GE Money home lending (formally i group)

[:Boy:]

I normally pay the mortgage with my wages and she pays all of the other bills with her wages.

[Bona]

OK dont pay anything extra at this point what I would do is ask the judge if you can change your payment date explain that you get paid on the second and therefor you are always in areas for half the month at a quick calculation to get your payment date on the second of march you would need tp pay 700 pounds if you can get that together and the judge agrees then you will never be in arreas once you have paid of the arreas at the moment

do you follow

[:Boy:]

I do follow, but I get paid 4 weekly.

[:Boy:]

The thing I am worried about, is having my home took off me. I have read up, that it has to be drastic action for the Judge to give me notice to get out, but I have also read that if your arrears are under 2 months, they would not give Possesion to the Mortgage company?

 

Is it me or do I feel like I am risking alot if I leave the arrears until I am in Court. I mean, I will continue to make payments upto the 8th March 2007.

[Bona]

Re repossession hearings ive been there the JudgeS ( we went to court a number of times)in my case said that if a payment plan can be agreed that pays of the arreas in a reasonable time within the life time of a mortgage then he has to accept it ( WORDING FROM MEMEORY ) WE HAD A PAYMENT PLAN THAT PAID THE ARREAS IN ABOUT HALF THE MORTGAGE LIFE 5 YEARS THIS WAS ACCEPTED HE SAID HEHAD TO AGREE IT at a hearing what you have to do is prove you can pay it take with you a statement of account what you have comining in and out be realistic the problem arises that you feel threatened so you make promisies you cant keep up with No District jufdge will grant apossession if he thinks you canpay it off . but dont offer what you cant afford better to pay a smaller amount and not get further into debt no District judge ( re phrase that )Most Disitrict Judges want to help they do not like the bull boy tactics that these companys use I can only give advice on my expereince if I can give any further help please let me know

Bona

[maybelline]

hello, try not to worry, others have been in the same position, I felt absolutely terrified, I was afraid to speak to them on the phone and would have done anything not to have to go to court but this is just natural emotion, but try to remember that certain types of companies use this to their own advantage, it is difficult to think clearly when you feel so upset so try to get it all down on paper and get a friend or someone trustworthy to cast an objective eye over it and maybe come along to the court also (they may not be allowed in to the hearing without prior permission) everyone on this forum is here to help and no one wants to see you lose your home:) the thing that I think is that it is usually always the folks with the least money who are paying the most for services and it is not fair, the law is their to protect everyone not just for GE to use against you unfairly.

[:Boy:]

Hello again,

 

Thanks Bona and Maybelline for your advice and help. At the moment I am in 2 minds. The Court (hopefully) will not take my house away. The Judge is their to help and mediate and come to an agreement with both parties. I would like to clear all the arrears by the Court date, but that is not going to happen. I believe the Soliciters and GE Money are bullying me into something I can not do (blood from a stone?) its not that I won't pay, I can't pay, I physically do not have the money.

 

I will tell the judge though, on the 8th, that GE Money and the Soliciters have taken a possesion order on less than 2 months arrears, which I believe is unfair, and I will report them to the law society (thanks nightmareforbanks). The £1400 that I owe them, I would like stretched as far as possible i.e 2 years or maybe more. I have valid reasons where we are today, and its hard trying to keep afloat, hopefully the Judge will understand, GE Money did not (I remember the 'Debt Counsellor' stating that GE Money will not do anything and to sell my car to pay the arrears and then sell the house, god I was at a low ebb then).

 

I also have to prove that we are getting on our feet now. This is also not helping the wife as she is 7 months pregnant and the stress is getting to her as well.

 

Anyway, lets hope and pray for a miracle (Lottery sounds good!) I am going into work today to see if they can loan me some money and take it out of my wages. Who knows!

