Friend has had notification of court proceedings from Barclays / Woolwich Mortgages / TLT Solicitors

[IamPhil]

I am 'talking' to the litigation department as regards my friends mortgage/arrears situation.

 

Any tips on DO's and DO NOT's please?

 

Please feel free to ask me any questions if it will help.

[IamPhil]

ECHR - we really could do with a jokes section.

 

I would rather it were not on this thread that is basically about reaching out for some help and advice to try and help a friend not lose their house.

 

Please keep to the issues as regards this thread please For any other comments, no comment is prefered.

[Conniff]

Why not get your friend to the keyboard, first hand accounts are much better than second hand or relayed accounts.

[IamPhil]

My friend has sight of everything on this thread. It just happens to be my details I have entered to have an account on here.

 

ANY questions, queries can be answered as required .

[IamPhil]

Here is an update on the situation. A proposal has been put to the bank.

 

15 year extension which involves payment of all three mortgage accounts.

 

An income and expenditure account was submitted to illustrate payment of these accounts and amounts and the arrears (the arrears would be paid in 6 years, half the amount of time left on the present mortgage period).

 

We are chasing up a response from the bank as regards this proposal however the court date looms large.

 

ps correction - prefered should read 'preferred' in a post above.

[Conniff]

Don't worry about correcting typos Phil, we all make them.

[slick132]

Hi Iam,

 

When writing to the bank, it is wise to remind them of their obligations imposed by BCOBs, ie to treat you as a customer fairly !!

 

[IamPhil]

Don't worry about correcting typos Phil, we all make them.

 

Thank uoy

[barbershop0]

How did your "friend" get on in court today?

[IamPhil]

How did your "friend" get on in court today?

 

The session was adjourned for the first available date after 14 days.

 

There had been some negotiation with the bank (when they eventually got back to us) where, to the surprise of a a few people, they agreed to a 14 year extension of the mortgage which has 12 years to go (where they of course earn extra thousands over the term of the entire mortgage) The bank however also required higher monthly payment figures for other mortgage related accounts which took my friends monthly payments up to over £500

 

In court the banks solicitor said she had no knowledge of any negotiations between my friend and the bank however we had paper work showing not only faxes to the bank but faxes to the solicitors, as as first we were not getting any reply from the bank.

 

The judge said that he wanted to give my friend more time to negotiate with the bank and asked the banks solicitor to clarify the banks agreement to extend the mortgage by 14 years.

Edited March 2, 2014 by IamPhil

[IamPhil]

Opps I cannot see where to delete this post

[IamPhil]

Hi Iam,

 

When writing to the bank, it is wise to remind them of their obligations imposed by BCOBs, ie to treat you as a customer fairly !!

 

 

Thank you Slick

[IamPhil]

Things that may help others.

 

Persistence. Get to know exactly who is dealing with your account within the litigation department at the bank. To do that be persistent, pleasant, polite, MELLOW AS, yet persistent as they do not like to give you 'back room' access. I ended up getting a faxes sent to high, low, middle level management where the first page was massive stars *, in bold screaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaming IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT.

 

After that I had a very clear and effective communication process arranged with the litigation manager in question. I have to say I tip my hat off to the manager for his time and application since that was established. Ok he did not agree to everything put to him, however I must judge him on his professionalism and for that I give him 10 out of 10 without a seconds hesitation. My friend had always been led to believe that no extension or re-mortgage was ever a possibility. In being able to get fast responses to the numerous proposals put to the bank I was able to establish the banks parameters (they do not tell you initially, you find out by way of the reasons they have to give for refusing a proposal). I was 2 months over any permitted mortgage extension I found with the 15 year extension, next proposal was 14 years BOOM agreed (as it is within their remit and my friends Income and Expenditure [i & E] clearly showed it was affordable).

 

Be clear with your figures. I have tables and tables and tables on spreadsheets of my friends accounts that make up my friends I & E, if petrol goes up in 3 years 7 months my spreadsheet will re-calculate the I & E from then on. In the figures put forward to the bank ensure that the items and figures are in line, at the very least, within industry standard expectations of expenditure in particular (did you know hobbies and haircut are seen as expected expenditure?... I didn't).

 

Take emotion out of it, the bank is not a person, they are a business in which 'persons' work. My friend to this very day will not talk or answer the phone to the banks, the solicitor at the court just about managed to get my friend to speak to them and failed miserably to get my friend to sign some paperwork (which had incorrect details to boot).

 

Keep a record of all calls, people you talk to, what they say and request they detail it on their system and then require that they read back what they had entered on their system.

 

Get as much advice as you can, information, information, information, information, information and more information.

