money order judgement.

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I am going to use Carol Rileys "money order judgement" argument when i write to the collection agency and I wanted to know if it makes any difference whether you voluntarily handed back the keys or the mortgage company applied for a possession order. (I also intend to ask questions regarding the property being sold below market value.)

-- sue gates (sue.gates@ntlworld.com), August 21, 2000

Answers

Based on what I've seen I would guess that there is less likely to be a money order if you handed in the keys.

I've heard differing stories over whether there is likely to be a money order if the lender sought a repossession order in court.

NAMV's view is that lenders are less likely to have got a judgement than you might think. Bear in mind that part of the NAMV strategy is that lender's don't want to spend money in court fighting over whether they had or should have had a money order judgement (given that someone is going to have pay for that court-time and the ordinary person is unlikely to have the cash to pay for it).

This is a controversial area though, so others may disagree with me.

Lee

-- Lee (repossession@bigfoot.com), August 21, 2000.


Yes i do disagree both with you and NAMV sorry to say-we are tending at the moment to forget the argument re 6/12 rule on shortfalls. This is when the lender tends to go for the Money Judgement after several years have gone by! This can be followed by Attachment of Earnings etc. at the time of repossession ,many Lenders will argue they due not have the full shortfall amounts-so cannot obtain a correct Judgement at a later stage when they do obtain these although the figures may still be open to Challenge! The answer i would like to see is what happens to those who have been put in this position?

Charles Twford

-- charles twford (charles.twford@lineone.net), August 22, 2000.


In reply to Charles below...

You are right but you are describing the lender's perfect scenario, where all legal action always works in the lender's favour and where the victims always have enough assets or income to cover the costs that the lender incurs during any action it takes.

In reality, lenders do not usually have the luxury of being sure that the repossessee will not bring up a valid argument against the lender (at which point, the lender may start to have to pay costs). If those costs are subtracted from the total winnings the lender eventually obtains, they may leave the lender's final profit from the action too small for the action to have been worthwhile. Indeed, going to court against a fighter is so expensive that the lender may well end up making a loss.

Then you have to factor in the income/asset problem. Most repossessees do not have much income or assets. So whatever the lender wins in court and whatever costs are run up, the only sources of cash to pay it is what the repossessee has and, after that, what the lender has. In other words, the lender will pick up the rest of the bill themselves.

So in the end, the whole process of suing may actually *cost* the lender more than it earns them - even if they are 100% right. Which is why they threaten so much and are so careful to assess your economic situation before they decide to sue (read the rest of the site for a more detailed explanation of this).

Put briefly, borrowers and repossessees think this is about which laws are valid. But lenders it is about whether or not the economics are valid. That is why you should always fight if you have any doubts about what happened to you.

Lee

-- Lee (repossession@bigfoot.com), August 23, 2000.


When i asked the answer re judgement after several years! I still ask the same answer. Yet you presume that those who have these Judgements are not fighters? Please also tell me were in the site does it state this. The Guide to Judgements AFTER several years-so if this is the case perhaps you could kindly explain why people have These Judgements or ar you saying they do not?

Find this a strange answer,surely if there is a flaw in the Law re this problem it is as much a problem as the original Question and as much as a concern to this site!

perhaps if you read the site and the Question & Answer section-there are alot who are being chased in the 6 and12 year period many we do not know what the outcome is, we cannot always presume that they went away just fighting!and they went away!

Charles Twford

-- charles twford (charles.twford@lineone.net), August 23, 2000.


just to clarify i should have said in reply to my orginal Question (not answer) and the last part and they went away ie meant the lenders.

sorry about that thrown as the order changed from the orginal Question & Answer

Charles Twford

-- charles twford (charles.twford@lineone.net), August 23, 2000.



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