impending reposession Blemain..

[slick132]

Surely it is a Claimant's prerogative to keep or change their sol'rs at any stage. And I don't think you can assume anything from this about whether your case is stronger, or they are scraping the barrel.

 

I don't see that the court would necessarily hold a change of sol'rs detrimental to your case.

 

I'll ask for someone more experienced to take a look though.

 

[citizenB]

Who were the original solicitors acting for them ?

[Lea_HTH]

The whole 'change of solicitors means they're worried or on the run' is a complete and utter misnomer which gets perpetuated by people on internet sites repeatedly saying the same thing (on the premise: say it enough and people will begin to think it's true). It is not unusual for anyone to change their solicitor mid way through a case, for a variety of reasons, usually because there is something that another solicitor is more experienced in, but often because the amount of work one firm has means they cannot follow through on everything directed their way. It means absolutely nothing in relation to the strength or weakness of the defendant's case.

 

OP should certainly be looking at making a claim for the charges - until he/she does so, there is no counterclaim as the judge will take the contract as it is written (unless there is a pointer in the defence which indicates unfair terms), and will judge on the facts before him, not on the underlying agreement. The argument has to be raised in court for the judge to consider it.

[suffering]

Is the account statement that blemain are relying on as evidence, clear and transparant, enough for you to be able to analize it? if not, or you know of discrepancies, bring this to the judges attention and request that they supply a more understandable one with a clearer and fuller breakdown. Check it against any statements you already have. they purposly use different formats of statements to keep you in a state of confusion. Use this to ask for an ajournment to bide more time, if you need it then the ajournment will be their fault so they cannot claim costs, for that hearing. You must defend and if you find that there are grounds for over charging etc then ask for extra time to build your counter claim once blemain has supplied you with a correct statement. Note you can ask the court at any stage to alow you a counter claim but the sooner the better. p.s did they use monach recoveries to chase the late payments in the early stages as this was basically a fictitious company of theirs used to bump up charges. good luck and if you are approached by their legal representative at the court do not talk to them

[marvin1]

well i have managed 'i think' to break down what we owe from the statement sent with the court papers, there is a big lump which is added interest for late payments but a lot of it is for charges and the aforementioned insurance costs. in the earlier stages of them hassling me i did ask for proof of the insurance cover that was charged for. they never once sent anything. not even any evidence of it on the SAR i requested. all we get is statements with the insurance costs on them. i have been thinking of sending a letter to their solicitors just reiterating that i am seeking to reclaim the charges due to them being excessive and disproportionate along with a copy of the letter i sent to blemain asking for a refund...do you think this is wise or should i not contact them at all till the court date.

thanks again everyone, it has been a great help just having someone there. i hope you all have a great christmas and i will keep you up to date with any news..

[welshperson3]

Hi marvin1

 

Before I or you do anything please confirm that this is a regulated agreement, it should say onthe top of your loan agreement (thisloan is regulated by the consumer credit act)

 

 

 

Secondly on your agreement you will find the total amount payable on this loan (including interest)now add up all payments you have made (find this on your statements)

 

Now if this agreementis regulated and you have paid back more than £6.5k you are in a strong position,but as you are new to all the legal aspects of what is happening, I wouldadvise you to tell blemain to go away now and remove the charge from your house,and if they do you will not claim any costs at this stage.

 

Ok now I think you would like to know why they would go away rather than take you to court, soI will explain what happened when I put a defence in to court when they triedto repossess my house.

 

Lay man’s terms

 

1 I defended saying the interest rateon my agreement was unfair!

 

They drop any claim for interest on any part of the agreement that meant Ipaid no interest on any part of this agreement from day one (totally interest free loan)

 

2 I defended saying charges and intereston charges unfair (over £6,000)

 

They remove all charges and intereston charges (save over £6k)

 

3 I defend saying insurance is unfairand the same as any other unfair charge (total insurance and interest oninsurance approx. £3,000)

 

They remove all insurance charges (save £3,000

 

 

 

Summery

 

 

 

To stop the judge making a judgment on the terms of my agreement blemain dropped what they were claiming.

 

 

 

Marvin in your case if blemain continue to court,and the only money theyare claiming from you is charges, then they can’t continue without having to prove the terms of their agreements are fair, (and believe me they are far from fair)

 

 

 

Also if they continue and wish to drop the amount they are claiming asthey did in my case, then you will find they will have to pay you back all the interest you have paid on this loan.

 

 

 

Now I have a suggestion, as you work such long hours I don’t think youwould want a full blown fight with blemain ,so give them a way out of this predicament they have got themselves into.

