Please help - Repossession !

Startinover

We do have a letter from them agreeing to the payment plan, I have asked them twice for their bank account details so that I could set up a standing order instead and they have never sent them to us. Can my bank send me copies of the cashed cheques? they show on my statement but would that be proof enough? It only shows the cheque number -although I have the cheque stubs.

If we pay them the full amount of the arrears do we also have to pay the court fees and admin charges before they will stop proceedings?? This means we owe them £481 plus a further £316 in fees - madness!! Can we complain to some sort of ombudsman??

econnin

hi there. Are you sure you have paid each instalment on time by the due date each month? Did you receive a copy of the particulars of claim? What did that say?They would not issue proceedings if the arrangement has been maintained, so they must believe it has been broken some how. Or it is simply an admin error (they do happen). No payment has bounced has it? Your OH can provide written authority for you to deal with GE and discuss his account. They shouldn't be awkward as no Judge in the land will give them possession of the house if they have not been treating you fairly when you have a willingness to pay!! If you repay the arrears in full this would halt all proceedings. However, GE will have to adjourn proceedings 'with liberty to restore', which means that should any further defaults happen, they can simply pick up where they left off. If they have issued proceedings incorrectly (that is, you maintained the repayment arrangement and it was an error on their part), then demand that they refund all associated litigation costs to the mortgage account, and WITHDRAW proceedings (not adjourn them).

It really would be beneficial to speak to GE or their solicitors ASAP and find out why they believe the arrangement to be broken. Ask for a fax number and fax over signed written authority from your OH for you to speak to GE about his mortgage account, or e-mail it, so that they can speak to you straight away. Then explain that you do not feel your OH has been treated fairly, detailing what you have said above, and mention taking this to the ombudsman. Don't forget that your OH is still their customer, and they still have to treat him fairly (providing clear information, being open, honest and transaparant). If it turns out that you are unknowingly in breach of the agreement, then you can offer to repay the arrears before the hearing date, so that no order is made against your OH.

With regards to the litigation costs, you will need to ask GE specifically whether they add them to the arrears or not. They shouldn't really as it adds to your financial difficulty, and the ombudsman or the judge might not look favourably on this.

In short, keep calling them and get some answers. Call the court and ask for a copy of the particulars of claim. If you really can't get through to anyone in any department in GE or the solicitors, then send an e-mail and a letter, copy to the court, and keep trying. It is up to GE to prove to the court that you have defaulted on the arrangement and that they deserve a possession order. They have a long way to go before they can physically take possession, but you want to resolve this before the hearing if possible to avoid any further costs and a potential possession order (which is valid for 6 years). And keep making the payments in the meantime, don't give them any other reason to continue with proceedings.

Good luck.

Jesthar

If you have an agreement in writing, then I would have hoped that as long as you can show you have been keeping to the terms of that agreement GE wouldn't have a leg to stand on if challenged. I'm no expert, though, so see what the CAB or the debt charities have to say about it all.

Whatever you do, KEEP MAKING THE AGREED PAYMENTS ON TIME. That way your willingness and commitment to paying can't be questioned.

~Jes

Startinover

Thank you so much, we are writing to GE to try and resolve this. I have sent the cheques on time each month but notice on my account that sometimes they have taken up to 10 days to go through my account, even so we did complete a direct debit which they refused and have offered no other alternative method of payment even though we have asked - it is all so unfair, but what do they care!?

Will the Halifax be notified that they have started possession proceedings?? Worried that they may do the same now!!

Jesthar

Are you posting the cheques? If you haven't already, start sending them recorded delivery so there can be no dispute about if/when they were received. If it was done at your bank, then they will have a record of the transaction.

Also, as soon as your husband has an account open, inform GE of that (in writing, too) and try the DD again - again do things in writing so there is a paper trail.

Oh, and if you've got evidence of your requests for alternate methods of payment, you need to keep them safe too - basically, hoard anything that shows you have been bending over backwards to work around their awkwardness and stall tactics...

And, again, see what the experts have to say. They'll have a much better idea than me.

~Jes

Workie_Ticket

GE Money send us a monthly arrears statement each month - details of payments made are always detailed on there. I have had an issue where a cheque I sent was allocated to another account, but they transferred it to ours once I sent them the copy of the cashed cheque from my bank.

It is essential that you put any arrangement proposals in writing as they should not start porceedings for repossession if there is an arrangement in place and you are sticking to it - this includes being spot on with dates. GE Money had a possession order granted against us in December 2007 because we didn't stick to the arrangement. However, we have put another arrangement in place and we are clearing the arrears so no further action has been taken. We hope to have cleared the arrears by this time next year and then we will be carrying on with the same paynment just to get rid of the loan.

Workie_Ticket

We have arrears with Norhtern Rock and they haven't taken any action so I wouldn't think the Halifax would.

econnin

if you are sticking to the arrangement with halifax, they will not issue proceedings. GE should notify them of GE's proceedings as a matter of courtesy.

It could be that the cheque payments have taken too long to be allocated to the account, missing the payment date. GE's system would count it as a missed payment. Getting a real person at GE to look at the account and all the payments received would hopefully resolve the problem if that is the case. Remember it is not in GE's interest to repossess the house at all; they would much rather make a fat profit off your interest payments.

onlyme12

they ain't all that bad to be honest,
* if your arrears are less than 3 months or £600 then they wont and cant take further action.
* they would never not give you their bank details its in their interest to provide them
* if you do end up going to court with over 3 mth of arrears then get an arrangement in place and they will apply for a suspended order which means so long as the arrangement remains in place and the arrears get cleared then no further action will be taken. once the arrears are cleared then the order ceases to be valid. if no arrangement then they will apply for an outright order which will typicall give you 28 days to get an arrangement in place then they can continue to reposession if they wish, but honestly generally they wont for a while so long as you keep in touch and maintain payments
* if the charge is second they will generally ask the 1st charge what the account status is ( which they can do without failing dpa as in the t&c it does give them the right to contact other charges) they will generally wait for the 1st charge to take action
* you must agree a date to which payments will be made and stick to it, if sending cheque that gets credited straight away, sending standing order that can take up to 5 working days to be received then its credited, if you send faster payments it wont show on their system till the next working day. debit card and direct debit are the best.
* 3rd party direct debits are generally not accepted as they could potentially show other interest in the property
* the ombudsman or fsa will not look at your complaint until you have been through ge complaints procedure first.
* any fees applied will not be applied to the arrears, the arrears are purely missed monthly payments
* agreeing a repayment they will go as low as spreading the arrears over 24 month if needed.
* they also consider putting the arrears over the term of the loan called capitalisation but you need to maintain min of 3 monthly payments with something to the arrears.
* if you have sent cheques send in your bank statement showing the cheques to ge and they will locate and apply. most of the time people either dont or they put wrong account details on the back( lots of pepole put their own bank account number on the back inbstead of the ge loan account number
* they can search on 1st charge accounts while you are on the phone but this can take a few min, you will need the date they would have received the cheque, the exact amount , the cheque number then they can search the unallocated payment system,
* as i say they are not as bad as people make out just speak to them.
* hope this helps
* i used to work for them until about 2 mth ago so am pretty up to speed on their processes

dancingfairy

Hi - it sounds like you are doing the right things although I have no experience so I would
a) phone National Debtline for advice and
b) check out thee court claim form - because 1) they might not have followed the correct procedure and 2) you might have a timeline to submit a defence - I don't know but if you need to reply to the court claim then you need to prioritise that.
Good Luck
df