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Response to 2nd shortfall letter 12 months on from first what do i do now?

from Eleanor Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com)
Reading this thread reminded me of a passage I read recently in the latest edition of The Law Machine by Marcel Berlins and Clare Dyer (Penguin, 2000 pp 166-67).

To paraphrase:

The pressure to settle does not fall evenly on the two sides in a dispute. Very often it's a fight between David and Goliath, the individual versus the big company. It is uneven in many cases where companies sue [or threaten to sue] customers for money allegedly owing - "the individual may believe he does not owe the money...but he is often overwhelmed by the prospect of taking on the big battalions."

The passage continues:

"The individual claimant wants to get the whole case over as quickly as possible...because of the constant stress and emtional tension... A company feels no such pressures and it is often in its interests in borderline cases to string out the proceedings and wear down the other side. The personal strain is enormous. For [a company] a legal claim is a matter of business; for the individual it is something the result of which can affect his whole life."

The authors also point out that often the legal battle follows a nasty experience. In the example they give, it is an accident. In our cases, it is repossession and the often traumatic life events involved at the time (relationship breakdown and redundancy are common themes).

Thus, many indivduals succumb to the strain and settle on inadequate terms.

Knowledge is power. Know this, and try to use it to get your head round the whole experience.

And I would urge anyone who is feeling distressed to use this Q&A board for support, to read the Home Repo page for information, and to contact their MP for practical assistance. If you have no luck with your own MP (and even if you do), please contact mine who is taking and interest in this whole issue and who plans to debate it in parliament:

Mike Hancock CBE MP, 1a Albert Road, Southsea, Portsmouth PO5 2SE (tel 023 9286 1055).

(posted 8403 days ago)

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