Actually Andy am I being silly here, or are we seeing a change in the way debt collectors operate which can see any sort of loan become a secured loan? If so surely that is an incredibly worrying development?

Thanks Andy, I don't have the details of the original claim and my defence with me so I will post those up tomorrow if that is okay. I don't have a copy of the application to lift the stay. I am hoping that will be with the further details I have asked for from the court? Presumably if Hillesden want a charge on my property they will have to go to Court again? The trouble is that now this has happened without my knowledge I am scared they can do so without anyone telling me it is even happening!!!

Oh brilliant, thanks for your help on this. I know it said on the 'stay notice' from the court that the claimant would have to apply to have it lifted and then I would be told what would happen next. None of this occurred, I simply got the notice from the court which says 'The defence is struck out', this is dated 6th June 2013. However it is attached to another piece of paper with the same date which says 'Before Judge xxxxxx at Northampton, etc., on 18/5/2013 the court will deal with the application to lift the stay without hearing under CPR 23.8©. It is ordered that: The Application to lift the stay, strike out the defence and enter Judgement is granted. Note: This order has been made without a hearing under the Courts case management powers contained in the Civil Procedure Rules Part 3. You may within 7 days of the service of this order, apply to the Court to set aside or to vary the under under Part 23 Rule 10. You must file with the Court, and serve on the other parties, an application that sets our your reasons for objection. A fee is payable upon the filing of the application. When your objection is received the matter will be listed for hearing unless you ask the Court to vary the order without a hearing. .....I did not receive these documents until after 7 days but immediately wrote to the Court and explained the position. I have yet to receive a reply. I never received any notification of the application to lift the stay on 18/5/2013 and if I had would have told them that I was still waiting for Black Horse. I have sent them a copy of the letter chasing Black Horse. Surely I should have been told that the matter was being moved forward? The original claim was made through Northampton. I queried the involvement of Hillesden and they wrote saying they had bought a large book of business from Lloyds Bank and sent me a document signed by the bank and them transferring the loans. I explained I was waiting to hear from Lloyds and as a result of my submission the matter was stayed as described above. I assumed I would get some notice of things moving forward but there has been none. I assumed Lloyds were overwhelmed with PPI claims and would get back to me eventually on that matter, as well as their ludicrous charges. Hillesden sent me a copy of the original agreement with Lloyds. I had not examined it in detail to see if it was correct - it dates from 2007 - as I was waiting to prepare a further defence once I had the info from Llloyds. Thank you all so much for your guidance. Do you think I will hear from the court or will they ignore me? I have had no opportunity to put forward a payment plan, and nothing on the documents states that I have a certain time within which to pay. It all seems very odd!!

No I am in England. Are you able to shed any light on this please?

I would be really grateful for some help. After years of dealing with mortgage arrears I am now just about out of that wood thank goodness. Now it seems the people above want to grab my property! Long story short I took out a loan with Lloyds Bank in 2007 and was unable to continue payments. I do not deny that I owe the money - just over £3,000 including Hillesden's charges. Hillesden obviously bought up this loan and took me to Court in October of last year and I responded on line and said I was asking Lloyds for details of any PPI claim, plus their ludicrous charges for being behind with payments - £30 every 10 days!!! Subsequently the court wrote to me and told me the matter had been 'stayed' and that the claimant would have to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay. Nothing happened after that until last week when I received a document from the court dated 6th June saying that the defence is struck out and Judgement is granted!!! Meanwhile I had heard nothing from Lloyds Bank although I appreciate I should have chased it. I immediately wrote to the Court and said that the matter is still under dispute but have had no reply yet. It did not look like a CCJ I had before as it made no comment on how the money should be paid, nor mentioned how long I had to pay it to keep it from my credit file. Now I have received a letter from DLC Collections saying they are going to apply for a Property Restriction which means nothing to me, although from reading this site I am guessing they now want a go at forcing me out of my house! My house is my only asset - I feel like moving into a tent and telling these b*****ds ('scuse language) to fight over it and give me anything that is left when they have had their Pound of flesh plus interest!!!! Seriously I am now very worried as I thought eradicating the mortgage arrears would give me some peace! Sadly I was wrong and now these people are set to make my life a misery.

