My husband is being chased for shortfall of £8,000.00. His ex-wife and her husband were evicted through non payment back in 1999. No contact was made by the Halifax until we received a shortfall letter. The Halifax have agreed to chase for £4,000.00 but no less. My husband cannot afford this. He has offered £1,000.00 full and final, but they have said no. He has told me he may have to declare himself bankrupt. Can anyone tell me what the implications are, will it affect me. The property we live in at the moment is in my name, I own it, I own a car and so does my husband, but his car is registered in my name due to a battle we had with the CSA. My husband has no assets at all, but he does work full-time ( he is talking about giving this up as well). We have both lost everything before and we are just trying to make a life for ourselves and our 4 children, we claim no benefits and neither one of us receives any child support form our ex partners. I myself have been on the verge of loosing my home before today, but managed to keep it, but I just do not know which way to turn.

-- Christine Singleton (Middleforth1@aol.com), October 03, 2002

Answers

Christine, First thing to do is to read this site especially the "Repossession" section and the "DO's & Dont's bit. This will explain how to fight halifax. Tell your husband to stop being so defeatist.

John

-- John (sharky_john@hotmail.com), October 03, 2002.

Christine

Bankruptcy does have a lot of implications, you're right. From your brief scenario it would appear that he has little to lose other than perhaps an income payment order (an order that he pays a regular monthly amount from his income for the period of bankruptcy (2 years)). However, it is not really safe to give any advice without a much more detailed discussion of the his/your/the circumstances.

If he really does intend to go bankrupt you should make another attempt to negotiate a full and final settlement - telling the lender that he has no assets or property and if the offer of £1k is not acceptable he wants to go bankrupt. If they don't accept, I would do nothing. I wouldn't waste the £370 bankruptcy fee/deposit - wait for the lender to do something. They might give up, they might sue or they might threaten bankruptcy themselves.

The only advantage in declaring himself bankrupt is that he will be discharged after 2 years. If he is made bankrupt, he will have to wait three years.

Take detailed advice. Bankruptcy may be an appropriate solution, but some would say it's a bit of a drastic solution.

All the best

Guy

-- Guy (guy@skipwith107.freeserve.co.uk), October 08, 2002.

DON'T even think of declaring yourself bankrupt! Just wise up! £8k is a pretty small shortfall compared to most posters on this site. Have you applied all the advice about SARNs and putting the lender to strict proof of claim? If not do so without delay. Your husband has already offered way too much and should inform the Halifax that he is very disappointed with their unrealistic attitude and unless they accept his offer within seven days he will withdraw it. As a general rule Halifax tends to settle for around 5% of claims but only if you make yourself awkward by continuing to ask questions and request more and more information. Perhaps your husband is giving in too easily when with a bit more effort and determination he could sort this matter out. What would be the point in giving up his job? Don't let him be so defeatist. There is light at the end of the tunnel if you tough it out.

-- Gordon Bennet (arsenewhinger@hotmail.com), October 09, 2002.

Christine,

First of all, I assume your husband didn't sign the house over to his ex-wife when they divorced? Are they chasing her too?

Secondly, I have an ongoing dispute with the Halifax since 1995 when I handed in my keys. I have been receiving letters since 1997 saying I owe them £30 grand - I say I don't. It would appear that the Halifax have fabricated some numbers in their estimation of how much I owe them, and I although I keep asking for proof, they seem reluctant to provide it, so maybe they have something to hide?

What year did your husband take out this mortgage with is ex wife? I don't know when they tightened the rules, but one of my disputes is a thing called a MIG - Mortgage Indemnity Guarantee. It's an insurance that myself and my ex husband WERE MADE to pay for, which insured the building society against shortfall loss. I have asked the Halifax to prove they never claimed on this insurance, and therefore remitted their loss, again, they will not send the information. One has to ask why?

The Halifax has to prove that your husband owes this money. You must also bear in mind that you have 4 children, I have one and she is expensive enough to keep fed and clothed! They are your priority, and I am sure that *IF* it came to it, a court would agree that in relation to the Halifax, your children's needs for money are greater than theirs.

You also need to ask for Estate Agents information regarding the sale of the house. Building Societies don't seem to care if they sell repossessed houses for less than their market value because they know they can send the likes of us threatening letters from solicitors which frighten us witless and we hand over the cash they say they have lost. It has also been known for Building Societies to 'pay' estate agent fees of 7% as opposed to the 1-2% of the property value normally charged!

I would recommend that you print off and carefully read the information on this site and then file it under seperate references so it easy to relate to later, (I assume this is legal Mr Site Owner?). Make some notes about the bits you feel are relevant to your case and then send a SARN to the Halifax - read the section about SARNs very carefully.

It is daunting fighting a big organisation like the Halifax, but if you make enough of a pain of yourself, they appear to lose heart and back down. If they are going to get this money out of you, let them have a bloody good fight for it first. Stand you ground and keep asking for proof of this debt. And whatever you do, don't back down, even if things seem to get really steamy, which I am sure they will.

Good luck

Tracey

-- One Angry Mother (madcow678@hotmail.com), October 11, 2002.