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Firstly, thank you to everyone who has posted useful Blemain info here. Please, please contact me if you have a file of useful references documents in existence. I am getting one together myself. Would be interested in: trying to get Blemain investigated by the OFT as a general issue of consumer concern - any ideas?; in-person meeting for people currently fighting Blemain in the London area to pool knowledge and experiences. No doubt Blemain will be paying someone to monitor the internet so it would have to be in person so we all know who we are dealing with. We could make sure we each sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose other people's details. I am very interested in hearing about experiences at London courts of people trying to get applications heard against Blemain. Name of court, name of judge, application you made. Were you told you couldn't eg. apply for a Time Order?
I have Blemain CCA secured loans on my home. It's a bit confusing when you first read this forum as some people refer to the FSA, others to the OFT and FSO rules. So to recap: if you have a first charge mortgage it is regulated by FSA. If you have a secured loan, it is not regulated by the FSA, they can't help you, it is regulated only by the Office of Fair Trading and they don't take individual complaints. However I believe you can take an individual complaint to the FSO. Is that correct? I am already in court, unrepresented so it is what happens in court that counts. I would be very grateful for any informed comments on the following:
1. Is it true that Ocean Finance, broker, were or are a part of the Blemain Group? These are the people who referred me to BG saying they were the only co that would lend to me, and at no time was I told they were part of the same group. Ocean called themselves independent!
2. Are they likely to have taken a secret broker fee from my loan/s, in addition to the declared one added to the loan/s? Are there any actual cases of people having found that Blemain paid a secret broker fee? If so why haven't these cases been reported, as they would invalidate the relationship and the case would surely have been reported? I would be extremely grateful to hear from you if you have evidence that they did this.
3. In Dec 2012 Cheshire Mortgage Corporatation (CMC) were fined by the FSA for, among other things, the unfair practice of charging their customers fees of £100- £200 to transfer the debt to agents - Monarch Recoveries - which were in fact an in house company of the same group, so they were just passing it to a different floor on the building. They then charge interest at 10% to 1?% plus per year on these fees. CMC have been ordered to pay these charges back.
CMC is part of the same group as Blemain. Blemain has indulged in exactly the same practice. (Blemain CCA secured loans are not currently subject to FSA rules, but they are regulated by the OFT (Office of Fair Trading). A member company of the same group, with the same directors, housed in the same building, engaging in the same practice. So, surely, if the FSA has said the CMC charges were unfair, the identikit Blemain charges must also be unfair. Why have Blemain not refunded these charges to their loan holders? Every Blemain customer referred to Monarch must be entitled to a refund.
4. Arrears charges imposed while a payment arrangement is in place. If a suspended possession order is in place, and the Order says that payment shall be on the 28th of the month, how can Blemain keep imposing arrears fees (£46 per loan per month), on a date earlier in the month, which was the original due payment date? They did not oppose the payment date on the Order. I am sure that I have seen a statement from OFT saying that arrears fees should not be charged while a payment agreement is in place. Could anyone point me to that?
5. The following is the only case report that I can find of a case subject to a court judgement, in which someone who was obviously in a vulnerable position at the time, had a second charge secured loan held to be unfair:
Barons Finance v Olubisi (Mayor's and City of London Court) 26 April 2010 - see OFT website:
http://oft.gov.uk/about-the-oft/lega.../#.URQ3coW5khI. Does anyone know of other cases please?
6. There is also the Blemain v Bentley High Court example (Oct 2009)... there was no judgement in this case, it was settled out of court and the possession claim was dismissed, but the terms of the settlement were subject to an order of the court. According to the OFT website, "Bentley defended the claim on the grounds that the creditor had failed properly to assess his ability to repay the loan and had taken advantage of his situation". I suspect those conditions would apply to very many people who borrowed from Blemain, you wouldn't do it unless you were desperate,and they defiintely apply to myself. However I have read elsewhere that there were other grounds as well on which Peter Bentley's lawyers challenged the fairness of the loan. Does anyone have more information? And does anyone know what happened to the lawyers who fought this case please? At the time they were quoted as saying they were going to fight more cases against Blemain, then they disappear without trace? Very grateful for any help and very keen to meet up with others who are in debt slavery to Blemain Finance and already fighting repossession.
