Mortgage Express Negative Equity Shortfall

hummy

I wonder if someone is able to help me.

In my youth i rather mistakenly made a big error in judgement and bought a new build property which for one reason or another was eventually repossessed. This was like 6 years ago. Unfortunately from that i have been left with a negative equity shortfall balance going into 5 figures.

For years i've kind of forgotten about it despite knowing that ultimately i am liable. But i've never really be contacted by anyone from Mortgage express. I did at one point get some phone calls from a debt recovery company whose name i forgot but that seemed to dye down.

Recently i have been contacted on numerous occasions by mortgage express on the phone. Having picked up the call on one occasion i asked for everything to be in writing and i requested this over the phone as well as sending it in writing.

Having trawled the internet and this site for advice i used some letters that are available on the national debt line website regarding mortgage shortfall debt.

On their website they have a 4 letters for this sort of debt process:
1: Get a breakdown of the debt
2: Request to write off debt by showing your financial situation
3: Request a full & final settlement
4: Lender should not pursue under CML policy.

So upto now i've been dealing with mortgage express directly and sent them 1st letter to which i got a response, and then i send them the 2nd stage letter giving them a breakdown of my finances and other debts.

So i've been waiting for a response upto now from Mortgage Express, but i now receive a letter from a company called Transcom requesting the full balance or they will go to court to get a charging order and/or attachment of earnings.

The thing is i don't own any property, and my current debt levels are quite high anyway. I'm slighlty surprised that they have sent the debt to recovery agents as i was co-oporating with mortgage express directly and giving them timely responses.

I'm unsure how to act now and what to do. The thing i honestly can't afford this debt but its been lingering over my head for a while and as i understand it with mortgage shortfall debt there is possibly a 12 year period they can claim this for, and i don't particularly want it lingering over my head for 12 years.

What is the best course of action to take. Should i liase with Mortgage Express directly or contact transcom and go through the 4 stage letter process.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hummy

Lensman_2

OK, in order of priority (and not covering all your points just yet).

1. Ignore Transcom for now. It is a probably a "hello" letter and full of ifs buts and maybes. If it says our next step WILL be to proceed with a claim then let us know and start a thread on the CAG legal forum.
2. Tell us if you have paid anything, or offered to pay anything since 28th September 2006.
3. Tell us if you have had a letter of assignment that says that the benefits of the account have been transferred to Transcom.
4. Send a Subject Access Request to Mortgage Express (template here). Include the following requirements in that:

• All data relating to the marketing and sale of my previously mortgaged property at (address). This will include
  • valuations
  • progress reports
  • details of any and all offers that were made on the property.
  • Any documentation to show that you considered renting the property.
  • The name and address of the eventual buyer.

CML policy is that lenders should not pursue debts that have not been acknowledged for 6 years.

hummy

Hi lensman thank you for your response.

1. The letter from transcom says under the terms and conditions of the the mortgage I remain liable for the outstanding balance and N-RAM has passed the account to us to recover outstanding money. It says to contact them immediately.

2. I have not paid anything since 2006 and don't believe I have made any offers of payment however I need to check through the documents.

3. No letter of assignment.

4. I have some of this information already from the first letter I sent off to them asking for more info. I shall send the template letter that you specify.

Anything else you need me to provide you with.

19lottie82

Lensman - if you are trying to imply that the OPs debt may be "statued barred" (?) as he has not acknowledged it or made payment for 6 years, in pretty sure for this type of property related debt it is actually 12 years, but you might want to get someone else to confirm that.

Lensman_2

Hummy and Lottie.

The Statute of Limitations Act 1980 means mortgages have a limitation of 12 years.

However, the Council of Mortgage Lenders applies a 6 year limit. Members of the Council should not be chasing shortfalls that have not been acknowledged for 6 years.

It looks like Transcom are an agent and the debt has not been assigned to them, so there is hope yet. (Assuming that N-RAM are Mortgage Express).

Get the SAR off so that you can find out exactly when the last payment was.

Hummy - in your letter sequence I would do 4 before 3. A Full & Final request usually starts by you making an offer...

19lottie82

Lensman wrote: »

Hummy and Lottie.

The Statute of Limitations Act 1980 means mortgages have a limitation of 12 years.

However, the Council of Mortgage Lenders applies a 6 year limit. Members of the Council should not be chasing shortfalls that have not been acknowledged for 6 years.

It looks like Transcom are an agent and the debt has not been assigned to them, so there is hope yet. (Assuming that N-RAM are Mortgage Express).

Get the SAR off so that you can find out exactly when the last payment was.

Hummy - in your letter sequence I would do 4 before 3. A Full & Final request usually starts by you making an offer...

Interesting, thanks Lensman.

hummy

Hi Lensman,

Thanks for your responses so far. I have actioned the points you mentioned and sent off teh SAR.

I'm also now getting called from Transcom. I haven;t answered but they have left voicemails.

Is there something i can do to get them off my back.

Thanks

Lensman_2

I would send them a letter saying that you are legitimately querying the debt with the original creditor and that you would appreciate them holding collection activity until that query is resolved. Also tell them that you require all future communication to be by letter. You can refer to section 3.3(k) of the current guidance for that.

If that does not stop the calls then raise an official complaint with them and the OFT.

hummy

Hi. Further to my post earlier i thought i would provide an update and also ask how i should proceed from here.

So i sent a letter to both mortgage express and copied in transcom as well as telling them to hold off on collection. I have now received a letter back from transcom saying they have queried with their client who has told them to continue with collection activities as mortgage express have already in teh past provide me the information i have requested.

They have confirmed they have received no offer of payment from me although they are in receipt of an income and expenditure form which i have sent to Mortgage express before. They have asked that i make an offer of payment.

What shall i do and what is the best way to respond.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Lensman_2

We seem to be at an impasse on this.

Reading back on post 1 - you seem to have been turned down on option 2.

Have you sent the letter for option 4? If not I would do that and copy Transcom.

After that is option 3. A F&F. Do you think they acted fairly during the repossession? If not, why not? And how much did you suffer by?

Let us know how you get on with option 4 but start to think about the letter you will write to them to point out how unfairly they treated you (if they did).

If they did treat you fairly and they bounce option 4 - I would start a F&F at 10%.

Please also contact one of the charities in my sig for a second opinion - I may have missed something.