Hi to everyone, and help please

[Tinks]

Sorry I am asking for help straight away,but I suppose its one of those forum that you search to get help....
To cut a very long story short, my youngest son lost his house in the recession, Northern Rock them went on to sell it for 20,000 less then what my son had paid for it.
Northern Rock sent threatening letters to get this shortfall in money, but then they sold out to whoever, and no longer exists at least I don't think they do. Now 2 years on he is being bombarded by Mackenzie Hall....they have obviously bought the dept, I looked in on this forum and there name came up, and we took the advice not to speak to them, but now the calls are coming 2-3 times a week , we haven't answered any but now the letters are coming saying they have bought the 20,000 dept and need repaying.
My son does work but they have a 3 month old baby so are desperate not to have to pay this, could you help please.
Thank you in advance
Tinks x

[wales01man]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

Dont despair there are many others in the same boat being chased for mortgage shortfalls others on here will give advice but as im in the same position i can say despite owing the money i cant pay it off as your son has probably no real prospect of paying it back the debt collectors will give up and pass it on my own personal advice is to ignore them he has gone through the trauma of losing the house dont let them get to him down,
Wait a while some good advice will be posted and should set his mind at ease

[Tinks]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

Thank you so much for your reply, and I am sorry to hear you are in the same boat, its such a shame that on top of losing your home like him you are hounded for money.
Thank you again.

[enquirer]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

On the simple facts, your son is liable.

However, if Northern Rock sold it for a stupid price (that is to say, sold it too cheap, and did not make a reasonable effort to maximise the sale price), then he might be able to argue that the debt should be reduced.

[Tinks]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

Hi
And thanks for your reply, very interesting...houses in the same street at the time were going for 95.000 upwards ..they sold it for 80.000...my son asked for time to sell it but there was no chance.

[IanM]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

I would ask MHall how much they bought the debt for, and then tell them they paid too much cos they won't get a return on their outlay!

Tell them the house was sold by NRock below market value compared to similar houses in the area at the time and that you want to claim the difference from NRock or their agents and who do you contact to make a claim.

Check as many property sales sites to find out how much other houses were sold for around the time NRock sold and work out how much you lost by NRock selling at £80k, especially if the houses were worth £95k upwards.

Hi
And thanks for your reply, very interesting...houses in the same street at the time were going for 95.000 upwards ..they sold it for 80.000...my son asked for time to sell it but there was no chance.

[Tinks]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

Thank for your post, I will do that we do know of two property's that were sold at the time, I did have the price wrong they sold my sons semihouse for 70.000...you are a gem...

[alsagerman]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

I would ask MHall how much they bought the debt for, and then tell them they paid too much cos they won't get a return on their outlay!

Tell them the house was sold by NRock below market value compared to similar houses in the area at the time and that you want to claim the difference from NRock or their agents and who do you contact to make a claim.

Check as many property sales sites to find out how much other houses were sold for around the time NRock sold and work out how much you lost by NRock selling at £80k, especially if the houses were worth £95k upwards.

With respect IanM, i think this would need to be gone into in a little more depth before any "ignore them" advice is offered. It is not uncommon for a repossessed property to be sold for less than the "market value". The problem with market value is that the property is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it and what the owner (Northern Rock) is prepared to sell it for.


A shortfall would however be covered by the mortgage holders insurance. This covers them for any loss, but not you, the mortgage payer. We may not like MH or their collection practices, and there may (possibly) be a way around this problem however, when a morgage is signed upto you do take on an obligation pay it. Circumstances do change and this situation is one many have found themselves in which could not have been foreseen.


That said MH, nor any other DCA, cannot get monies which you a) don't have or b)cannot pay. So, unless someone knows of any shady or illegal practices employed by Northern Rock or MH, it may be better in the long run to grasp the nettle and try to sort an arrangement out. BUT DO NOT PHONE THEM. Keep everything in writing.

[Tinks]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

With respect IanM, i think this would need to be gone into in a little more depth before any "ignore them" advice is offered. It is not uncommon for a repossed property to be sold for less than the "market value". The problem with market value is that the property is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it and what the owner (Northern Rock) is prepared to sell it for.


A shortfall would however be covered by the mortgage holders insurance. This covers them for any loss, but not you, the mortgage payer. We may not like MH or their collection practices, and there may (possibly) be a way around this problem however, when a morgage is signed upto you do take on an obligation pay it. Circumstances do change and this situation is one many have found themselves in which could not have been foreseen.


That said MH, nor any other DCA, cannot get monies which you a) don't have or b)cannot pay. So, unless someone knows of any shady or illegal practices employed by Northern Rock or MH, it may be better in the long run to grasp the nettle and try to sort an arrangement out. BUT DO NOT PHONE THEM. Keep everything in writing.

