After a year of letter's to and from DLA (chasing for Abbey), I'm getting really frustrated. I've just received a letter which is exactly the same as one they sent a year ago! DLA wont show me any documents and continue to write that I seem unwilling to resolve this matter. I'm now thinking of writing to say either take me to court or close this matter once and for all. Has anyone done this? Is it such a bad idea - at least it's sorted one way or another?

Thanks

-- Jo Berry (foxwood60@aol.com), September 16, 2001

Answers

Your frustration is understandable but you mustn't let it dictate how you react.

If they are sending you exactly the same letter then *they* are not making progress - which means what you had been doing up to now has worked. So keep doing it!

It might worth rereading the Do's and Don'ts pages (in the Repossession section of the site) for suggestions about how to interpret and deal with lenders - such as Abbey National - that handle requests for information like this.

Remember: if your strategy so far has reduced them to resending the same letter then their strategy is failing and your strategy is working.

It's all hard to live with but then, that's the way Abbey National and Dibb Lupton Allsop want it to be. ;-)

Lee

-- Lee (repossession@home-repo.org), September 16, 2001.

I've gotta stress what Lee has said. What you are doing is working. DLA are no further forward and therefore you are winning. Don't forget, eventually they will be time-limitted-out. Many of us, for example me right now, go through fallow periods when our latest letters go unanswered before the lender (or their solicitor) suddenly starts up a new demand (and if I had italics here I would use them) as if no previous contact or correspondence had occurred. This is a) their right and b) their problem! My view is they repeat their letters... well I'll just repeat mine. Frustration? Nah. They're not worth it.

-- (bluemoon@grabbynational.co.uk), September 16, 2001.

I was in a similar situation With eversheds/Nationwide(shortfall claim).I had been threatened with court action apprx five times and was getting fed up with it all. So in my next reply to them i told them to take me to court. i was then threatened again with court action another 3 times. then guess what! they filed a claim against me. Watch this space!!!

-- Daren Otsay (darenotsay@blueyonder.co.uk), September 17, 2001.

A couple of months ago DLA started chasing me for a shortfall - made up entirely of costs, no mortgage arrears at all. I spoke to them three times asking for evidence, and proof of what the Leeds & Holbeck had spent on my behalf, they said unless I completed the I&E form they could not help, as the Leeds & Holbeck would not release this information unless I was going to pay the full amount. I wrote to them saying I was not going to fill out any form unless they provided me with proof, and I was not going to deal with them as I had no authorisation from the Leeds. (As they were wanting to charge me estate agents fees of 3%, and expected me to just pay up, then they can kiss my ***!!) Fight on, I say, I await the next stage with interest. But will take the same attitude as you, only another 9 years till they can't get me !

-- alison jenkins (topbanana07@hotmail.com), September 17, 2001.