Arrears now paid - what next?

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I was due in court on Wednesday of this week for repossession of my home, but a member of my family has cleared their savings account to help me pay off the arrears. When I spoke to the litigation dept of I-Group, they said that they would tell the court I had paid and the matter would be adjourned, but not cancelled completely. I asked why this was if there were no outstanding arrears, and they said that if I missed any more payments they would be able to put me straight back in court. Is this correct?

-- Tina Ryan (tina@tinaryan.me.uk), February 21, 2005

Answers

yes

-- Anon (Badger@onetel.com), February 22, 2005.

No.

If you have cleared all the arrears the I group and well they know it the matter must be cancelled, they cant simply adjourn on the basis you might go into arrears again.

If you gave them a cheque that is yet to clear then they can adjourn until the next available date in the courts diary so that in the event of the cheque bouncing they can proceed with action.

If the funds are cleared then the matter must be vacated in full.

-- Lee Wisener (lee@wisener.net), February 22, 2005.


Tina,

I think it would be a good idea for you to contact the NAMV (National Association of Mortgage Victims) who have been involved in I-Group and Ocwen cases (even if you have settled). See their Website http://www.namv.org.uk/ If you do contact them I would advise you to telephone. NAMV are still operating, contrary to what some people have said.

Ocwen and iGroup and the many associated companies have, it is alleged, been involved in a major scam some time ago and seem to be trying to 'settle' their way out of it.

Mark.

-- M Amos (idgroms@hotmail.com), February 26, 2005.


Dear Tina,

You may have already received legal advice on your question, however, in case you had not I thought I would provide an answer to your question from the perspective of someone who represents mortgage companies on a daily basis in possession claims.

The position where an account falls into arrears is that generally under the mortgage contract the lender is entitled to issue possession proceedings against the borrower. If by the hearing date the borrower has cleared their arrears or reduced them to an acceptable level the proper course is for the matter to be "adjourned generally with liberty to restore" - Halifax v Taffs (Court of Appeal, Civil Division) (Unreported) 2nd February 1999.

Where a District Judge adjourns a matter generally with liberty to restore he will also usually include a date at which the proceedings will be struck out (i.e. cancelled) if a request to restore is not received within that period (usually six to twelve months). The reason for including such a date is so as to avoid the Court Files being inundated with thousands of possession cases adjourned indefinitely.

The effect of a general adjournment is that if the borrower does fall into arrears on their account again within the aforementioned period the lender can apply to Court to have the proceedings restored and a new hearing date provided.

This mechanism not only assists the lender in avoiding the inconvenience of issuing new proceedings but also keeps legal costs in the case to a minimum. Under the mortgage contract the borrower is usually made liable to pay any legal costs incurred as a result of their default and therefore all of the costs of the proceedings will be added to your account. Therefore, if every case was cancelled after a borrower cleared the arrears then if they were to default again the costs of issuing another case would have to be paid by the borrower (the Court issue fee alone is £150.00 without even considering the Solicitor's costs of drafting new pleadings etc.) while restoring proceedings only involves the cost of writing to Court.

In any event, providing you do not fall into arrears within the period set by the Court the proceedings will be struck out after that time period has elapsed.

I hope this is of some assistance.

-- Anon (ac012t9132@blueyonder.co.uk), March 05, 2005.


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