Urgent help need First Plus legal proceedings

[Suzyhall9024]

Hi all,

 

I could do with some advice

 

on our secured loan with First Plus which is for £30 K (plus PPI of £8K ) taken out end of 2003.

 

Firstly we are having no luck reclaiming the PPI,

we have been trrying since 2007,

FP claim we bought loan and PPI through broker Central Trust even though we were an existing FP customer at the time

and got a call from who we thought to be FP offering a further advance on loan,

we were deceived into thinking we were speaking to FP when we were not !!

 

FP will accept no responsibility for PPI as sold through Central Trust ( even though they must have given them our info as they called us!)

Central Trust were not regulated at the time so wont do anything,

we still have an official complaint with fos which is now being fast tracked due to hardship

but FOS have already told me it is very unlikely they can help as they have no jurisdiction !!

 

Shortly after taking out the loan I became ill which then got worse and I am now disabled and my husband is my fulltime carer,

we have 3 kids and our house has been specially adapted for my disabilities hence why we really need to stay here.

We also have a main mortgage with Barclays which is up to date.

 

Over the last few years we have awful problems meeting the monthly payments and the account was passed to and fro different debt collectors

who just kept on telling us to make reduced payments etc and

 

in the meantime we heard nothing from FP, no statements or letters about arrears or how we would pay them back etc.

 

2 years ago we started getting some help with mortgage interest from DWP so we have since been paying our full monthly payments

plus some off arrears and again heard nothing from FP to say this wasnt acceptable .

 

In June this year completely out of the blue we got a default notice from them demanding we pay them back the arrears of £8000 etc,

 

I called them and for once spoke to a very nice lady who set up a proper arrangement to pay our monthly contractual amount plus £130 per month off the arrears,

this would clear the amount in approx 2 years, they would not consider spreading it over alonger period !!

 

we are now paying more for this loan than we are our main mortgage for over £100k !!

 

We have been paying it as arranged but we had a hiccup last month as we have absolutely no savings or credit cards etc

and needed to buy kids school uniform for them to be allowed back to school

 

I called FP spoke to a lady who said thats fine as long as you pay by end of week you wont break arrangement

(they claim she said to pay by the 5/7 which was a thursday but I am sure we agreed end of week and I paid on 7/7)

the account is now up to date until end of this month.

 

To our shock we then got a default notice dated the 9/9,

 

thinking it was a mistake I called them straight away,

 

really horrible woman said it was correct we had broken agreement and there was nothing she could do

and that our account had been sent to Eversheds, their solicitors who would be seeking a suspended possession order,

 

she refused to put me through to manager or even the complaints dept

 

I have raised an official complaint on the grounds that it is very unfair of them to do this to us when we had notified them,

they agreed and we paid when arrnaged, so far I havent heard back from them.

 

I am beside myself with worry and my health is being really affected by it,

not only does it seem that due to the fact we were lied to by FP and contacted by an unregulated broker we are stuck with the useless PPI

and all the interest charged upon it, but now they seem hellbent on repossessing our home!

 

We have infact paid them over £1800 off arrears since June as we also gave them a lump sum of £1500 we borrowed from a family member, arrears are apparently £6400,

 

there is no way we can raise that kind of money but can happily continue the current arrangement,

 

what do you think the chances are of a judge granting them a suspended possession order when we are not saying we cant or wont pay,

 

I wouldnt care if we just didnt bother too ask them if it was ok but we did !!!

 

Any help very gratefully received, thanks so much everyone

[unclebulgaria67]

Central Trust appear to be a loans broker operating under an OFT consumer credit licence. So they are regulated. The FOS should be able to deal with a complaint I would have thought.

 

Unfortunately I think it is correct for a default notice to be issued, if you are in arrears and not meeting the payments shown in your agreement. Also there is no reason why they could not apply to a court for a suspended possession order.

 

You really should be obtaining proper legal/financial advice about your situation. Can I suggest that you see what help you can obtain via your nearest Citizens Advice. They should arrange for you to see people who can help.

 

https://www.gov.uk/repossession/repossession-orders

 

It can take some time for an appointment to be obtained, so you have the help you need. You should therefore get onto this on Monday by making a few phone calls.

[Guest]

as the original loan amount in 03 was 30k, then it seems that it wasn't covered by the consumer credit act (otherwise, a Time Order could've been a possibility).

 

have you spoken to the likes of citizens advice, national debtline, etc?

 

afaik, they would need to go to court to obtain a possession order, but then request suspended subject to an instalments agreement.

 

do FP also hold your first mortgage?

