The Halifax recently accepted an amount of £2,500 in full and final payment of our £33,500 alleged shortfall. At the time I was still dubious about whether this was definitely the end of the matter so I didn't get the flags out straight away. I did ask them to send me a letter with a receipt for the money and I was very happy to get this letter from them this morning.

"Arrangement complete

I acknowledge receipt of the settlement figure agreed with you, for the loss of the above property, following repossession.

Notification will be made to the Council of Mortgage Lenders in order that the entry in the possessions register, against your name, is marked as satisfied.

I can confirm that The Halifax, and the Additional Mortgage Security Company(formerly Mortgage Indemnity Insurance), will not take any further recovery action against you in respect of your liability in connection with the loss, but reserves the right to pursue all other parties to the mortgage (including Guarantors if applicable) for any remaining loss."

This is their exact letter and I am now pretty cerain that the flags can now come out and be waved about as this is surely the end of my year of hell.

It took 13 strong letters, 6 sarns, 2 different offer amounts and 1 I&E form to bring this situation to closure. I used all the advice that I could find from this site to stop my nerves jangling.

The result is that it has paid off and I hope that my post brings hope to those of you out there being chased by the halifax.

If I can give you any advice or you want to know my step by step of letters that I wrote etc., please let me know and if your situation is similar to mine I will try to help you.

Good luck everyone.

-- onward to the future (tequilaslammas@yahoo.co.uk), April 17, 2002

Answers

We are at the SARN stage with the halifax for a shortfall almost identical to yours. If you could provide some guidance as to the offers you made and the I&E form, it would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

-- Congratulations!!!!! (lisajh29@hotmail.com), April 18, 2002.

Congratulations on your successful resolution of your particular shortfall nightmare. What I and many people facing similar claims from the Halifax would like to know is how you achieved an affordable offer from them? You mention filling in an I&E form, despite advice on this site that one should avoid doing so. Was it this action that brought results, or was there something in the documents you obtained which enabled you to weaken their claim? Did you make offers before or after submitting the I & E form? Were you dealing with Halifax direct or with their debt chasers such as DL&C? Did you use a solicitor as a go-between? I would love to be in your position and be able to close the book on my shortfall problem, so your help would be greatly appreciated.

-- Gordon Bennet (arsenewhinger@hotmail.com), April 18, 2002.

Congratulations, it must be brilliant to feel in control of your own life again.

I would echo all the questions above. We need to know how you did it!!! Helen

-- Helen (Badreem686824217@aol.com), April 18, 2002.

here is a breakdown of communications to and from the Halifax:-

April 2001 - received 1st shortfall letter from the Halifax. My partner phoned them and told them we had no money. I found this site and began SARNING:- Halifax plc., Halifax property services The repo solicitors The Royal and Sun Alliance Allied Dunbar Experian

May 2001 Halifax wrote and told us they would postpone pursuit until a later date. Received a huge wad of paperwork from Halifax but no MIG.

October 2001 halifax wrote and told us they were the postponement period was over and could they have payment proposal. Financial analysis forms etc.,

Nov 2001 I wrote and politely asked them to send documentary proof of alledged debt.

Nov 2001 They sent lots of docs but no MIG excuse that I was the 3rd party and not entitled to it etc.,

Nov 2001 They sent a completion statement with a breakdown of costs.

Nov 2001 I wrote and queried some of the dodgy amounts on the completion statement, asked again for the MIG docs, denied that there was any debt.

Nov 2001 They wrote and gave their reasons why no MIG, 3rd party yada yada also sent me mortgage deed and a deduction of money from the amounts that I queried on the completion statement.

Dec 2001 they wrote and asked for £9,000 and supplied a proposed payment scheme.

Dec 2001 I wrote back and wished them a Happy Christmas and offered them a one off lump sum goodwill offer of £1,000 as full and final settlement although I still did not acknowledge that there was a debt.

Dec 2001 They wrote and told us to fill out the I&E to prove our financial situation.

Dec 2001 I wrote back and queried their jurisdiction to ask us for financial details? and offered the £1,000 again, asked them for the MIG again, still denying any debt.

Jan 2002 They wrote back telling me the same old 3rd party story about the MIG (Yawn) asking for the I&E forms and threatening to send in the external debt collectors if I didn't play ball.

Jan 2002 I wrote back and briefly told them about our pathetic financial situation, no assets, council flat, kids, no excess money! Offered the £1,000 again and threatened bankruptsy if they continued to pursue us for the ridiculous amounts they were asking for.

Jan 2002 They wrote and asked us to fill out the I&E forms.

Jan 2002 I wrote and sent them some photocopies of our wage slips - (blank out all details, employers address etc.,)

Jan 2002 (busy bees) They wrote and said they had worked out that we had an excess of £250 a month, fill out I&E forms to prove otherwise.

Jan 2002 I wrote and said "eh?" what £250 excess? Accept the £1000 or we will go bankrupt.

Jan 2002 Halifax wrote asking for the I&E forms fill them out or they would send in the external debt collectors (again).

Feb 2002 I snt in the I&E forms as I wasn't hiding anything.(no hidden mansion or lottery win)

Feb 2002 Halifax sent us a delightful payment fpoposal based on the I&E forms

£5 a month for 48 months (4 years!)and then £200 a month for 72 months ( 6 years!!!!!)

Feb 2002 I wrote back declining their payment proposal......and asked them to accept the £1000 or bankruptsy.

Feb 2002 The Halifax wrote giving us 10 days to respond or they would send in the external debt collectors and maybe even their solicitors.

March 2002 The Halifax wrote as above.......

March 2002 I wrote and offered £2,500 as full and final settlement etc.,

March 2002 They accepted

March 2002 They sent a receipt

March 2002 They sent a confirmation letter ( That I posted above.)

I hope that this helps some of you. I realise that everyones situation is slightly different, all I can say is please try not to let them intimidate you too much with their threatening letters. You can see how many times they were going to get the external debt collectors to pursue me for the full amount but they never did. If you don't have anything to hide financially then once you reach a stalemate situation and really don't want to drag it on and on then perhaps you should fill in the I&E forms......wait and see what amount they come up with and then barter, it can't hurt and it worked for me. If you don't mind waiting for their next letter to drop through the letterbox then keep on stalling, who knows the government may sort the shortfall situation out eventually but I couldn't live that way.

-- goodluck to you all (tequilaslammas@yahoo.co.uk), April 19, 2002.

Thank you for taking the time to post all the details, I'm sure they will encourage us all.

Enjoy your weekend.

Helen

-- (Badreem686824217@aol.com), April 20, 2002.