[:Boy:]

Also to add, the last time they took me to repossesion (August 2006) the court date was adjourned, no date set, does this make a diffrence? (we took out a loan to pay the arrears)

[Bona]

Tell the court all this honestly they are not there to take your house away as long as you put forward paractical suggestions and keep to them every thing will be allright whens the baby due if you think you may not be able to make a payment the month the babys due say know rather than miss a payment DJ 's have famillys as well and every one I have come up against re repossession and there have been a few were kindness itself and if by any chance he ordered a possession it will take at least a month time for you to borrow some loot and go back to court but THAT WONT HAPPEN as long as you are honest and dont comitt yourselfs to payments you cant keep.

Bona

[:Boy:]

Again, thanks for your help Bona (sorry I have not replied sooner).

 

I am at the moment trying to get a loan through my company, just waiting to see what is happening at the moment.

 

Best regards

[:Boy:]

I have just recieved a letter from GE Money in regards to my letter I sent asking to pay an additional payment every month.

 

They have stated:

 

In a telephone conversation on the 6.2.7 you advised that the arrears of currently £1475.68 would be cleared prior to the Court Hearing scheduled for the 8.3.7. However you further sent us a letter on the 6.2.7 advising that the arrears would be cleared by additional payments of £184.46. Please confirm which of the above proposals you propose to make.

 

a. I never stated the arrears would be cleared, I stated that we will try to clear them.

b. are they stating that they are going to let me pay additional amounts and not go to Court?

 

Below is a letter that I have typed up in response to todays letter, see what you think:

 

Regarding the above thank you for your letter that we received today. During my telephone call on the 6th February 2007, I stated that we will be trying to clear the arrears before the Court date of the 8th March 2007.

My letter sent on the 6th February 2007, was to offer an additional payment every month, instead of the attending the Court hearing on the 8th March 2007, which would be suspended until the arrears are cleared.

I would prefer to make additional payments on our mortgage, than appearing in Court. If our proposal is accepted (of an additional payment of £184.46) I will notify the Court that we have come to an arrangement, and I would expect yourselves to notify Wragg & Co solicitors and to notify the Court that you have accepted our offer, and that the Possession order is suspended/adjourned.

I have also sent a letter regarding the charges that are applied to our account over the last 17 months, it would be useful for these charges to be applied to the account to offset the arrears; but I look forward to your response from yourselves regarding this other matter.

I look forward to your soonest reply.

 

 

I look forward to any replies/advice/help.

 

Best regards

[zootscoot]

Hi Boy,

 

You may like to add that under the overriding objectives they are under an obligation to facilitate settlement rather than take the time of the courts. Also point out that if the court is of the view that they have refused a reasonable offer then the court may order that they pay their own legal costs.

 

Also are you sure you can afford the amount you have offered? If it does go to court they will order that you pay only what you can afford. It needs to be realistic otherwise you will only end up in arrears again. The courts will often award payments much less than what the companies are demanding and they know this.

 

Best of luck with this and sorry for not getting back to you sooner.

 

Zoot

[:Boy:]

Thanks for your reply Zoot. At the moment, I have so many things going on, I don't know what to do.

 

I know I will be able to pay the arrears off but not right at this moment, maybe in May/June time.

 

I would like this to go to Court, as I would like a lower monthly payments, but who knows what will happen.

 

The offer that I made to them I can afford..just. It would be nice of them to decline it though. I will add what you have said (above) in the letter and we will see what happens.

 

I will update as soon as I know whats going on/GE Money contact me.

 

Best regards

[zootscoot]

Best of luck!

[Goldlady]

Hi, we are in similar situation with GE Money and expecting the second repossession order in twelve months to drop through the letterbox any day now as we are just under two months in arrears and they tried the same thing last year. We were terrified last time (four kids to consider) and borrowed the money from family, but I am going down fighting this time! I understand from a friend who often presides over repossession hearings that if the 'underdogs' are working and have tried to make reasonable arrangements (which as everyone in the above thread has pointed out are a no-go with this bunch) then the chances are that the judge will be sympathetic and make them be reasonable. I have heard somewhere that the courts can order the security on the property to be taken away from them as well. I'm still terrified though and am trying to find someone who can help me. It's all very well being brave and going to court, but what if?..... This is our home of the past ten years.

