visit to cab a waste of time!

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Repossession : One Thread

just a note to say i have recently been to my local cab office re shortfall letters etc recv'd from lender along with threat of court action, cab were a total waste of time & infact recommended i actually let the lender take me to court without even putting up a fight. i advised the cab officer that i did not agree with what they were asking for & he just stated its not worth fighting them they will win in the end & he suggested that i write to them requesting documentation & then just sit back & wait for the summons to arrive & one it has to go back to them at cab & that they would help me fill it in. guess where i will not be going again. only reason for me sharing this info with you is because i note on your who helps section that cab are listed. i would be very wary of any info they give you re repo's as i got the impression they are a little one sided!!!!!!!!!!! has anyone else had any dealings with them???????

-- karen tromans (kaztro@aol.com), May 09, 2001

Answers

I think a lot depends on where you are. The one I used in the SE was pretty useless too - but then all the solicitors and debt counsellors I used were clueless as well. This website and your own brain are by far your best shot.

-- Too scared to say (iwasduped@yahoo.com), May 09, 2001.

I totally agrree that this site and your own brain are the best weapons. I have yet to find a solicitor who can do any more than I am, in fact one actually thanked me for educating them!!!!!!!

My local CAB in Witham in Essex were VERY HELPFUL. It is a specialist branch that has trained Debt Councillors. Many branches do not have these but will point you to the nearest that does. With any amount of luck they will then be able to help.

-- Matt (mattyc@ntlworld.com), May 10, 2001.


I was sorry to read about your bad experience of CAB. My partner was until recently very senior in a housing charity (not CAB) providing advice and she knew nothing about repossession. Like the previous writer said, it's a very specialist area and the availability of expert advice can be quite patchy. I just wish that, sometimes, a CAB person would say 'sorry I don't know' and pass things onwards and upwards to somebody who does.

On a positive note, you could try ringing the central office, NACAB, and asking them to put you in touch with a specialist. I know they have some information because they publish material on repossession that is distributed to branches... I should know I used their full and final settlement letter!!!

-- Andy T (andy.turner@ramesys.com), May 14, 2001.


I had a very similar experience with out local branch, totally useless. They looked up repossession in a big file - it had exclamation mark symbols with in a triangle next to the text, and the bloke just said "this symbol is telling me that this is too complicated for us" and he gave me the phone number for Debtline!

-- Juliette Turner (Juliette.Turner@btinternet.com), May 14, 2001.

Please see my post above, under 'house repossession'.

-- Eleanor Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), May 17, 2001.


I had a simular experience with CAB almost two years ago when I approached them with a mortgage shortfall claim for over £45,000 thier reply was 'you owe them the money,you should pay it back'.this filled me full of confidence....NOT!!!!!

-- Gary Parton (garydparton@blueyonder.co.uk), June 11, 2001.

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