I have Blemain CCA secured loans on my home. It's a bit confusing when you first read this forum as some people refer to the FSA, others to the OFT and FSO rules. So to recap: if you have a first charge mortgage it is regulated by FSA. If you have a secured loan, it is not regulated by the FSA, they can't help you, it is regulated only by the Office of Fair Trading and they don't take individual complaints. However I believe you can take an individual complaint to the FSO. Is that correct? I am already in court, unrepresented so it is what happens in court that counts. I would be very grateful for any informed comments on the following:
1. Is it true that Ocean Finance, broker, were or are a part of the Blemain Group? These are the people who referred me to BG saying they were the only co that would lend to me, and at no time was I told they were part of the same group. Ocean called themselves independent!
2. Are they likely to have taken a secret broker fee from my loan/s, in addition to the declared one added to the loan/s? Are there any actual cases of people having found that Blemain paid a secret broker fee? If so why haven't these cases been reported, as they would invalidate the relationship and the case would surely have been reported? I would be extremely grateful to hear from you if you have evidence that they did this.
3. In Dec 2012 Cheshire Mortgage Corporatation (CMC) were fined by the FSA for, among other things, the unfair practice of charging their customers fees of £100- £200 to transfer the debt to agents - Monarch Recoveries - which were in fact an in house company of the same group, so they were just passing it to a different floor on the building. They then charge interest at 10% to 1?% plus per year on these fees. CMC have been ordered to pay these charges back.
CMC is part of the same group as Blemain. Blemain has indulged in exactly the same practice. (Blemain CCA secured loans are not currently subject to FSA rules, but they are regulated by the OFT (Office of Fair Trading). A member company of the same group, with the same directors, housed in the same building, engaging in the same practice. So, surely, if the FSA has said the CMC charges were unfair, the identikit Blemain charges must also be unfair. Why have Blemain not refunded these charges to their loan holders? Every Blemain customer referred to Monarch must be entitled to a refund.
4. Arrears charges imposed while a payment arrangement is in place. If a suspended possession order is in place, and the Order says that payment shall be on the 28th of the month, how can Blemain keep imposing arrears fees (£46 per loan per month), on a date earlier in the month, which was the original due payment date? They did not oppose the payment date on the Order. I am sure that I have seen a statement from OFT saying that arrears fees should not be charged while a payment agreement is in place. Could anyone point me to that?
5. The following is the only case report that I can find of a case subject to a court judgement, in which someone who was obviously in a vulnerable position at the time, had a second charge secured loan held to be unfair:
Barons Finance v Olubisi (Mayor's and City of London Court) 26 April 2010 - see OFT website:
http://oft.gov.uk/about-the-oft/lega.../#.URQ3coW5khI. Does anyone know of other cases please?
6. There is also the Blemain v Bentley High Court example (Oct 2009)... there was no judgement in this case, it was settled out of court and the possession claim was dismissed, but the terms of the settlement were subject to an order of the court. According to the OFT website, "Bentley defended the claim on the grounds that the creditor had failed properly to assess his ability to repay the loan and had taken advantage of his situation". I suspect those conditions would apply to very many people who borrowed from Blemain, you wouldn't do it unless you were desperate,and they defiintely apply to myself. However I have read elsewhere that there were other grounds as well on which Peter Bentley's lawyers challenged the fairness of the loan. Does anyone have more information? And does anyone know what happened to the lawyers who fought this case please? At the time they were quoted as saying they were going to fight more cases against Blemain, then they disappear without trace? Very grateful for any help and very keen to meet up with others who are in debt slavery to Blemain Finance and already fighting repossession.
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