Hello,

i hope i can get some help here..

I and my now EX wife) got a mortgage on a third floor flat in 1988, in 1993 i was unfortunately involved in an industrial accident and have since been disabled (lower spinal damage) in 1995 me and the now ex wife were blessed with a child, the health visitor demanded the council rehouse us.. (start of hassles)

i went to Nationwide and discussed our options.. they wouldnot help us in anyway but suggested we hand in our keys and take volantary Reposession. i asked about costs and was told it would cost us "about £1000" this was a MAJOR factor in the decision to return the keys.

hence we moved. in 1998 my now ex wife walked out leaving me to bring up our daughter. in 2001 i was contacted by eversheds about the mortgage and a debt of £25.5K

what i want to know is.. is there anyway (as the £1000 comment was verbal in a meeting with the BS) i can hold them to this sum..

i was also told on the Phone by eversheds that the flat was sold "for a nominal sum" not how much but i thought they HAD to seek market value (would have been about 16K from a 29K mortgage) they also got a 7 year old Endowmnt to cash (worth about 2.5k) and the MII (mortgage indemnity insurance) but after paying the extra 1% and sold it as a MII i've now been told they dont do MII and i payed for something else??

i am getting VERY depressed, i am a disables lone parent living on Benefits (and thats VERY tight).

i dont (and although i have filled out a SARN) acknowledge this debt (have said same to Eversheds who claim i have by speaking to them).

Please someone help me sort this mess out???

I have after 8 months of silence (and thinking they was going to leave me alone) just received another letter from them giving me 7 days to respond (this is to make it hard to get advice??) do i HAVE to respond in 7 days?? i thought the minimum time limmit allowed was 21 days??

Mark

-- Mark (lostin1999@yahoo.co.uk), December 01, 2001

Answers

Further to my question ive drafted the following letter to them please advise.. on how it can be imporved??

Mark

With reference your letter (ref above).

My situation is NO different. I still refuse to acknowledge a debt I have not been told how its made up. On this I request a full breakdown (again) of how the debt is calculated.

I am considering your request and will contact you in due course.

Due to the amount involved all further correspondence will be in the written form and no telephone calls, either at home or else where will be entertained.

I await your response

Yours sincerely,

-- M Slade (lostin1999@yahoo.co.uk), December 02, 2001.

I have also been pursued by Eversheds for over 4 years now and only stumbled onto this site a few months ago, so I am a bit of a novice as far as advice giving is concerned. At least you probably wont make the same mistakes as we did. I think a good place to start would be to read 'do's and don'ts' on this site and take the advice to send them a SARN immediately. Your second posting says you have 'filled out a SARN' - did you mean and I&E (income and expenditure)? I served a SARN on eversheds and was not required to fill in a form to get it. Mind you I had to wait in excess of 40days to get a response and only then got it when I asked the Information Commissioner for an assessment. They are in the habit of issuing ultimatums to respond within 7 days - (I cringe now when I think how we used to panic) - Don't worry about it. Include in your letter a request asking for copies of documentation to substantiate their claim. A list of what you should ask for is on this site as is a sample copy of SARN. Believe me, with Eversheds this process takes a very long time, we are repeatedly asking for copies. You are also correct in requesting them not to phone. They eventually stopped calling us but they still invite us to phone them.

There are many contributors to this forum who are far more knowledgeable than I am, so hopefully they will chip in a bit for you as well.

-- alyson (faydupp@hotmail.com), December 02, 2001.

you are right i filled in a I & E form not a sarn.. (as proved later in my request to learn what a sarn is..

ive reformulated my letter trying to take this information into account

please tell me if this letter will be acceptable or should i send two letters???

TIA Mark

Dear Mr C

With reference your letter (ref above).

My situation is NO different. I still refuse to acknowledge a debt I have not been told how its made up. On this I request a full breakdown (again) of how the debt is calculated.

I am considering your request and will contact you in due course.

Subject Access Rights Notice

Under the Subject Access Rights granted me by the Data Protection Act I would be grateful if you would forward me details of all information you keep on me that falls within the terms of the Act. I was unable to establish if and what charge you make for doing this but will forward the amount due if you notify me of it.

The addresses I have lived at in the last six years are:

June 1999-present Sept 1995-June 1999

Due to the amount involved all further correspondence will be in the written form and no telephone calls, either at home or else where will be entertained.

I await your response

Yours sincerely,

-- Mark (lostin1999@yahoo.co.uk), December 02, 2001.

I think you should keep the SARN separate from your other letter amd address it to their Data Compliance Officer. Should they decide to ignore your request you will need to produce a copy of it for the Information Commissioner, if somewhere down the line you ask for an assessment.

As regards your other letter requesting information. I would follow the guidelines on here and be more specific about what you want. You can always state that you reserve the right to request further info.

It is also a good idea to keep copies of everything you send and use recorded delivery. You can print off copy of the confirmation of delivery from the Royal Mail website to keep with your copy letter. Eversheds have a nasty habit of not receiving letters you send.

I wouldn't worry about not meeting their 7 day deadline. They will probably phone you if they haven't heard from you. Just tell them letter on way and dont elaborate further. Hope this is of help but remember I speak only from personal experience and have no expertise.

Once you have sent your letters you fill feel a lot better and the ball is back in their court!

-- alyson (faydupp@hotmail.com), December 03, 2001.

erm! Eversheds/Nationwide. I would like to say they will go away and forget about you, but they won't. I've been getting hassled by these people (No can't be people, they would have hearts!) for three years now. they are taking me to court soon for more than £80.000.All I can say is not worry, they cannot take what you do not have. Do not accept the debt, Make them prove the amount they are asking for! Best of luck,

Daren

-- Daren Otsay (darenotsay@blueyonder.co.uk), December 03, 2001.