Shortfall Letters Ignored

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I have recently began to receive letters regarding a shortfall dating back to 94. My partner handed the keys back on advice from the BS in 92 and told MIG would cover and if not they would come after me not her. I have been ignoring these letters but know have one threatening court action and interest on the debt. The strange thing is the property in the letters in not the one we borrowed money on! Any ideas what the next step should be.

-- Max (max1198@hotmail.com), February 04, 2001

Answers

If you read about what to do after repossession you will see what the advice is on how to handle companies chasing for payments after repossession.

However, the very first thing you should do is get a SARN on the Bank/BS your mortgage was with.

As to the incorrect address, you don't say HOW wrong it is. Is it a case of there being a slight error and you can see it's MEANT to be your house, or is it clearly way off ? If the former then it's quite clearly documented what to do on this site. If the latter I'd suggest you write to them and simply state that you have NEVER lived at the address they give and that, consequently, you can only assume the letters have been sent to you in error.

No matter what you do - get the SARN first !!

-- Chris (chrishoare@btinternet.com), February 04, 2001.


In my opinion, the lender would be lucky to get interest added on to the 'debt' after six years, and if you look at material elsewhere on this site (under Repossession) you will see that there is some confusion as to how long a lender has to chase you for 'shortfall'. Lenders say 12 years, but is it really 6? This has not been tested in the Court of Appeal.

However, like most people, your best 'defence' against the claim is probably asking the lender to prove it sold the property at the best price, although in your case it may have stuffed up its paperwork & statutory notifications as well. In other words, you can ask this lender to prove the extent of your liability to you before you even consider making any kind of settlement offer.

-- Eleanor Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), February 04, 2001.


The fact that the keys were handed back usually indicates that there was no Order for Possession , this usually means that there is no money judgment upon which they are relying to pursue the debt. You have probably already been told that they do not need one and that they are relying upon the mortgage deed, a document of which they do not have a copy and if they do will be reluctant to give you a copy. This document is one of eleven essential documents which would have to be produced at discovery in order for them to pursue you through the courts. They will also have to explain to the courts why they have been pursuing a debt without a money judgment. in the light of what you say and our past experience you could possibly counterclaim against the lender for unlawful repossession of your property,you need an audit of the mortgage statement which the debt collector should have supplied.

NAMV does have an audit service which can assist with counterclaims.

it would seem that the most important aspect is that the lender does not have the correct address, if you are being chased for a shortfall at a property which you have never owned or mortgaged their really is no claim. NAMV is on 01889 507394.

-- Carol Riley (NAMV@ukf.net), February 05, 2001.


That they are threatening court action and interest on the debt is absolutely common. Normal practice. Pretty much everyone who receives these letters has the same threats made against them.

Ask yourself if it has put pressure on you. It should have - that's what they are trying to do.

Your next moves should be to:

a) serve a DPA SARN on the lender (who is the lender by the way?)

b) while that SARN is in the post, read the Repossession section completely. There's a lot of information in it so just read it through and get a feel for how lenders' think. Give yourself some time (you do have time even though the lender is threatening you) to let it sink in.

c) congratulate yourself that the repossessed property details are visibly wrong. Sounds like the lender's records are not so orderly. Great! That means they are going to have a time suing you, though they probably haven't realised it yet.

Lee

-- Lee (repossession@bigfoot.com), February 05, 2001.


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