Cut off point !!!

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Repossession : One Thread

Hi everyone - haven't been here for ages - good to know the site is still helping people ( though wish there wasn't a need for it ! ) Can you tell me if there is ever a cut off point to all this. We were repossessed in Dec 1990 - got chased for the shortfall ( property undersold within weeks etc the usual stuff ) paid a little back to the debt collecting company.... through fear..... before finding this site and have since fought off any further requests from the various agencies that the debt gets sold on to with " take us to court - let them sort it out ". Well the 12 years since repo is now up and we heaved a big sigh of relief ..... when lo and behold .... a couple of days into the new year 4 letters in one day from Facility Trading Services demanding a settlement of £15000. Have obviously ignored them. Surely they're just trying it on ? They can't seriously think we are going to get into all this again.

Any advice?

Many thanks

-- SUE GATES (sue.gates@ntlworld.com), February 05, 2003

Answers

Sue,

I echo your sentiments totally, I'm sorry to see you back again. I think the critical questions here are: 1)When was the last payment made to a debt collector/lender? 2)When was contact last made with the debt collector/lender? 3)Was an MJO issued ? A part payment can restart the 12 year limitation period from the date of that last payment. A contact in writing can also cause this depending on the wording. You need to speak to a solicitor to check this. I can give you a bit more info on acknowledgements if you wish, it's a difficult area (personally I feel, in unclear cases, that it will depend on the view of each individul judge, and who can afford the best barrister). If an MJO was issued they can pursue you indefinitely (although I suspect this isn't as straightforward as it sounds, I'm waiting to hear what the Treasury Minister has to say on this) I don't know whether you know, but in July of last year an appeal court case established that the 12 year limitation period usually runs from the 2nd or 3rd missed payment on the mortgage (subject to acknowledgements/part payments and the terms & conditions of the mortgage). Another, perhaps, useful piece of info I received from a solicitor is this:

Another interesting point held in Lowsley v Forbes was that the provisions of LA '80 under which 'deliberate concealment' postpones the running of time (s32) do not apply to the debtor concealing him/herself but rather to the debtor concealing that a cause of action had arisen.

Successfully hiding does not, therefore, stop time running.

I'm not a legal expert so please check all this out, but as far as I know it's all correct.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

Mark.

-- M Amos (idgroms@hotmail.com), February 05, 2003.


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