Old Mortgage debt help please

markdornan1

Hi All
I am reposting this from another forum as this one was suggested as possibly a better forum for this question.
In late 1997 early 1998 my wife had her house repossessed, this was a 50% equity share
Despite her efforts and those of the local CAB the repossession went ahead and the last she heard was from the man at the CAB who had been trying to get a settlement figure from the Halifax which was not forthcoming, he said that, “ because you are a single parent and a student, and have little chance of repaying this”…. his gut feeling was that Halifax would drop it and you would probably never hear from them again.
My wife did not hear anything during the course of the next 2 years where she resided at the address that she had given the Halifax, on finishing her course she moved away and in 2002 purchased a house in Devon, at the time she mentioned the earlier business to the mortgage person at the bank (NatWest) and their advice was to wait and see what came back on the credit check, when it came back clear, she assumed that there had been no shortfall. She also remained on the electoral register from that time on.
We met and purchased a house together in 2006, again no credit reference issues.
Out of the blue in 2007/8 we received a letter from the Halifax saying they were pursuing the debt from 1998 and my wife owed in excess of £15000 after some research we contacted the Halifax, disputing the debt as they were outside the FSA guidelines. The Halifax agreed and stated that they would take no further action.
In June of this year (2015) we were contacted by a debt agency to say that they we owed this debt and they would be taking action to recover it and invited us to contact them to discuss this, after a couple of these we have sought advice from CAB and have an appointment today, but wonder if anyone on this forum can give us any advice here.
Upon investigation it appears that the repossessed house was not resold, it possibly went back into the Housing Association stock and was let out and sold many years later. This may have been why there was no contact during this time.
so any thoughts on the following.
No ccj in the first place
A repossession but no sale so how is shortfall arrived at.
If the fsa say the Halifax shouldn’t pursue a debt after 2005/6, and they agree in 2007/8 then how can they sell a debt to someone else so long afterward.
Even although we spoke to them in 2007/8 it was to dispute the debt not acknowledge it.
Can a debt agency take any legal action or is this just a scare to try and force us into agreeing some form of repayment. Thanks in advance for your help

HappyMJ

A transfer must have occurred and a value was put on that transaction.

Anyway mortgage arrears can only be chased for "up to" 12 years. It's now 17 years old. Ignore the chancers.

The DCA can buy any age debts and try their luck. Some people will pay and they get a return on their investment. Most won't but they probably didn't pay much for the debts.

sourcrates

The time for collecting on the debt has run out, after 12 years with no payment or written admission of the debt, it will be statute barred, and you should write and tell them so.

fatbelly

The debt exists - it just can't be enforced

They have bought this for peanuts and are trying it on

It is worth writing to them to let them know that if they tried to enforce it you would defend it.

The relevant case is West Bromwich Building Society –v- Wilkinson where the House of Lords confirmed that the 12-year clock starts ticking on a mortgage shortfall when the instalment payment is missed. 1997 in your case?

DandelionPatrol

sourcrates wrote: »

The time for collecting on the debt has run out, after 12 years with no payment or written admission of the debt, it will be statute barred, and you should write and tell them so.

We would like to think so, but:-

Out of the blue in 2007/8 we received a letter from the Halifax saying they were pursuing the debt from 1998 and my wife owed in excess of £15000 after some research we contacted the Halifax, disputing the debt as they were outside the FSA guidelines. The Halifax agreed and stated that they would take no further action.

This is within the 12 years from the original debt and within 12 years from now.

If there is anything in OP's wife's correspondence which acknowledges the debt, then the Statute Barred argument is not available.

However, I still think it should be tried, it is for the DCA to prove that it is not SB - and the Halifax agreement to take no further action is a fairly strong argument to tell the DCA to take a hike.

sourcrates

DandelionPatrol wrote: »

We would like to think so, but:-


This is within the 12 years from the original debt and within 12 years from now.

If there is anything in OP's wife's correspondence which acknowledges the debt, then the Statute Barred argument is not available.

However, I still think it should be tried, it is for the DCA to prove that it is not SB - and the Halifax agreement to take no further action is a fairly strong argument to tell the DCA to take a hike.

The DCA won't be aware of such correspondence, and I'm not going to tell them. 😃

National_Debtline

Hi

I agree with the others that you should write to the DCA to explain that the debt is statute barred. The onus is on them to prove it isn’t or cease collection.

There is a template letter you can use here:

www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/11%20EW%20Mortgage%20shortfalls/Page-13.aspx


James
@natdebtline

markdornan1

There was nothing acknowledging the debt in the 2007/8 correspondence it was our intention to dispute the debt at that time, on learning that the FSA said a six year period was their time limit for chasing a debt. We pibted this out in a phone call to Halifax and they verbally agreed to take no further action

National_Debtline

Good to hear you’ve resolved this. I think it’s worth trying to get confirmation in writing from Halifax though as it sounds like they said they wouldn’t pursue it in 2008 too.


James
@natdebtline