 

bumping thread also for you

Edited September 21, 2013 by Ford

[Suzyhall9024]

morning all, I havent taken advice from CAB yet on this to be honest our local CAB are not very helpful , our first mortgage is through Barclays who now own first plus and we have no problems with our 1st mortgage, how can 2 subsidaries of same company act so differently! We are also receiving support with interest on our 1st mortgage from DWP , I read somewhere that they cannot start court proceedings if you are receiving SMI but as it it only on 1st mortgage ( they wouldnt help with secured loan as it was for debt consolidation ) . The horrendous thing is they gave me permission to pay it late and are now punishing it for us, you never know where you are with them sometimes they are very nice and other times the most difficult and nasty company I have ever encountered ! I am pretty sure they havent followed correct procedures over the years as we have never had any notice of sum of arrears from them or even had any letters or phone calls asking about arrears and only knew how much they were when we got a default notice in June, we can maintain the contractual monthly payment plus what we have agreed for arrears , the problem is because this month we asked for a few days grace, surely they should have told me on phone it would break arrnagement rather than tell me it was fine to pay by end of week !! I am trying everything I can to think of ways of raising some money to pay them more but we dont have anything of value, we do have equity in the house but as I said above we have had alot of work done on house to adapt it for my disabilities so really need to stay here if we can , I cant sleep with worry and my health is suffering, if only we could this PPI back it would cover the arrears etc but I just dont think we are going to get it, first plus are happily paying out people who took it out with them direct, which makes me so upset because we didnt even know we werent dealing with them direct and were deceived by central trust but with first plus knowledge because they must have passed them our info for them to call us and offer us another advance ( we took out original loan for 20k via loans.co.uk 4 months earlier, even though they were not regulated either they paid out for the mis sold PPI without any trouble, sadly it wasnt much) I really think court proceedings will finish me off, I have had to fight tooth and nail to get the help I need to live here and the thought of losing it is more than I can bear.

 

I will make some calls to national debt line etc tomorrow and see what help I can get but any advice you can offer is very gratefully received, there is a chance that I am worrying over nothing and that because I have complained FP would have listened to the tape of conversation and decide they were being fair and reinstate the agreement but I need to prepare myself for the worst case scenario. Many thanks everyone xxx

[Guest]

as you say, there are certain provisos re a main/first mortgage and possession but where there is a second or secured loan things may be different and more complicated.

given what you say, as you were and now are paying regularly on this (and not in default of mortgage), it seems unlikely that an actual possession order would be granted, but maybe a a suspended one as per what can be realistically afforded? but, they should in fairness come to an arrangement prior to any court action.

anyway, see what the n'debtline etc say. post back.

just to double check, what was the original loan amount in issue here?

i see there is also an FP ppi website. googly it.

bumping also for further input

Edited September 23, 2013 by Ford

[Suzyhall9024]

The original loan was for £30k plus PPI of £7347, we are having a terrible job getting back PPI, First plus claim we dealt with broker Central Trust, we had no idea we were dealing with a broker until 3 years later when we first tried PPi mis sale and believe they mislead us into taking the loan under the pretence of being FP because we had taken a loan for 20k from FP 4 months earlier and received a call from who we believed to be Firstplus themselves offering us a further advance, so how the hell did Central Trust get all our details, all very fishy and underhand !! However that means FP will not look at complaint, Central Trust were not regulated at the time and wont even look at it, the FOS are very doubtful they can help as no jurisdiction so we have been ripped off good and proper and nothing we can do about it, I am going to have one last go at the under writers of policy but not hopeful, I do feel though that there should be someone to complain to about the way they tricked me into taking out the loan, surely now it would be classed as fraud ?? Still no reply from first plus about legal action, they are considering my complaint and leaving me to suffer even longer !!

[Guest]

i see what you mean, central lending service on behalf of ct capital plc, now closed to new business. but new business now available with central trust limited. some directors involved in other related companies. etc! the usual close down one business, start another, close it down, then start another! are you sure they didn't have a consumer credit licence?

at least FP are considering your complaint.

in the meantime do speak to the likes of n'debtline, cab, etc if you can.

[Guest]

for reference, further info here also? http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?403081-firstplus-central-trust-PPI-claim-they-say-tough-we-were-unregulated-at-that-time!!

[Surfer01]

The original loan was for £30k plus PPI of £7347, we are having a terrible job getting back PPI, First plus claim we dealt with broker Central Trust, we had no idea we were dealing with a broker until 3 years later when we first tried PPi mis sale and believe they mislead us into taking the loan under the pretence of being FP because we had taken a loan for 20k from FP 4 months earlier and received a call from who we believed to be Firstplus themselves offering us a further advance, so how the hell did Central Trust get all our details, all very fishy and underhand !! However that means FP will not look at complaint, Central Trust were not regulated at the time and wont even look at it, the FOS are very doubtful they can help as no jurisdiction so we have been ripped off good and proper and nothing we can do about it, I am going to have one last go at the under writers of policy but not hopeful, I do feel though that there should be someone to complain to about the way they tricked me into taking out the loan, surely now it would be classed as fraud ?? Still no reply from first plus about legal action, they are considering my complaint and leaving me to suffer even longer !!

 

As you are paying PPI, why can't you claim off the PPI to pay the mortgage when you became ill? To whom is the PPI being paid?

[Suzyhall9024]

the ppi was only a 5 year single premium policy, couldnt get cashback as we had arrears and couldnt claim as was 2nd applicant and only covered for life !! PPI is now stuck on loan being paid to firstplus who will not accept any responsibility for it as they gave our info to central trust who called us and offered a further advance ( we had taken out a loan with them a few months earlier) this 2nd loan payed off 1st one. Central Trust not regulated at the time so wont consider claim so going round in circles getting nowwhere !!