 

I cannot understand why GE Money are SO unreasonable! My partner had a screaming row on the phone with one of their debt collectors yesterday - they refuse point blank to reduce the payments, will only consider extending the term of the loan or changing to interest only once the payments are up to date!!!! Which planet are these people on? I have my own IVA with credit card companies, interest frozen and all sorted (for the time being), and our main mortgage company (Platform) have changed our mortgage to interest only for three years while we sort ourselves out.

 

We had a letter last week from GE Money saying that they were going to send a debt counsellor which it says will cost us £88.13. Then this idiot rang my partner and said that he could do better than this debt counsellor and save us this money (which made us wonder if the debt counselling offer is something they aren't keen on doing but are perhaps legally bound to to - but then if so why didn't they do this last year?) In fact last year they hit us with the repossession order when their bods on the telephone were telling us not to worry as we would only be charged £40 per month for being in arrears. The repossession order came out of the blue and we were between 2-3 months behind at the time.

 

How have these people got the right to behave the way they do when every other financial institution has its tail between its legs at the moment? It's about time they had their horns trimmed and if anyone can help me fight this bunch of bullies I will take them on.

 

HELP PLEASE

 

Linda

[Bona]

Just take it step by step pay what you can each month even if it is not the whole amount anything is better than nothing and helps .Spread your arreas over a period you can afford and write ,dont phone as people get heated and you have no record of what you have said, if they refuse, pay what you have suggested regardless, if you get a repossession hearing then you can deal with it , The last thing any District Judge wants to do is take your house away, but it is very important that you only offer what you can afford and you keep to it. If the worse came to the worse there are other avenues to follow, but theres no point going down that road untill is happens which it probally wont. a lot of us have been there and it can be sorted

Bona

[:Boy:]

I feel for you Linda, that's why I don't phone them anymore, theres no point, read my post above when they state 'In a telephone conversation on the 6.2.7 you advised that the arrears of currently £1475.68 would be cleared prior to the Court Hearing scheduled for the 8.3.7. I never advised them of that!

 

Anyway, I am still awaiting a response from them

[:Boy:]

Hello again, this is a letter that I have recieved from GE Money today:

 

Following a review of your account, your monthly instalment has increased to £1010.03 with effect from 19th March 2007.

We have made this change to include repayment of your fee balance of £1535.83. Should all payments be recieved, these fees will be repaid over the remaining term of your loan.

Please note:

The above revised amount does not include any amounts to clear arrears.

You currently have an arrangement in place to pay an agreed amount each month, to cover your monthly instalement and an amount towards your arrears. Due to the increase in your monthly instalement to ensure fees and additional interest are repaid within the mortgage term, the amount to reduce the arrears will now be less than originally agreed. Therefore the arrears will not be cleared within the timescale agreed and additional interest will be charged.

You must contact by return us to review this arrangement to ensure that the arrears are cleared within the original timescale agreed.

What I don't understand is the £1535.83 comes from. My arrears are £1465.00 including fees and additional interest. This seems to happen every 4 or 5 months where they say we owe them £1000 odd in fees and interest and that this will be added to the loan etc etc. Considering 18 months ago our monthly payments were £998.69, it just seems to be going up with this 'fee balance' (what is a fee balance, as I have paid fees on all of the arrears/monthly payments)

 

Are they agreeing to our monthly instalements that we proposed?, Should we not get this in writing from them that they agree to this amount for the next 8/9 months?

 

Why can't the include the arrears into the term of the mortgage, like this 'fee balance'? (could I , if I go to Court, mention this to the judge?)

 

I also now take it, that they are still going to charge us the £40 every month for being in arrears on top of the mortgage payment and the additional payments we are making?

 

Look forward to any help, and what response that I can give them, because I am not discussing this over the phone with them, better by writing I think!

[Bona]

I Think you need to write to them asking for a staement of your account from inception this will show you what they are adding and you canthen check in your agreement what they are and challenge them

 

Bona

[:Boy:]

I have got my head around this fee balance malarky. All payments that I have made are for the interest on the mortgage. All the charges, Soliciter fee's/debt counselling, additional interest, are (I believe) on a different statement. So when I phone to pay the arrears, that's what I am doing, I have not made any payment againts the 'fee balance'.

