Need a good Banking Solicitor

S.N.Dipity

Registered User
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16
I have an ongoing problem with the Bank regarding a Mortgage and have just found out that they are handing it over to their Solicitors and seeking to repossess. The Solicitor I use for conveyancing, chasing fees etc. would definitely not be up to taking on this crowd and I'm just wondering if there are any smaller practices out there who have a good reputation for taking on the Banks. I'm nervous about approaching one of the bigger companies in case I end up having to sell a kidney to cover the costs.
 
In the first case they all are pretty expensive at the moment. I normally use a huge firm but as there was a conflict of interest, I then had to use a smaller firm to act for me against a Financial Provider. The firm I am using in my case is Leman & Co, based in Percy Place, Dublin 4.
 
If you are seriously thinking of taking on a bank you need long pockets. Do you think you can beat a bank? What is the reason for the bank seeking repossession and why do you think you have any grounds to prevent them? If you haven't been making the repayments as agreed then they are within their rights to repossess. That's some of the questions you should be asking before you go down the legal route.
 
If you are seriously thinking of taking on a bank you need long pockets. Do you think you can beat a bank?

100% agree. However Banks do make serious mistakes and people get frightened by taking them on. Patience and a heap of it is required as they will drag matters on an on and on forever and a day. And when they do get around to deal with it they have the ability to tear one's heart guts and soul out. I have always detested Banks and hopefully people will adopt this attitude forever on.
 
But Mercman if the OP loses a case they can also lose the costs, there are not many people who can do this. Better to know you have a sure fire case (is there such a thing) or have legal aid or go through the financial regulator.
 
But Mercman if the OP loses a case they can also lose the costs,............... the financial regulator.

As with all legal cases if you lose you lose dearly. And in a case I am involved with if it is Appealed it costs twice as much to stand one's ground. The law is the law and practice is a completely different scenario.

Do you mean the Financial Ombudsman not the Regulator who will not deal with individual matters.
 
Thanks for the advice. I have posted on the site before in relation to my case. The Bank failed to process a Direct Debit mandate and recover repayments for the Mortgage from my account for the first 6 months. I notified them of this several times and was told payments had been defered to allow me to pay Stamp Duty etc. When someone in there finally listened to me about the payments not going thru, they turned around and demanded the 6 months payments in a lump sum. My Relationship Manager also phoned me up to 10 times a day on my mobile and kept asking to meet me for lunch or coffee. I declined, asked that all communication be in writing, wrote to her asking for clarification on what had happened on my account and she refused to respond to this letter or several others I sent for over 18 months when I forwarded copies to Customer Care in Head Office. I did take the Case to the Ombudsman and he said it was my fault for not setting up a Standing Order. This despite the fact that 1) I had filled out a Direct Debit Mandate 2) It was a variable interest Loan and could not have been paid by Standing Order 3) I was never asked to set up a Standing Order 4) I was only given the details for the account 18 months after it was set up. I have been making interest only payments every month, have asked for these to be extended for another 12 months, but as usual the Bank have ignored my letter and instead I received a letter from their Solicitors seeking Repossession. I presume my only course now is to engage a Solicitor to respond to theirs, but as a single working parent am extremely anxious about incurring huge legal fees and losing everything.
 
s.n.dipity, just for clarification - did you pay the lump sum requested? if the payments were not going through, the money wasn't leaving your account or am i wrong in the assumption?
 
No payments were taken from my account for the 6 months after the loan was drawn down. During this time I informed the Bank of this 3 times and asked when payments would commence. I was not given a date. I did not pay back the lump sum after the 6 month period as I had invested the money on refurbishing the property instead of drawing down an additional loan I had agreed with them for this purpose. I only had enough funds available to cover the monthly payments when they finally started. I wrote to the Bank 4 times in the following months to ask for options on the repayments, but they did not respond to these letters and instead sent revised loan agreements to my work address while I was on Maternity leave, despite me having informed them in writing that I would not be contactable at that address and to write to me at home.
 
while I understand that there was a big mess-up caused by the bank by failing to setup the direct debit properly, surely it could have been sorted out by paying the outstanding money in the lump sum as originally suggested by the bank.
by having used the money for refurbishment instead of keeping it on your account while sorting out the issue you might not be having such a strong case against a bank which might simply say, yes, we made a mistake but when offered a correction you had no money to pay.
instead of a long fight with the bank which you don't stand a good chance to win why don't you contact mabs and let them negotiate with the bank and help you setup a plan to pay the outstanding money?
 
