Insurance Blogger loves a peoples champion and as this test case has shown UK consumers may now have far more rights and loan protection under UK Consumer Credit Law than was previously realised....
And the UK Courts will probably be filling up with cases as fast as those dealing with the mis-selling of loan and mortgage protection insurance products as other legal firms jump onto the bandwagon.
Once again it will be Insurance that underwrites these ridiculous anti-social court cases......
Last week, a debtor secured a five-year block on his home repossession in a claims management case against his lender Blemain Finance, after consumer credit law was used to challenge his secured loan agreement.
The firm acting for Cardiff-based Peter Bentley, claims management company, Cartel Client Review, used the meaning of unfair relationships under Section 140A of the Consumer Credit Act (CCA) 1974 to claim that his loan contract with Blemain Finance was an unfair one.
Blemain also agreed to charge no further interest on the GBP 40,000 loan and cut his repayments from roughly GBP 550 to GBP 150 a month. At the High Court in Cardiff Judge Milwyn Jarman also prevented the lender from levying any charges or legal costs.
The judge barred Blemain for enforcing repayment via repossession for five years, but even after this period, it can only bring repossession proceedings if there are at least 12 months’ arrears on the new level of payments.
Bentley’s lawyers, Consumer Credit Litigation Solicitors (CCLS), successfully argued that Blemain had loaned the money to Bentley irresponsibly and that the agreement took advantage of his desperate situation.
CCLS argued that shortcomings in the decision making procedure on granting the loan, such as in the under writing, affordability checks and valuation processes, led to the credit agreement being unfair.
Andrew Settle, solicitor for CCLS, said: "The relationship between the parties was an unfair one within the meaning of Section 140A of the CCA 1974. CCLS is utilising a significant number of legal arguments, like those used on behalf of Mr Bentley, in thousands of cases on behalf of our clients."
CCLS successfully demanded to have the loan account re written, which is believed to be the first time a loan account has been rewritten under settlement, as a result of the unfair relationships test.
Carl Wright, chief executive of Cartel Client Review, claimed that Blemain made the offer to Bentley in a bid to prevent a judge in a High Court setting a legal precedent against its lending practices.
He added: "The consumer credit rule book is being re-written as a result of High Court settlements like Blemain Finance Limited v Bentley. With consumer victories won recently in the Courts and landmark cases settled, and further cases to be determined by the High Courts, the consumer financial landscape will change irrevocably as we move in to 2010.”
Mr Bentley’s financial problems started when his mother died in 2007. He began part-time work to look after his father, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, and then took out a GBP 40,000 secured loan in February 2007 to alleviate his financial predicament.
Bentley later fell behind with his repayments and by the time the case was heard in court, the debt had risen to GBP 47,000.
Mis-Sold Payment Protection Insurance? Claim It Back Now!
Have You Been Mis-Sold Payment Protection Insurance?
If you took out a loan, mortgage or credit card from a bank or building society in the UK the chances are that you were mis-sold payment protection insurance or PPI as it is often known. The law has now changed and it is possible to reclaim all your payments in full plus in some cases, damages, usually at no cost to yourself through a so called no win no fee agreement..
The types of policies that were mis-sold were mortgage protection, loan payment protection insurance, Credit card insurance and in some cases and income protection. Whether you qualify to claim depends very much upon when you were mis-sold the policy. The new law only covers payment protection insurance policies sold after January 2005. However, many lawyers will pursue on you behalf policies sold before the cut off date, and in many cases recover your payments. there are numerous no-win no-fee law firms starting up to pursue these errant banks and lenders through the UK courts in what has become a multi-billion dollar business.
The good news for the claimant is that these law firms handle everything for you and the only contribution you have to make is confirming the mis-selling took place and banking the check.
You are eligible to claim through the UK courts against a lender who mis-sold you payment protection insurance if you can satisfy any one of the following 13 conditions.
1. The PPI was added without your express agreement or knowledge.
2. The sales staff or person selling the mortgage or loan insurance was coercive, pushy and strongly advised you to take out the PPI cover.
