GE Money Repossession, desperately need help

[Faraday]

Hi everyone

 

I'm not sure where to start really, both my husband and I are feeling pretty desperate right now. Firstly I'll fess up to us burying our heads in the sand. I've had depression for a number of years and this has partly led us to our current situation and I just haven't felt able to cope with any of it. I know, I know, worst thing we could is to ignore it all and I feel stupid and ashamed for doing so, just hope it's not too late. We have tried to get help before via Payplan but they didn't want to know and just passed us on to some company who wanted to charge us for going bankrupt.

 

Our debts are pretty huge (or at least feel so to us!) and we're so stressed out. GE Money have taken us to court to gain possession of the house, the date is set for 29th April. We're sitting here trying to fill out the forms and getting nowhere fast. We tried the CAB but they've told us there's a 2 week waiting period just to get an appointment, which will be way too late! Is there anyone else we can call for help fast? We do need help sorting out debts in general but need urgent help filling out the defence forms for the court hearing.

 

We are in arrears with both our mortgage (with Northern Rock) and with GE Money (secured loan). We did try and come to an arrangement with GE Money over the phone but were told they wouldn't even talk to us until we've paid half the arrears (the arrears currently stand at £1,578.32). Northern Rock have so far only sent reminders, we'll be talking to them tomorrow. What led to these arrears is my husband being out of work for the last 5 months. He's a self employed IT contractor and the work just dried up at the beginning of this year and we had no savings to fall back on. He finally started back at work last week and this contract should last a good 9 months.

 

We also have other non-secured debts of around £60,000.00, one of which we have a CCJ for and another is in the process of getting a CCJ against us. I know we've left it very late but we do plan to try and sort this out, hopefully we'll be able to see somebody about this within the next few weeks. I'm currently not working but plan to try and get some part time work ASAP.

 

As the secured loan with GE Money is in both our names the court has sent out two defence forms. Do both of these need to be filled in? And if so how do we do this as my husband brings in the sole household income? Apart from child benefit I don't earn anything. What is the likelyhood of the court granting possession? I'm worried sick as the council have told us there's a good chance we'll be put into bed and breakfast and that would ruin my daughters education - she's doing really really well at school and it would kill me to see that suffer.

 

If you've read this far, thanks for listening! Any help, advice, or pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

[Bona]

You are like many others were here to help on this site and can firstley it the secured debts you have to worry about and this site can help you fill in the forms now your husband has a job things will improve firstley work out and income and expenditure sheet and see what you can pay be realistic one of the mods will come along and help you with the forms with regard to your other unsecured debts others will help

[jaxads]

Hi Faraday

 

Well done for finding CAG and for your first post

 

You may well find that GE taking you to court will be the best thing to happen. As Bona says you need to work our your I&E statement and only offer to pay off the arrears what you can realistically afford.

 

I helped a friend out earlier in the year and was quite surprised that GE's representative met us before the court hearing to see what we had to offer. He then went away and came back and said that GE would be going for repossession. However, Judges are usually on the side of the home-owner, so provided your I&E figures are realistic, then they should hopefully grant you a suspended possession order. Which means that GE cannot touch you or your home provided you stick to the repayments.

 

It was a huge relief for my friend as, now she's repaying back the arrears (which by the way were almost £3000 and the court allowed £100 per month to be paid back in addition to the normal monthly payment), without the hassle of GE on her back every other day!!

 

Good luck. I'm sure Ell-Enn will be around to offer some fantastic advice.

 

Get GE sorted and then take on the rest of your creditors - to make sure that they've got the necessary paperwork in order and then to chase any charges you may be due to.

 

jaxads

[Faraday]

Thanks both for the encouragement. It's very hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel at the moment but I'm trying!

 

We did sit down last night and work out an I and E, we should be able to offer £100 a month off the arrears if we ignore all non-secured debts. I'm just a bit worried we won't get these forms in on time, only just realised they should have been with the court by yesterday really (the hearing is on 29 April). Hope they will allow a bit of leniency with the time. Bankruptcy also is something we've been trying to avoid as we really don't want to lose the house but looking like we may not have an option. My husband is going to talk to CCCS tonight and see what they say.

