Abbey National - cheats

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Repossession : One Thread

I am today calling Abbey National cheats as they took my husband to court and forgot to tell the judge that my husband was seriously ill in hospital and that was the reason he was not there. They also forgot to tell the judge that I had made an agreement which they had accepted, and that my husbands consultant had agreed to write a letter which they did not bother to inform the judge of either. They informed the judge that my husband could not be bothered to show up and so they got the repossession order. I then informed the court, and they have told me to get a N244 form and send 60 pounds to have the judgement overturned as we have remortgaged our home. And the new mortgage will come into effect before the date we have been told to leave our home.

The Abbey have been extreamly unhelpful and uncaring since my husband became ill and would not reduce the payments to intrest only for a set period. I am disabled and the Abbey know this, yet the have continued to make a dreadful time unbearable.

I cannot stress strongly enough how much I hate them, and their bully boy behavior.

-- Marga-Rhett Smith (MCFC1953@fsmail.net), April 08, 2004

Answers

You have to understand that if one party to a court hearing for possession does not show up (particularly if it is the debtor), then the judge really has no alternative but to make a possession order.

You are always advised to turn up at these hearings - if you read my postings previously, I advocate that turning up at a possession hearing takes priority over everything - to ignore this advice is potentially to lose your home.

Now, that having been said, I accept your husband could not go - but surely you could have either gone yourself and explained why your husband was not there?

You are unlikely to get the judgment overturned, more likely it will be a suspended possesion order in place of the one which was made which I assume was an absolute possession order. Why bother when the new mortgage will pay off the AN before the date given for leaving?

You could have done a lot more for yourself to avoid grief in my opinion - it is likely that AN will have employed a local solicitor to represent them at the hearing, that person may not have been briefed on the illness etc., you should have gone to the court to explain, or got a solicitor to do that for you.

You will be mindful won't you that your mortgage debt will have gone up by about £400 to £600 as a result of them taking you to court - the possession order fee alone is £150 and they are entitled to add that and the solicitors fees to your mortgage balance - be prepared for this when it comes to paying AN off!!!!

-- David J. Button (davidjohnbutton@supanet.com), April 08, 2004.


I did phone their solicitor's twice and they did know about my husbands illness, they were also told about my husbands consultant offering to write on his behalf, and were asked to make contact with the consultant but couldn't be bothered, AN still wanted to go ahead, I also phoned the court who told me AN could and should have disclosed my information to the judge and it appears they did not. I was going to go and what with my own poor health and all the stress I am under as my husband has been fighting for his life for the past 4 weeks I turned up a day late. While that is no excuse, I think AN have wanted to repossess as my home is in a very sort after area, as I have said they have made things as difficult as possibe, not offered any help and dispite being made an offer which they accepted they still took my husband to court. I hate them and yes I do believe they adopt bully boy behavior, and are uncaring and unhelpful. on my visit to the court all the cases were of behalf of AN. I would love to see them get what's due to them.

-- Marga-Rhett Smith (MCFC1953@fsmail.net), April 08, 2004.

Hi Marga - sorry to hear about how you have been dealt.

Sadly, David is legally correct, however as you feel very strongly about this may I suggest you write a letter of complaint to : -

Mr Luqman Arnold - Chief Executive Abbey National House 2 Triton Square Regent's Place London NW1 3AN

This chap is the equivalent of God in the Abbey Group.

Try not to be too strong in your wording and explain how you believe you have not received fairness from them. Detail what happened in court and why you couldnt attend due to your disability. Let him know what is happening on the 'shop floor' - you never know and afterall you have nothing to loose as your remortgaging.

-- who?? (who@idontwanttosay.com), April 08, 2004.


Thanks for your reply and the address, I shall write to him and put my case and avoid being too angry. However if I do not get an appology I also intend to write to Watchdog and the press. AN have got away for too long being selfish and uncaring, and taking people to court without giving them any help or support as others try. This seems to be there first plan of action and not a last line of defence.

-- Marga-Rhett Smith (MCFC1953@fsmail.net), April 09, 2004.

