Contacts for Complaint
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MCOB 13: Arrears and repossessions is of particular importance in the context of mortgage litigation:
13.1 Application
Who does it apply to?
Mortgage lenders and mortgage administrators (and firms that were mortgage lenders or mortgage administrators before the sale of a repossessed property took place).
13.2 Purpose
What does it do?
It applies the provisions of MCOB 13 with respect to administering a regulated mortgage contract, and administering a mortgage shortfall debt
It amplifies MCOB 6 (duty to treat customers fairly) in respect of the information and service provided to customers who have payment difficulties or face a mortgage shortfall debt
13.3 Dealing fairly with customers in arrears: policy and procedures
(1) A firm must deal fairly with any customer who:
is in arrears on a regulated mortgage contract; or
has a mortgage shortfall debt
(2) A firm must put in place, and operate in accordance with, a written policy (agreed by its respective governing body) and procedures for complying with (1).
13.3.2 Policy and procedures: content
A firm should ensure that its written policy and procedures include:
(a) using reasonable efforts to reach an agreement with a customer over the method of repaying any payment shortfall or mortgage shortfall debt, in the case of the former having regard to the desirability of agreeing with the customer an alternative to taking possession of the property;
(b) liaising, if the customer makes arrangements for this, with a third party source of advice regarding the payment shortfall or mortgage shortfall debt;
(c) adopting a reasonable approach to the time over which the payment shortfall or mortgage shortfall debt should be repaid, having particular regard to the need to establish, where feasible, a payment plan which is practical in terms of the circumstances of the customer;
(d) granting, unless it has good reason not to do so, a customer's request for a change to:
(i) the date on which the payment is due (providing it is within the same payment period); or
(ii) the method by which payment is made;
and giving the customer a written explanation of its reasons if it refuses the request;
(e) giving consideration, where no reasonable payment arrangement can be made, to the customer being allowed to remain in possession to effect a sale; and
(f) repossessing the property only where all other reasonable attempts to resolve the position have failed.
13.3.9 Record keeping: arrears and repossessions
(1) A firm must make and retain an adequate record of its dealings with a customer whose account is in arrears or who has a mortgage shortfall debt, which will enable the firm to show its compliance with MCOB 13.4 (Arrears: provision of information to the customer), MCOB 13.5 (Dealing with a customer in arrears or with a mortgage shortfall debt) and MCOB 13.6 (Repossessions).
(2) A firm must retain the record required by (1) for a year from the date on which the relevant payment shortfall or mortgage shortfall debt was cleared.
13.4 Arrears: provision of information to the customer
If a customer falls into arrears on a regulated mortgage contract, a firm must as soon as possible, and in any event within 15 business days of becoming aware of that fact, provide the customer with the following in a durable medium:
(1) the current FSA information sheet on mortgage arrears;
(2) a list of the due payments either missed or only paid in part;
(3) the total sum of the payment shortfall;
(4) the charges incurred as a result of the payment shortfall;
(5) the total outstanding debt, excluding charges that may be added on redemption; and
(6) an indication of the nature (and where possible the level) of charges the customer is likely to incur unless the payment shortfall is cleared.
13.4.4 Customers in arrears within the past 12 months
If a customer's account has previously fallen into arrears within the past 12 months (and at that time the customer received the disclosure required by MCOB 13.4.1 R), the arrears have been cleared and the customer's account falls into arrears on a subsequent occasion a firm must either:
(1) issue a further disclosure in compliance with MCOB 13.4.1 R; or
(2) provide a statement, in a durable medium, of the payments due, the actual payment shortfall, any charges incurred and the total outstanding debt excluding any charges that may be added on redemption, together with information as to the consequences, including repossession, if the payment shortfall is not cleared.
13.4.5 Steps required before action for repossession
Before commencing action for repossession, a firm must:
(1) provide a written update of the information required by MCOB 13.4.1 R(2), (3), (4), (5) and (6);
(2) ensure that the customer is informed of the need to contact the local authority to establish whether the customer is eligible for local authority housing after his property is repossessed; and
(3) clearly state the action that will be taken with regard to repossession.
13.5 Dealing with a customer in arrears or with a mortgage shortfall debt
13.5.1 Statement of charges
Where an account is in arrears, and the payment shortfall or mortgage shortfall debt is attracting charges, a firm must provide the customer with a regular written statement (at least once a quarter) of the payments due, the actual payment shortfall, the charges incurred and the debt.
13.5.3 Pressure on customers
A firm must not put pressure on a customer through excessive telephone calls or correspondence, or by contact at an unreasonable hour.
13.6 Repossession
A firm must ensure that, whenever a property is repossessed (whether voluntarily or through legal action) and it administers the regulated mortgage contract in respect of that property, steps are taken to:
(1) market the property for sale as soon as possible; and
(2) obtain the best price that might reasonably be paid, taking account of factors such as market conditions as well as the continuing increase in the amount owed by the customer under the regulated mortgage contract.
13.6.3 If the proceeds of sale are less than the debt
(1) A firm must ensure that, as soon as possible after the sale of a repossessed property, if the proceeds of sale are less than the amount of the customer's debt, the customer is informed in a durable medium of:
(a) the mortgage shortfall debt; and
(b) where relevant, the fact that the mortgage shortfall debt may be pursued by another company (for example, a mortgage indemnity insurer).
(2) If the decision is made to recover the mortgage shortfall debt, the firm must ensure that the customer is notified of this intention.
The notification referred to in (1) must take place within five years of the date of the sale (if the regulated mortgage contract is subject to Scottish law) or within six years (in all other cases).
13.6.6 If the proceeds of sale are more than the debt
A firm must ensure that, on the sale of a repossessed property, if the proceeds of sale are more than the amount of the customer's debt, reasonable steps are taken, as soon as possible after the sale, to inform the customer in a durable medium of the surplus and, subject to the rights of any subsequent mortgage or charge holders, to pay it to him.
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I am hoping someone is still live on this site, I have two issues one for me and one for a relative. me: I re Read the post
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Incase you write APPLE' then you may want to draw an apple beside the term. Kid friendly possess a appetizers should Read the post
Mmm ... I'm struggling to think why the filthy capstone / Acenden would be engaging in these despicable practices. Read the post
Have just logged onto the website to pay the monthly bill which should have been for May 1st but I have an arrangement Read the post
We're a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community. Your website provided us with valuable info to Read the post
Ira, you should try and put yourself in the position of your whingeing customers you have quite clearly stereotyped and Read the post
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How do I go about making this happen and putting my complaint forward? they have caused me nothing but misery and Read the post
We aim:
1. To name and shame Capstone Mortgage Services as a disgraceful Third Party Administrator which specialises in ripping people off before dispossessing them.
2. To highlight the appalling practices of this firm which are systemic and unlawful and which cause huge consumer detriment.
3. To highlight the fact of insolvent trading by the Lehman Bros entities including SPML, SPPL, and PML; to further highlight their failure to comply with their legal responsibilities to submit accounts or appoint directors.
4. To challenge the locus standi of Capstone Mortgage Services to issue claim on behalf of the originating lender.
5. To campaign and lobby the regulators such as the Financial Services Authority to halt these abuses NOW, by applying the law and regulations as they exist.
6. To assist anyone in the process of fighting unlawful, falsely premised and vexatious repossession claims to mount a viable defence.
