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Mortgage taken out in Orlando Florida and foreclosed on.

Jakonasty
Jakonasty Posts: 4 Newbie
First Post
Hi I took out a Mortgage  in Orlando Florida on a timeshare property  which was foreclosed on and sold for One Dollar,The mortgage was arranged and all the papers signed in Orlando under Florida Law at an exchange rate of 2 Dollars to the Pound but the debt was sold to a company in Britain and have put a charge on my property ,Is this legal as they cannot supply me with the amount of money I paid the original lender and this was 12 years ago and I still cannot get the information from them and they insist that it was a personal loan but it’s not it was a mortgage which it states on the contract,What would you suggest I do..
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Comments

  • GeordieGeorge
    GeordieGeorge Posts: 499 Forumite
    500 Posts Name Dropper
    What do you mean by them not supplying you with the money that you paid your lender? The lender gives money to you, not the other way round, and you use it to buy a property. If you fail to keep up with the payments you don’t get that money back, you owe it to your lender, not the other way round.
    Could you give some more details of what happened, and what money you think that you are owed?
  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,729 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    It is not clear what the exact issue is
    If you had a mortgage secured on a property and the property was repossessed and sold for less than the amount owed then you would be liable for the shortfall including fees. How did the charge on your property come about?
  • I phoned the court in Orlando to find out how much I needed to pay but they said that I would have to attend in person which was impossible at the time so the hearing went ahead and they sold the property for 1Dollar which I understand is legal under Florida law when a property is subject to foreclosure but under Florida law after foreclosure you don’t owe the debt as I was told, But then the lender in America sold the debt to a British company who have been pursuing me for over 12 years in which time I have been trying to come to some agreement with them but they can’t supply me with all the original documents that were signed in Florida so they have no records of how much money was paid off the debt and therefore not give me a final settlement figure so they just keep asking for the original amount and the reason that the charge was put on my property was that I was not well enough to attend a court hearing which was a 4 hour drive away so I asked for it to be held in another court nearer to me which I thought it was but 3 months later I find that I have a charge on my property.
  • gerdo
    gerdo Posts: 192 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I'm not sure I understand your issue,You said you took out a mortgage on a timeshare property, did you buy the whole property or just the use of it for two or so weeks of the year?
  • GeordieGeorge
    GeordieGeorge Posts: 499 Forumite
    500 Posts Name Dropper
    Jakonasty said:
    I phoned the court in Orlando to find out how much I needed to pay but they said that I would have to attend in person which was impossible at the time so the hearing went ahead and they sold the property for 1Dollar which I understand is legal under Florida law when a property is subject to foreclosure but under Florida law after foreclosure you don’t owe the debt as I was told, But then the lender in America sold the debt to a British company who have been pursuing me for over 12 years in which time I have been trying to come to some agreement with them but they can’t supply me with all the original documents that were signed in Florida so they have no records of how much money was paid off the debt and therefore not give me a final settlement figure so they just keep asking for the original amount and the reason that the charge was put on my property was that I was not well enough to attend a court hearing which was a 4 hour drive away so I asked for it to be held in another court nearer to me which I thought it was but 3 months later I find that I have a charge on my property.
    What happened at the nearer court? Did you also fail to attend that one?
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,611 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Have you spoken to the lender in America for a statement showing what you have paid ?
  • Basically the property I bought was 24,000 US Dollars and I had a mortgage deed that was registered with Orange County Florida land registration but over a period of time I realised that the management cost was basically a scam and I tried to sell the unit back to them but that seemed impossible so they filed for foreclosure and the property as far as I am aware was sold for 1 Dollar the same property that I had paid 24,000 Dollars 2 years earlier 
    and then the debt was sold to a company in the UK who have pursued me for over 12 years but they are asking for the original loan amount that I borrowed but not taking off all the payments that I made including the 1 Dollar that the property was sold for as their legal department don’t have those figures or any of the paperwork regarding the payments, The thing is that when they bought the debt they said that it was a personal loan but its not its a mortgage which the original lender confirmed which I understand is a different issue altogether,Surely the mortgage laws in America are not the same as in the UK I don’t think that a lender could re poses a property in the UK and sell it for 1 Pound, The thing is I’m a retired Plumbing and Heating Engineer and have no idea of how the law works especially in America.I think that I will have to go back to court in this country and employ a solicitor who knows about property loans taken out in the US.
  • sparklep0ny
    sparklep0ny Posts: 221 Forumite
    100 Posts Name Dropper
    Jakonasty said:
    Basically the property I bought was 24,000 US Dollars and I had a mortgage deed that was registered with Orange County Florida land registration but over a period of time I realised that the management cost was basically a scam and I tried to sell the unit back to them but that seemed impossible so they filed for foreclosure and the property as far as I am aware was sold for 1 Dollar the same property that I had paid 24,000 Dollars 2 years earlier 
    and then the debt was sold to a company in the UK who have pursued me for over 12 years but they are asking for the original loan amount that I borrowed but not taking off all the payments that I made including the 1 Dollar that the property was sold for as their legal department don’t have those figures or any of the paperwork regarding the payments, The thing is that when they bought the debt they said that it was a personal loan but its not its a mortgage which the original lender confirmed which I understand is a different issue altogether,Surely the mortgage laws in America are not the same as in the UK I don’t think that a lender could re poses a property in the UK and sell it for 1 Pound, The thing is I’m a retired Plumbing and Heating Engineer and have no idea of how the law works especially in America.I think that I will have to go back to court in this country and employ a solicitor who knows about property loans taken out in the US.
    I'd be paying for expert legal advice on this rather than asking a bunch of randoms on the internet for free advice.

    It's well above this forums paygrade.
  • Sandtree
    Sandtree Posts: 10,628 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper
    Your missing the bit about how the UK court put a charge on your property?

    Whilst it may have been described as a mortgage in the USA its unlikely to meet the UK definition of a mortgage hence the disparity between what you are calling it and what the UK debt collectors are calling it. 
  • You could not have a "mortgage" on something you only owned part of i.e a timeshare. If you purchased this in 2009 (12 years ago) you were very lucky to get 2 dollars to the £ as 12 months later its value had dropped by 25%.
    However all that aside, as above there is no way you are going to get free advice on this one anywhere on the internet, you will have to pay for legal advice.
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