Jasper as you will know from reading this site, once a lender has a suspended possession order they can, and will, move to a warrant for eviction whenever they please, if you fail to adhere to whatever terms the Court suspended the repossession under. In my experience the lender has no particular interest in stopping repossession since it is no skin off their nose - they might get their money back which reduces their exposure to the sub prime market (and you pay all the selling costs), or they do not get granted possession and they add the cost of trying to your mortgage - which they are contracturally allowed to do. When you get the notice of eviction you can apply to the Court to have this stopped and present your case there. You will then get an impartial opinion based on your ability to comply with the terms of your loan. In my (extensive!) experience judges are much more reasonable than lenders, but then they have no axe to grind! As such I am not sure that negotiating with them works - why should they put themselves out?

Lea-TH I know you don't want to continue, but the point I was trying to make is that the sub-prime market were very willing lenders while property prices were shooting up and they always knew they could get their money back. The issue now is that with falling prices they cannot be so confident that their security is equal to their loan. Sub-prime barely exists these days, it was of its time in that as long as the security exceeded the loan and as long as you could charge a high interest rate, who cares? It is their attitude to the very people they courted that annoys me so much. No-one paying 8% when base rate is 0.5% on a secured property with high equity is any sort of 'risk' because they can take the house. As such I object to being treated like dirt. But as you say, that is how it is. The sad reality of course is that no-one really wants to lend anything to anyone any more so the rich are buying up all the houses and renting them to those who cannot get mortgages. So the richer get rich and the poor get poorer. I think this turn of events is a great shame, particularly since many of the banks are state funded now.

Lea_TH I am a huge fan of the advice you give on here but I have to disagree with your comment: Your 'cynicism' is more like paranoia. It's a common theme on these threads, people think there is some personal vendetta against them or that the mortgagee is wanting to 'balance their books' or something similar. No, all they want is for you to repay the money you borrowed according to the contract you borrowed it under. It really is that simple in virtually all cases of mortgage arrears. It is of course absolutely true that lenders are perfectly entitled to demand that individuals stick to the contractural terms under which they obtained their loan. However, there is a vast difference in the approach of different lenders in this regard and I do not believe this is unrelated to their wish to reduce their 'toxic' mortgages. A large majority of the attempted repossessions on here are from sub-prime lenders, many of whom bundled into the mortgage market at a time when house prices were going through the roof, and they were quite happy to lend anything to anyone. You don't have to work in the industry (I do!) to know that these lenders, or more likely their parent company, are now terrified of their own shadow as house prices fall and they have a definite mandate to try and get out of the sub prime market (this is not just people with credit problems but the self employed, etc.). My own experience with Accord bears this out. I self certified and had minor credit problems. I have never been more than £5,000 in arrears and always less than six months. Yet they have taken me to Court every single time I fell a Penny behind with the repayments, even though they have put their rates up three times since base rate has been 0.5%. I have tens of thousands of Pounds of equity in the house. When I asked why they were so hard on me they said that I am 'a risk'. Which says it all. All the lenders want to reduce risk. The way to do that is to get rid of as many risky customers as possible. As such I really do not think it is paranoia. I honestly believe that the Halifax or a major lender would have been much more lenient. The fringe lenders want out, and they don't care how they go about it. For myself, I now have arrears of less than £1,000 and should be free from the problem in a few months. In return they have sent me to the edge of despair, treated me like something they have trodden in, and continue to charge me nearly 8%. I wish to God I could remortgage and get away from them, but there is no chance of that while I have this arrears history. It is not exaggeration to say that this company have made my life hell. Paranoia? No. The truth.