I think the VERY LEAST you can expect is an apology.

If Cheif Exec of Abbey doesnt respond to your satisfaction then Media would almost certainly be interested due to your husbands and your own health circumstances - try Sun Money and Daily Express's Crusader - both seem to get results from the big lenders but I and others have found Watchdog to be a complete waste of time.

Good luck

Let us know how you get on

-- who?? (who@idontwanttosay.com), April 09, 2004.



I would agree that it might be worthwhile writing to Mr Arnold....I was at the end of my tether trying to reason with Abbey re my shortfall because under Scots Law it was time barred....but would they listen???? NO!

However one day not long after he was appointed I phoned his office to speak to him (I knew I wouldn't get him). I got an e mail contact for his office and then e mailed the facts. I did intimate that as we were not progressing in a positive way that under duress I might have no option but to go to the National press. At this stage I had nothing to lose and although I don't like the way the press handles these stories I thought "what the heck"!

Anyway the result was that they conceded and accepted my very small full and final offer.

It is really really important that you stick to the facts and remain polite and not be hostile or aggressive.

Give it a bash.....and I truly wish you lots of luck!!

Moira

-- Moira (Anderston828@aol.com), April 10, 2004.


I'm very sorry to learn of your situation too, I concur with what has been said already. Another thing you might wish to consider is contacting your local MP, if he/she is not helpful try Mike Hancock MP for Portsmouth South (see EDM 62 on Home Repo "Repossession" page). As AN are members of the CML you could also throw the Council of Mortgage Lenders Code at them, which they are obviously not adhering to. Look at the following taken from the CML's own website, see: http://www.cml.org.uk/servlet/dycon/zt- cml/cml/live/en/cml/pub_info_arrears

Mortgage Arrears

General Principles

2. The following general principles are relevant to the question of mortgage arrears -

(a) When a borrower falls into arrears, the problem should be handled sympathetically and positively by the lender. The lender's first step will be to try to contact the borrower to discuss the matter.

(b) As soon as financial difficulties arise, the borrower should let the lender know as soon as possible.

(c) Once contact has been established, a plan for dealing with the borrower's financial difficulties and clearing the arrears will be developed consistent with the interests of both the borrower and the lender.

(d) Possession of the property will be sought only as a last resort when attempts to reach alternative arrangements with borrowers have been unsuccessful. The borrower will remain liable for the full mortgage debt.

Good Luck.

Mark.

-- M Amos (idgroms@hotmail.com), April 10, 2004.


Thanks to all who have contributed, I did write to Mr Arnold and although I did not get a reply from him personally I did get one from another department and in short they accept we are re-mortgaging and so the repossession order has been stopped. This in it's self is a relief, I did not get an appology and they want to charge an extra 2000 in intrest on the amount we borrowed which I think is greedy. I will be delighted to see the back of them I can tell you. This is not the end I see it as my public duty to write a long letter to my local paper to warn others to have nothing to do with AN.

-- Marga-Rhett Smith (MCFC1953@fsmail.net), April 21, 2004.

Abbey National's performance in legal matters falls far short of fair play.

Please my web site www.zcredit.co.uk for details of my dad's Abbey National story.

I would suggest that there are a number of avenues you can consider;

1, Obtain a transcript of the hearing, the judgment, and order. The court will be able to advise if these are available. Check the fee's, but its not too much for a quick bit of lies. It can be very interesting to see what was actually said.

2, Complain to the Law Society about the solicitors. Unprofessional conduct, misleading the court. They will do nothing, since all they do is protect solicitors. But when they have finished doing nothing, complain to the Legal Services Ombudsman.

3, Complain to the Financial Ombudsman. The FO are ok, but they need a prod sometimes.

Good Luck.

Zena

-- Zena Johnson (zena@zcredit.co.uk), April 25, 2004.


By the way, if you e on Income Support the £60 court charge for an application is excempt.

Good Luck.

Zena

-- (zena@zcredit.co.uk), April 25, 2004.



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