Paying back Halifax after repossession

freda11

Hi,wonder if anyone can help/advise. A friend of mine was in financial difficulties a couple of years ago. Their mortgage was with the Halifax on a repayment basis, they asked if they could go on to interest only and explained their financial situation. The H said no but gave them 1 months holiday payment. During this time they were desperatley trying to sell house. At first the prop was on for £125k and they kept reducing the price. The mortgage they owed on it was £102k. Eventually they received an offer for £94k but because this was less than they owed they were not sure if it could be accepted. The Estate Agent gave them no advice. My friends then wrote to the Halifax advising of this offer, as did their solicitor but they never received a reply. In the end the house was repossed and sold for £70k. H now wants £36,500 from my friend for the negative equity. Is there anything she can do about this or he she stumped? thanks

Thrugelmir

freda11 wrote: »

My friends then wrote to the Halifax advising of this offer, as did their solicitor but they never received a reply.

Why wasn't this followed through?

freda11

I honestly don't no, I am going to speak to my friend more in depth today. I will post on here whatever I find out.

magpiecottage

This is not entirely clear.

On the one hand, the lender has a duty to get the best price it can. On the other, if the borrower had an offer that was significantly more than the lender eventually achieved it may have been negligent - particularly if there is no evidence of due process.

A complaint might result in the difference in the debt being written off.

On the other hand, the lender may already be resigned to only getting a token payment anyway - so the borrower needs to decide which way they want to jump but it will largely be into the unknown.

holly_hobby

I assume that the mge was MIG free - which is why Halifax are chasing and not the MIG insurer.

Magpie rasies the valid point that the mge lender is duty bound to get the best possible price for the property - and that if it is proven that they were negligent in any shape or form in their execution of this, I would wager that you will have a strong chance of winning a write off.

Your friend must as Magpie has advised, make a compliant in the first place and then take it from there.

Hope this helps

Holly

freda11

thanks everyone, my friend has confirmed that before the repossession they had an offer of £94k this is in writing from the estate agents and a copy of it sent to my friends solicitor, she is now checking whether her solicitor put this offer to the halifax. my friend sent a letter to the halifax advising them of the offer. she also has a further letter from the EA advising that the interested party was still wanting to proceed with the offer of £94k. Unfortunatley by the time this second letter came it had already been repossessed. it was later later sold for £72k.
Sorry Holly whats MIG?

SouthCoast

MIG is explained here:

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=11_mortgage_shortfalls

opinions4u

Although halifax charges mig on loans over 90%, it's been well over a decade since there was any insurance policy taken out with the premium. From memory they call it a "higher lending charge" rather than a mortgage indemnity.

Even if Halifax recovered their losses from an insurer, the borrower is then still liable to the insurer for the full amount.

freda11

thanks, no it was not MIG. they are now gathering the letters together and making appointment to see the solicitor who they instructed when the property went on the market. hopefully they will have a case