7. To campaign for fairer hearings before the courts in repossession claims than the anecdotal evidence suggests is currently the case.
8. To encourage in the media wider reporting of the fall-out for thousands of British families and households of the Lehman Bros bankruptcy.
9. To alert all concerned that the cynical makeover from Capstone to Acenden is nothing more than a PR rebranding exercise and has if anything resulted in more of the same from this appalling 'mortgage servicer.'
This is not just our manifesto. It is yours too. Feel free to post up suggestions and they will be considered for inclusion.
In terms of the issues raised around securitisation, we expect a firm to adopt the same approach to forbearance for borrowers with mortgages that have been securitised as for borrowers whose mortgages remain on the firm’s books. Securitisation covenants should not constrict a firm’s ability to treat its customers fairly by exercising appropriate forbearance strategies.
Margaret Cole, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FSA said:
"FSA rules ensure that financial services firms operate safely, protecting both their customers and the industry itself. Anyone found flouting those rules will face stiff penalties."
Really? Or did you mean THIS:
When I use a word,' said.... in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."
SPML 56% found in favour of complainant
1 July 2009 – 31 December 2009 – new cases
Kensington 50
SPML 56
1 July 2009 – 31 December 2009 – resolved cases
Kensington 50% resolved in favour of complainant
SPML 40% resolved in favour of complainant
1 January 2009 – 30 June 2009 – new cases
GMAC 54
Kensington 70
Preferred Mortgages 31
SPML 92
1 January 2009 – 30 June 2009 – resolved cases
GMAC 74% resolved in favour of complainant
Kensington 37% resolved in favour of complainant
Preferred 56% resolved in favour of complainant
SPML 48% resolved in favour of complainant
Direct from SPPL's Tariffs and Charges 2010
"All fees and charges are inclusive of VAT where applicable."
Now, where did we put those SPPL Accounts...?
From the many prospectuses...
"Neither the Issuer nor the Trustee currently intend to effect any registration at The Land Registry of England and Wales, the Registers of Northern Ireland or any registration or recording in the Registers of Scotland to protect the sale of the Loans"
Why not? It is a legal requirement that they do so and any failure amounts to a criminal offence.
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Hi,
Are Capstone trading illegally and as they have brought my home loan from London Morgage Company and Southern Pacific all part of the above group, having gone bankrupt, do I have any obligation to pay them? They have tried every illegal dirty trick in the book to get my home in the last three years and have been thwarted. They claim the court order is valid for 6 years but have produced no proof of this and cannot produce our contract as they have lost our original records. They have also lost three years payments and they have claimed an arrears three times that it should be. They have added £6000 in charges in one year and the money that the DWP pays to them has vanished. They refuse to deal with our representatives even though they have our signed consent and as they have lost the records want our last three years bank statements and our passports by the end of November or they will get a warrent to reprocess the house. On what grounds? We have not given them enough information to trace money they have lost in the first place. These people are rougues and I am going to try and have their order set aside and appeal all rulings in the High Court and make a complaint to Company House. I am not paying them any money now until they find what they have lost. The house is also now on the market and with any luck we will be out of here by the New Year. Then before I pay any money I am taking off the charges and another £5000 for stress!
Cheers
Lyn-Marie
Hi Lyn-Marie, Sounds like Capstone, that is there normal way. Something we are all going through every
day with these people.
Send an e-mail to the FSA Supervisory section, outline all the points of your complaint and what
they have done.
A supervisor will call you and you can expand on your e-mail details.
Regarding the purchase of loans from SPML etc, Ask them to provide the sale contract inter-company, then contact the land registery for a copy of the registration. Spml is a shelf company No staff,Not trading, check there end of year accounts filed with
company house. The CEO of SPML is the CEO of capstone now. Spml has one director (name only) out
service company sec service. No staff costs.
The list goes on and on. Ask an accounting firm to
audit your mortgage account from the time the broker
sold you this pile of c–p, from there appeal to the High Court £360 fee to set-aside your SPO
Lyn-Marie
CAPSTONE DON’T OWN YOUR MORTGAGE
All they are are collectors of your mortgage repayments for spml who trade as LMC and bring litigation in the name of these companies as their agents.
Unfortunately for all they are all still solvent.
Take extreme care with what you are doing,what is the exact current status regarding the latest court order,that is the point you need to tackle this from.
Any appeal would be to the next court up ie a circuit judge,not the high court.
capstone are experts in extracting money from people as can be seen here.
You need to carefully examine the best way to tackle them.
Thank you for the advice; guys; I have asked Riverside Housing to look into ways of doing this. As you know I have not been well, and my first aim was to get them to find some payments. 11 are still missing and then they changed their name again. They have vanished of my radar since I reported them to Company’s House and threatened to demand they produce their tax records in court; and they have not contacted me since 16th November.
I have to admit I have not been well enough to do anything and I am putting it on hold now till the New Year. I am not sure what to do first but I do intend to get these clowns back in court.
However, recent events in the wider cyber media seem to have changed things. As the powers that be seem to be acting against these clowns now and it seems they do not have any legal right to ask me for money in the first place; I am considering what alternative action to take against them.
Thanks again to all of you for the advice above; and for who to complain to. I am putting it on hold now till after the holidays. I will get back to you in January when I decide if and what I will do next. It may be that if legal matters take on a life of their own in the wider world with regards more substantive action against Capstone, then they can go to hell, and I will be just one more person not paying them at all.
Take care
Lyn-Marie
dear lyn marie reading your story really made me so angry because my partner and i have had two years of the samr treatment from this bunch of rogues(Accenden) who will always be capstones mortgages because their reputation will preceed them,i also put in a letter of complaint about charges being applied to our account, knowing we were struggling to pay the mortgage on its own. but the fsa seem to take their side and told me they are not obligated to change the mortgage or help us in any way, also they were not obligated to send us a copy of their approach on treating customers in financial difficulty. tell me please who do we turn to with these secrative rogues something is amiss. Thankfully we have got on to a mortgage rescue scheme where our local council is buying our property of usat a good price and we will rent it back at a very low rate, rather that than let these lot get their hands on it, but even though we are getting out of this nightmare i still feel aggreived that many people like ourselves have been bullied by these people and i want to take it further but dont know where to begin
Dear Jacqueline
I read your recent story and I am glad that you have sold the house to the social landlord at your local council. We are going through the same process, but it takes some time; and our health problems hold stuff up a lot.
The first thing that I would say is: get a full list of the charges that they have put on and a full list of payments over a number of years. It may be interesting to see how they calculate the charges and you do have a legal route, through the small claims court to claim these charges back. There are letters and advice on the website Money Matters and templates to help claim them. It may also be interesting to compare the actual payments they say you have made with your own records: they have a habit of losing payments.
The second thing that I would say is that the social landlord should be able to stop the action against you or to refer you to anyone who can, as they have brought your home with that in mind and they can help with arrears. They should also be able to help you to find a solicitor that deals with housing law as the situation with Capstone is more complex and you will need proper legal advice from a specialist and not a consumer forum.
We have been advised to go to a housing law solicitor as the company is making it difficult to negotiate with them and are in the legal situation of being subject to legal action themselves. There are many complex legal issues with capstone at the moment and you can make a complaint to the DTI or Company House if you have any evidence that they may have acted illegally or that the debarred directors are still acting as such with the new named company. I would only give the same advice and go to a solicitor with expertise in housing law.