[jaxads]

Hi Faraday - there is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

GE may be scary and frightening now, but they'll back off once the court has made a decision (they'll have no choice!) As I've learned from reading around here, the courts do like to, where possible, come down on the side of the homeowner!!

 

I would also say that my friend didn't even return the forms to the court as she burried her head so much!! (Not recommended though!!) She took I&E statements and proposals with her on the day and the judge looked at them then, and still granted in her favour!!

 

Keep positive. All on CAG are behind you!!

[Faraday]

Thanks jaxads, we do plan on getting the forms in ASAP, so that's reassuring to hear.

 

Just managed to finally get an appointment with a CAB debt advisor for 2 May so hopefully they can help us sort the wood from the trees a bit once this hearing is over with.

[Faraday]

Sorry, I have another question to add to the above.

 

We are seriously considering bankruptcy. It will still be scary because of the housing situation but I'm beginning to think it really is our best option. If we were to go that route, how would that effect the repossession hearing on the 29th? Do we still offer repayments or just tell the judge we are going to go bankrupt?

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, I'm sorry to hear you are in this situation, but we can help you with this. I know while you are under pressure from creditors and mortgage companies it is easy to feel that bankruptcy is the only way out. However, you would really need to give that route some very serious thought and given that there is only a couple of weeks before your repossession hearing I don't think that's nearly long enough.

 

Regarding the court forms for the hearing. Most courts will accept your forms up to a week before the date of the hearing so you have until Monday to finalise them and I can help you complete those. The most important section is Q.27 and I can draft you the correct words for that if you need me to.

 

Please try to stay positive - I have been involved in helping people to fight repossession even on the day of their proposed eviction, so there is always something that can be done.

 

If you can get the repossession suspended you can then work on all the other debts - the main thing is to keep the roof over you head while you sort other things out.

 

Let me know how I can help with the forms - I will be online for the rest of the day (apart from when I am travelling home from work).

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[PGH7447]

Hi Faraday,

 

I went through the reposseion route 2 years ago, like you saw the opposition lawyer before the hearing who appeared to want to help, got in front of the judge and the Barsteward tried allsorts of tricks, luckily the judge saw through his game and send him and the bank away with a flea in their ear and allowed us to repay the arrears at an extra £100 a month on top of the mortgage.

 

Arrears now clear and no CCJ due to keeping up with the arrangement.

[Faraday]

Thank you so much Ell-enn, words can't express how much we both appreciate this. I haven't got my head together very well today so some input may have to wait until my husband is home tonight, which will be around 6.30. I'll try and explain everything as clearly as I can.

 

Firstly, I'm a bit lost on working out our finances. My husband is self employed and has his own limited company, I am also a director (on paper only). He is an IT contractor and this is the standard way of doing things in that field. However, since he has been contracting he's never been employed 12 months of the year, it's usually around 9 months in 12 that he's actually working, apart from this year when the 'dry period' has run into 5 months, and this has tipped the balance for us as we were already struggling. This is actually the second limited company as well, because we ran up debts with the first one and was advised to liquidate it, which we haven't got around to doing yet. We owe the VAT man approx. 10k on that first company. I'm digressing a bit, the point was, is it ok to put down our incoming wage worked out on that average of being in employment 9 months out of 12?

 

The second issue with the I&E is that we have so many unsecured debts, all of which are either defaulted or in the case of 2 of them are CCJ's. Neither of which have been contested by us because we've foolishly been ignoring it all. How do we encompass this onto the form? Specifically regarding Q20 - Q23.

