Newbie ......... In Desperate Need Of Advice Please !!!

[joella68]

hello all, firstly i would like to say what a wonderful site this is

 

well im posting on behalf of my mum, who very stupidly has been running away from a repossession for roughly 12+ years now, she thought that back in 2002 it was all over asshe recieved a letter saying that if she could prove that she was on sick benefit they would scrap the debt, she called on the services of C.A.B, and never heard any more so assumed it was all dealt with, but last week recieved a letter asking her for around £32,000 she is frantic with worry and does know where to turn as it starts to get very complicated now as in the last year she recieved an inheritance .........this inheritance is invested now, as she has around £5,000 in the bank, she is worried that they will take tis money from her, she us 64 years old and about to retire,

please, please can anyone advise on this ???

[dx100uk]

i assume this is for property

 

we have a repossesions forum

 

i'll get it moved to there for you

 

sorry not my game

 

dx

[joella68]

gosh that was quick thankyou, where do i find the repossession forum ?

[silverfox1961]

While I profess to knowing very little about reposessions or mortgage shortfalls and the like, just how long ago did the debt occur?

Has any payment been made on it?

 

Bit more info if you please. Was the property repossessed?

Was there a charging order?

[maroondevo52]

Thread moved to Repossessions Forum

[joella68]

thanks for your reply silverfox, the debt was from 12+ years ago, yes it was repossessed, no there was not a charging order as far as my mother has told me, but citizens advice did have some correspondence with the building society about 7 years ago now, and my mum has a letter from them saying that a payment of £10 per month was offered, she does not remember agreeing that with citizens advice, and no further replies have been recieved until last week.........7 years on !

[silverfox1961]

Ok, I do know this. If the debt is from a mortgage shortfall then a 12 year limitation applies meaning that if no payment has been made in the last 12 years then it is Statute Barred. If that is the case with you, I would get them to prove their claim. That's about the level of my knowledge I'm afraid

[silverfox1961]

Forgot to mention, as well as the 12 year limit, if you have not acknowledged the debt in the same period the SB also applies

[dx100uk]

yep agree with that.

 

and its also for them to prove it is not statute barred, not for you to prove it IS.

 

sounds like you should be ok.

 

if you have no paperwork etc to refer too, it might come to sending them an SAR

but if its a DCA chasing you, then i would not bother .

 

who is the OC and who is chasing?

 

dx

[joella68]

thanks for your replies, what does dca and oc mean ?

 

and what about the fact that the citizens advice made contact with them on my mothers behalf, that was approx 7 years ago ?

[dx100uk]

OC is original creditor

DCA is debt collection agency.

 

basically WHO is chasing you?

 

as for the £10 offer, unless your mother actually signed a letter saying yes i will pay this or any other letter saying 'yes i owe you £XXX' then that does not count.

 

it must be written & signed acknowledgement of the debt, or a financial transaction within the last 12yrs & once it has been statuted NOTHING can unstatute it!

 

dx

[joella68]

thanks for that dx, right it is the britania building society that are chasing her, there has been no finacial transaction at all, i phoned the britania the other day on her behalf did not give any names and asked them how long they can chase and they told me there was no time limit to it !

[dx100uk]

statute barred me thinks quite clearly then.

 

as i said not my game, [repro's]

 

no time limit...hehe muppets.

 

just as an outside thought.

 

have checked your mothers CRA file?

 

dx

 

dx

[joella68]

hi guys thanks for your response so far, we think this statute barred is not applicable because mother has a letter saying that they would accept £10 per month that citizens advice must have offered..........but she does not remember giving authority for them to do that

 

do you give signed permission for c a b to act on your behalf when enlisting their help ?

 

she has aked c a b to give her all correspondence but they say that they dont keep files after 6 years so have nothing now as they helped with this in 2002,

 

she is affraid to go to the bs for a Subject Access Request in case this all opens a huge can of worms

she is wondering how they found her address too.

she is very ill and stressed over all this which she thought was many years behind her.

 

please any further help would be fantastic

[joella68]

bump

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, I can understand your mum's reluctance to send for the SAR, but it really is the only way to get the right information to fight their claim. If you don't do anything they will keep on pressing for payment and may even issue a court claim. Either way you need to know what you're dealing with.

 

You should send the SAR by recorded delivery and keep a copy and receipt for posting. You also need to print off the signed for receipt from the royalmail website. Enclose a postal order for £10 (not a cheque as it will have account details on it) with the letter. On the back of the postal order write "fee for Subject Access Request only - not to be used as payment" then take a photocopy of both the front and back of the postal order and keep safe with the letter and proof of delivery.

 

When you get the information back, let us know what is in it and we can advise further.

 

Ell-enn

[joella68]

thanks ell-enn so much, i understand this is the best way forward for her she is just so scared now and thought this was all over years ago, and like i said a pensioner now so this is a terrible place for her to be, and as mentioned before is worried she will loose her inheritence too, which is basically all she has to see her through the rest of her life.

 

thanks again

 

joella68

[Ell-enn]

Try to get her to be positive about the situation. Even if it did go to court (unlikely) after all this time I think the judge would want to know why the lender has waited 12 years to chase the money.

 

I know someone who was in a similar position and the lender stopped chasing after they asked for an SAR.

[joella68]

well this is what i cant understand .......... why if they believe that they have a chance have they not taken it to court before ? but i think that its little comfort to her at the moment, she is so angry with heself that she went to citizens advice 7 years ago because she thinks that them offering the bs £10 per month was admission on her part, which would not make it statute barred right ?

[joella68]

also i should mention that they sent a leter through c a b saying that if she proved she was on sick benefit they would review her in 12 and 24 months and if nothing changed re her being on sick benefit within that time they would close the file..........she recieved this letter from them in 2001, she did prove that, then in 2002 they came after her again which is why she involved c a b, thats when they ofered this £10 per month payment...........but no payment has actually ever been made, then here we are 7 years later, chasing her again after no contact ! poor mum

[Ell-enn]

Lets see what comes back in the SAR. There might be no formal record of the CAB offer if they haven't actually got a letter signed by your mum. We'll cross all bridges when we come to them.

[joella68]

do you think their letter saying they would close the file is she proved her sick benefit ( which she did ) should of formed a legal contract ? because i keep telling her to go that route with it.

[Ell-enn]

That is something you could use if need be. Just send the SAR and see what comes back

[dx100uk]

thanks ell-enn so much, i understand this is the best way forward for her she is just so scared now and thought this was all over years ago, and like i said a pensioner now so this is a terrible place for her to be, and as mentioned before is worried she will loose her inheritence too, which is basically all she has to see her through the rest of her life.

 

thanks again

 

joella68

 

as you have guessed, if they COULD have taken her to court before they would have done so.

 

pers, i would totally ignore them.

there is obviously nothing they can do to her, its prob just a redundant A/C flag auto letter.

 

if you really must send anything i'd send the statute barred letter.

 

i also very much doubt they could produce the cab letters anyhow or have any record of them.

 

dx

[Ell-enn]

as you have guessed, if they COULD have taken her to court before they would have done so.

 

pers, i would totally ignore them.

there is obviously nothing they can do to her, its prob just a redundant A/C flag auto letter.

 

if you really must send anything i'd send the statute barred letter.

 

i also very much doubt they could produce the cab letters anyhow or have any record of them.

 

dx

 

Agreed