Reppossesion Help Urgently needed - **Successful Outcome **

[Lea_HTH]

Oh I am sure you do at the Court door. I was just wondering if this was the closest-to-the-deadline request on CAG?

 

There are two things I think are absolutely outrageous here.

 

By refusing to take any payment Kensington made Lola's arrears far more than they needed to be. If she had posted in a cheque (not via the arrears/legal department), surely a cashier would have cashed it rather than have sent it back. Or in cases where the bank or building society has high street branches surely a cashier would not have refused to accept a cash payment? Were Kensington breaking any code of practice guidelines by refusing to let Lola reduce the arrears?

 

Secondly, it is absolutely ludicrous that people can lose their homes for £1,000, which is a lot of money if you don't have it or can't raise it at a specific time, but circumstances can change for the better. On the other hand £1,000 is a very small amount to a bank and building society yet they are able to take someone's home, often when there is considerable equity in the property. Surely there should be a minimum amount of arrears outstanding before repossession proceedings can start, say £5,000?

 

Obviously this would depend on the value of the property and the mortgage outstanding, but it is ridiculous that a mortgagee can take a house where there may be equity of £100,000 because there are arrears of £1,000. If there is a minimum of say, £50,000 equity in a property, it would be much fairer to add the outstanding arrears to the loan, subject to the borrower being able to keep up with future mortgage payments.

 

Not taking payments is unacceptable - however, people should set up standing orders for such payments (don't be bullied into having a direct debit). It would never go in the mortgagee's favour before a judge if he decides payments were in fact refused (balance of probability).

 

However, no one loses their house on the basis of £1000 worth of arrears - I have NEVER seen this in several thousand possession proceedings. What is likely is that people are behind in payments towards arrears by £1000, and the reality is there are thousands of pounds of arrears on the account, and many years of poor payment history and many stay applications, with no real prospect of keeping to any terms, and no real prospect of affordability at the time of the hearing or in the near future.

 

If there is substantial equity in the home, then even if the loan is unaffordable, then there are ways of ensuring that someone keeps their home, at least in the interim whilst they investigate other options, e.g. selling or MRS. The sooner people seek assistance, the better, as sometimes there isn't time to inform them of all the options available to them specific to their circumstances. Whilst underlying every single possession case based on arrears, is an issue of ability to pay, the reasons bringing people to that point differ, and therefore any advice given to them and what the judge will take into consideration, will be different. That's why I love my job so much - there's a wealth of variety in it.

 

As for the latest - I think that the chap who had lost his house, or the eviction was listed for 9 am Monday morning (sorry facts are a bit hazy) and had effectively given up was the 'latest' in relation to the seriousness of his situation - I can't recall his screen name, but he posted on a Friday evening to say he'd given up as he'd lost his house, but the facts on his thread suggested something had been missed - he had substantial equity in his home. I helped him over the weekend and he went to court on the Monday morning and managed to get to stay in his house. Whilst we had a couple of days, because of the complexity of his case (and thinking about it, the house must have already been repossessed), the time over the weekend was barely enough to put together the case law required - so for me, that was a more drastic and last minute case than this one (this one, based on the facts, was a fairly obvious success).

 

Lola - glad you were successful - there was not much doubt in my mind that you would be. If there comes a time when you find the payment unaffordable, before you miss payments, make an applicaiton on N244 to ask the court to vary the order so that it is more affordable for you.

[Desperate Daniella]

Lea,

 

Thank you for all that amazing information. It's been good to see on the forum that you and Ell-enn have helped so many people because they are clearly in a terrible state when they find CAG.

 

I hope you do not get another last minute call for help this afternoon, and that you can have a lovely weekend too.

 

DD

[citizenB]

Lola, well done. Really pleased, what a weight off your mind indeed.

 

Will amend your thread title to reflect the outcome

[Lola26]

Thanks again everyone, just wish we had come to this site sooner. Lola26 xx

[Lea_HTH]

Pleasure...just glad that you got a successful outcome.

 

If you do have difficulties in the future - post as soon as possible!

[BornThisWay]

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.

[Ell-enn]

Great news Lola - hope you can relax a bit now

 

And well done to LeaH who as usual gave sound advice.