Djacks how bad is the situation regarding the arrears? You say you have not kept up with the arrears payments but if this is not too serious a judge might allow you to stay, even leaving aside your potential buyers. Falling behind with payments does not necessarily mean you will lose your house, if there is a good reason for it happening and if you can convince the judge you can continue to pay the mortgage plus something towards the arrears. Which lender is it?

The E-on rep might as well not bother to be honest. There is absolutely no justification for their prices, nor the continual rise in same. They are just on a gravy train of making money since people cannot live without light and heat unfortunately. The best thing about the summer if that these money grabbing companies and their - mainly foreign - shareholders cannot make as much money out of the poor and those on low income. I hope we have a long hot summer so that heat and light is used to a minimum and their vast obscene profits take a hit. Roll on global warming if it puts companies like this out of business!

This is certainly a strange case Scots. Having secured an eviction NRAM are now backing down again? And why on earth did Shelter give up so easily, telling you that it was not worth appealling? Anything is better than handing the keys back. It would have been years before you would have got a mortgage again in the current climate and meanwhile you would have been wasting rental money. Would you not be better off paying the £5K you have off the mortgage? That way you would be in a more comfortable position as regards the arrears and it might get them off your back for a while!!

To my eyes Scot that just makes no sense whatsoever. You clearly are able to service your debt and pay extra, I simply don't know why you would be evicted if that is the case. NRAM are one of the lenders who are desperate to offload their mortgages which are, or have become, sub-prime and unfortunately when you get into arrears you become like a leper as far as they are concerned, even though they are making decent profits out of you still. They are scared to death of defaults and not getting their money back, although the ridiculous thing is that forcing a sale now will ensure they do not! From what I have learned on here from the experts, judges do not want to evict. I therefore cannot understand why the one who ordered the eviction sees no hope in your situation. Would it be worth appealling just to see if someone more understanding handles the next case?

I confess I don't understand how the law works in Scotland but this all sounds incredibly harsh from an English perspective. The arrears don't sound insummountable by any means so I am wondering why Shelter have effectively given up on your behalf? And you have a genuine reason for part of the problem with the payday loan issue. I don't mean to poke my nose in but I know how catastrophic a repossession can be on a credit record and I know that judges evict as a very last resort, particularly where there are young children. That said, at the end of the day as long as you have your health and your family, you can make a new life for yourself. If you have been battling this for a long time I know that you can just run out of the will to go on.

Scots please don't give up. Ell-en will advise on how to defend your case but all I can say is that I have been to court on about 5 or 6 occasions over the last few years to keep my home. I have always tried to stick to arrangements but one stumble and Accord would go back to court. I have despaired, not slept, not eaten, cried, but I am still paying the money back and in about 4 months it should all be repaid. I have gone without everything - no car, no holidays, little food, no luxuries, not paid non essential bills, but it can be done. Judges need the full facts and to see that you are doing your very best. Are the arrears enormous? Most judges will not turn a family out of their home unless the situation is utterly hopeless and without being alarmist I think two years is very optimistic to get another mortgage. It is likely to be 6 years minimum and they will sell the house cheaply and pursue you for any shortfall. Please listen to the advice you can get on here, take a deep breath and see if there is anything which can be done. Very few cases are utterly hopeless and with the help of the experts on here you might have a chance.

J402 you may be entitled to help with paying your mortgage after, I believe, about 60 days. The Benefits Agency will pay the interest only on your loan, up to a mortgage rate of about 4%. Obviously you need to liaise with your lender on this, but if they have gone for eviction already then you will need to present your case to a judge to try and get the eviction stopped. Ell-en or Lea-TH will be able to help you fill in the N244 form which you will need to apply to the Court to have the eviction stopped. Do you have family, or are you on your own?