MABS is definitely worth a try, I'll make an appointment and let you know how I get on. Thanks for the advice
 
It was plain and utter stupidity to use your mortgage repayments to refurbish your house.
The bank seems to have been very inept at their dealings with you but this does not take away from the fact that you deliberately spent your mortgage repayments. I'm not a fan of the banks but their incompetence does not mean that you should not have taken care to have the money ready for the day it would be required. A borrower has a duty and obligation to be prudent.

I'm sorry if this post sounds harsh.
 
I did take the Case to the Ombudsman and he said it was my fault for not setting up a Standing Order.

I am most surprised that the Ombudsman directed in this manner. Has he given you a written determination or did you get a letter of Final Response from the Bank ?
 
Bronte, I think your response is extremely ignorant, and rather personal. The facts are that a) I was told repeatedly by the Bank that payments were being deferred, so only needed to have enough funds available to cover payments once they commenced which I did, even the Ombudsman agreed with this, b) for clarification, the loan was to purchase a site and construct a building, therefore spending what funds I had available to commence work made more sense than borrowing more from the Bank. I am not however on this site to be insulted or argue with other members, but to seek constructive suggestions as to how the situation can be remedied.
Mercman, thank you for your recommedation regarding the Solcitors, I have an appointment with Lemans next week. Re. the Ombudsman, it was a written finding. He seems not to have completely read the documentation I submitted however, as many of the issues I raised were not addressed and several of his findings are contradicted by evidence I provided. I am also considering appealing the finding, although costs may be prohibitive, and ultimately all I want to do is move forward on the Project and avoid spending the next few months in Court and what money I have on Solicitors fees. Unfortunately the Bank are still refusing to respond to my letters but have told me verbally that the matter is with their Solicitors, although I have heard nothing from them either.
 
Why did you refer to refurbishing rather than building in your post? You never mentioned you purchased a site, that you were building and that there were stage payments. You have mentioned however a further loan?

You say your current solicitor is not capable of making a case for you, the ombudusman has ruled against you and the bank is seeking repossession and you are now hiring another solicitor (?) Leman and the bank says you have to make capital and interest payments but you don't want to do this. How are you going to pay the new solicitors? How are you going to afford to go to court? I am obviously missing something in your posts. A clarification would be helpful and I'm sorry if you didn't like my response but based on what you posted it was all I could say. This is very serious business taking on a bank.
 
I am also getting confused. From the post you wrote to my reply it looked like you used the money reserved for mortgage payments to refurbish the property you had bought as you believed it would be better than taking out the loan you intended.
There was nothing mentioned about any site or building in your previous posts.
I also understood the postings regarding the ombudsman and next steps made by the bank like bronte did.
Did you talk to mabs like I advised you last week? What was their opinion?
 
The money I spent on the Property was not 'reserved' for mortgage payments. The payments were due to start 2.5 years ago, when they did not I phoned the Bank for the first 3 months, informed them that the payments had not gone through and was repeatedly told they would start 'soon' but not given a specified time. As this was the first Mortgage I had ever taken out I did not have any reason to believe there was anything unusual about this. Regarding the money spent on the property, all I ever needed to have available was the money to cover the monthly payments when they did start which I did. Basically they applied a Moratorium to the account without me having requested it.
When the case went to the Ombudsman, the Bank made a series of false statements in relation to what had happened leading the Ombudsman to believe that I had failed to set up a Standing Order for the payments, instead of admitting that they forgot to process the Direct Debit mandate or take notice of my calls that the payments were not being recovered.
The current situation is that the Bank are:
1) Looking for full payment of the repayments missed, despite having told the Ombudsman that the missed payments could be made up by re-capitalising the Mortgage.
2) They will only lend me the money to finish the work if I allow them to double the interest rate on the existing loan and the new loan.
3) They will repossess the site if I do not do the above.
All of this is verbal of course as they are still refusing to respond to the letters I have written to them.
I appear therefore to be in a position where I can either
a) take them on in Court, or
b) agree to their conditions which will cost me over €200,000 extra in interest payments.
I have made an appointment with MABS in 2 weeks time, but feel this may not be an area they cover. I am also waiting for some kind of written response or update from the Bank, but given that it took them 18 months to answer my last letter, I thought it wise also to meet with a Solicitor.
I want nothing more than to sort this out, but its difficult to do when the 'professionals' you are dealing with behave in this manner.