Response to Brittania Building Society - whether to negotiate

Seems no-one replied to you Vicki. So far it seems you have done ok and from what you say you haven't acknowledged the debt. If the house was sold fairly quickly after repossession then it would appear that you can ask some awkward questions about underselling. Do you have copies of estate agents valuations in the SARN information? Also you should check to see if there was a MIG insurance policy payout to the lender from an insurer such as the Royal & Sun Alliance as the lender may be claiming a debt under subrogated rights. If you have followed recent threads on this site then you will see that there is a lot of discussion as to whether or not a MIG payout becomes a simple debt or a specialty debt. If it is the former then they may shortly be out of time to chase this part of their claim. As to whether or not you should settle, it depends on whether or not you can afford £7500 or can be bothered to make the effort to read through what you've obtained to see how their claim is made up. If a MIG payout is part of the shortfall claim then play for time until six years are up on the payout and then argue they are no longer able to pursue this part. Allied to potential mis-selling you may be able to achieve a more realistic settlement. As a brief rule of thumb I reckon you should be able with luck and a strong nerve to get a settlement of around 5% of the claim or in your case about £1150. Avoid acknowledging the debt and persist in asking for copies of the mortgage deed, mortgage conditions, MIG policy etc.. The longer you can stretch this out the more likely a compromise can be found in your favour.

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