Hiya
Its my first posting on the site but I wanted to see if anybody had experienced the same situation I find myself in.
I have had problems with Blemain for the last couple of years. They were granted a repossession order way back in January 2008 in preston county court but fortunately we were able to make lump sum payments and kept the bailiffs at bay. At one point we had cleared the arrears in full but unfortunately I didnt realise that I needed to make an application to cancel the possession order and a couple of months ago I got into some difficulties and the account fell into arrears again albeit on a very low basis. That didnt matter to them because as soon as I defaulted,the £35 letters started to arrive together with all the admin fees they felt necessary to apply to the account. The upshot was that I received a notice of eviction which was due to take place on the 24th November at 11am.
On the 23rd November I contacted them to say that there was no way I could afford to repay the total arrears and that I was going to go to the Preston county Court and ask them to suspend the warrant for eviction. I then got a telephone call from them saying that they were sympathetic to my situation and that provided I did three things they would cancel the warrant. I had to agree to go on their "assisted sale scheme" which would mean I had to put my house on the market. I was happy to do that. I then had to get a letter from an Estate Agent confirming that and then having gone through my income and expenditure they agreed to accept reduced monthly payments until the property was sold at £150. I was ecstatic. It was the first time they had actually sought to help me out instead of bullying me so I immediately went to an Estate Agent, signed the forms to put my property on the market and asked for a letter confirming that which I faxed to Blemain.
I then tried to pay the £150.... this was shortly after 12noon on the 23rd but they couldnt accept the payment as their systems were down.
I kept on trying and getting told that my account manager was unavailable. Eventually just after 2pm I got hold of him and again tried to pay the £150. At this point he told me that he had got the figures wrong and they needed a lump sum of £1000. I was devastated. I told him that there was no way I could do that, and as it was after 2pm my window of opportunity to apply to Court was getting narrower. He got a bit shirty with me at this point and said that they were trying to help me yet i was threatening to go back to court...I panicked and told him I wasnt...I was just worried that they were moving the goal posts. He asked me to leave it with him..... two hours later after me trying to ring him god knows how many times he said that the figure would be £250 per month. I was okay with that...it was still much better and more affordable than the £580 I was currently paying. I made the payment immediately by bank transfer but again when I tried to speak to the account manager to confirm he had received it....he was unavailable.
The following morning I rang the court to speak to the bailiff and advise him that we had reached agreement and had he been told the eviction was cancelled. He hadnt. I then spent the next two hours trying to get hold of Blemain... eventually I spoke to the account manager again at 10.20am and he told me that they had received the payment but that it had been recalled by me.... this wasnt true. I was on my online bank account at the time and I printed a statement off showing the payment and scanned and emailed it to them.
At 11am the Bailiff arrived. I let him in and explained what had happened. He rang Blemain and they told him I hadnt made my payment...the Bailiff himself was lovely and he told them he was looking at my bank statement showing that I had.
The upshot was that Blemain denied receiving it and I was removed from my house with ten minutes to pack my belongings.
I sought advice from a solicitor who made an application to have the warrant set aside on the grounds that it was executely oppressively. I had details of every phone call.... the agreement reached.... copies of bank statements and letters from the Estate Agents... Blemain had nothing. They told the court that their bank had said the payment was re-called but were unable to provide any evidence of that at all.
The current position is that the Court made an order on Tuesday of this week that allowed me to re-access the property whilst further investigations are made as to whether they did act oppressively. They had to return keys by 4pm today....they gave them to me at 3.59pm. However when I got there they have disconnected all of my services and i am goingto have to pay for everything to be reconnected so I am still living in temporary accommodation with my husband, two daughters and two cats.
My solicitor is a demon... she has the bit between her teeth and is now talking of trying to get the credit agreement ruled as unenforceable.
I just wondered if anybody else had any similar experiences with Blemain?
Sorry for the length of the posting by the way..... believe it or not i kept it short!
I panicked. As you do. Unfortunately at the same time I was going yhrou
