I had my house repossessed in 1995 and was found by Eversheds in 1997. I was scared and rang them and filled in a means form and they agreed I could pay £20 per month which I have been doing since.

I have recently received another letter saying i have been paying £20 per month for to long and need to up the amount, so I filled in another means form and they have now written back and want £200 per month.

This I cannot possibly do, I have a young son and another baby on the way and I would really appreciate any advice on what to do.

What I can gather from this site is that I should not have filled in any forms and I am really scared now.

I have another mortgage and I am frightened that they will take this off me.

What can I do.

Many thanks

Clair

-- Clair Traynor (clenwyn@aol.com), September 24, 2002

Answers

Clair,

I can't give you any advice at the moment as I am in EXACTLY the same situation, except I have one child and no more on the way!

I did the same as you because I was scared and have been paying £10 a month for the last four years to Addleshaw Booth & Co. However, I did state that this was for COSTS of selling the property and not acknowledgment of the shortfall debt. I received a letter last week from the Counselling Intermediary Services on behalf of Halifax asking if I want to make a settlement.

I have written back asking for all the documents listed in the 'What to Do' Section and am now waiting for a reply.

I think your first stop should be to print off and read carefully, everything on this site as it is very very helpful. Then write a letter asking for all relevant documents to this debt, so you can see just what you are paying for. You should also state that there is no way you can afford to pay £200 a month and will continue to pay £20. Once you have done this, come back and ask for more help if you need to.

It may be helpful to know that the Halifax had details of my ex- husbands address after we separated, but they have NEVER contacted him. Perhaps they feel a single mother living on a part time wage is more able to pay the debt than an ex husband who lived with his parents and had no major outlay when all this started!

Good luck and stand your ground.

-- One Angry Mother (madcow678@hotmail.com), September 25, 2002.

As you are tied to Eversheds, it's a shame your bargaining power is weaker than them. However, the Court may help you (though unlikely Eversheds will go there), in redressing the unfair bargaining power between you and the other party.

Re-assess your own income & expenditure situation. If you can, honestly, afford to increase your amount of the loan repayments then offer what YOU think is fair and amicable. £200 is a rediculous amount and no Court, I very much doubt, would award that figure as you have dependants. Also that's 100% increase, how do you budget for that.

Remember!!! If they threaten you with bankruptcy, and they should be careful presurising you in your current state (inform any stress to your Doctor, an ace up your sleeve to get them to back off), then Court may throw out any application IF they think your counter offer was a fair one, and they unreasonable refused to accept it.

One final point to remember, is it will cost them (in admin and what not) to pro-long it all out. If you think they are being unreasonable, then you can go to the ombudsmen (FOS) as they are like a free go at settling situations in a fair way.

Hope all goes well, the very best of luck

Geoff

-- Geoff Winters (Geoff-winters@supadooper.com), September 25, 2002.