Linetime Mortgage Possession links with HMCS PCOL service
22nd April 2009
The continuing economic situation with it’s associated rising redundancy levels and growing consumer indebtedness have undoubtedly forced an increase in the number of Claims for Possession of property issued. Although first-charge possessions in 2008 were 5,000 lower than the CML’s original prediction, the annual figure of 40,000 points to a substantial problem, with the 2009 forecast of 75,000 remaining unchanged.
CML figures also indicate c. 1 in 64 mortgages in arrears of 2.5 % or greater, with 1 in 53 more than three full months behind with their payments. This indicates that a large number of properties are at risk, especially at such an uncertain time.
The fact that there were 11% fewer possession claims in 2008 than expected demonstrates that, despite a worsening economy and rising unemployment, mortgage lenders in general are making strenuous effort to use repossession of debtors property as a ‘last-resort’ measure. Government measures, including the Support for Mortgage Interest and Mortgage Rescue Schemes have also started to have an effect.
Having said all that the high-volume of possession work will still need to be processed, in the most accurate, cost-efficient and timely manner possible.
To service the growing demands of their blue-chip client base (which together account for the submission of c.20% of the possession claims raised annually in the UK) Linetime have added specific mortgage possession functionality to their Liberate legal software suite and developed a direct online link between Liberate and Her Majesty’s Court Services (HMCS) Possession Claim Online (PCOL) service.
PCOL is HMCS’s Internet based service for claimants and defendants, designed as a simple, convenient, cost-effective and secure way of submitting, responding and monitoring certain types of possession claim via the Internet.
The Liberate – PCOL interface provides firms involved in mortgage possession with significant benefits. Not only do they not have to complete any paperwork, currently the bane of many fee earners due to its complex and labour intensive nature, all the case data is validated intensively by the Liberate software prior to being packaged and automatically passed to the PCOL service.
As one Liberate user commented:
“Processing a possession claim requires the fee earner to produce multiple copies of documents for each defendant. If there are multiple defendants per matter, this lengthy task needs to be completed for each defendant. Due to the sensitive nature of mortgage possession, if these complex forms are not completed 100% correctly (or the court clerks do not check them carefully, which many of them appear not to do) there is a significant chance that when the case goes to court the judge will, quite rightly, refuse to hear the case.. The effect of this is not just the frustration caused by the delay in hearing the case but significant costs are incurred which cannot be re-charged.
“The reason we invested in the Liberate – PCOL interface from Linetime is that it eliminates this problem and ensures that the court receives accurate information – first time, every time. With the new online link we can also automatically monitor the status of the Claim, Judgment and/or Warrant as it progresses. The link allows us to pay Claims and Warrants issue fees online and the ability to dynamically view court diaries on the Internet greatly assists our manpower scheduling’.
In addition to the operational benefits mentioned the Liberate – PCOL interface provides a rapid return on financial investment as there is an immediate and direct cost saving of circa 33% on claim submission fees. It should be noted that the more socially aware lenders, keen to meet their ‘duty of care’ obligations to debtors, are starting to insist on dealing only with firms that use this less-costly online PCOL service.
For information on the products mentioned, or any Linetime product or service, please contact:
Keith Hutton,
Linetime Ltd.,
Moorfield Close,
Leeds LS19 7YA
T: 0113 250 0020
F: 0113 250 0524
www.linetime.co.uk
E: info@linetime.co.uk
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