Thank you for taking the time to reply,
How long would you wait before contacting them by letter, they have just got to the stage of saying we have connected you to this property...meaning ours.. has he is living at home.

[alsagerman]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

Thank you for taking the time to reply,
How long would you wait before contacting them by letter, they have just got to the stage of saying we have connected you to this property...meaning ours.. has he is living at home.

Hi Tinks. For a start you and your son need to take a step back and not allow MH to bully or intimidate you into any rash, ill though out, action. This will not be sorted overnight and you have plenty of time to gather advice to arrive at the best solution for you both. I note your son has a three month old baby. A minor takes prioity as their needs have to be met first.....it's the law!! MH may not like it, but they can do nothing without a court order and once a court learns that your son has obligations towards a baby they would (you can never be sure) proberbly award a very low payment to MH. Of course this is conjecture from someone who isn't an expert on these matters.

Personally, I would strongly recommend you seek help from a (free) debt charity such as the CCCS for instance, or any other debt charity others may feel better suited to your circumstances. They can take over negotiations with MH and work out a repayment plan (I know of no circumstance where a mortgage debt has been forgiven but others may know better) which could result in payments for a few years and then your son would be in the clear. MH would have no option but to deal with the charity which would stop the calls to yourself. These are just my thoughts and are not offered as expert advice.

[enquirer]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

Alsagerman is right - repossessed houses routinely go for significantly less than the market value. They are priced to sell and are normally only available to cash buyers.

[wales01man]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

Its always suggested that those who have their homes repossed and sold for less than the so called market value take action against the lender has anyone evidence that cases have been won against the mortgage company and what actions were needed and the costs involved i would imagine the companies would fight this through the courts and win leaving the debtor with a large legal bill as one who has been repossed i would not wish to go through all the stress knowing the odds are most likely to be agains tme

[IanM]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

Nail on the head there Wales01man, people do not have the fight in them after they lose their house and sometimes when the fight returns its too late, or they think its too late!

Unfortunately, until people share their experiences of repossession, nobody has a clue what is going on outside of their own mortgage and repossession and they would not be able to see the conspiracy they are the victims of.

Lenders, Brokers, Financial advisers, Solicitors, Estate Agents, 'Property Developers', Bridging loan companies, DCA's......infiltrated by people that are just out to make themselves rich with no thought of the impact on the people they rip off!

From my own personal and ongoing experience of these companies i would strongly suggest that anybody that has been repossessed in at least the last 10 years took the time to do a SAR on their mortgage company AND request their file from the solicitor that handled the conveyancing and look through everything with a fine tooth-comb.

Create a new file in chronological order combining the two files and triple check everything.

If you do not understand something then question it!

The last thing these companies want is someone asking too many questions or looking too closely at the legality of what they do or have done.

Also have a look on Zoopla at your old house and see when it was last sold, or how many times its been sold since you lost it, and for how much it sold for each time.

Maybe if people do this and post the results on here you will start to see a pattern emerge and the same names cropping up time and again.

I bet there would be a few squeaky butts if people started listing the names of the Lenders, Brokers, Financial advisers, Solicitors, Estate Agents, Bridging loan companies involved in any way in their mortgage or repossession.

Its always suggested that those who have their homes repossed and sold for less than the so called market value take action against the lender has anyone evidence that cases have been won against the mortgage company and what actions were needed and the costs involved i would imagine the companies would fight this through the courts and win leaving the debtor with a large legal bill as one who has been repossed i would not wish to go through all the stress knowing the odds are most likely to be agains tme

[wales01man]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

Good points in the above i only state my view does anyone on here have experience or know of anyone who has taken this action and won as its 12 years for the lenders to try ang get back the shortfall do the repossed have the same time or longer?
As i get older and more content and patient i like to think in the future i will go after them

[IanM]

Re: Hi to everyone, and help please

I don't know of anyone that has tried to do this but maybe if people knew what was going on they would find a way of taking the lenders on.

If anyone was repossessed while the house prices were rising then i would definitely be investigating if the mortgage company came back with a shortfall because by waiting 6/12 months the mortgage % of the value of their house would have been reduced and they may have been able to re-mortgage somewhere else for better rates or sold themselves for a profit.

Repossession in this country is too fast and too easy.

'25 years to pay a mortgage but miss 3 months and bang we'll take your house.....', something fundamentally wrong there!

Good points in the above i only state my view does anyone on here have experience or know of anyone who has taken this action and won as its 12 years for the lenders to try ang get back the shortfall do the repossed have the same time or longer?
As i get older and more content and patient i like to think in the future i will go after them