 

 

 

May I suggest that you e-mail blemains solicitor and blemain and give them48 hours to reply to your offer to drop hands on this case at an early stage to save on costs.

 

 

 

 

 

Write to blemain and tell them that as their claim is totally made up of unfair charges then you will be defending this fully. But as a gesture of goodwill and save as to costs you are willing to accept a drop hands at this early stage. Explain to blemain you are going to defend against their costs and charges the same as in the case blemain v baker case number 1PB26250 Remind them that in this case they dropped their claim for costs and charges, insurance, and also removed all the interest,and if this were to happen in your case then they would owe you monies.

 

 

 

Also ask them to confirm that if they wish to proceed from this point on.Then they are willing to prove their costs and charges and interest rate is fair. (terms and conditions of agrement)

 

 

 

 

 

I think blemain will come back to you and try to get you to make small monthly payments to them, as you don’t owe them anything then why pay them anything.

 

wp3

Edited December 25, 2013 by welshperson3

[marvin1]

Hi welshperson3, firstly i must thank you immensely for taking the trouble to post such an in depth reply on xmas day. very interesting what you say, it certainly says that it is regulated ...exact wording is

"fixed sum loan agreement regulated by the consumer credit act 1974 secured on (my address)"

one other thing i have noticed on the first page of the 'legal charge' is that 'the legal charge has not been assigned a land registry reference', not sure what this means. i shall tomorrow morning add up all my payments and do as you say, write to both Blemain and the acting solicitors. at an estimate, as i made all payments, albeit some late we have paid back over £9000.

thankyou very much again

Marvin

[marvin1]

well i have now, after a lot of working out managed to list everything i have paid and it turns out it is almost £100 more than the total amount including the credit on the original agreement. i also came across a couple of discrepancies on the statement they sent. on 2 occasions the 'payment due' is listed the same as what the direct debit should have been but they tried to take out £30 more on both occasions. the interest rate had not been changed and i am 99.999% sure we had not had any notification of any payment change. i have done as you suggested welshperson, wrote to both blemain and their solicitors and e mailed them. i have also sent a copy of the letter to the court, not sure if i should have waited till the hearing but thought it might give the judge some more insight into it.

Hope you all have a happy and good new year.

 

Marvin

[suffering]

Its good to see you are still looking in WP3, very good sound advice and excellent information for everyone. Congratulations for getting the justice you deserved

[rdm2006]

This Final Notice, which was served on DB Mortgages by the then FSA may help you to show that the late/missed payment fees are unfair - if it should get that far.

 

EDIT - See Page 4, Section 2.6, Part (3)

[marvin1]

well after 5 days i resent an email to blemain and their solicitors and today all i got from blemain was that it had been re directed to another dept....still nothing from either of them in hard letter form..less than 10 days to hearing...

[slick132]

Hi Marvin,

 

Don't let their delays make you late in sending any documents to the court and the sol'rs in good time, so they can be properly considered. Judges have a tendency to ignore items they consider to have been submitted "late".

 

[marvin1]

still nothing off either blemain or solicitors even though 2 reminders have been sent by e mail. i have although heard from the FSO (copy of e mail below) and they are writing a disputing letter to both of them which is i hope a bit of help, i have today written and asked for an adjournment as they suggested.

 

Thank you for your reply.

I think the best thing to do is to raise a formal complaint about this to Blemain, therefore I have constructed a letter to go out to them today regarding these issues.

Unfortunately at this late stage with the court date so close there is not a great deal I can do to help halt the proceedings, I would therefore strongly suggest contacting the court to advise them that you have a formal dispute regarding the charges and that you have referred the matter to the Ombudsman, they may be able to adjourn it for a while to give us the change to investigate after we have allowed Blemains complaints department to issue a response.

If you give me the details (address, contact name and any reference) of the solicitor Blemain have instructed I can write to them to advise them of our involvement and see whether they are prepared to hold off on action, I will also request in my letter to Blemain that they do this, unfortunately they are under no legal obligation to do so, but it may help.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely

[marvin1]

Yesterday i received a reply from blemain basically refusing to drop the case or remove the charge from the property, also they are unable to give me any proof of the buildings insurance cover due to the fact it is something that is concerned with them as a buisness and nothing to do with me as a customer. they have agreed to take off £155 which they say was charges wrongly applied...(big deal).

i also got a letter from their solicitors saying that they have written to the district judge asking for the hearing to be adjourned and that they will not be in attendance on 14th so as not to add any more costs to me...and that i need not attend either. i do wonder though weather i should go in case anything happens without my knowledge.

they responded to me mentioning the case that welshperson suggested by saying each case is different and they couldn't recall that particular case.

anybody have any suggestions on my next move now they have rejected removing the property charge and all the costs ?

any ideas are most appreciated.

thanks

 

Marvin

[sillygirl1]

I would go to court just in case....and maybe the judge will stop them using the legal process because they can.

