Voluntary repossession compensation

mobli

Hello. This is my first post on this site. I don't think it has been covered. I posted it on another site but haven't received any advice to date. Anyway, here goes with the story - My wife went bankrupt in 2005. Her business failed, and due to her being a silly billy most of her borrowings were in her name and not the limited company. The Limited company was formed later and, apparently due to accountant/solicitor oversight the debts were not transferred over to it and remained hers. She made HERSELF bankrupt and the company obviously followed with her. To be honest, for her it was the best thing.

All joint debts then transferred in my name alone and the big business loan, apparently had a clause whereby they had an option of refusing the bankruptcy and applying for a 3rd charge on our house. This was a Natwest loan of about £25k.
At the time, house was on market for £195k, I was paying £774 p/m to Abbey mortgage (£116k), £616 p/m on a 2nd charge with GE money (£55k) and I was paying all the other bills. The payments on the house alone with the Natwest payment was £1770 p/m which at the time was nearly my salary.
I missed a couple of mortgage payments with Abbey and explained that I was struggling and they advised me to 'hand the keys in to the branch'. At the time I could get very little advice and was facing the prospect of paying to sell my house to give Natwest a huge chunk and still owe them. In hindsight, I feel with help I could have got through it but due to the pressure etc I gave up the house and moved into rented in June 06. I had no-one else who could help and CAB etc gave no alternatives. I found a few contacts online that gave some advice but, as most know, it's difficult to get free advice which doesn't help when it's about not having any money.

November '06 - Abbey sold the house for £170k. Natwest went away as they couldn't chase me (without the house) and wife was bankrupt. Abbey took their chunk and more for charges and fees then passed on some money to GE Money and I thought all was over.
Then I find out that I cannot get a mortgage for 6 years, nor can wife so we are screwed but at least we have money in our pockets and dinner on the table.
A year later, GE Money sent me a letter asking for the £14k shortfall. I contacted the Ombudsman to see if debt is legal, they say yes so I agreed to pay it. I then disputed the sale price through the Ombudsman and it was deemed ok to sell it at that price making the shortfall mine and not Abbey's. I agreed £100 p/m (£50 each) and all was well. Eventually, my wife stopped paying it (you get the picture she is not so good with money?!) and I still paid my share and they didn't say anything so I kept quiet.

I checked my credit rating 4 weeks ago to see how long it would take to finish this default paying just £50 a month and notice it has gone from £9750 owing one month to £770 the next. I asked for a settlement figure and statement and got a letter with a settlement figure of £694. The letter asked me to make an offer so I called them and said £300 and they said fine. I paid it and got it in writing that is was over. I asked why £9500 had been written off and they won't give me an answer. They stated that they removed the interest to give me an interest free loan but I have done the maths and paid about £5k less than I borrowed.

FIRST QUESTION - What on earth happened there with GE Money?

SECOND QUESTION - The Abbey mortgage is now a settled default through a voluntary repossession.
I have received a SAR from Abbey Mortgages. Amazingly enough, I was only £1200 in arrears when I repossessed my house. Due to stress etc at the time I just wanted to walk away but was offered no advice etc.
Now if you knew me you could vouch that I am no whinger and I have got on with my life as best I can but I have been having thoughts over the past few months about trying to claim some form of compensation etc. from Abbey. The SAR shows a letter I sent asking for a 3 month waive from mortgages payments but they declined.

Looking at the phone log texts in the SAR, they state that I must be sent out some sort of pack which was not done. There is another entry from someone advising a colleague to explain the implications etc. These logs confirm neither was done. I'm basically still very annoyed it all happened and that I allowed it to happen. When you fear that bailiffs will come and humiliate you it's difficult to think straight and I had no-one to turn to. I think I was bullied out of my house and still haven't recovered.

Does anyone know if I could take this forward as some sort of compensation claim and whether it would be worthwhile? Hope you can help.
Sorry it's a long post but I hope I have covered anything.

Cannon_Fodder

Wouldn't the Ombudsman have to be aware of the Abbey circumstances, to be able to state that GE got the right amount "down the food-chain" - and the Ombudsman has said the house sale price was correct, so presumably did some checking around the circumstances of the house disposal...?

Maybe they overlooked something, maybe not.

Is it really worth giving yourself angst about, all over again?

Murphy's Law states that if you did get a little something from the Abbey situation, GE Money would wake up and realise they didn't mean to write off £9,500...let sleeping dogs lie, springs to mind.

Dan_1976

As you did not go bankrupt GE can chase you for the shortfall. If you had gone BR you would have got away with it.

Regarding the house and compo. To get compensation you will have to prove you were out of pocket in most cases, but you gave the house up because of your situation so I am not sure if it would go anywhere. However I think you should talk to the CAB to start. It may be worth posting this on the bankruptcy board. Lots of very helpful people on there.

I would bare in mind though that you gave the house up and it may just open up a load of hassle.

Good luck though.