I wish you all the best in the future. You could try getting assistance from the law society or even the CAB or local housing action and advice centre at the council should have a list of these solicitors and you may even be able to get help with costs.
But get the social landlord to negotiate with the mortgage company, as they should sort out any outstanding issues on your behalf.
Cheers.
Bandit Queen
I would always recomend going the FOS route (details at top of page)(CHARGES REFUNDS) to reclaim charges as its free and usually the courts will defer to them to arrive at the true arrears figure ie missed payments before ordering possession.
Still any complaint to anyone that will listen is worthwhile as it keeps the meter clocking on.
The latest on this is that they are scared stiff of the fact that I happen to know that they are up to no good. They have lost my original papers and my agreement and they are making it difficult for my solicior to talk to them, so no-one is talking to them. Now all I get is a statement every six months and nothing else. They want to come to a payment agreement was the last thing I heard, but they have lost the last six years payments again, that they found last November and I want to know how the arrears in November went from £2100 to £6187.00. What happened to the £4000 missing payments that they found and have lost again? They must be somewhere. I have a detailed statement going back to 2006 with them on, so what are these people playing at?
I have been advised to go to a housing law solicitor, but I do not know who to go to , who does not charge any money as we are on DLA. This is our only income. This lot get a small amount of money from the Government plus our small payments when we can spare it. I have demanded that my payments are found and a full explanation of how the arrears has grown out of all proportion and what they have done with my money. I do not expect any response as I asked them this in September and November and January and have had no response. I suspect that they are now keeping a low profile and I hope that it stays that way. I also suspect that they have missold our mortgage and I intend to get a refund. One thing I would like to know is, however, as they have lost my original documents, do not have my original agreement, do not have my original signiture and claim to be a different company to LMC, do I actually have an agreement to pay these idiots anything? Also if they are getting money from the Government towards my mortgage payments; are they committing fraud as they are illegally trading?
Any legal eagles out there; your comments would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Bandit – check this link out for some inspiration.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12140877
Document everything. Do not speak to them over the phone, write to them only by recorded post if you can. Request a Data Access request from them using your name, and whomever else is on the account. They legally have to give this to you. Then you will know exactly what page they are on and go from there.
Keep fighting!
I can’t give you legal advice but I hope I have helped a little bit with the steps you need to take to protect yourself.
We are all in this together.
Thanks. We did an Access thing, but they will only give it if we send them £10. I know they have a right to do this, but we do not have £10.00 to give to them for this reason and we think they should give it to us legally without so we have completed the form and demanded the information anyway. That was three months ago and we are still waiting.
We have only spoken to them once over the phone and that was to establish what information they needed about our circumstances. That was two years ago; and believe t or not, the young lady was actually helpful. But we have never spoken to them for any other reason and never will. One reason for that was normally you only ever got was you have to pay the money now and they sounded like robots. Believe it or not we actually used to contact them through their solicitors when they were LMC who handled everything, but since they have been Capstone or Acenden, they are impossible to contact them. Nationwide were even worse, and I had to threaten to burn the house down to get the bitch on the phone to accept anything other than cash to settle a payment from my mum for us to clear the arrears. All they wanted was cleared funds and mum had a cheque cleared and drawn on her own account and that was not good enough. She ended up lending £13,000 from a friend and using two credit cards and a debit card, as she could not get the cash to them. Even as she was paying it: the bitch on the phone was being difficult. LMC accepted an offer and Nationwide were more difficult. Then we realised them were in a deal with LMC who had just become Capstone. Four years later, the money paid to Capstone vanished and it was only after I threatened to take them to the High Court that the money appeared again.
Just how do you lose £6000 paid in one go? I also realise now that most of the money was in charges and when we settle with these people, that £6000 is getting deducted. The other money paid to the Nationwide is also getting deducted and they can sing for it!
I really do not care anymore. When you survive cancer or your partner survives it; you get a different perspective on life and realise these idiots are not worth it!
But yes we put everything in writing and I will do another request and place a solicitor on it to get it. I think I have found a housing law solicitor through the Law Society so we will be taking what legal action we need next month.
Thanks again.
Cheers
Lyn-Marie
BQ
Theres one easy cost free solution make the whole thing the subject of a detailed FOS complaint.
LMC, SPML, Capstone, Acendedn, whoever have repeatedly failed to provide me with statements, they talk on phone then when I phone back they have a totally different version of the conversation to what I have on record. They refuse to acknowledge payments or apply them to my account. Absolute thieves! I’m at court today afte filing a N244 to avoid a repossession on Tuesday so hopefully I can get this stopped! They just won’t tell me how they get the arrears! I am NOT in arrears!
Dear Geoff,
I would suggest that you take all that you have to the court case. Make a full list of payments that you have made, as far back as you can go, and show it to the judge. Ask the judge to ask them to verify that they have received these or to prove that they have not. Ask the judge to order them to trace your payments and make a full list of all of the payments that they have and send them to you to compare records. Ask them also to prove that they have arrears and to show to the court how they got to the arrears. Tell the court that you challenge the arrears. Tell them also you want a recess while these records are checked. Also read a list of the times you have contacted them and tell the court they do not recognise you have contacted them.
Tell the court you do not believe you are in arrears and they have got it wrong; they have failed to update your payments. Ask them to prove you have not paid and make a list of all the payments you have and ask for time to resolve this with them.
Also then go and get proper assistance from someone who helps with housing law and make a claim against them to the financial services authority. Losing your payments is a criminal offence and you could ask the court to help with this.
Good luck and hope all goes well.
Cheers
Lyn-Marie
Has Anyone Claimed Money Back Yet!
Did you know that you may all be the victims of misselling by mortgage companies and that you may actually be able to claim the money back?
If you have the misfortune to be part of the growing number of people who have been palmed off to LMC or Capstone or another sub human agency, then you can claim money back from the agent who referred you in the first place.
There are one or two groups out there getting the money back and I have just submitted a form to them. I did the getting of the original paperwork myself and avoided the fee. It is no win, no fee, so it is able to do it for even those worst hit.
Good luck!
To all fellow victims of spml,pref mortgagages,capstone,ascenden ect, or which ever company name they invent tomorrow my sincere thoughts are with you all. We had our home repossessed in april 2010 after a long fight with these creatures. They would not offer us any lifeline ie extending term of mortgage,intrest only,or capitalising arrears all of which we were told was available to us .This information via the c.a.b. It has taken me 14 months to be able write to you due to my health and frame of mind,however i have always read your coments.Myself and my wife decided after another sleepless night we would not contest the next repossesion order for the sake of our children and our own health, it is a game to them, it was one game we could not play any longer. Anyway enough doom and gloom from me at the moment they cannot hurt me anymore they have already ROBBED our home from us,my concern is for you and your families. My experiance with these low lifes can tell you they have no morals, they are liars! they make a payment agreement with you then deny it in court by their backhanded solicitors eg my agreement for payment of arrears with Dennis Amis captone 11/12/2009 totally denied in wigan county court. this is injutice and a farce by these people and their solicitors Glenisters.My advice to you do not talk to them on the telephone and get ripped off on premium rate call charges, you are wasting your time and effort,you MUST PUT EVERYTHING IN WRITING!!document everything for your own sake,deprive them of one of their main assets, the art of lying.more information from myself will follow it has taken me this long to respond, but now i am hear and will not rest until these lehman minime’s are brought to account . To those people out there who are not sleeping tonight my prayers are with you.you will come through it and you will be stronger,do not let anyone bully you in life!that is what this company does,they feed on your vulnarability and your weakness and they are professionals at it.I am sorry to call the threat of having a repossesion order issued against you a weakness, however they know which cards to play and when.They have not heard the last from me i have the rest of my life stop this companys imoral trading. good luck to all captone victims.