 

Anyway, I have phoned GE Money regarding the arrangement, and they have stated that they have accepted my proposal. But it gets better!

 

They then state that the first date to make the new payments is MONDAY! I stated that I have not recieved a letter from them to say they have agreed to this. He said that the letter was sent today, and I would get it tomorrow! So they have agreed to start the new payments on the 2nd of the month, now after I stated that I have no money, and that they have not given me sufficent notice.

 

They did state however, that if we miss or not pay enough now on the 2nd of the month that they will then apply for 'Absolute Possesion' of the house. So my question is, can they do this, even if there is a situation out of my control?

 

I phoned the Court about an 'Absolute Possesion' and they had never heard of this?

 

Look forward to any views

[Bona]

All they can do is apply for a possession order which if you have a court date they could well do even if you have made an arrangement with them they will then probally ask for it to be suspended on terms what you have agreed. If they get a possession order and dont have it suspended on terms they can then get a Baliffs appoinment if you miss , without going back to court.If they have a suspended possession order they then I think have to go back to court and say you havnt complied and get the possession order. What ever you do unless the court office tell you they have withdrawn go and make sure any order is suspended or not given. these people are buggers and you need to make sure they havn,t led you to believe that you ar safe , The Judge will be on your side If the judge agrees to your payment plan you can say that there costs in coming to court were unreasonable as you had agreed a plan and you thought they were going to withdraw so you shouldn pay there costs

 

Bona

 

Bona

[:Boy:]

Thanks for the advice, its appreciated.

 

Well ironically today, Abbey have settled for £900, so at the mo, don't know what to do (got other bills to pay as well). I might go along with the payment plan, they gave us standing order details (at last) so we can pay online, when we have spare cash. I am still awaiting my work to see if they can do me a loan.

 

It will be interesting if my Pre-lim for charges will work now, as they have not actually added this onto the mortgage as such, now I see that we have not paid it.

[Goldlady]

God these people are scary! It has been on our local news that they are opening a super new call centre in Newcastle on Tyne because their Chief Exec thinks the people from this area will be friendly to their valued customers! Well, it won't be far for us to travel if we need to thump someone! I am trying every avenue I can think of to work out how to deal with the problem - thanks for the tip about making them an offer and then paying that that amount, regardless of what they say; I do know that's the sort of thing that impresses judges.

 

I think our previous repossession order is still hanging around like a bad smell and will rear its ugly head very soon - I seem to remember getting a letter saying that they had 'suspended' it. Hopefully that will mean they won't be charging us another £400 or whatever again!!!

 

Re the charges, I haven't really sat down and studied the statements but must find the time to do it. I got an up to date copy of my equifax report yesterday and although we have paid £557 per month for the last year our account balance has only gone down by about a thousand!!! Something amiss there.

 

I have also had incorrect responses to telephone conversations like yours, Boy, where I said we would pay X and their response letter says I agreed to pay off the whole of the arrears. Our next payment is due on the 19th so we are hopefully going to find the money.

 

I am still convinced that we would all be treated with the respect we deserve in court, but what a chance to have to take? If I find anyone who can help I will let you all know.

 

Linda

[pj41]

Hi all,

 

I hate this company with a passion.

 

I recon that their charges and fees amount to extortion!

 

I suppose the simple answer is, change lender. I will be investigating the options on this very soon.

 

Just because people get into difficulty and need a "helping hand" doesn't give these companies the right to take the p**s and charge such high fees and interest. OK we may be a "high" risk customer, but we have put our homes as collateral and that surely negates some of the high risk charges.

 

If GE charge enough interest and fees eventually GE will reposses someones' home and make another fast buck.

 

Enough is enough. Vote with your feet!!!

 

 

pj

[maybelline]

do not be led down the garden path by this company, if it goes into court make sure you say everything you need to happen and an affordable repayment rate and get the written copy of the decision, GE will probably try something on at the court as well by trying to speak to you to make an arrangement before seeing the judge, they will make out they know the judge also, prepare yourself well for court, the judge is not a chum of anyones solicitors so dont be fooled by them!