Halifax and refusal of settlement

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Repossession : One Thread

I offered £650 full and final settlement for a shortfall of an alleged £13,000 shortfall I managed to get then down to £3777 aruging my case. Only problem is I haven't got £3000 not even £2000 or £1000. I offered then £15 they've decided to accept that with the provision that once my loans are finished in 4 years + they want to increase my payments. They even tricked me into sending copies of my payslips etc (blanked out employers name and other details) they said that the court would ask to see then. They even wanted copies of my bank statements (which I point blank refused). They will not tell me if they are chasing my ex. He's earning in excess of £52k per annum. The shortfall would never have existed if my ex had not have smashed the house up.

Any advice... I'm considering writing and asking them to return all copies of payslips etc I sent and to destroy the information if they have copies. Am I within my right to insist on this?

Another point when the case went to court for the repossession they judge was reluctant to let the Halifax repossess because I had the house on the market and had an offer for £19 (the mortgage was £29,000) their solicitor convinced the judge that the sale was not guaranteed and he allowed the repossession (I have this all on paper via a SARN I served them). The then sold the house to the same buyer for £17,000. Strange.

-- KC (karencarr2000@yahoo.co.uk), January 16, 2003

Answers

Karen,

Read the do's and don't section on the website.

John

-- John (sharky_john@hotmail.com), January 16, 2003.


I am Karen's partner and have helped her fight this long battle against the Halifax. The Halifax continue to threaten court action but due to legal advice I have receieved, I have informed them that we can counterclaim against them as they "put their interests before those of the borrower and created a larger shortfall" whcih they now claim Miss Carr should pay.

This case has been ongoing for over 4 years and the Halifax have made many mistakes along the way. These include: underselling the property, lying to the courts to stop Karens sale going through and then repossessing the property, charging over average prices for valuations and lock changes, breaching the DPA but not supplying all data when requested, forcing Karen to provide evidence with I&E form when they had no legal right to, aiding in fruad by deceiving a third party to open Karen's post in an attempt to locate her, refusing to supply evidence relating to "internal fees" they have added to the mortgage statement. These are to name a few of their shortfalls.

We have offered them £700 now and if they do not accept it we will offer £10 a month for the next 25 years. They will get sick first.

We await their decision but if it goes to the courts we will fight them with all the evidence we have got and hopefully we will show the borrowing public what a bunch of sackless, heartless, unsympathetic, law breaking individuals the company comprises of. Wish us luck!

P.S. We will let you know of the outcome in case it helps any other cases!

-- Kaveh (karencarr2000@yahoo.co.uk), January 16, 2003.


Don't forget (or anyone else for that matter) to get your MP involved in this, and Karen, tell your MP that Halifax is trying to force a settlement on the alleged shortfall which they will not properly substantiate (see Mike Hancock's Early Day Motion 62 on the Home Repo page), advise your MP of the underselling/underhand tactics/overcharging/breaching the DPA/fraud/perjury/harassment etc etc. Have you considered making a harassment claim as Geoff Winter's suggested in his earlier posting? I hear of this sort of treatment time and time again, the Government are fully prepared to go steaming into Iraq to get 'justice', but they ought to make sure there own house is put in order first.

Mark.

-- M Amos (idgroms@hotmail.com), January 16, 2003.


Hear hear Mark,

I fully agree with your sentiments.

In defence of the Government, a lot of people moan that they don't know what is going on in the real world (which I DO agree with), but if you don't tell them what is going on with these mortgage lenders, how will they actually find out. The Building Societies are hardly going to tell Mr Blair what they are really up to, are they?

Definitely WRITE TO YOUR MP, and if (s)he isn't interested, write to the other party candidates. Don't forget it's you that elects these people and at the end of the day they WILL at some stage want your vote.

Tracey

-- One Angry Mother (madcow678@hotmail.com), January 17, 2003.


Dont offer to pay them ANY money on a monthly basis, this effectively means that you acknowledge the debt. I'd also get the press involved cos at the present time they seem to be worried that the present house price boom is going flat (REALLY, I seem to remember this happing some time ago, yes in the late 80's early ninties !! heavy sarcasm) and they are looking for stories about what might happen, when all these mugs who are buying property now at high prices, lying about income to get larger mortgages, will find that due to something completely unexpected like a war, interest rate rise or oil price rise causes the nice cosy house they bought because the media told them to, be valued at less than they paid for it. Good Luck I would get a good solicitor on the case to review all the aspects there may be something in law that you can use.

John

-- John (sharky_john@hotmail.com), January 17, 2003.



Moderation questions? read the FAQ