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Brittania Building Society - whether to negotiate

from Vicki P (parsons@cedarave33.freeserve.co.uk)
House repossessed 5 years ago following job loss and an unsuccesful attempt to sell the property. Valued at £22000 immediately prior to repossession but subsequently sold by lender for only £11000. I do not appear to be black-listed, which I find puzzling since the lender is aware of my new address. SARN served and a large bundle of papers received - strangely some of the papers show the lender has used various tracing agencies to (unsuccessfully) find me, despite the fact they know where I am - their debt-chasing department has sent a letter roughly every 8-12 months asking me to pay them £23000. Their letters have alternated bewteen threatening, ie contact them immediately "or else" (legal proceedings/interest will accrue rapidly, larger debt etc), and relatively pleasant letters simply asking me to contact them to discuss coming to an arrangment. Despite the threat to add-on interest their letters show the same debt figure - if interest is accruing they are not telling me about it. Having followed the advice on this site I have not contacted them at all other than to serve the SARN. I recently wrote to them vis-a-vis serving another SARN (just to check I had everything) - they wrote back offering to provide the information again, but also threatening to obtain an attachment of earnings and recover the debt from my employer (that would be a clever trick since they have no idea where I now work). However, the letter also offers "Full and Final Settlement" of my liability for a mere £7500. No doubt this is supposed to lure me into contacting them, but I would like this matter resolved and I am tempted to respond. If I was to go down this road has anyone any advice as to how I should approach the lender? However, before accepting their kind offer I want to know for sure the lender has done everything "properly" and has the legal ammunition to successfully enforce recovery. Whilst I appreciate this is the last thing they want to do, I find the lenders lack of action, their failure to add-on interest, or even to have me credit black-listed, very surprising - it makes me wonder if their case is actually weak for some reason and they are trying to sucker me into coming to an agreement. I would therefore like to have the papers audited by someone who understands these things - I certainly don't, but I have tried several local solicitors and none of them "specialise" (their word) in house repossessions. Can anyone recommend a suitable company/individual?
(posted 7932 days ago)

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