In 1990 I worked for Hill Samuel Investments Services on a self employed contract with a guaranteed earnings of £1,500 per month. Based on my earnings plus commission I remortgaged in Feb 1991 with my boss confirming my earnings. A month later Hill Samuel took away our garanteed monthly earnings. As a direct result of my complaining and asking a number of serious questions Ihad my contract terminated in Oct 1991. I then spent over 7 years sueing the company for none payment of wages. The settled out of court a few days before the court hearing. But the cost to me was extremely high. I had been unemployed for most of the time unable to gain employment in the industry due to the court case. Our mortgage was initially £125,000 but due to the governemnts reduction in interest payments this increased to over £150,000. In July 1999, Hill samuel Mortgage Services wrote to me say they were going to repossess. They issued a court summons. I wrote back asking for help explaining I was suffering chest pains and from stress and was under my doctor. They did not contact me. Rather than face the court and due to the stress all our family had been under for the last 8 - 9 years. My wife had been looking after her mother for most of this period who suffer from Alsimers. I sent the keys back to Hill Samuel Mortgage Services. We moved out a month before the court case. Despite our moving Hill samuel went ahead with the court case to gain possession. I told Hill Samuel due to the stress and my condition they should contact my accountant regarding the sale. It is now over three years later we have never had any contact with Hiil Samuel. We do not know what the house was sold for or what we owe. We have no money and now live in rented accomidation. We feel badly let down by Hill Samuel who never made any effort to arrange an appointment see us and discuss the arrears. Also despite our request they nevr contacted our accountant. do we have a case for the treatment we recieved. The way the mortgage was granted. What should we do now to get our life back on track.

-- John King (essentially aloe@aol.com), October 22, 2002

Answers

Yours is an awkward case because not only were Hill Samuel your mortgage lender, they were also your employer. Read through this website for further information about getting the lender to justify their claim, but I really think you should see a solicitor.

-- pendle (pendle_666@yahoo.co.uk), October 22, 2002.