[slick132]

Hi Marvin,

 

It's very unlikely the sol'rs are being underhand but you must get confirmation that the sol'rs have applied for, and been granted, the adjournment they refer to.

 

Speak to the court staff and ask for an email or fax to confirm the hearing's adjourned and your attendance is not required.

 

[welshperson3]

Hi Marvin

 

I think blemain are asking the court for an adjournment because they received a letter from the FCA as in your post 38.

 

Phone the court Monday and they will confirm if blemain have asked for an adjournment, the court will also tell you what reason blemain have given for asking for an adjournment.

 

For blemain to ask for an adjournment you have got them worried,this is a first as blemain have a policy of taking as much court action as they can just to add charges to your balance.

 

As for buildings insurance, then let me explain.

 

 

 

A penalty charge is a charge that happens when you don’t comply with one of the terms of the agreement.

 

The reason they charge you for letters ,phone calls, monthly arrears, admin charges, legal charges, buildings insurance, is because you broke one of the terms of the agreement,

 

Now all the above charges would be fair if blemain charged you what it cost them, for example if they charged you £2 for a phone call then it would more than lightly cost them £2 as they have to pay someone to make the call to you they also have topay for each phone call they make.

 

What makes a phone call charge unfair is the fact that they make a profit from It rather than just covering what it cost them.

 

Buildings insurance is the same as any other penalty charge,they make a massive profit from it, and hence it becomes a penalty and unfair.

 

TREAT BUILDINGS INSURANCE THE SAME AS ANY OTHER PENALTY

 

 

 

Let us know what happens after you phone the court Monday,and think of this it cost blemain to make an application to court, it also cost them legal charges and they don’t apply to adjourn unless they have something to worry about, so keep smiling you’re on the right track.

 

wp3

[suffering]

i agree go to court. Also test them on the buildings cover tell them you have had a couple of tiles / slates come off in the recent gales and would like a claim form this will also give you details of the insurance company or if it is just another ficticious blemain company like the monach recoveries they invented and had to disolve. you should have learnt by now [how they behave].

Edited January 11, 2014 by slick132
defamatory remarks removed. Please see Site Rules about posting

[suffering]

Excellent advice from WP3 Challenge everything

[welshperson3]

Anyone having trouble with blemain should read up on whatthis means

 

 

Putting the claimant to strict proof

Ask them to prove what each and every charge added to youraccount cost them

 

 

 

 

 

In relation to costs, we submitted that the defence plainly put the claimant to strict proof on all aspects of his claim, and as of the date ofthe hearing the claimant had failed to address these matters. DDJ Hubball considered it unreasonable behaviour, and costs were awarded pursuant to CPR 27.14(2)(g). He ordered the claimant to pay the defendant’s costs which he assessed at £1500.

 

 

 

This case illustrates the importance of putting the claimant to strict proof on key issues in a defence. When these issues are not addressed, the claimant may well be seen to have failed to have sufficiently dealt with the disputed issues, which in turn may result in adverse costs order in the defendant’s favour.

 

wp3

Edited January 11, 2014 by welshperson3

[marvin1]

i have now had a reply e mail from the court that says in the first instance that the hearing will remain listed, and then it says it has had a request from the solicitors to ask for an adjournment,

copy of e mail

 

Dear Sir,

3P*** ********

With reference to the above matter, I am writing to inform you that your email dated 8th January 2014, has been referred to the District Judge, who has responded that the hearing on Tuesday (14th January 2014) is to remain listed.

I can also inform you that the Court has today received a request from the Claimant's Solicitors (Bootes - on behalf of Blemain Finance Ltd) for the hearing on Tuesday to be adjourned, and to be relisted on the next available date after 28 days. The file is now in the process of being referred back to the District Judge to see if the hearing can now be adjourned.

Yours faithfully

 

i will phone the court tomorrow to find out if it has actually been adjourned, hopefully it will be. i will again now write back to blemain and tell them i am committed to challenging all the costs and charges and say that i will need them to give myself and the courts definitive proof the charges reflect the true costs they incurred.