 

For Q27, again I'll try to be as specific as I can. Our debts have gradually been spiralling out of control for a number of years. 10 years ago I had a miscarriage, and within the space of 3 years I had a further 2 miscarriages. That and other family problems and stresses led to me becoming stressed and suicidal, and I was eventually diagnosed with depression and anxiety. This led to me spending beyond our means, with my poor husband struggling to keep up. We quickly found ourselves in debt which became quite serious a few years ago, and led to us taking out a secured loan in order to clear the unsecured debts. Because we were paying out so much we began relying on credit cards to get us through and again got into trouble. GE Money then came along promising us relief from all this and offered us another secured loan to pay off the existing secured loan.

 

Although we'd been struggling with the non-secured debts and did fall into arrears a couple of times with the mortgage and the GE Money secured loan, we have in the past been able to catch up. However this latest period of unemployment has tipped the balance and we are once again in arrears. GE Money then began repossession proceedings. We did contact GE Money by phone only to be told very rudely that unless we paid half of the arrears they weren't even prepared to discuss it with us. My husband has only just begun work again, and though we did have some money coming in (in the form of an advance payment for the contract he's now on, and help with food from relatives), obviously we couldn't afford to pay all of that back in one go, and so have had no choice but to let it go to court.

 

I have had treatment for my depression and anxiety in the past, numerous times, but because of all the stress from our debt it keeps on coming back. I'm not currently receiving treatment as I'm just about managing to keep things together and really don't want to go back on anti-depressants or pour my heart out to a stranger yet again, especially as I know the cause is our financial situation. I do want to work, but I'm finding it hard just to keep it together in order to support my husband and daughter and generally keeping the family running smoothly (in an emotional sense at least). However I will attempt to find some part time work, though I will find it really difficult at the moment.

 

Which brings me to the next point - my daughter. She has just turned 15 and next year will be sitting her GCSE's. She's very bright and has been doing extremely well at school (her target grades for every single subject are all A*), and I'm very worried that losing our house will effect her education. If we knew we could arrange alternative housing it may not be so bad, but our local council have all but told us that we'll likely be placed in bed & breakfast should the house be repossessed, and as we have bad credit and pets we haven't been able to find anywhere to rent privately. My worst fear is that we'll be stuck in a B&B in one room together and my daughter starts struggling at school.

 

I think that's about it for Q27, sorry if I rambled! One last thing - we've been sent two forms, one for each of us. Do we only need to return one form? If not, I've no idea how to go about describing all the finances seperately.

 

Again, thank you so much. Reading this forum and seeing the replies I've had is restoring my faith in humanity.

[Faraday]

Quick update - surprisingly, but thankfully, Northern Rock have been very understanding and have agreed to us paying £100 a month off the arrears with them, which we should be able to manage. So that's some good news today at least.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, I assume that this secured loan is in joint names which is why you have been sent 2 defence forms. Therefore your finances will be assessed jointly too. If you fill in both forms you would put exactly the same information on both. However you can complete just one form and add your name in pen alongside your husband's.

 

With regards to Q20 - 23 you will have to put "not known" in the boxes for details of the accounts and ccj's and in the amounts boxes put "approx £ (unconfirmed).

 

I will start to draft the text for Q.27 and let you know when I have completed it. We can then do an updated statement to take to court with you on the day.

 

Do you have a copy of your husband's new IT contract? you will need it to take to court with the statement on the day to prove he has employment.

 

Try to stay positive, you might like to call National Debtline National Debtline, for FREE CONFIDENTIAL and INDEPENDENT ADVICE call 0808 808 4000) they are marvellous and might be able to give you some extra information in the meantime regarding what to do about your other debts.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[Faraday]

Hi Ell-enn. Yes it is a joint secured loan, though my name isn't on the mortgage with Northern Rock, or the unsecured loan with them which was part of the 'Together' mortgage they offered us.

 

We don't have a copy of the IT contract as yet, but it shouldn't be a problem to get one before the hearing date. My husband says he's already called National Debtline before and all they recommended was passing us on to a private Insolvency Practitioner to go down the route of bankruptcy, so not sure they would be any help at this stage? We do have an appointment with a CAB Debt Advisor on 2 May to try and deal with the rest of our debt, or should we take action before then?

