass you.

 

The loan company has lost patience and again started eviction proceedings. When i received the letter I spoke to my family and they mentioned about the PPI issue and that I should follow this up. I contacted a company from Manchester called Lynx who agreed that i had a case and would take the matter up on a no win no fee basis. I filled in the forms and they said once they had them back they would contact me to discuss the evition. This was over two weeks ago, I have sent them emails and had no reply. I have phoned them and they promised the guy who was delaing with me would phone me back on my mobile, he hasn't.

 

I trust you did not pay this company an upfront fee? If not, cut your losses, if you did, put a complaint in writing to them and ask for a refund. My experience of these companies is that they prey on those who are in difficulties and don't do an awful lot (read: nothing at all) to help. The issue of getting your PPI payments returned is one that is simple enough for you to deal with yourself - you write to the company concerned with your complaint, they have a certain amount of time to reply, and if they do not, you escalate your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, or you issue a claim in the county court.

 

With 9 days to go I am now starting to panic. I was hoping Lynx would give me the required advice on how to defend it, they may still do but I can't wait any longer. I wish now I had come here 3 weeks ago.

 

I know the loan compnay read the posts and thats why I have not named them but would do on a private message.

 

My family have helped me to put this explanation together which is truthful and accurate.

 

Your help and advice would be appreciated.

 

It ultimately makes no difference if the loan companies want to read these posts, there's not a whole lot they can do with the information when the vast majority of it is negative to their aims. But you do not need to name them in order to receive help.

 

What are your actual arrears on the loan? How long is left on the term of the loan? Is there a first charge on your home, and if yes, are there any arrears? You stated somewhere that your family were meeting those payments, so are they up to date?

 

It is unlikely that a District Judge will make an order for possession when there is an outstanding claim for benefits in process. But that said, it does depend entirely on the given situation and the specific facts, and, most importantly, whether the backdated benefits payments will substantially reduce the arrears and make future payment of the monthly instalment, plus an amount towards the arrears, a real likelihood.

[tonydaytona]

Hi.

 

Many thanks for your detailed advice.

 

When I contacted the loan company they said due to me recently having a mortgage they wanted the security of insurance. The original loan was for 20 years and the intention after my current mortgage deal had ended in 16 months time I would then bring both the main mortgage and the 2nd charge into one mortgage. I was told that I would receive the full refund of premiums on early repayment and the reason I phoned them, not wanting to be stuck with something for 20 years when the loan was paid off early.

 

When I spoke to the loan company (Central Trust) they made it clear that I would not be able to make a claim because my illness must have been present when I took out the loan. I never made a claim and they returned part of my premium, which was a single premium policy. They refused to take the monies off the loan account saying it was not possible and that I should use the premium to pay off the loan repayments whilst looking for alternative work. So in answer to your question, I asked to make a claim by telephone and they said no.

 

They did agree to the reduced payment plan but I only recently became aware that they had charged £60 per month plus additonal interest for the whole period when I received a statement from them.

 

I will take you advice and ask them not to telephone me again but to communicate via letter. Good advice thank you.

 

I have not paid anyone upfront fee's. I did not feel I had the experience to deal with the matter myself and the reason I turned to them.

 

The arrears is £2200. The loan balance has jumped to £17,000 due to £60 per month default, additonal interest, Solicitors fees of £485 x 4 and none existant Counciller visits at £185 x 4.

 

The first charge, the mortgage is up to date and paid for by my family. The loan which I refer too is a 2nd charge. The eviction date is set for 4th April. My back dated benefit payments are not expected before then but are back dated to last October. The hold up was providing the evidence to the DWP from the hospital Doctor who has been dealing with me. My GP was of little use.

 

Hope that helps?

 

Many thanks again, your help is much appreciated.

[Lea_HTH]

Hi.

 

Many thanks for your detailed advice.

 

When I contacted the loan company they said due to me recently having a mortgage they wanted the security of insurance. The original loan was for 20 years and the intention after my current mortgage deal had ended in 16 months time I would then bring both the main mortgage and the 2nd charge into one mortgage. I was told that I would receive the full refund of premiums on early repayment and the reason I phoned them, not wanting to be stuck with something for 20 years when the loan was paid off early.