3. You were told you had to take the payment insurance.
4. You were told you could not get the mortgage without MPPI.
5. You were told you could not get the loan without loan payment protection insurance.
6. The cover you were offered was included in the loan or mortgage
7. You knew you were soon to be unemployed.
8. You were self-employed when the payment protection was sold to you.
9. You were retired or over the age limit for PPi cover which is usually 65.
10. You were not asked about any pre-existing medical conditions that you may have suffered from.
11. You were not told that pre-existing medical conditions could affect your insurance cover.
12. You were not informed that the UK's two largest problems for time of work, namely stress and back problems were excluded from the insurance/ or you informed the lenders staff about your medical condition but was not warned that this would affect the protection insurance cover in the event of a claim.
13. You were not asked if you already had any existing mortgage protection or loan insurance in place elsewhere or employer benefits that would cover my repayments.
If any of the above instances apply to you , you have probably been mis-sold payment protection cover and need to contact a solicitor or specialist lawyer who will claim on your behalf. Act now as there may well be additional time limitations put in place as the number of claims rises.
For the latest news of the cheapest payment protection insurance available from independent UK suppliers visit the Payment Protection Insurance News website run by specialist provider Burgesses.com.
12800 UK homes repossesed in the first quarter of 2009
Despite the UK government saying they eould help keep people in their homes there were over 12000 repossessions in the UK in first quarter of 2009.
There were 12,800 repossessions through the courts by first-charge on the property mortgage lenders and banks, in the first quarter of this year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
This compares with 10,400 in the fourth quarter of last year, and 8,500 in the first quarter of 2008. Insuranceblogger is disgusted that the people who created the credit crunch crisis for those poor repossessed are so quick to resort to the courts!
Although repossessions are still rising, the CML now thinks its earlier 75,000 repossessions forecast looks pessimistic for the year as a whole, and expects to revise the figure downwards in its next housing market forecast update later this summer.
The number of mortgages in arrears continued to rise both months in arrears and as a percentage of the total outstanding mortgage value.
The number of existing mortgages has declined from around 11.7 million to around 11.1 million.
According to a suit from the CML - "The key message continues to be: talk to your lender as soon as you identify difficulties emerging, and take advice from an independent money adviser if you have other debt issues as well as your mortgage. Lenders do not want to repossess if a realistic alternative solution can be found."
Hmm - have a look at this, especially if you are being threatened by debt collectors
Courts, bailiffs, debt collectors and repossesions can be avoided with mortgage protection insurance which will keep a roof over your head even if you lose your job!. Act now before its too late!
Watford based secured loan broker, Loans.co.uk, one of the biggest employers in Watford, is to close to new business, taking with it some 276 jobs.
Last month the broker announced that it was struggling to ride out the Credit Crunch – explaining that the third party loans it relies on were in danger of drying up.
In a statement released yesterday the broker said it could no longer operate in this current environment and expected to complete its last customer loan early next year.
The statement read:
“A number of factors have led to this difficult decision. As a loan broker Loans.co.uk relies on third party providers to provide loans to its customers.
“A number of key partners have tightened lending criteria or are unable to accept new business. At the same time, house prices have been declining, making it more difficult for customers to fit within lenders’ (tighter) loan-to-value criteria.”
“Looking forward the company expects house prices will continue to decline and lenders will continue to be cautious. (Insuranceblogger agrees whole-heartedly, see our other credit crunch label posts.) The company cannot confidently project a recovery at Loans.co.uk in the foreseeable future and regretfully the decision has been made to run off the existing business. This will happen in an orderly fashion.”
The company confirmed that 276 positions would be lost. The broker has two other smaller offices in Preston in Lancs. and Fareham in Hampshire.
Recently Loans Directory - loans-uk.org.uk announced that the directory format of it's site (once one of the key loan reference points and authority sites) was no longer viable as a business format due to the number of loans available online being negligable.
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