Dear Rasputin,
Sorry to hear that you have had to give up your home; but there comes a time when you cannot fight any more. I nearly reached that this time; let them come, I said, but I am not sure what I truly would do if I did, we have nowhere to go, and we need special housing as our home is adapted. But there is one lesson I learnt a long time ago and it drives this lot around the bend; make them put everything in writing. I will not deal over the phone with these people, especially as they try to bully you into payment agreements that they then deny and to pay lump sums and so on. And just how many income and expenditure forms do they need? Just how many times a year do they think our benefits change? And when you actually ask them to send one, what a joke! And just how many times do you have to send them ‘proof’ of lost payments? After not responding to me for 8 months they have the cheek to use deadlines like 7 days as a threat; unless you give us this information, we will take your home. That is not how to deal with human beings, it is how to run a dictatorship, through fear and intimidation. Oh, I tell a lie, I did phone them once recently, just to scream down the phone at them to go to hell. It felt great!
And what are the powers that be doing? Nothing! How many people have to live life on the edge before these idiots get stopped. We are trying to get a stay tomorrow through the CAB, who just seem interested in the financial side of things, when there is much more to this than that, such as the judge making the decision to grant this thing because he had the wrong information and we were not informed of the hearing to begin with; and low and behold, from not giving any ground at all to allow more information to reach them, suddenly they are giving us a couple more weeks and cancelling the eviction on Thursday. We go for the stay tomorrow; and I get their email at 11 tonight. There is something funny about the whole process. Well they can wait now till we see the solicitor, he will decide what needs to be sent to them, if anything, not them. I will not be bullied.
Sorry again to hear about your family and children. Hope you are settled now. Cheers.
I have a second mortgage with Ascenden. They are really piling on the charges I missed a payment this month and the charges were more than the missed payment.
Can anyone offer some advice on where to go for some advice and protection
Having major problems with acenden’s website when I make a payment on there it is authorised by mny bank they then have the money sitting in a pending account waiting for them to collect for 5 days after which it is returned to my account, then they put on charges for late payment. They have tried to tell me that maybe my bank card isnt registed to my address it is, I have even changed the card but to no avail. Telephoninjg them is a waste of time and expensive as you get left hanging on for ages. Paying by card over the phoen also doesnt work then they tell me I must have moved no I am still here!!! but if you have your way wont be for much longer!!
Basically shit company making money off the misery of others unhelpful and downright rude and as for thos charges!!!
SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE
Exactly the same thing happened to me. Seems to be a classic Acenden scam. Or extreme incompetence. If I can pay my local garage by debit card and it go through without a hitch every time why can Acenden not learn how to operate this?
Historical knowledge tells us its a scam just like the insurance scam.
REPORT IT TO THE FOS ,ITS ONLY A PHONE CALL OR AN EMAIL AND TELL THEM YOU’RE REPORTING IT.
THE MORE THE BETTER.
Hi- having a weird time recently: have dumped the CAB as rubbish; now have Shelter helping. Never pay any of these people by card over the phone: you can set up a bill payment/standing order that you control at your bank on line. All you do is go to your on line banking page; select bill payment or faster payment; put in the Company; their account number; sort code; and your account name and reference number. Make the first payment; then they will be there for you to do on the dates later on. You can set a future payment date; you can make an immediate payment, and state what amount that you want; just follow the instructions on the screen; it is simple. Normally you can if you wish set the details twelve payments ahead; but the fact is you are in control and you can always cancel the payment if it is 3 days ahead or more. You can wait till the money is in the bank and then you control the payment and when it goes. You can get their receiving bank number and sort code by phoning them direct and telling them they have agreed to you setting up payments from your bank via on line banking and you need their receiving account number and sort code and your reference number is the mortgage account number for you.
If they refuse to give you the details tell them this is the only method of payment you are able to make: be firm and sound posh: that normally works; their admin should give it you with no problem. Report them on the site though; not allowing you to make payments or making it hard has to be illegal and they are not entitled to make a charge if they are not correcting the problem.
Thanks for this Bandit Queen – this is certainly a line I will try to follow. I have been down this path and did try to pay on line some time ago. However, the bank details that Capstone had in their letters were wrong – at least I assume so, as the payments always bounced back. I thought they were just incompetent at the time, but I know better now.
This will give you all a good laugh: Sarah Tribe rang my solicitor and asked her what bank account my payments went into; not from, into. This goes back to 2008! I sent her seven emails, all ignored as the solicitor, who I have now changed said that she wanted to know the number they went from, as I wanted an email address or an SAE to forward my payment proofs, that is statements to her. No response and the whole thing has to go to the court, us without any representation as we are still being transferred and our case with the new one does not start till they have had an appointment. There was no duty solicitor, I was too ill to go and my husband was left out on a limb and their rep went on about reference numbers and the lines do not line up and a load of rubbish about why they cannot trace the three years missing payments.
So the judge made the decision not to accept the statements as they are but not to dismiss them either as she thinks that with the fees to come off that they actually will wipe out the arrears. So we are only having to pay £383.00 and will have some from what the DWP pays to cover the arrears if anything is left.
But the investigator on our case Mrs Sarah Tribe when I rang her said she needs to know the bank account number that they went into. I explained that we do not have access to that information and that in any event Capstone have changed it three times and that the on screen banking will only show any current information on bill payments, and in any event as we are not making payments from this closed account, that we have deleted anything that shows on the screen prior to closing. It only gives us statement access. There is no way we can confirm what the numbers are as it has been updated and in any event some of these payments are almost five years old. I asked her did she have the account number that they should have gone into and here is where the laugh is: Sarah Tribe asked us to confirm the Company’s bank account at the time of them changing from London Mortgage Company as when our accounts were transferred those details were changed and not transferred so they have no way of tracing the money from that time. I have just thought this will be on tape! She asked me to go to our closed account and to get her the bank account number of London Mortgage Company and the details every single payment was made into.
Yes of course I will! Yea right! Apart from how ridiculous that sounds; they should know their bank account details; they provided them in the first place. I told her that was not possible and not going to happen, not in her wildest dreams!
I also at this stage asked her why she has not responded to my emails as she could have had our proof of payments sent to her direct and she said that she was going to contact me by the end of this week. That is big of her; the hearing was on Tuesday; she could have saved us the trouble of going down there and put this on hold while there was more investigation.
I have only been emailing her for her direct details and and SAE since 22nd November, and now she wants us to get information that they should be giving to us! What a joke!
I also needed up to date payment information and the most up to date that we have was their details from June 2010, and when I checked them against her details that she gave us for payments to go to; guess what everyone: the receiving bank account of Acenden/Capstone has changed yet again.