 

When I spoke to the loan company (Central Trust) they made it clear that I would not be able to make a claim because my illness must have been present when I took out the loan. I never made a claim and they returned part of my premium, which was a single premium policy. They refused to take the monies off the loan account saying it was not possible and that I should use the premium to pay off the loan repayments whilst looking for alternative work. So in answer to your question, I asked to make a claim by telephone and they said no.

 

They did agree to the reduced payment plan but I only recently became aware that they had charged £60 per month plus additonal interest for the whole period when I received a statement from them.

 

I will take you advice and ask them not to telephone me again but to communicate via letter. Good advice thank you.

 

I have not paid anyone upfront fee's. I did not feel I had the experience to deal with the matter myself and the reason I turned to them.

 

The arrears is £2200. The loan balance has jumped to £17,000 due to £60 per month default, additonal interest, Solicitors fees of £485 x 4 and none existant Counciller visits at £185 x 4.

 

The first charge, the mortgage is up to date and paid for by my family. The loan which I refer too is a 2nd charge. The eviction date is set for 4th April. My back dated benefit payments are not expected before then but are back dated to last October. The hold up was providing the evidence to the DWP from the hospital Doctor who has been dealing with me. My GP was of little use.

 

Hope that helps?

 

Many thanks again, your help is much appreciated.

 

The mortgage company were wrong to tell you that you could not claim - only the insurance company themselves would be able to deny a claim and only then after you had made one and submitted relevant information. I appreciate that money is probably very tight for you at the moment, but my strongest suggestion would be for you to contact a solicitor (you may be entitled to legal aid given that you are on benefits - but an application would need to be made by the solicitor you choose to see). Your situation is complicated by the fact that when you fell ill your mortgage company gave you information that you accepted, even though it may have been to your detriment, and as such you will need the assistance of a solicitor to delve a little deeper. It is not something that the company that you went to (Lynx?) are likely to be able to deal with as it's almost certainly a lot more complex than their usual cases. You can find a solicitor in your area by going onto the Law Society website and carrying out a search.

 

You should put in a stay application for the warrant of execution (you state the eviction date is 4th April). You must not delay in making this application and should go to the court tomorrow to make your application. You will need to detail the issues (benefits delay, the added charges to the loan - the fact that you made an agreement and they continued to add late payment fees etc). Unfortunately, as a lawyer, I am unable to assist you in completing the form online - however I understand there is someone on this forum - Ell-en - who usually helps people prepare their paperwork and I suggest if you are unable to engage a solicitor, that you ask her directly for some assistance with your stay application.

 

I would also suggest that you phone your local county court, where the hearing will take place, and ask whether they will have any duty advisors available to assist you on the day. In your circumstances I'd be certain of gaining an adjournment whilst your benefits issue was being resolved, but I think you have a bigger issue that also needs to be dealt with in relation to the mortgage company informing you that you could not claim on your insurance - they are a mortgage company and could not possibly make a judgement that your illness was present when you took out the loan without getting an expert opinion from the medical profession - clearly they did not do that as you did not fill out a claim form or visit an insurance doctor.

[tonydaytona]

Hi.

 

Many thanks for your excellent advice. Due to the limited time I have, I have started to put together the application to have the evition suspended on the grouds of back dated funds being available within the next few weeks and the insurance issue together with the fees they have mounted up.

 

I am confident that I can get the paper work sorted. I will have someone with me at Court and if I have the paper work in order and detailed then I am hopeful I will get a suspended order.

 

I will contact Ell-en once i get the detail down to see if she has the time to look at it before I take it to Court.

 

I have been trying to get help for the last 3 weeks from Solicitors without much success but if I get this suspended I will follow this up to see what can be done.

 

Thank you again for your detailed advice.

[tonydaytona]

Hi.

 

I have prepared all the documents following the guidelines on the site and I have sent Ell-en a PM with the text from the statement to see if Ell-en is able to read it before I take it to the Court.

[tonydaytona]

Just a quick update. I have a hearing for tomorrow (Thursday) to suspend the eviction,. Ell-en has given the thumbs up to the statement I prepared.

[Lea_HTH]

Excellent! Ell-en is a star as far as I can see!

 

Good luck with your hearing, and please let me know how it goes. Fingers crossed for you.

[tonydaytona]

Thanks Lea for the advice and support. I will report back tomorrow with the result.

[tonydaytona]

Hi.