 

Lastly I would say, be forever hopeful. Ones state of mind does not change what is factually so, so be positive, better for ones head and heart (that is much easier said than done though and I feel no shame in saying I have cried for and with my friend over the last couple of months however its about wiping those tears away, focusing on what has to be done and getting it done).

[IamPhil]

New date set for just after mid month in March. It is set for a date dedicated civil matters so no duty solicitor is allocated. We are looking to have the date changed to a day when a duty solicitor is assigned (which increases the court fees yet works out at legal advice on the cheap so well worth it).

 

Additional information. Solicitors are allocated dates where they provide free advice at courts as regards possessions, P Call list. The court can tell you which solicitor or solicitors firm is going to be attending (if any) on the date you are in court. It makes sense to find out which solicitor/solicitors firm will be attending and drop them a line, explaining that you will be attending on the day they will be the duty solicitor and asking for their advice. It's you basically extending the legal advice backwards (before the date they would be giving you legal advice). If they say they will only give the advice on the day... ask for free legal consultation (if you have not already received legal advice on that particular matter), they should provide half a hour to an hours free consultation. My reasoning, the better informed the solicitors are, the better they can assist.

[IamPhil]

Originally Posted by slick132 Hi Iam,

 

When writing to the bank, it is wise to remind them of their obligations imposed by BCOBS, ie to treat you as a customer fairly !!

 

Thank you Slick

 

 

Slick are you about? Any help in that regard would be much appreciated. My friend has just received a copy of a statement from the litigation manager where ... well suffice to say it is just as well that my friend chooses not to speak to the bank as the summary given is incorrect in suggestiveness.

 

Also the bank never replied in writing/print (and I basically hounded them until I got phone call acknowledgement that the upteen fax proposals had actually arrived at then), something that has now been rectified and their first reply is expected on Monday.

 

You help and assistance would be much appreciated.

[slick132]

You should reply to them briefly pointing out where they are wrong in their summary of events. This can be produced in due course to counter the Litigation Mgr's summary.

 

You can also highlight any failing on the Lit'n Mgr's part to use the time given by the court to really try to reach an agreement.

 

[IamPhil]

I do not want to put the litigation manager offside though..., that said my friend is of the mind that he is beyond way off already. I am trying to ensure emotion is kept out of it and get to a conclusion where my friend gets to keep their house.

[IamPhil]

You should reply to them briefly pointing out where they are wrong in their summary of events. This can be produced in due course to counter the Litigation Mgr's summary.

 

You can also highlight any failing on the Lit'n Mgr's part to use the time given by the court to really try to reach an agreement.

 

 

Thank you Slick.

[IamPhil]

If my friend pays off the mortgage arrears in full what exactly occurs (I appreciate this might seem a silly question).

 

I ask for this reason. The banks solicitors say that if the mortgage arrears are paid in the full then the court case would be 'adjourned'. My read of that is not 'closed' or 'ended'. That sounds like another version of a suspension.

[Ell-enn]

If there are no arrears there can be no repossession, therefore there is no suspended possession order. If your friend pays off the arrears they should inform the court that they have done so and ask for the hearing to be dismissed.

[IamPhil]

If there are no arrears there can be no repossession, therefore there is no suspended possession order. If your friend pays off the arrears they should inform the court that they have done so and ask for the hearing to be dismissed.

 

 

Thank you for your very prompt reply and indeed that clarification

[Lea_HTH]

Paying off the arrears in full will result in an adjournment with liberty to restore. This is because the claim to the court was legitimately and appropriately made for arrears accrued. The liberty to restore will usually be for a period of one year less one day, and thereafter new proceedings will have to be started. During the period of LTR any arrears accrued can be taken back to court instantly.

 

Highly unlikely a claim based on the information contained in the original post in this thread (and subsequent information) will be dismissed, though a request can be made for the LTR to be less than a year.

[IamPhil]

Paying off the arrears in full will result in an adjournment with liberty to restore. This is because the claim to the court was legitimately and appropriately made for arrears accrued. The liberty to restore will usually be for a period of one year less one day, and thereafter new proceedings will have to be started. During the period of LTR any arrears accrued can be taken back to court instantly.

 

Highly unlikely a claim based on the information contained in the original post in this thread (and subsequent information) will be dismissed, though a request can be made for the LTR to be less than a year.

 

Thanks again

[IamPhil]

A general question. Bearing in mind every case is of course between a bank and a lender is determined by the lenders 'history' can I ask specifically if there is any record of Woolwich Barclays Bank ever agreeing re-payment of arrears for a term longer than 5 years (60 months).

[barbershop0]

The repayment of arrears can be agreed over a "reasonable" period. The court will decide what is reasonable.