Daniella I have no idea if these companies know or care what they do to people. No-one stops paying their mortgage, or gets into arrears, for fun. We all know the implications. If you have not paid a mortgage it is because you cannot, not because you don't want to. I can understand them getting jittery with a negative equity house because obviously they are scared they will not get their money back. But with houses with large equity sums there is no excuse for trying to throw people out of their homes other than for colossal sums of arrears. Writing to the FOS is a good idea however, because only by drawing these practices to their attention will anything be done. The problem is I get the impression there are no 'human beings' at these companies, nor indeed at their solicitors. I hate ringing them which is the best way to get things sorted because they are so damned rude and nasty. Would it really hurt them to try and be understanding and work with us? You get a lot more co-operation from people if you try and help rather than making them feel like something they have trodden in. I sometimes felt like saying 'if you want the bloody house so much take it' because I was weary of the fight. But I have worked so hard for what I have that why should I? I could not work in the repossession departments of mortgage lenders because I would have too much empathy with the owners. I have had the sleepless nights, the tears, the utter misery of thinking you will lose your home. And all for a sum of money which to a bank is nothing since they speculate and lose Billions of Pounds. Horrible, horrible, people. Thank goodness this site reminds us that we are not pond life and despite the lenders' attempts to convince us otherwise, we do have some rights!

Brilliant outcome. And Daniella I totally agree with your comments. I have been to hell and back with Accord for arrears which have never been above £5,000 and for a house which has about £60,000 of equity even now. The arrears are now down to £2,000 but I have a suspended possession order and on more than one occasion they have gone for eviction if I have faltered even slightly with the payments - my salary and bonuses are rather erratic as I work for a small company. To be honest without this board I honestly think I would have killed myself by now since they hang over me constantly and have made my life a living misery. Moreoever I am trapped in a rate of nearly 8% - over double the normal rate, simply because I self-certificated, which was quite normal pre-mortgage crisis. I will willingly sign the petition, but of course the Council of Mortgage Lenders encourage their members not to endlessly go for repossession and certainly not before 6 months arrears have accrued. Sadly there is a trend of sub-prime companies who want the properties back - presumably because they want to get out of the market now and although members they ignore this guidance. This site has saved my sanity - I will never be able to thank Ell-en and Lea_HTH particularly, enough.

Lola if it is any help I know exactly how you feel. Can you tell us a little of the situation? Bear in mind that judges are much nicer people than mortgage companies or their solicitors and eviction is only a last resort where there is no hope of the borrower ever getting on top of things again. How many months are you in arrears? Do you have young children or dependant adults living with you? It seems odd that your repayment went up from £75 to £250 - what was the thinking on that? I am paying an extra £250 and it is crippling me. I wish I had pushed for less, but in the heat of the moment we would agree to anything to keep our home.

Sorry to hear you have all this worry Lola. You could go to court to challenge the eviction but of course you are dreadfully short of time. I am guessing it might just still be possible - what time is the eviction set for tomorrow?

Deadwood, have you tried remortgaging with another provider?

Well it does seem odd that a bank will honour a CPA when there are no funds, yet would return a cheque, decline a retail payment, or bounce a direct debit. It is as if a CPA has some sort of magic power over your bank acount which takes precedence over the account holder!

I tell you one thing I don't understand Brigadier. How can a CPA take money out of an account when there is none in it, whereas if I took the same card to a retailer and tried to pay for goods, it would be refused. I have a £25 debit on that account which does not have an overdraft facility! Do CPAs mean that you could take £1,000 out of an account with nothing in it? If so, what is stopping them emptying every bank account in the country, and then just keep going £1,000s into overdraft?????

Actually Brigadier I think that will resolve itself since that is supposed to be a savings account and they don't like people using them as a current account. They have written and said the card will no longer be a debit card but just a cash card. I presume therefore they will refuse all payment on it after that. I think I will just close it and open a simple savings account with another bank.

Yes I have. I expect they will take the £25 from the other account?

No, from the date I told them, which was today. I think I still owe the £25.