 

I got the eviction adjourned for 28 days to give me the chance to get some money to the claimant. As long as I pay one instalment there wont be an issue. I mentioned in my statement the following:

1. As a condition of taking out the loan, a single payment insurance payment was made to cover loss of income. When I contacted the Claimant I was told that I was not entitled to claim under the policy because they felt my illness and subsequent loss of my job must have been present when the loan was taken out. I understand that the Claimant was wrong in stating I could not claim and only the insurance company themselves would be able to deny a claim and only then after I had made one and submitted relevant information.

2. When a previous arrangement was agreed between the Claimant and my Advocate from the CAB, and fully maintained by me, the Claimant continued to add charges to the account vastly inflating the balance of the loan which are considered to be unfair pursuant to schedule 2(e) of the Unfair Terms in the Consumer Contract Regulations 1999, which state that ‘a term is unfair if it requires any consumer who fails to fulfil his/her obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation’. The authorities for this unequivocal position are:

Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company Ltd v New Garage and Motor Company Ltd 1915 AC 79

Murray V Leisure Play 2005 EWCA Civ 963.

I was on the back foot due to not being able to make a payment since last November, so my thoughts are to make sure I get some payments made and then at the next hearing get it suspended. The Judge did not mention about fees or the PPI but it was clear that he read it. I really need to get to grips with the unfair charges and fees and will now do some research.

The Judge asked me on what grounds I wanted the adjournment, I think I made a mistake by saying 'that I would shortly be in receipt of back dated benefit and will be restarting repayments'. Thinking about it later I should of said more about the PPI and charges etc. But I was on the back foot and not in a good position.

[Lea_HTH]

That's a good result for the interim.

 

Don't worry about feeling that you have said the wrong thing to the judge - you haven't. You received the adjournment and now you need to concentrate on gathering as much information as you can in relation to the charges.

 

My suggestion would be to send the loan company a Subject Access Request Notice under the DPA 1998. It'll cost 10 pounds - you should be able to find a template letter on the site somewhere. You are specifically looking for the telephone records relating to the time when they told you that you were not entitled to make a claim under the PPI. I'd hazard a guess that you a) won't receive this back before the next hearing date - they actually have 40 days to comply - and b) even when you do receive the information they will have blanked out anything that may be detrimental to them - which the phone call regarding the PPI almost certainly is. But nevertheless you should make the request, because if the info is blanked out, you can make a request to the court for specific disclosure.

 

You should also go through all your statements, total up what the actual arrears are, what the 60 pound charges are since you made the 20 pound per month agreement, total of the 20 pound payments, and then total up all the additional charges they have made to your account. You should compare the total amount of these figures (minus your actual payments) and compare it to the amount they state is owing. The charges cannot be held to be 'arrears' at the court hearing.

[tonydaytona]

Hi Lea.

 

Many thanks for the confidence boost.

 

I have copied off the template ready to send off to them.

 

I do have a few questions that hopefully you can help me with.

 

The loan Company say there are £2000 arrears, yet the total balance is now £9000 higher than it was. When I questioned this they said that any fees, interest etc is added to the loan balance and only the missed payment is classed as arrears. I have done a calculation and found that out of the normal repayment of £110, £97 of it is interest. With a balance of £17,000 thats going to take a few thousand years to pay off! Not sure if this makes any difference.

 

Next issue, my mortgage. They have continued to charge me £115 every month for a few years, plus other fees and interest despite paying on time the agreed amount stated on the Court order. Those fee's are included in the total arrears, so thats done different from the 2nd charge loan.

 

Is the letter template the same for this mortgage as it is for the loan?

 

I do need statements from both loan and mortgage companies which I presume is included in the request?

 

I have decided to go at both of them for refund of fees etc, which must be running into thousands of pouds. I have twiddled my thumbs long enough and want to go on the attack for a change, it wears you out having to defend all the time.

 

I think I know what I need to do, can I presume that help and guidance is still aviaible from this site and spoon feed me though all this?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Lea_HTH]

Hi Lea.

 

Many thanks for the confidence boost.

 

I have copied off the template ready to send off to them.

 

I do have a few questions that hopefully you can help me with.

 

The loan Company say there are £2000 arrears, yet the total balance is now £9000 higher than it was. When I questioned this they said that any fees, interest etc is added to the loan balance and only the missed payment is classed as arrears. I have done a calculation and found that out of the normal repayment of £110, £97 of it is interest. With a balance of £17,000 thats going to take a few thousand years to pay off! Not sure if this makes any difference.