This is all new to me and just keep thinking that i have broken the agreement and that they have the right to make the charges but after your invaluable advice i am now thinking i might stand a good chance of winning. if i was still in arrears with them as far as the actual loan was concerned then i would expect to pay more but we have actually paid more than the original agreement and all the arrears were paid up before the loan term finished.

in their last lengthy letter all they did was state that i had broken the terms and conditions and all their charges are set out in the original agreement.

i have got the FOS helping me as far as i can work out, they have written to both blemain and their solicitors stating they are helping me dispute the claim and they have sent me a complaint form to return, which i will send by recorded in the morning.

thanks for all the help everyone ....will keep you posted

 

Marvin

[marvin1]

OK, i have just constructed an e mail to blemain, do you think this is written fairly ? if someone could let me know as soon as you can i will send it today

 

Thankyou for your letter dated 8th January. I can confirm that i have referred this to the FOS as you have still not supplied any proof of actual costs to yourselves in regards to the charges applied to us. They have told me that they have written to both yourselves and your acting solicitors. i have also had an e mail from your solicitors that they have applied to the court for an adjournment, and that i need not attend on 14th. could you please confirm this.

 

 

(copy of e mail from court)

 

 

Dear Sir,

3PB6**** ***** ****

With reference to the above matter, I am writing to inform you that your email dated 8th January 2014, has been referred to the District Judge, who has responded that the hearing on Tuesday (14th January 2014) is to remain listed.

I can also inform you that the Court has today received a request from the Claimant's Solicitors (Bootes - on behalf of Blemain Finance Ltd) for the hearing on Tuesday to be adjourned, and to be relisted on the next available date after 28 days. The file is now in the process of being referred back to the District Judge to see if the hearing can now be adjourned.

Yours faithfully

Mr S Cracknell

Civil Section

 

 

i will contact the courts tomorrow to confirm that it has actually been adjourned. either way i will ask that you supply before the hearing date, strict proof that every single charge, fee and insurance cover that were applied reflect true costs to yourselves and that no profit was made by yourselves in the process.

 

 

i would like to refer you to a recent case that when the claimant failed to address these matters. DDJ Hubball considered it unreasonable behavior, and costs were awarded pursuant to CPR 27.14(2)(g). He ordered the claimant to pay the defendant’s costs.

 

 

I look forward to your early reply.

 

 

Yours Sincerely

 

[welshperson3]

Hi marvin

 

 

 

Forget sending them an e mail until you know what is happening in regards to the court hearing.

 

 

 

There are different ways to deal with this and you first need to know if this case is going ahead

 

 

WP3

[welshperson3]

For anyone with a consumer credit act regulated loan from blemain

 

 

 

Here is an easy way to show how blemain have a total disregard for rules and regulations,

 

 

 

Go and get some of the letters blemain sent you saying they were going to add a charge to your account (phone call, letter, monthly arrearsetc etc)

 

Now get your statements of account.

 

Look at your statements for the dates that charges were added to your account, then look at the date on the top of the letters blemain sent you saying they were going to charge you for something.

 

 

 

What you will find is that blemain put the charge on your account before you received the letter.

 

What you also should know is that once a charge is added toyour account you are paying compound interest on that charge from the day it isadded to your account.

 

 

 

Ok now why is the above such a big deal?

 

Because the consumer credit act says that blemain shouldn’t add charges to your account until 29 days after you have received notice of the charge.

 

The consumer credit act also says that only simple interestis allowed (NOT COMPOUND) as your loan agreement is a compound interest loan then anything added to it gets compound interest added to it.

 

 

 

Blemain are making a lot of money adding charges up to 2 months early and then charging them compound interest for the time remaining on the agreement

 

5 DEFAULT SUM NOTICES

 

5.1From 1 October 2008, creditors will be required by section 86E of the

 

1974Act42 togive the debtor a notice in a specified form where a

 

defaultsum becomes payable under a regulated agreement. A 'default

 

sum'means a sum (other than interest) which is payable by the debtor

 

inconnection with a breach of the agreement

 

 

 

 

 

Thenotice must be given to the debtor within 35 days of the default

 

sumbecoming payable.44 Thenotice may be incorporated in any other

 

statement ornotice under the 1974 Act.

 

 

 

Thecreditor may not charge interest in connection with a default sum

 

beforethe 29th dayafter the day on which the default sum notice was

 

givento the debtor.45 Inaddition, such interest must be simple interest,

 

and may notbe compounded.

[marvin1]

sorry for the late update, phoned courts monday afternoon who told me that the case had been adjourned and i will be getting a letter to confirm. yesterday i had the letter, and today a letter from their solicitors to say that proceedings have been commenced in respect of the property and will be heard in court on 12th February...so which way do i go now, inform blemain and their solicitors that i will be needing proof of all costs to them with regards to what they charged me....i dont know.

thanks