help needed to fight Skipton

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Repossession : One Thread

The property I co-owned with my ex-husband was reposessed in Dec '98 giving a shortfall of £12,196.74. Unknowing of such sites I thought co-operation was the best policy and completed an I&E form which showed a negative income at the end of each month.I made a repayment offer in 3/99 of £5 per month which was never remarked upon.A full and final settlement figure of £650 made in 6/00 was also rejected. In 2/01 they traced me to a new address and have pursued me with renewed vigour.Again I (now know wrongly)completed another I&E form (and provided some documentary evidence)showing a negative balance of £210 per month calculated on my basic salary.They have also refused settlement of £800 and had requested £20 per month.After disagreement on certain expenditures they have reassesed and now believe I am not disclosing some source of income - I do earn good overtime but am reluctant to give access to this. Now reading this sites information and having received another 14 day threat I realise I have dealt with this situation in completely the wrong way and do not know where to turn from here .... Is it too late to start demanding full account breakdowns ? I believe the house was undervalued,charges applied were too steep,endowment already used to repay some of the shortfall etc etc

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Sam

-- samantha munden (jasonq@ntlworld.com), July 22, 2001

Answers

You can insist on your rights. Its not to late follow threads on this site and you'll do fine. Don't worry !. All thats advised on this site does the trick.

-- steve mace (samace@btinternet.com), July 22, 2001.

Its not too late to start exercising your rights. Your offers and completion of an i/e form do not constitute acceptance of the liability.

Above all don't get trapped into offering £x per month unless you make it for a fixed period and in full/final settlement. Paying £x per month puts the debt into hibernation - they have control and will make you review every six months or so. The moment they sniff you have any money they will pounce like flies on shit.

By the way they have no right to query any expenditure of yours - a court can do that, but not a private firm of solicitors. It sounds like you've been talking to them on the phone - another bad idea.

Start reading and good luck.

-- (bluemoon@mcfc.co.uk), July 23, 2001.


Certainly you should ask Skipton to prove that it valued and marketed the property properly and sold it at best value. Skipton lost an important Court of Appeal case last year (Skipton Building Society v Stott 2000 CA, I believe)on these issues.

People who fill in I&E forms because they think they have to do so should not worry too much about having 'admitted liability', IMHO. You did not give informed consent for the lender to pry into your affairs, because the claim was not substantiated. In fact, there may well be data protection issues here, if the lender gave the impression that you had some sort of legal obligation to give up your personal data and/or that of a partner/child. Anyhow, is is legally possible to 'resile' (withdraw)'liability', I understand. There is some case law on this.

Keep calm, and start asking the lender to prove its claim. Be polite but firm, keep your nerve, and come back to this board as often as you need. Definitely ask about the vaulation, marketing and sale price. Wsa it marketed at all? Wsa it flagged in some way as a 'repo'? If so, why? Etc etc.

-- E Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), July 23, 2001.


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