 

I suggest you take a look at the terms and conditions of the loan when you took it out. Look at the interest rate being charged, what the term of the loan was intended to be, and whether you were quoted a full repayment figure. The charges should only be added to the outstanding loan if they are reasonable - and clearly from your earlier posts they are not - e.g. adding 60 pounds per month as an arrears charge when they had entered an agreement with you to pay a reduced sum.

 

Next issue, my mortgage. They have continued to charge me £115 every month for a few years, plus other fees and interest despite paying on time the agreed amount stated on the Court order. Those fee's are included in the total arrears, so thats done different from the 2nd charge loan.

 

My suspicion with this is that your contracted payment date differs from the payment date that the court ordered. They ought to allow for that, but often do not - my usual advice would be to negotiate with them on changing the payment date, but they may only do this for a fixed period, so instead I suggest that you return to court and make an application to vary the order - the date will be changed to the date that you wish to make the payment on and they will therefore not be able to keep adding the 115 pounds. The benefit of getting the court to change the payment date by a variation of the order is that they won't be able to change it after a short period of time.

 

Is the letter template the same for this mortgage as it is for the loan?

 

If you are essentially asking for the same thing, yes. Make any modifications as necessary in order to make your request make sense.

 

I do need statements from both loan and mortgage companies which I presume is included in the request?

 

If the loan company and mortgage company are one and the same, you can send one SAR notice and ask that they send you information on all accounts that they hold on you. You will pay only one fee. They should supply you with all information, including statements.

 

I have decided to go at both of them for refund of fees etc, which must be running into thousands of pouds. I have twiddled my thumbs long enough and want to go on the attack for a change, it wears you out having to defend all the time.

 

I think I know what I need to do, can I presume that help and guidance is still aviaible from this site and spoon feed me though all this?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I don't think the site is going anywhere, and there are lots of knowledgeable people who can point you in the right direction.

 

Good luck.

[tonydaytona]

Hi.

 

I have today returned to Court and had the date suspended. I was also able to reduce the monthly arrears I should pay from £50 to £30. I only received the back dated confirmation from DWP 2 days ago, I have not received the monies as yet. But the Court was satisfied that I am able to pay it. I had put in my original defence that I was never allowed to claim on the PPI when I became out of work and since then unreasonable charges had been made including £60 fee's when I was paying, x 4 £165 no show Agents visits, £600 Solicitors fees x 4, interest and default fee's which meant the original loan of £8,800 is now over £18,000. I did say to the Judge that I was seeking legal help with the over changing and PPI matters, to which he said he wished me well with sorting it all out. What I did note was the other sides Solicitor said the loan had 28 years still to run! It was a 25 year loan and that was taken out 6 years ago. I wish now I had questioned that.

 

Now I have the monies coming in from DWP I am going to get to grips with all this over-charging once and for all.

 

Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far.

[Lea_HTH]

Hi.

 

I have today returned to Court and had the date suspended. I was also able to reduce the monthly arrears I should pay from £50 to £30. I only received the back dated confirmation from DWP 2 days ago, I have not received the monies as yet. But the Court was satisfied that I am able to pay it. I had put in my original defence that I was never allowed to claim on the PPI when I became out of work and since then unreasonable charges had been made including £60 fee's when I was paying, x 4 £165 no show Agents visits, £600 Solicitors fees x 4, interest and default fee's which meant the original loan of £8,800 is now over £18,000. I did say to the Judge that I was seeking legal help with the over changing and PPI matters, to which he said he wished me well with sorting it all out. What I did note was the other sides Solicitor said the loan had 28 years still to run! It was a 25 year loan and that was taken out 6 years ago. I wish now I had questioned that.

 

Now I have the monies coming in from DWP I am going to get to grips with all this over-charging once and for all.

 

Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far.

 

That's excellent news - you can breathe a bit easier now and start to resolve the charges issues. There is plenty of help for that on the site, so make sure you read a few of the threads and find out how best to begin.

 

Send your lender a Subject Access Request Notice too - if you haven't already done so. You will be able to double check all the information - including the length of the loan. A fixed term loan cannot suddenly increase in time, so that definitely needs checking.