HELP! What do to following repossession?

rachiet_3

Hi, sorry if this is a bit long winded or in the wrong place but I desperately need help for my Mom.

Back in 1997, my Mom and Dad had the house repossed due to debts my Dad ran up with the business (as an aside but maybe not important, my dad ran the business and my mom worked for him, they lost the business and started it back up again but with my Mom as Director even though she and my Dad had the same roles as before. As the ever trusting wife my Dad used to bring things to her to sign, which she did and therefore her name ended up on everything when things went wrong a second time). Anyway, the Order of Possession was granted in December 1997. We had already left the house in August. My Mom and Dad had spilt up at this point and now divorced. My Dad moved and my Mom and us children moved to Council accommodation. (Another aside sorry but I don't know what's important. At the time my Dad was still away on business and we had an offer on the house of £210k which the Woolwich BS manager and my Dad said to reject as we could get more, neither of which is in writing, the house eventually sold for £179k, (now worth £695k!). We moved on with our lives eventually but Mom soon had creditors from the company on her back whilst my Dad made himself bankrupt. My Mom being a bit innocent didn't want to make herself backrupt as she got herself a low earning job but liked to pay her dues. After a few years she has had to pay back the company accountant and also a hire lease for lorries for which she had a CCJ. Things seem to settle down (at the time by Dad is living a rather splendid life doing god knows what!), then she had a letter in Oct 2002 from Counselling Intermediary Services Ltd saying she owed £65k and could she provide them with info so they can establish her current situation. They also reassured her that they are not seeking to get the full owed amount but maybe a reduced settlement. After much tooing and froing they wrote in March 2005 to say the Woolwich were prepared to accept a payment of £30 a month to a total of £10k settlement or £6.5k lumo sum. In the mean time my Mom had lots (probably too much!) of advice and ended up not signing up to the agreement but carried on paying the £30/month. CIS wrote in April 2006 to say that they accepted that she wouldn't sign but would continue to take £30/month which would be reviewed in 12 months. My mom was happy with this and they were very kind and understanding. On the 18th Decemeber 2006 a letter was received from the Woolwich saying they had sold the debt on Hillesden Securities Ltd t/a Direct Legal & Collections as of the 30th 2006. On the same day, a letter was received from DLC asking to ring an 0870 number within 48 hours with details of how the sum of £63k was going to paid. On the 21st Dec 2006 my Mom ran DLC to discuss the situation (my Mom had spoken to CIS previoulsy to explain she couldn't get the £6.5k lump sum and they agreed verbally that the debt to be repaid was the £10k in installments). The man from DLC was very nice and confirmed the debt was not circa £9k (as she had been paying installments). She confirmed she was paying £30/month and they were fine with this and send out a new DD mandate as they payment would now go to them. She signed this and duly sent it back. A few days later another letter from DLC was received (which she has lost but she remembers it as it was very distressing and she responded to it in writing offering them a £2k lump sum final payment which she could borrow from me). She had no reply to this and then in April 07 she had another letter asking for her to fill out a financial analysis form. A while later (after several phone calls which weren't nice and 1 phone call to the work place) she agreed to increase the payment to £40 a month. They even asked if she could borrow money from a friend to pay the debt off (which I am led to believe is against OFT guidelines). In Nov 08 another letter was recieved saying they felt the payment was inappropriate and asked her to fill out a form stating how much more she was willing to pay. Along with this were many nasty phone calls and another letter on the same day in Nov 08 from Aplins Solicitors to say they had been asked to start proceedings to recover the amount of £63k. Mom again phoned and in a panic offered to pay £50/month (whilst in tears!), she also learnt in this phone call that the previously understood amount of circa £9k outstanding was only interest and the rest would still need to be settled! Last week she had another two letters on the 8th Dec 08, one thanking her for the offer of £50/month but they need to see proof of income for the past three months, the other letter asking to fill out an income and expenditure form and return it within 7 days or face further proceedings. And here we are...sorry for the long story but after reading a lot on this forum (wish we had earlier) we are unsure what to do next. I am of the opinion to ask for CCA proof and not to fill out the form and also to report them to the OFT. My mom wants to pay the £50 a month and then see if she can get them to put in writing that the debt is only £9k, which they haven't done after numerour verbal requests. My mom is 57 and doesn't earn a lot and has no assets. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

fatbelly

OK, I think I'm going to chicken out of trying to pick my way through this except for:

1. If this is a mortgage shortfall debt, it's not a Consumer Credit Act Debt

2. Do not let them bully you into filling out their forms

3. National Debtline have a mortgage shortfall factsheet here and it would be worth running the thing past them on 0808 808 4000.

GeorgeUK

What your mother really needs to do is sit down and go through everything with one of the free debt charities. They should be able to help or at least get her on the right track.

Professional, free and impartial advice on debt problems can be obtained from several charitable and 'not for profit' organisations. They never make a penny from the advice they give, which means it will be given with only your best interests at heart. You can contact:

Your local CAB Office and ask to speak to a 'money advisor'
The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) - Tel: 0800 138 1111
National Debtline - Tel: 0808 808 4000
Payplan - Tel: 0800 917 7823

In October 2002 for the £65k debt, do you know if there had been a period of 6 years (5 in Scotland) where no payment had been made towards that debt or written acknowledgement of the debt?

With regard to the debt collection agency, it is best to never deal with them on the phone and insist that all communication be in writing only. If you refuse to answer any security questions then they will not be able to discuss the account.

It does not look like your mother will ever be able to clear that amount of debt, but she may be able to make a settlement offer. It is against the OFT debt collection guidelines for an organisation to suggest borrowing money to pay off a debt so they should definately not be doing that. If she is able to borrow money though - even a fraction of what is owed overall, she may be able to make a settlement offer. DCA's usually buy a debt at a fraction of its value so she may be able to offer 10% - this is very low and may not be accepted, but if it was she should not send any payment until she had the agreement in writing and most importantly stating that it is a "full and final" settlement offer and not a partial offer.

Another thing i would note is that she should not be paying by direct debit. It is not unheard of for DCA's to take more money that they are meant to or multiple payments. She should set up a standing order so that she is control of the money leaving her account.