help!what do i do?

bulldogbandit

quite a few years ago i got myself into a right old mess with debt.i knuckled down and ive managed to pay most of it off,well,atleast i can see the light at the end of the tunnel.that was until i got a letter from a solicitor yesterday.
about ten years ago i had my house re-possessed,anyway,for whatever reason i didnt pay anything(i know,i was stupid).about six years ago,i was getting letters from collection agent about said house.i went to my local cab office,who after a long chat,told me not to worry as it was way past the six year period,and ignore any other letters i may get.this solicitor has told me that i have to pay now,and its a whopping £25000.im at my wits end,im not sleeping,i feel sick.
just as i thought i was getting straight,someone kicks me in the teeth.
can anyone give me any suggestions.please

tealady

Contact CAB or CCCS ASAP.
By the way who are these collection agents, I bet if you search their name on this site a few threads will pop up.

GeorgeUK

Some details here
http://www.insolvencyhelpline.co.uk/debt_factsheets/mortgage_shortfalls.htm
The dates will be important here so hopefully you have a record of when the last payment you made was (or written acknowledgement of the debt) and when the sale date of the house was.

the lender has 12 years from the last time a payment was made on the account or you acknowledged the debt to start action to recover the capital owed on the mortgage. It appears that the lender has 6 years to start action to recover interest added to the debt.

if the lender decides to recover the mortgage shortfall debt they must make sure you are told about this. This must happen within six years of the date of sale. If the lender does not do this then you can complain to The Financial Ombudsman.

RAS

Hi BB

mosy banks have agreed not to chase debt on repossesion after 6 years, even though they were legaly able to do so for 12 years.

Unfortunately apparently some of them sold £6bn worth of old secured debt to DCAs last year, much of which is close to the statute of limitations deadline for secured debt.

The DCAs probably paid very little for this, but they are now pursuing all sorts of people who thought the matter was closed. Please get some very careful advice before you contact this lot.

bulldogbandit

thanks georgeuk.
the last payment i made,would have been a mortgage payment,which would have been about 12 years ago.i dont know if there was written acknowledge of the debt.the solicitor said that when cab got in touch with them in 1997,that was acknowledgement.
i dont know when or for how much the house was sold.
i dont want to go down the iva or bankrupt route.ive done really well with clearing up most of the debt i had.
i just dont know what to do

bulldogbandit

also,gerogeuk.
the lender has never contacted me for well over 6 years

CCCS_Matthew

Hi Bulldogbandit,

I would suggest you have a read of the fact sheet on mortgage repossessions found here. It also contains a sample letter to you to use to write to the lender to help answer the questions you have about the debt, which should give you the information you need as a start to see whether the debt is enforceable or not.

Regards,
CCCS

bulldogbandit

thanks matthew.

bulldogbandit

the re possession is with the halifax.i thought something was a bit weird.i have ignored all letters from collection agents for halifax.i get a letter this morning about it from the solicitor(without prejudice) who i am already paying for something else.halifax must have thought they would try as i am paying through solicitor.
anyway i got a letter this morning.
we refer to our correspondance and our recent telephone conversation.
we apologise for the recent confusion.
the confusion has occured as we were instructed by the halifax with regard to re possession.there is a conflict of interest in us acting for two accounts.we have therefore closed our file on the halifax matter and you will be contacted by alternative agents.
as the solicitor told me that admittion was made in 1997(not sure if it was made).that puts me on 11 years,do i ignore any further letters till next year(12th year)
any advice.please

bulldogbandit

any advice pretty please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sue-UU

Hi BB and welcome,

I think you have most of the advice you need in the posts above. Sort out what has to be done and in what order and who to see or send to first. The sooner it's done the better it will be. You need to know exactly where you stand, but whatever happens, you've done so very well already and will do with this IF the worse happens, it's just that horrible in between part that you need to get through.

I'm sending you a PM which I hope will help.

Very best wishes, Sue