[Bona]

Get that offer in writing Never trust them

[Faraday]

Yes Bona I think you're right, we'll draft a letter to them asking them to reply in writing confirming that they accept our offer, thanks.

[Ell-enn]

OK, at the moment I think the most important thing is to make every effort to keep the roof over your head - this will give you time to make decisions and take the right steps with your other debts. It's very unlikely that a judge would order possession at the first time of asking, so you should get a suspension provided you can show that payments are sustainable.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[Faraday]

Husband just told me that Northern Rock did say they'd confirm in writing. I'll chase it if they don't though.

 

And yes Ell-enn, I think you're right. Apart from anything I think it helps taking this one step at a time, otherwise I'm going to drive myself insane with worry.

 

Thank you to everyone for your replies, just knowing there's a sympathetic ear out there has worked wonders for me. I've made a donation to the site - it's already been well worth it!

[Faraday]

Got your draft for Q27 Ell-enn, again, thank you! You must be well used to doing this, there's no way I'd have been able to condense it all down like that and word it so well.

 

Just one question - do we need a definite value on our house or will an estimation do? I've a rough idea of the average selling price on our road so an approx. value shouldn't be a problem if that will be acceptable. Also would it be ok to put an approx combined value for the full amount of the mortgage and secured loan as I'm not sure we have bang up to date figures to hand, and it would take time to get them from both companies.

 

Off to try and complete the form now, am tired but feeling a lot more positive about being able to hang onto the house, even if only temporarily. It'll hopefully buy us some much needed time.

[Ell-enn]

If you don't have a recent valuation, but know what a similar property in your street sold for, then all you can do is use that. At the end of the day you need to show that there is equity in the property to enable the judge to take that into consideration. After all you want to protect your equity, as if the house is repossessed you could lose it. The other side will already have advised the court of the outstanding balance on the secured loan.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[Faraday]

Looking at the figures, I don't think there is any equity in the property, or at least very very little. The average house in our road seems to be selling for 100 to 110k, our house wouldn't sell for quite that much as it isn't in great repair (needs double glazing badly, some plaster work and damp attending to). The combined mortgage and secured loan comes to 96k.

 

Also, sorry to be a pain but I'm still having some trouble filling out details of Q22, loan or credit debts. We have quite a long list, none of which have had regular monthly payments for some time, so although we can give figures of amount owed, we can't give a monthly instalment figure as we're currently not paying anything pending getting advice / being unable to. Do I need to list every single one individually (there isn't enough room)? Or could I just give a combined total amount owed and put in a note saying we're seeking help/advice on those debts?

[Ell-enn]

Hi, re Q22, I think that what you've suggested is all you can do in the meantime. If you really feel there is little or no equity in the property, take out the first point in the text for Q27, and just start with the reasons for arrears.

 

Incidentally - you're not being a pain, please don't apologise for asking questions:)

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[Faraday]

Ok, will do that, thanks. I'm determined to at least have a final rough draft of this form finished tonight, and then check it over tomorrow when I'm less tired. Am getting there, slowly.

[Ell-enn]

Great, now when you've had enough of it, go and watch something lighthearted on tv then try and get a good night's sleep:) and most of all... stay positive.

 

Ell-enn

[Bona]

Stay positive things will get better

[Faraday]

Thanks folks. Almost done!

 

One thing Ell-enn, then I'm calling it a night. In the draft for Q27 that you sent to me, one line states the following - "We have offered £100 per month towards the arrears in addition to our normal monthly payments, which, despite our assurances that this can be sustained, GE have refused."

 

This isn't strictly true. What happened was that my husband called them a couple of weeks ago intending to offer that amount, but before he got the chance was rudely told that they wouldn't even discuss a repayment agreement until half of the arrears had been paid (they're so damn obnoxious and unwilling to listen!). Obviously we couldn't do that, so we haven't attempted another offer since. Should I amend that line to something else or just leave it out entirely?