[Desperate Daniella]

Hi BornThisWay,

 

I had a suspended repo with Barclays a few years ago and it was for about £3,000. My income, like yours, is erratic because I'm self-employed. I'd had ups and downs before but no problems and in fact they were throwing money at me. Then all of a sudden they started getting really nasty. I had over £200,000 equity in the house at the time, and they took me to Court even though they knew money was expected within a matter of weeks, and then they went back again when I owed about £1,100 and served an eviction order despite the fact that again they knew money was coming in and they had a letter from my solicitor confirming exactly when funds would be coming into my account. At that point I reported them to the FOS and they wrote to the Court and withdrew it. And they withdrew the associated costs as well. At a pinch I could have borrowed the money from my sister who would have cashed in an ISA but why should she have to do that for what amounted to one working day? (Deadline on a Friday; funds in on Monday.)

 

When I told them my sister would not have let me lose the house and they weren't ever going to get it anyway they sounded really pi**ed off.

 

I wish I had known about the site then because they made my life a complete misery and I would have been able to fight them off more effectively. When I did find the site it was for debt problems and it certainly saved me from driving into the river.

 

DD

[BornThisWay]

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!

[Desperate Daniella]

I agree with everything you have said above.

 

What I eventually found out about the Barclays so-called solicitor was that she wasn't a solicitor at all. She sounded about 15, and was extremely condescending. I asked her a legal question and she didn't know the answer, so I asked her directly if she was a solicitor and she had to admit she wasn't. The so-called direct line telephone number and the name of the person dealing with it was actually a Barclays employee and the calls were diverted to her.

 

They are, as you say, so rude and nasty, and probably in their 20s with no legal qualifications, just like the one I encountered, though they'd qualify for a First Class Degree in Nastiness.

 

£1,000 is probably an average night out for a lot of people in the banking industry, but they'll threaten and take legal action against us for that (to them) tiny amount.

[Lola26]

Hi there, advise needed......here we go again have just tried to make the payment Kensington wanted, and surprise surprise they WONT ACCEPT the payment ......extremely arrogant person on the phone .didn't want to assist at all .. all I want to do is make the payment. family have given us the 1,000.00 needed which has be paid into our account and the arrears and monthly payment from normal salary ... they wont accept payment because they want proof where the lump sum has come from... none of their business I say. What can I do, go back to the court, ring their solicitors or what ?

Edited April 30, 2013 by citizenB

[citizenB]

Oh what a right load of Bullsh*t.

 

I think you will need to wait until Leah or Ellen look in on you. I will send out S.O.S to both.

Edited April 30, 2013 by citizenB

[ims21]

Two threads merged...please keep to this one thread for the Kensington issue.

[citizenB]

Lola, I have sent S.O.S. out for you, please be aware that both Leah and Ellen are at their day jobs, so it might be later on that they look in.

[Desperate Daniella]

I think they are asking about the £1,000 because of the money laundering regulations. If that is the case the person you spoke to you should have told you that but he's probably just working from a script and doesn't know why he's asking the question. Most solicitors would accept your statement that it is your money, and it is now your money even if it has been given to you by family.

 

I'm sure Ell-enn or Leah will advise later, but you could just phone their solicitor if you want to.

[Ell-enn]

Hi Lola,

 

Kensington have an option on their site to make payments by internet - have you looked at that? You need to click on the Manage My Account button and register. Once you have done that you can make payments without phoning them.

 

http://www.kmc.co.uk/customer/ExistingCustomers.html

 

I seem to remember another case where Kensignton wouldn't take a lump sum payment over the phone - I think LeaH gave advice - will try to find it.

[Lea_HTH]

Only just seen the SOS for this - sorry have been incredibly busy and then went out for a nice meal...makes a change.

 

Daniella is right - it's due to money laundering rules and they have a right to ask certain questions about lump sums.

 

The easiest way is, as Ell quite rightly says, to pay online.

 

But if push comes to shove, you can make an application to the court to vary the order to remove the requirement for you to pay the £1K by virtue of the fact that Kensington are frustrating your attempts to stick to the court order.

[Desperate Daniella]

I'm very glad to hear you had a nice evening out.

 

After all your hard work on the forum you definitely deserve a night off!

[citizenB]

I will start a thread for slrdorset anyway and pop a link back here.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?393896-repossession-hearing-panic-over..

 

^^^^^^ Thread for slrdorset.