Arrrgghh i can't be the only one !!!

TAG

From personal experience of having dealings with the Halifax I can fully understand some of what you say with regard their attitude back in the early 1990's. I owned a home jointly with my then husband. We couldn't afford the mortgage due to particular circumstances.

After numerous correspondence with them by letter and phone trying to sort this out. We had a face to face appointment at which we were actually told to hand over the keys to the property. It was the best thing for us to do. So we did. Found ourselves a private rented property and moved.

About 9 to 12 months later, we were still struggling but just making ends meet when we had a letter from the Halifax asking us for just over £8k. Which was the shortfall on our mortgage AFTER they had claimed £17k on the Indemnity Insurance. I had our house valued just before we moved out. It was worth £43k - £45k. The Halifax sold it for £37k. It took 2 - 3 months for the property to sell.

Now without going into a very long story this coupled with my ex being made redundant pushed us over the edge. We couldn't afford to stay in the rented property. So we HAD to go to the local council. We did eventually get a council house on medical grounds. And, I know the Halifax were given some stick by the lady looking after our case. They were told to lay off. Which they did.

In 1998, we were still just getting by when we received a letter from the Indemnity Insurance company asking us to pay back the £17k. (There was alot about this on tv a while back). I sent a letter outlining our still dire financial situation and told them in no uncertain terms that if they continued to persist we would have no alternative but to declare ourselves bankcrupt. Which we were seriously contemplating at the time. Only problem was we couldn't afford the fees to do it. Anyway, I had a letter back (which I still have) confirming that they would not persist with the case and our file was now closed.

This year we had a letter from a DCA asking for the £8k owed to the Halifax. Now I know the last correspondence we had from them was 15 years ago, because I kept everything to do with that house. Needless to say this now comes under the Limitations Act.

If your name was on the mortgage. You should have had letters stating how much the house was sold for, and how much the shortfall is.

Are the letters being sent from the Halifax or from a DCA acting on their behalf? If they're coming from the Halifax why haven't they taken you to court already?

As you have been corresponding with them over the years sadly the 12 years doesn't count. Having said that it still makes your ex liable also, as it was a joint mortgage. I would suggest that your ex is ignoring any letters he is receiving and they're not getting anywhere. Your the easy target because you are talking to them. Are you making any payments to them? If not then you have two choices - 1. Stop talking to them and risk being taken to court etc. This could of course affect your credit rating.- OR- 2. Go to the CAB and get them to fight your corner. They do have alot of weight. It may take a while as they are usually very busy but I honestly think it would be the easiest and cheapest way of dealing with this.

Sedgetheledge

Thanks for everyone's help with all this, especially TAG. We orginally had the mortgage eith the Leeds, Building society, then it was taken over by the Hakifax. i satrted to receive letters from a solicitors called Booth and Co (1992- 1999) then Addleshaw Booth and Co (1999 -2001) then a company called Counselling Intermediary Services !!! and now HL Solicitors!!!! At one stage i think it was Addleshaw booth told me that they had NO paperwork of mine!! so probabaly in passing the case over to one and other all my stuff has been lost.... Great What gets me is that it finally took them at leat 6 letters and 2 years telling me and my ex that there were going to reposess it... Only he knows wht they didn't do it the first time around.

I also have a letter saying that my Ex did not iove permission to reposess the property !!! Ha.. So ar they saying i have no say in anything!!

Not only that but the sold it for 10k less than it was bought for AND i have documentation from the Halifax that says house pricesd had gone UP in this time !!!

I get so stressed out aver all this... all i've tried to do from day one is sort it all out and he has buried his head in the sand and will probably walk away from all this owing nothing and yet again i will get stitched up..

What really annoyes me (sorry i know this is nothing to do with mortgages etc) is that he's on benefits AND works and i have received no support from him for our daughter since day one either.... I have told the benefits office but they don't seem to care either......

Why is it that the Honest hard working people always get the bum deal !!!

The_Eternal_Optimist_2

You are right it is a bum deal you have had, but don't give up fighting - the only time anyone ever fails is when they give up

Sedgetheledge

Thanks... I never give up that easy hence it oing on for nearly 15/16 years.. But probabalu shot myslef in the foot for being so honest and corresponding with them all this time.... Great eh.

I've now got the Ombusdman looking into it all ( i did approach them years ago too, but was told that unless i have a letter saying that we had reached 'Deadlock' then they wouldn't even look at my case)

So all round really i've not had much luck with any of this. to top it all at the time i was homeless on my own with a toddler trying to survive and now live in Housing association property... Would like to eventually buy somewhere of my own and start again.. but looks grim at the moment doesn't it.

Rick62

This is terrible, and as you say you would think more common. I've no real idea of the law, but how much was the debt when you first notified the lender and how much did it increase to?

I would hope, that it could be held that you were liable for the original debt that any interest/arrears etc you are not liable for for two reasons, first that you notified them and they could have repossessed at that point and secondly that they were negligent in pursuing the debt vs your ex. I don't know if that would make much difference, as you have not given figures.

Sedgetheledge

Hi Rick

The arrears originally amounted to £3218.81 that was when i first found out that he had not been paying the mortgage (that was in February 1992) of course i immediately called them and tried to sort this all out..

Even if i had of paid the outstanding amount to clear the debt (which i couldn't as i had no money) it would have just given him free reign to carry on living there and run up more debts, and me keep paying for HIM to stay there... of course by then he had moved his new girlfriend in and they were enjoying nice holidays etc whilst i struggled !!!

At this stage i also engaged a solicitor who was corresponding with the building society and trying to get my ex to either sell the property, take my name of the mortgage or give the property up... He never responded!!!

The solicitor was writing to the Halifax and advising them of the situation and my position but this didn't make any difference to them.

I feel they have been very negligent in acting on my request's and time and time again i told them that unless they acted straight away he would just stay there and run up this huge debt...Which i had no control over and no one was listening to me !!!

Rick62

How much was the total debt in Feb 1992, how much was the property sold for and how much was the final debt?

Conrad

One of my Brothers got a bill for £52500 after 10 years from Bristol & West as he was repossesed. He by then had a new home with lots of equity and a good income yet they settled on just £2500.

If you dont pay the bill I dont think they will be able to do anything. I see people all the time that simply refused to pay debts and nothing happened to them.

The rule book readers on this forum might question this but I assure you the above is accurate. Afterall what could the lender do if you just dont pay?

Banks write of billions in debt each year for this very reason.

Sedgetheledge

The debt in 1992 was £3218 and a few pennies. by 1993 it was £5772.65 in Januaary 2000 i managed to get a break down of the statement.
Total advance £58602.00
additonal mortgage security £892.40
interest from 15/08/1988 to 17/04/1998 51,193.19
estate agenst cost £859.00
Solicitors sale costs £413.00
insurance premiums £109.40
valuaton fees £125.00
solicitors arrears/litigation costs £2245.90
internal fees £245.00
Ground rent/service charges £5657.92
property maint £504.82
VAT £287.45

PROPERTY SALE PROCEEDS £47,950.00
PAYMENTS RECEIVED £39,429.64

Final loss £33,756.04

jamesd

Did they give any reason for charging interest that works out to something between 24% and 32% a year on average for the years from 1988 to 1998?