If anyone wants it this is what we have been told by Sarah Tribe
Bank Transfer/On-Line Banking
Barclays Bank
Sort Code 20 19 90
Account Number 73671402
Yes, they are just incompetent and has anyone wondered why they change their bask accounts so often; is it to avoid large bank charges for them not making payments or being over the limit?
Have had a really stressful day today; this has really got to me all of this and I had a big flip out at everyone, family, the world, the lot, but am feeling a bit better for it. Going to the doc tomorrow for results of my many blood tests and my blood pressure tablets and the anxiety that I am having and the hyper tension this has caused. Hope it is not bad; although a diagnosis that I am about to have a stoke unless these idiots back off as my doctor said a couple of weeks ago when my blood pressure was in the danger zone; caused by the shock of all this; would do me right now. It may give me more ammunition against them.
Cheers
Hi,
Does anyone know if I can raise a complaint to the court prior to the court date about the fact that Capstone are trying to bully me into making an extra agreement outside of that ordered by the judge on 13th December 2011?
Allow me to explain.
The judge was not entirely satisfied with the evidence that we provided for our bank account to prove that the missing payments have been paid, but she was not prepared to issue a new warrant as she believed that the evidence is genuine and exists. She ordered us to file new bank statements by 10th January, but we have not received these as yet as they go back to 2008 and 2009. The order also did not arrive until today, 14th January. My father has had a stroke over the last 10 days and we have spent much of that time at the hospital, so we have asked for more time for filing and been granted this. We need to have them now within another 21 days. That is not a problem.
We have a new court date for 27th March 2012, much to the annoyance of Capstone.
The other part of the order was to pay £383.00 in the meantime until the court rules on the arrears. The issue of the arrears cannot be decided until Capstone or the court agree that the payments are missing and I am not able to make any confirmation that we can afford anything that we may have to pay on the arrears until the dispute is resolved. And yet we have had four letters since 9th January demanding that I confirm within 7 days, that we agree to this amount of money, which is an extra £43.00 on top of the total payment of £420.00 over the rest of the loan. We are also been told we have to pay them £424.00 from 20th February, which contradicts the court order which we now have in writing, and Capstone are under some impression that the order is a voluntary payment agreement that they can vary at will.
Excuse me! A court order is binding on both parties and they were ordered to accept and agreed to accept £383.00 and the issue of the arrears is not resolved as yet.
The arrears is in dispute and the missing payments and the charges with it come to almost £9000 and will wipe out the arrears!
I received the letters on 13th and responded telling them that I cannot confirm this as I need to speak to my legal representative and I cannot respond to this question while the legal question of the arrears is outstanding. I have also pointed out the court order is not something they can change at will; they have to apply to the court to do this and there would need to be a hearing.
I am being absolutely bombarded with letters to confirm my affordability for an agreement that they want me to make; for an issue that has not yet been decided. The amount of the arrears will be greatly reduced by these missing payments being applied to the account and the court will need to determine what is left and how much we can pay over the rest of the loan and that may now actually be nothing as the arrears may not even exist at that time.
I have again responded that we need to seek legal counsel on this matter and that we cannot confirm this at this time as it is legally a mute point and not relevant until the outstanding dispute over the missing payments and the true amount that the arrears will be is decided by the court. We are not able to comment further at this time.
The carrot that we will get if we agree of course is that they will suspend all legal action. Tempting, but how can I agree to pay money that I really cannot afford and that we do not believe that we owe and may not have to pay at all? These people are either very canny and scheming or they are running scared. They may actually believe that they have no choice but to accept the missing payments and the court will rule in our favour. Without the safety of the court, they can do as they please, make what objections to our bank statements that they wish, such as they do cannot find them without the correct and full reference number or that we need to go to the bank with each missing payment and find out which bank they were paid into. Remember Capstone has changed its bank details seven times since 2008 that we know off. This latter one is not going to happen as we are disabled and my husband is going into hospital next week and will be laid up for six weeks through an operation.
These idiots live on a different planet to the rest of us and I now want to make a complaint to the right authorities and to the court that they are trying to change a court order and force me into an agreement contrary to that agreement, without waiting for the evidence to be assessed and are harassing me for that confirmation of affordability when it is not currently relevant and the point is mute.
Help! Who at the court can I complain to and how can I contact the judge in the case. The court is in Liverpool. Do judges have email or direct contact numbers?
Is this an FSA complaint issue?
Any advice would be welcome at this point. Help!
Confused.
Hi,
yet again I am being dragged off to court by Acenden. In May 2010 there was a suspended possession order granted with a payment of the mortgage of £750 plus £500 per month until the arrears are settled. This was kept up until November of last year when my partner lost her job. I took on a new job and so the payment due on the 1st of Jan would not be paid until the 23rd of Jan (my new pay date). I wrote to them on the 11th of Dec explaining the situation, I spoke to them on the 12th of Jan but was told it was up for eviction.The papers arrived on the 14th.
I am not refusing to pay just asking for a change of date. My worry is that I have been to court before and they will get my house.
Also te arrears originally 17000 are now 8500 with 7000 in charges and fees.
Can anyone help? Will I lose my house?
Regards
I thought, unless it was stipulated in the original SPO, that the SPO expired after a year if the terms were met? I maybe wrong but it is worth asking the court directly. Also, bring the evidence of your communication. I can’t see how you are being unreasonable. Hopefully the court will agree! Best of luck.
Many thanks, I am going to get the N244 tomorrow, I have also asked the FSO to look at the charges.
Regards
Take all documents with you and it sounds as if Acenden are being totally unfair as usual and even unreasonable. I do not know anyone who will not move a payment due date, if the circumstances mean that they will get a payment on time. If your pay day changed you, like most people probably did not even think that Acenden would cause a problem, but they do it on purpose.
I do not know about the original warrant or suspended warrant and the terms; we had no terms on the original warrant from 2007, no payment terms were set and the arrears were paid of, and yet they have used the same warrant which was actually granted ex parte, as we were not told that there was a cour date, and we are constantly told that the warrant or the 28 day order is for seven years, which means ours expires in October 2013. I would ask the solicitor and the court directly for a judgement on this one and would be interested to see how you get on as I have been trying to get ours rescinded for seven years almost. We were not present as the court did not inform us until after an actual eviction date was granted and the suspended warrant from December 2007, that was granted when we got another hearing did not have any terms on it. We only agreed to negotiate; they claim we agreed to £430 but this was just recommended by the on duty rep on the day. Since then our reps have been absolute crap and it is only through our own efforts that we have fought them off. You cannot accept anything that they say.
As to if you will lose your home; I would not like to comment, as anything is possible, but if you are meeting the payments and you seem to have had a good effort to reduce the arrears, then the problem seems that they will not move the payment due date, and this is the case that you must emphasis to the judge and say that they are being unfair. It seems to me that they are having eviction procedure without any real case, and as they see it as a late or missed payment, then you need to be able to show that you contacted them on a number of times to try to get the payment date moved and why. You may want to provide evidence of the new job and the change of payment date and ask the court to order them to accept the payment date and to refund your overdue fees and interest as they have been applied unfairly. You could also attempt to go for an order for legal expenses if you win. And get them to agree in writing.
It is not reasonable to ask you to make a payment by a payment due date that you cannot possibly make, and if your payment date moves, then it is reasonable to ask them to change it as well.
