What documents am I likely to receive from them as I have just issued them with a SARN? I also sent one to The Allied Dunbar, same question as before. On the repossession page you list a huge range of documents that I should ask for,for example 'terms and conditions of the Endowment policy, The Endowment policy etc' are these the ones they should send me because of the SARN? Sorry to sound like a doughnut but these words, SARNS, MIGS MOJ's are all new to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-- Juliette Turner (Juliette.Turner@btinternet.com), May 05, 2001

Answers

Juliette,

When you serve a Subject Access Rights Notice (SARN) under the Data Protection Act (DPA) on a company, that company is required by law to send you legible and intelligible copies of everything it holds on you in electronic form (e.g. computer database information - which might be stuff like bank/mortgage account details, telephone logs, diaries - emails, word-processed letters. You are permitted to ask for explanations of all codes, abbreviations and jargon used, in order that you are able to read the SARN response.

Many lenders, however, no store old account details on computer. Instead, they place it on microfilm or microfiche, and [presumably] dispose of the original documentation or dump it in vast, disorganised warehouses. Microfiche falls outside the scope of ther DPA.

*However*, from October this year, paper or manual records (basically, things kept as pieces of paper or on microfilm) will finally come under the scope of the Data Protection Act. This will be an interesting period for repossessees who are anxious to obtain their files from reluctant lenders.

Some lenders do already send bits and bobs of copies of paper records with their SARN responses, but they don't have to do this and most don't.

This web site recommends that you ask to see a particular set of documents under a different set of your rights. These pretty much fall under the umbrella of 'Civil Procedure Rules' (CPR), which hold that both sides should adopt a 'cards on the table approach' and attempt to avoid litigation and settle as quickly as possible out of court. If you dispute the claim - for example, you think that your respossessed property was sold at a knock-down price - then that is even more reason why the lender (or its solicitor/agent) should show you the documents which prove its claim in full. This web site suggests that the documents of interest are: the original mortgage deed; the Mortgage Indemnity policy (also known as Mortgage Indemnity Guarantee or MIG); independent valuations and other docs relating to marketing and sale; notifications of the sale; and a copy of the Money Judgement Order (MJO) which the lender ought to have sought at court at the time of the repossession.

If a lender refuses to supply any or all of these documents, you really have to ask yourself why. See this web site, under Repossession, for an entertaining discussion of this.

Hope this helps.

-- Eleanor Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), May 07, 2001.

I've just got my data from the Halifax.It was a very detailed computer print-out of my mortgage account and the quotation given before I took the mortgage on. It did not contain any contractual documents. I did ask for the contracts (mortgage deed and MIG) but was told that because they were over six years old, they had been destroyed. I need the MIG wording, so it looks like the only party that has that is the insurance company, and they're the ones 'claiming' that I owe them (of course their solicitor is ignoring my request for them to supply it).

-- Richard Butler (rbutler@e-burystedmunds.co.uk), May 13, 2001.