Vulture Fund Mamagers/Overseas Mortgage debt

Magicmerlin67

Hi,

My wife and I moved to Cyprus in 2008.  Having rented for nearly a year, we decided to buy an apartment and moved in to it on 2009.

We were both working full time permanent jobs. We put down in the region of £35K.  Equity from the house we sold prior to moving.

Then literally months after taking out the mortgage with Hellenic Bank, the financial crisis really took hold.

Long story short,  I was paid off in 2012 and my wife's wages were initially being paid late and then they were reduced by €300 per month.  

End result after many, many months of advising the bank we could no longer afford the mortgage and were undoubtedly going to default on the repayments, I moved back to Scotland in June 2013 and my wife in December 2013.

We tried to rent it to cover the mortgage with no success. We ended up returning the keys to the bank and thought they would repossess the house etc.

Low and behold 12 years later and having managed to purchase a house we'd been renting for 9 years we have received documents from the courts in Cyprus and they are now chasing us for the outstanding debt.

My wife is partially disabled and works 2 days a week. I work 5 days a week. We have an outstanding mortgage till I'm 67yrs old (currently 57) and they have told us they will force us to sell our house if we do not pay the amount they have detailed.

I have since found out this is a company who have purchased the debts of others and hunt them relentlessly.

Is this legal?  How or where can we get help?

Any thoughts or advice greatly appreciated. 

Thank you

Gary

sourcrates

Yes, they can threaten all kinds of things in a letter from 2000 miles away, doesn't mean they can or will do that.

The dates are going to be important here, the limitation period for mortgages in Cyprus is 12 years, the same as in the UK, so you need to know when the debt defaulted, without actually acknowledging it before the 12 years are up.

Also since Brexit, legal action should be taken in the country that the debtor resides in, as far as I am aware the EU reciprocal agreement is no longer in force.

You should really take professional advice on your position before you engage with this company at all.

National Debtline.org is probably your best bet.