Good luck with the court. Hope all is well.
many thanks for you comments, like you said nothing is a surprise with these people. Ill keep you informed.
Regards
It is written in the original contract that you have the facility upon request to change the payment date,they have legally no right to refuse if you follow this procedure.Will find you a link to CAG as this has been previously discussed,if you need it.
Thanks I will use this
Once again many thanks for your support.
YOU MUST CALL AN EMERGENCY HEARING. Explain to the Judge the MAKE UP of the arrears-I.E 7000 are charges-So in effect the true arrears figures are 1500. Issue a complaint to the FOS who will lodge it, you should get a reference number-this will afford you alot of protection-ISSUE A COUNTY COURT JUSGEMENT FOR ALL THE CHARGES-THEY ARE DEEMED EXCESSIVE BY THE FSA. go for 4900 and issue proceedings for the remaineder-(if you go over 5k in one sitting you can’t go through small claims).EXPLAIN TO THE JUDGE THE FOS COMPLAINT+CCJ’S AND THE ARREARS MAKE UP!!!
Hello , ive been to court a few times with them and until now i just thought it was me . Amazing what a google search brings up. I intend trying ot get some charges back and making a FOS complaint when i’m ready and this group is really helpful .Can’t quite see how to join but i’ll work it out.
Hi Phil by just posting you’ve joined!post up a problem and someone may be able to help, its as simple as that.
for info, site email:borrowerstrust@gmail.com
RESULT, RESULT. Recently taken Ascenden to court re charges against my account. (4950 POUNDS WORTH!!!) Their solicitor failed to file their defence on time. In a nutshell they lost by default. Feel free to email me on swanaston@hotmail.com G
Hi Geoff.
Good for you. So it is worth taking them to court independent of any other action! They surely would not have been able to justify so many charges in any case. Hope they paid up without any bother. If not, then you could take further action to enforce it; default notice, further court to enforce it, bailiffs, credit report that they have not paid as a bad debt, add interest, charges, and so on and hope it mounts up to more. Then send the bailiffs in and seize their goods! Good luck!
Geoff must add:
That has to be a first,many many congratulations from I’m sure all here.
Hearty congratulations. Can you tell us more about the case?
At the risk of sounding like a party pooper, Geoff himself made the point that he ‘won’ by default – simply as a result of Acenden’s solicitor not filing their defence on time; NOT because the judge considered their exorbitant charges unlawful. You can bet your life that the next time Geoff is taken to court by these jackals (and you can guarantee there WILL be a next time), Acenden will have instructed a solicitor who follows his clients’ instructions and gets their defence filed on time. The outcome then will be very different – or, same old, same old – depending on your point of view!
Hi Chaps
In a nutshell there are precidents for charge refunds-Both Kensington mortgages and Redstone were fined, instructed by the FSA to refund charges. I’ve been to court twice with Ascenden already. Each time succesfully stopping them in repossessing my home. Judges seem very reluctant to repossess houses-SPO is the norm. (PARTICULARLY WHEN YOU MENTION THEIR CHARGING LEVELS and THE ACTUAL REAL ARREARS FIGURES MINUS THE CHARGES!!!) Their solicitor didn’t file on time- BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T WISH TO GO TO COURT-AWAITING SETTLEMENT FIGURE AND HAVE NOW COMMUNICATED PAYMENT IN FULL WITHIN 7 DAYS OR ITS THE BAILIFFS AT ASCENDENS HEAD OFFICE!!!! Role reversal or what??
Geoff,can you send to the site email at:borrowerstrust@gmail.com
The form your claim took,its all cofidential and personal details can be ommitted,The s…m have never been known to make such a mistake so there could be something in there they can’t handle or don,t want to be exposed to.On the other hand they are probably in the process of reclaiming their loss from the local numpty who never turned up or filed on time,who knows?
Potentially this could help thousands,so lets be very optimistic.
I had an offer from the scum recently; one that I wish they had made four months ago, but one that I am now in a situation that is is actually better for me to go to the court hearing.
On 9th January they sent me a letter trying to change the court order to force me to pay money towards the arrears, which the court did not agree with as they asked me to get more information and statements and they agreed that my missing payments and the fees come to more than the arrears and would wipe it out. So they only asked us to pay the difference between the DWP interest payment and the contractual payment which is £383.00. The court ordered this and told them that they may have to accept this as a full payment on a permanent basis and refused to give them anything on the arrears until they agreed to these payments being found.
The next day, January 10th they sent me another letter saying that if I agreed to pay now another £43.00 a month that they would suspend legal action. Tempting as them suspending the action is, I cannot agree to make payments that I may not need to make, ahead of the court ruling on the missing payments and them taking off the charges. To do so would be legal suicide and would say that the arrears is correct. If when they apply my payments to the account and remove the charges there is anything left then I may have to agree to more payments but not till then. We want to go to the court as they have refused to accept my bank statements as evidence that we made the payments; and we want a ruling compelling them to accept it. I have also counter claimed now for the charges as well.
It is funny that all of a sudden they want to suspend the action! I asked them to consider the Norton Proposal some time ago and they now say that they did not mean to vary the court ruling or to appear to do so, but to respond to the Norton proposal. But again, why now?
Why not in August and September and in December when we had the hearing that was adjourned? Why not accept the bank statements and then ask the judge to rule on the Norton proposal or accept it then?
I know why! They are afraid that the judge will rule in our favour and this matter has cost them a fortune. As we are entitled to legal aid they cannot come on us to pay their legal costs. Also they can make all sorts of objections to the bank statements while the court is not in session and if it goes back to court, the judge will just accept the bank statements. It is much easier for them to get us to agree to extra money and we will be bound to pay that, even if the arrears is cleared by the missing payments and they know it. That is why they are being so ridiculous about not being able to find the payments on their system.
Our bank statements took six months to get as they go back four or five years and these idiots say even though it shows the money clearly going out of them; and their reference and date and amount, that they cannot trace the payments or apply them and our bank statements are not enough.
No, they want me or my seriously ill husband to go to the bank and for every single missing payment tell them in writing from the bank what bank and sort code it was paid into! As they have changed their details seven or eight times in the last couple of years this is going to be impossible and the bank have already said they will not have records going back that far. If we updated our payments details on the bill payments then the original details no longer exist. But these idiots keep insisting on this and now I have refused to do it! I am so fed up with these insensitive idiots; that I simply refuse to co-operate with them any more.
We have to be back in court by 27th March and these idiots are not getting anything more than what the court would ask for, copies of our bank statements.
You would not mind but they made the two letters and complex offers after they heard that my father had gone into hospital with a stroke and demanded that I respond within seven days with my confirmation and agreement. It took until 13th for the two letters to arrive, effectively the Saturday and they wanted a response by the Monday. What sick bastards are these people?
In any event I was wisely advised not to make them any offer of to agree to anything. My legal representative would deal with it. I was told if they needed a response to simply tell them that I had referred the matter to my representative and that I was unable to agree to anything without legal advice or until the court had decided on the arrears. If they wanted a fuller response I needed more time and they would have to wait until I have spoken to my solicitor who would respond to them directly. Now they have agreed to leave the question open.
I am optimistic now, and having been to see Housing Options and my rep things are looking more positive that they have been for some time.
