Yes I suppose "panic" is getting close to the correct feeling but I am trying to hold myself as best as I can as feeling that way will not help at all!! (That's easy to say though eh?!?!) I certainly do not want to go to court, I would like to stall them for a while, maybe ask them if we can come to an agreement on how much they will accept as a full/final settlement at the same time as trying to raise the funds and maybe ask them for enough time. I am genuine in this and maybe if they see me as genuine then they will give me a little time!!! Maybe I am being hopeful!! I think if they got my number I would change it and go ex directory, I wont be harassed.

Imagination75, I fully understand how you feel, I must admit I feel a bit paranoid myself but dont know what else to do. Thanks for your support though, I am sure you will get your apology and I really hope things come together for you in the future. PriorityOne, thanks again, that thread is long but has some excellent content, I am going to have to do some serious thinking on the whole situation.

Thank you, that is very useful. I will certainly stay away from admitting being on another mortgage or deeds etc. Your help would be gratefully received in finding any information that would help me. I have spoken to my partner and we have agreed if absolutely necassary we will try and raise funds but it woould REALLY stretch us to say the least and other means would be by far prefered. You guys on here are bloody lifesavers, thank you!!!

My letters also dated 15th of June, unfortunately I have no agreement. Out of curiosity how much did you have outstanding on your mortgage, if you dont mind me knowing. Also, how did you finally get them to agree to settle at £500. Thanks.

Hi Mr mmmm and Imagination 75, Ok, I received correspondance from the same company with respect to the same mortgage company as both of you (my debt also sold 30th November 2006!!!) within the last week. Is this weird or have this company gone and bought a whole load of debt from the Northern Rock and is now chasing everyone at once!?!? Please read my thread called "DCA approach after 5 years" and read the letter I received. Is it the same?? Thanks.

I may sound a little naive here but is this still classed as a mortgage? I mean, it started as a mortgage but it has now been bought by a DCA and there is no mention of the debt being a mortgage anywhere on the letters, the letter from the DCA states: Assignment of Debt from ***mortgage company*** to ***dca*** ***mortgage company ref no. XXXXXX-XXXXXX, XX ref No. XXXXXX Debt Balance :£xx,xxx.xx at XX XXXXX 2006 On behalf of ***dca*** we hereby give you notice that by Deed of Assignment dated ***2007 ("the assignment") made between mortgage company ("the assignor") and ***dca*** ("the assignee") the Assignor assigned to the Assignee absolutely all amounts due from you to it in the sum shown above together with all the rights vested in the Assignor under the documents giving rise to the Debt Balance noted above. We now require you to pay the Debt Balance together with all interest and other sums due thereon to ***company collecting for the dca*** on behalf of ***dca***. We invite you to discuss tis matter etc etc. They dont even mention the word mortgage on the enclosed letter from the company the mortgage was taken out with, it simply states it as an account that has been sold by way of absolute assignment. Thanks again.

Just thought of something else, sorry to be a pain!! Is there any point in sending a CCA prior to an SAR? Mainly for buying time. Also, if they dont supply me with all of the correct information with regards to these requests from me then where do I stand? I realise how broad these questions are!! Thanks again.

Is it worth waiting for them to send me more correspondance? What I mean is, they did only send it via 2nd class post, it is very possible I have never received it and nothing is actually recorded yet. Once they send me something by recorded delivery then I could send them an SAR, maybe just to buy a little time. Just out of curiosity, how long would it normally take for a dca to get back to me with the requested information? Is it possible to get an exact figure of what they paid for the debt and would that help me in any way? Thanks again.

Thanks again to everyone that has posted with advice/information. It does seem that I am up against the wall here, even though I have not yet admitted to the debt I am feeling a little lost with what to do now to be honest. The only thing I can think of is maybe trying to borrow on the equity of my current property and paying some sort of settlement figure, hopefully. Just not sure how low this company will settle or how long I can drag this out for in order for me to try and raise funds, if I can at all.

Also, I am correct in the assumption that the dca is likely, on average, to have paid 10% of this debt, so around £2,000 and yet are trying to say the outstanding to them is near £20,000, plus costs plus interest? Is it my imagination or are these companies total parasites?! How do courts view this level of greed?

That is extremely helpful, thank you. It appears that they sold the house for a very low amount, however, they are claiming somewhere in the region of £7000 over the outstanding amount as of the sale date which is over 4 and a hlaf years ago. Is £7000 increase on £13000 outstanding over 5 years since handing the keys back normal? Outstanding is now near £20,000. Thanks.

Sorry, just to add, the mortgage was in my name only.

Hi again, Thanks for your responses. At the time house prices werent so hot, however, I had an endowment mortgage that was not performing to say the very least. I was having some real bad issues with other lenders at the time but had no defaults etc as had come to certain agreements with all except the mortgage company, that payment remained the same so as far as they knew there werent any issues. Basically, I decided to remortgage with a standard repayment type motgage, I certainly had no intention of leaving at the time otherwise I would not have done so. When I remortgaged I am not totally sure with regards to equity etc how I stood. Looking back I cant remember the lender looking into this but they must have to some degree otherwise they would not have gone ahead with the remortgage. The mortgage cannot have been 100% as they wouldnt have done that at the time as far as Im aware and I am sure that is something I would have remembered so I am presuming 95%. Basically, my marriage fell apart along with I hate to admit my sanity to some degree, it just got too much for me. I left maybe a month or two later. In response to jay123, I totally thought that would be it, the monies the dca says is now outstanding (WITHOUT THEIR INTEREST ETC!!) amounts to 75% of the total mortgage which to be honest flabbergasts me, I cannot see how this can be possible when they got the house. With regards to the dca searching my credit file, I read my file and it clearly states that nobody should do a search without my consent and my file shows no such search, at this point in time anyway!! Repeating what I already said, what if I came off the electoral register?? I am actually tempted to move out for a time, get a flat till this dies down. I thought that due to data protection etc that dca companies could not look at your address through any means other than electoral role so they should have no means of actually saying I definately live where I live now if I come off the register and if it is denied. I have not acknowledged receipt of any letter and I have not admitted liability for the debt. Thank you again for your help.

Hi all, This is my first post so please forgive me if I ask any stupid questions!!! I received a letter the other day, 2nd class stamp and non recorded. Inside was two letters, one was from a Mortage company that I handed the keys of my house back to over 5 years ago. I simply walked away, which I know isnt the responsible thing to do but as I am sure other people on this forum will understand things werent exactly rosy at the time. Anyway, the mortgage company letter basically said that they had handed my debt over to the company that the other letter was from. The other letter stated that they represented a company that had taken the debt on, which I now owe to them, and that I should phone them on the number provided and discuss an amicable way in which to make payment. It also mentions that I will owe "all interest and other sums due thereon" to said company. When I left 5 yrs ago I sort of vanished, opened another account, didnt leave forwarding address, and so on. I now live with someone, am on the mortgage and deeds and have a joint account with them. Ok, so, not sure what to do. I am tempted to remove myself from the mortgage and joint account (although I didnt think that the dca company could track this info due to data protection, am I wrong?) and also remove myself from even being registered at all at this address. Basically, not officially live there at all. They do not have my phone number (I think!!) and do not know where I work so I am thinking they have limited knowledge of my situation apart from my address which they have somehow managed to acquire. I have also checked creditexpert and nothing is showing on there that is negative! Could someone please let me know what is the best way forward, any advice would be very gratefully received as I do not want to repeat the turmoil I went through five years ago. Oh, and if I did "officially" not live where I live is there any chance they may send someone "snooping"?