After 4 long years of fighting against the Halifax my partner and I have finally managed to reach a settlemtn.

The Halifax began by demanding £17,000 for a shortfall that we were allegedly liable for. After months of correspondence asking Halifax to prove this debt (and months of Halifax failing to do so) we have come to a reduced figure of £3,500. This will be paid in £10 monthly installments for the next 4 years and then be reassessed.

The Halifax broke too many rules in this case and I had the evidence to prove this. They refused to answer questions, undersold the property, added large costs to the completion statement, broke the Data Protection Act, broke the law by sending mail regarding my partners case to an third party knowing that this third party might be able to track down our new address and much more!

We told them we would not pay the full sum and that if they wanted us to go to courts we were wuite happy for them to take us and pay the fees. OUr solicitor even advised we let them take us to court.

They tried fighting and fighting but we never backed down or gave in.

We finally set the final settlement so that we could get on with our lives.

I do miss the £10 a month and am glad to have the Halifax out of my life forever. I cringe when I see their tacky little adverts on the TV now!

My partner and I would like to thank everyone who contributed advice on this site as without the advice from the site we would never have been able to acheive this settlemment.

I hope everyone who is battling against the banks and building societies manages to resolve their cases.

Good luck to you all and thanks again.

-- Kaveh (none@none.com), August 06, 2003

Answers

Good for you for sticking to your guns. But... what does "to be reassessed" mean? Does it mean "reassess whether you still owe anything" or "reassess your financial position ()i.e your ability to contribute more)"? If it means either of the latter then I think Halifax will not let go in three years time. This is what I have seen in the past.

Therefore I think you should only agree to this if Halifax drops the reassessment clause and instead agrees that this is a full and final settlement.

I hate to be the bringer of bad news but in the circumstances you described - where they have made so many mistakes, etc - then you need to be on top of them, not agreeing *open-ended* settlements with them.

-- Lee (repossession@home-repo.org), August 06, 2003.

Great! Well done, and good luck for the future.

Mark.

-- M Amos (idgroms@hotmail.com), August 06, 2003.

Congratulations......

But why after all this time do you agree to payments??????? then to be reassessed in 4 years time. Going against all the information on this site.

Doesn't add up to me.

Paul

-- Paul (what_the891@hotmail.com), August 06, 2003.

Hi,

I must admit that I find the words 'reassessed' worrying too. I am glad you have settled but I don't understand the settlement part as £10 over 4 years only comes to a total of £480. Does this mean they are then going to hit you for larger payments for the rest? I hate to worry you but it sounds really fishy to me.

-- Chris (chris@anon.co.uk), August 07, 2003.

Dont accept instalments, the reassessed bit at the end is very worrying. They are basically saying, for now they will take £10 a month, but in four years time they will look at your financial situation and decide whether you are worth suing for more. It would be better if you were to say you will give them the £10 per month X 48 months as a lump sum.

be very careful, good luck.

-- Neil (neilaw_uk@yahoo.co.uk), August 07, 2003.

On reading this message again, it's just a load of bollocks.

I mean look at the email address none@none.com

Stop wasting everyones time!!!

Paul

-- Paul (what_the891@hotmail.com), August 07, 2003.

Also look at Kaveh email address in a reply 6th August different from this one.

Paul

-- Paul (what_the891@hotmail.com), August 07, 2003.

In reply to all the posts.

Firstly this is not a load of bollocks. I work for local government and therefore do not want to use my work email address for fear of breaching their Internet and email usage policy. I do not spend hours on the Internet and therefore do not have a seperate email account

We have had Halifax put in writing that we will pay £10 a month for four years and then £50 a month after this providing we can afford it until £3,500 is reached and we are liable for no further action from them.

I am not that stupid to allow Halifax to go back on their word without getting evidence in writing.

I agreed to payments as the ongoing battle with the Halifax led to health problems and we wanted to move forward and start a new life with a new house. Having a £17,000 debt and repossession over your head is a bit of a struggle so we have got this down to £3,500 with no legal costs and no more credit blacklisting.

So I basically lowered the debt by £13,500 which in my books is a success. We will easily be able to afford the £50 payments in four years as we are both earning decent wages.

Some people may thing I sold out but in my books the Halifax are only getting what we want to give them. They fought for £17,000 and lost

-- Kaveh (none@none.com), August 07, 2003.

And Paul, this site does not allow postings with no email address.

The last time I put my address on I got a mail from someone from this site warning me that my email address could be used against me so I mailed Lee and he reomved the posts for me.

Please dont start abuse as I have used this site for 4 years. If you want evidence to back up my case just ask.

At the end of the day I did not want to fight for years as I have a small son and want to get on with my life.

-- Kaveh (na@na.com), August 07, 2003.

Oh Dear - whats going on here!

Please dont swear as some of us find this offensive and also the lenders already think the people of this site are worthless - dont give them chance to prove this. I too use a fake email on this site.

I dont want people emailing me privately nor want any financial lender being able to find out who i am.

OK

Settling for £10 per month for the next four years - if ur happy with this brilliant. Unfortunately accepting this offer will reset the 12 year limitation (bartlett v bristol and west). Also after the four years - reassessed means they will want you to complete a financial statement which will allow them to review what to do next and as every payment you make re acknowledges the debt potentially they have you for another 16 years (4 years of payments resets and then the 12 years)!

There is no way a lender will accept £480 for a £17,000 shortfall claim unless they have lost all their paperwork! (highly unlikely)

Acceptance of this offer is a 4 year peace of mind benefit, but PLEASE dont think you will owe them nothing after this time afterall i note your mention of settlement does not include the words full and final.

Whatever you do do not buy a house whilst this continues.

I am not been negative I just want to make sure you really understand the details of their 'generous' offer before you agree.

Best of luck.

-- Who (who@idontwanttosay.com), August 08, 2003.

As I understand it from a solicitor if a full and final settlement is reached on an ex gratia/without prejudice basis then the 12 year period cannot be restarted.

Mark.

-- M Amos (idgroms@hotmail.com), August 11, 2003.

Just to let you know I have it in writing from the Halifax that they will accept £3,500 in full and final settlement of the £17000 debt.

This will be paid in £10 installments for the next 4 years and after that we will increase the payments to clear the debt of quicker. We have it all in writing so they cannot back out.

Cheers again to all. I am out of here now!

-- Kaveh (none@none.com), August 11, 2003.

Mark - Your solicitor (Guy at a guess?) is indeed correct and always is :-)

However, i did not note that the lender had stated full and final settlement in the original posting, my belief due to the amount of money stated (£480) that the poster believed that this was full and final - if they had not made the fact of full and final settlement in their offer my previous advice would be correct as the LA1980 Sec 20 countdown would have reset after the last payment (cause of action).

As for my statement about £10 * 48 = £480 no way would they accept, it now transpires that it is £3,500 - all becomes clearer.

By the way Kaveh, well done, with your posting clarification you havent done a bad negotiation, now you can truly get on with your life without worrying about whats going to be in the letterbox. Sorry if my previous posting caused any distress.

-- Who (who@idontwanttosay.com), August 11, 2003.

Whoops - £3,500 was mentioned in the original posting.

Sorry!

Egg on my face!

-- who (Who@idontwanttosay.com), August 11, 2003.