Cheers
Lyn-Marie
I have also wrote to them about the excessive and unfair charges because I went into arrears. I received a letter from them saying they will look into my complaint which may take 8 weeks. I am being charged £95 per month late payment charge on my secured loan when my monthly payment is £71 also £115 per month on my mortgage which is £153 per month. These charges are being added even though I have an arrangement ordered by the court.
Hi,
We have read with interest all the complaints that everybody has made against LMC, SPMC, Capstone, Acenden or whatever guise they go under and would like to add to the long list and say that we also going through the same thing with lost payments and them saying that we are in arrears when we are not. We have also been taken to Court on numerous occasions and managed to thwart them although this time we are still battling with them and trying to sort out the whole account as it appears to have been miss-managed for quite a number of years. We feel that they think they are above the law as there was a Court Order made in 2007 for them to supply us with full details of our account but they never did comply with the Order until Acenden finally let us have them in 2011 and although we have gone through all these and can prove we are not in arrears they are still arguing with us. We have spent a lot of time and effort going through our account from its inception in 2003 to date. We put all the figures on a spreadsheet and put it over to them in July 2011 and in their arrogance they did not even look at it until we put in an application to the Court to stop them evicting us on the 8th February 2012.
We feel that we should all get together and fight this Company and also take our complaints to Watchdog to highlight all the problems we all seem to be having and maybe then we could beat them and settle things once and for all and it would also show them up as the bullies that they are.
Please contact us and we could fight these as one group
Hi Dave…
Does anyone have any figures showing the amount of people who are going through this shambles with acenden. I am totally with you but we would probably require a substantial amount of names/stories etc before we were taken seriously.
Hi Helen
We thought we were alone in this problem but finding this web site shows there are many people in the same situation as us. the no of people here are enough to create a reaction from TV / Radio shows and possibly National Newspapers. I would like to speak to the person who started this web site as he must have the contact details for everyone on it.
Together we can beat these people
I have the Transfer document (TR4) for when SPPL sold my loan to Eurosail 2007 1NC. Attached is the whole portfolio list of addresses. I appreciate this is only one of the Eurosail – Southern Pacific Securities Portfolios, however there are 10000 properties on it. Is there anyone out there with time on their hands to do the research and find out what has happened to these loans – whether people have been repossessed or sold or just suffering (or happy customers???) I can scan and email this portfolio. I don’t have anything like the time needed to do this.
There is only one way to join together against these scum and that is a mass protest at their offices and in the capital and demand action against them. Take them over and refuse to move unless they investigate and meet our demands. Demand that all ciurt action is stopped until the criminal activities and the fees of these people is fully brought to light by a public enquiry.
Hi everyone,
Anyone can make a petition and send it to Parliament to be considered. It is easy to set up and you can input your details on line…simples…
I have added a link http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/have-your-say/petitioning
Hopefully this link should work, if not just google petitioning to parliament and you will find all relevant info.
What does everyone think about this suggestion?
Hello again,
It is called an e-petition and is an easy way to influence Gov policy in the UK. You can create one about anything that the government is responsible for and if it gets at least 100,000 signatures it will be eligible for debate in the house of commons.
I have done a quick search to see if there is one specifically against acenden but have not checked other names such as capstone, southern pacific etc.
Are there a 100,000 of us or would it be beneficial to start a petition on excessive mortgage fees in general? There is perhaps already a petition regarding this but I do not have the time to check at the moment as there are so many petitions listed.
Anyway, food for thought!
I have seen similar e-petitions on causes that I broadly or completely agree with but they are often so badly written or presented that I am reluctant to sign them.
I don’t think 100000 will sign, and that’s the problem. One of the neat tricks that has got Acenden such a good rating with Standard and Poors is the lack of complaints. As we all know Acenden have loads of complaints but they are able to hide behind the originating companies and the SPV’s. S and P don’t know this or don’t take it into account so Acenden come out squeaky clean. If a petition is poorly supported it will prove exactly the opposite of that which is intended – that there are only a few borrowers aggrieved. If anyone puts up a petition I will sign it but lobbying ALL MPs will be much more purposeful. If you have an MP who is not in the govt. ask them to put down a Parliamentary Question asking the chancellor of the exchequor why nothing is being done about sub-prime loans until 2014; why are the former Lehman companies allowed to flout MCOB etc without sanction. It will be published in Hansard, it will have an impact and the chancellor MUST respond. My MP is in the cabinet and cannot do this.
A petition on the Facebook E Petition site is much more likely to get signed and easier to set up.
An open letter to all of the MPs standardised sent to all of the members here could be passed on instantly. As they are all on line, surely a standard letter to them all could go out from the site and all of the members and our social network partners/followers.
I still think taking over their office and protesting is more effective and would get us noticed.
My M.P is in the opposition, and is as wet as a doormat soaked on a rainy day, but anything is worth a try.
Has anyone noticed that they have now begun to charge £5.00 Alternative Payment Fee for every months payment made that is not by direct debit? They have even begun to apply it twice in my case as they get part of the contractual payment from the DWP so they charge £5.00 for that each month and then they get mine by Bank Transfer, or Faster Payment method, in other words on-line banking which they agreed to and which method I had used since 2007. as we are not able to make payments by direct debit. This is a form of discrimination and I have been informed that it is against the disability act as it penalises me as a disabled customer, on disability benefits and therefore, unable to pay them on the same date every month. It may also be outside of the payment structure that they are allowed as they claim it is a payment to cover their costs to process the payment. The processing of these payments is actually automatic the same as it would be for a direct debit and costs them nothing. Therefore as they cannot show that there is an actual extra cost involved, they should not be making this costing. It is also my understanding that this is a new charge. It was not charged last month or previously and they did not state this charge would be applied when I arranged the payment this way, so it may even be against their own contractual regulations. In any event, I am not paying it and will be asking the judge to have it removed. I am pretty certain that they cannot justify making a payment for the DWP payment to the account. It seems just another way to get money out of people and just another payment that I will be deducting when we sell the house!
Keep us posted. Same problem here. I paid something between £5 and £6 to keep up with a discrepancy of, er, between £5 and £6. Guess how much the unexpected payment fee was.
Capstone Responsible For My Father’s Death
I have just had some sad news over the weekend, two days prior to our court hearing; my father died of a heart attack when he went to bed, and I blame Capstone because he has had two strokes and collapses in the last two months, due to the stress that Capstone have put on our family and especially my mother over £3000 that Capstone lost. His condition has worsened over the last three months and he had a serious collapse in January and another one when he came out of hospital just at the start of February. Capstone knew about his first collapse but they did not stop the pressure only turned it up demanding all sorts of ridiculous information and evidence be sent to them within 7 days, the week of his stroke. They did that on purpose and we refused them, as we had other things to do. We have had to organise all sorts of care for him at home and having just got that in place; I believe as he could not take any more strain, and due to the stress caused by Capstone, my father died; two days prior to the hearing.
I asked them to suspend the hearing and they have not had the courtesy to even respond to our two emails and call informing them of my father’s death. They have not even asked for a copy of the death certificate, and the court have also been informed and expressed their concerns and regret. The hearing was yesterday and thankfully I was actually too exhausted to go or I would have sought out the press and put Capstone in the headlines. I am contemplating a serious litigation and informing the press as this is a direct result of the pressure that Capstone have put us under. They will not get away with this and I will make sure that they do not get one single penny of the £10,000 in missing payments that they have lost or the costs and charges that they continue to pile onto the account even though we are keeping up an agreed payment of £383.00 on the account. The DWP also make up the balance of the contracted payment and they get something to the arrears. They have promised to suspend if they have an agreement on the account, but have not yet done so. I have sent the evidence for this to the court, but I have no idea if this will be taken into consideration or if the court will actually give a damn. Capstone can go to hell and if they try to take the house again, that is exactly were I will send them.
We are putting the house on the market after Easter, but Capstone will not be the first to get paid! I am taking the arrears and the missing payments of it and they can come and find us. I have had enough of these bandits and I am going to make them pay, just were it hurts the most in their lying reputation and in their pockets.
Cheers. Will keep you all posted.
Hi BQ
please accept our heartfelt sympathies at the sad loss of your father. Our thoughts are very much with you and I’m sure we speak for all contributors to this, and other, sites which unite us in a common cause.
Please seek solace and comfort from those around you and be strong for those who need you. Many condolences.
Our thoughts are with you.
The team.
Thank you for your kind condolences and support; much appreciated.
The hearing last week, despite my father’s sudden death two days before and my writing to the court to ask for a postponement due to the bereavement and the scum were granted what they asked for. They then sent me a letter dated Friday, that says Sorry for the loss of your father but we did not bother to stop the hearing. We have been granted an extra £79.00 on top of the agreed payments of £383.00 and the arrears has gone from £8880.60 to 10,000 with their added charges from September 2011 which is when they wanted the eviction. How is it going up when the agreed contractual payments are being made? Answer: £360.00 a month legal fees!
I am never going to pay their legal fees and I will not agree to this judge’s decision. I have been very distressed all day and I have been told to appeal a decision that would not have been made had it been postponed. Would it have hurt these bastards and the bastard judge to give me some space?
I was told in a letter that the courts have made this decision and if they do not get the money they will get an eviction date and this is the day before my father’s funeral.
I have had nothing from the court and no official order and the clerk was very confused as to why the decision went ahead. It seems very unusual and it seems that the judge may not have been made aware of the situation. I have been told to appeal and the appeal will have to go before the Circuit Judge and then the whole thing will go back to court again.
Well that will teach them. They wanted litigation: now they have a war!
I hold them as the cause of my high blood pressure and my father’s death. A pity I did not go last week: I would sure love to speak to the media.
Thanks again, folks.
Cheers
Lyn-Marie
Hi I would be very interested to hear what happens in your case as I had a similar situation with Capstone 4 years ago, after the death of my partner the insurance paid out in full to Capstone, then 1 year later I received a repossession order saying that I owed them money and it turns out they had been charging me from the day my partner died until the insurance paid out and lumping charges and costs on top. I had to sell my house and by the time I paid them back they got another 10.000.00 out of me. I am in the process now of taking them to court to claim back all these unfair charges.
I am sorry to hear the treatment that you encountered with your partners death and Capstone. First, sorry for your loss, and hope things are well for you now. Second, it seems to me that when the insurance paid up and cleared the mortgage that they made what is in fact a full and final settlement and that would have taken into consideration any costs and fees in the meantime. Capstone accepted that settlement figure and would have told the company what to pay in any event. They did not have any reason to come back to you a year later or to start legal proceedings. That matter was settled by the insurance settlement. You had every reason to expect that the matter was closed. I know it is hard, with the loss of a partner, but did you not get any legal help from a housing expert? I certainly would have challenged them in court, stating that the matter was settled and a final payout made to them by the insurance people. This should have closed down the account from the moment of the death notification. Settlement figures are valid for a period of time, and the insurance should have sorted that out. I certainly would not have sold my home or paid them anything more, let alone another £10,000. I hope that you get this back as these charges have to be unfair in the circumstances.
I first of all would like to thank the team for their kind good wishes on the death of my father. I have had several pieces of post from these nut cases in the last 10 days, three the week of my father’s death, including the one that they took great pleasure in sending us with regards to the so called decision of the court to have the hearing and decide in their favour; demanding more money, two days prior to the funeral, and one, more or less repeating the same thing the day of the funeral, that my spouse hid from me. We had two more letters over the weekend, and one apology from them. The letter of apology admits that they are in the wrong and the hearing should not have gone ahead and they are investigating my whole situation. This can take 4-12 weeks, but they can take as long as they wish. In all we have had 9 pieces of post from them, despite us asking them to leave us alone and not to contact us for 15 days. They are just insensitive morons and they know what they can do with their limp apology! However, I think I will use it to try and overturn the decision. If they have admitted they are wrong, that is in my favour, surely. Now have a long and ridiculously repeating form from the court that is at least 12 pages long to complete, for a hearing before the circuit judge, and another one that is much shorter to overturn the order. I am sick to death of courts, hearings, forms and Capstone. Saw an episode of Flashpoint were three victims of the mortgage scams in America take over the guy who scammed them and took them in a dodgy mortgage deal. Two have the manager of the company at gun point and another poor older fellow, whose wife killed herself because of the whole thing and is homeless, is in the basement of the building with a homeless tent and covers it in petrol and is going to set fire to himself. They want the mortgage company boss to apologise and to go on air and say he is responsible. It was on during last week, when I got that horrible letter from Capstone and I almost went out and did something the same. I have visions of walking into their office and taking a gun to the Litigation Officer who is in charge of my case and making them sign an agreement with payments that I can afford; giving me all of my fees and charges as a refund, putting the missing payments on the account and agreeing not to charge any more interest until the house is sold. I also have visions of doing the same in court if the judge rules in their favour. I know it sounds crazy, but it is this that is keeping me strong at the moment, as I am in no shape to be going to court or anywhere at present. All I do is sleep all day and tweet all night. My brain is in reverse and I am worn out. I just want these bastards to go away and leave me alone! I am too tired to fight any more. Well the payment is going to be late as well as mum has not had her bank book back from the DWP; so hard luck; they get it when they get it, and heaven help them if they charge me one penny for it.
Cheers folks and thanks again for your thoughts and good wishes.
Lyn-Marie
I made a payment under My Wifes Email and Used My Card (all same Addrees)made a payment £190 on Wifes Email Account and My Card. We Recieved Email Telling us that Your card payment has been successfully processed ,Recieved a authorisation Code , for payment ie Email.Asenden Phoned Next Day Saying that is had been Rejected buy the Bank as Wrong Address .Email them Bank Statement With Address on.As Money was Stuck With Clearing Bank they will have to wait about 10 Days ….But it Took longer to Put back into our Account Charges off late payments and a Repo Order
Judge Fiske has suspended the warrant and told them that they will have to go through the whole thing next time as I have asked for the hearing to be brought back to court. He has cancelled the previous conditions and the thing is as it was before, with the current payments in place and being investigated. I have some huge form to fill in but have been told there is no rush, due to the fact that we have suffered a personal loss of a close relative and the CLS are helping with this. Also there is some investigation going on by Capstone as to how they have handled the whole thing which will take several weeks and they will not be pursuing the matter until after that, at the earliest. Looks as if we might be making some progress.
I will be contacting the CLS again on Monday so will let you know what is happening next.
Cheers