Moved house last year to a property which had prepayment meters. Despit being a long-standing UWC member, they wanted £200 per piece from me to change to a 'proper' credit meter, and could/would not re-install our broadband service for TWO WEEKS. one less customer, then. Andrew Lindsay & Charles Wigoder, I hope you are reading this because your company could have kept my business sooo easily.

My ten penn'orth, in the hope that it (at least) will offer a crumb of comfort. My partner received a similar letter from these pond slimes - similar story, reposession then a decade of silence, then out of the blue ARUK start sending polite but insistent letters, encouraging dialogue. After a brief exchange of probing correspondence, we took CAG's advice and requested a SAR. Lo! there was no activity of any sort on the account until Northern Rock unloaded their slew of toxic debt, presumably in order to cleanse the business before fitting Taxpayer-funded training wheels. That was the last we ever heard from these parasites, and that was many many months ago. As I understand it, the Council of Mortgage Lenders policy is not asking for repayment of debts over 6 YO where no contact has been made with the debtor, despite the statute of 12Y for mortgage debt. This policy transfers with the debt wherever it goes, [my understanding again] since an organisation which promotes or implements a Code of Conduct is bound by the requirements of said Code as if the requirements of the Code were in law. The Code then continues to apply to its successors. NR being a member of CML is bound by the Code, and by inheritance, ARUK are too. They were greedy enough to buy the toxic debts, but it comes with baggage. I even contacted the CML to ask why one of their members was in flagrant breach of the Code, but (predictably) they just closed rank and refused to discuss. ARUK are not the Law, but they and their ilk are experienced at using good laws for a Bad Purpose and to them, the legal system is just another tool of the trade. Their solicitors share the same building, probably the same floor, and in my mental image, the same cobwebby offices overlooking the glue factory. Behind every reposession there is a redundancy, death, divorce, breakdown or other personal crisis of unimaginable proportions, and people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. I hope the advice you've received here, from minds far more qualified than mine, will give you the knowledge and courage to face this situation. Don't give in, don't let the Bad Guys win. it gets better - believe me The Arctic Wandere

Mortgage debt statute barred after 12 years without acknowledgement. Council of Mortgage Code of Practice states (verbatim) “From 1 February 2000, lenders who are members of The Council of Mortgage Lenders have agreed voluntarily that they will begin all recovery action for the shortfall within the first six years following the sale of a property in repossession. Anyone whose property was taken into possession and sold more than 6 years ago, and who has not been contacted by their lender about recovering any outstanding debt will not now be asked to pay the shortfall”. The CML statement of Practice also addresses the assignment of debts in section 32 “If the mortgage shortfall debt has been assigned to another company, the principles of this statement will continue to apply" Following up to my original posting in this thread, we've heard nothing from these parasites (Dominic Powell - Fairmile Recoveries) since Oct 2008 when they sent through the SAR material - and Hey Presto! - no record of contact on this account in 9 years! I heard recently that Northern Rock was allegedly in bother for hiding over 2000 toxic mortgage accounts from shareholders. They are fishing, don't worry! hope this helps the arctic wanderer

Hi Ellijay, Oddly enough, my mate SAR'd these scumbags in Sept 2008 and received the requested info in Oct 2008. Since then, not a whisper. She assumes that they've managed to locate and squeeze something out of the lowlife ex-husband, but we heard that he'd lost his job recently, and is not known for taking financial commitments too seriously. PM me if you need any details, Id rather not post the minutiae here as I'm sure the pond lifers read these posts too. Regarding home visits, please see http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/consumer_credit/oft664.pdf Warmest regards.... the Arctic Wanderer

Hi Everyone, Hope someone will read this with the benefit of qualification, experience, or foresight! I'm deliberately being vague-ish in case some of the DCA pond life read these posts (I would be surprised if they didnt) A "Friend" is currently being chased by these gonks over an alleged Northern Rock repo debt which arose in 1999. To snip a bit, we SAR'd the DCA and recently received an A4 envelope containing copies of letters sent by NR up to 1999, then a gap of nearly EIGHT years till the NOA from NR (original NOT received by my friend) dated 2007. 1) The SAR results were received ordinary mail (damaged, too, although apparently without loss), not Recorded after 4 weeks. Should my friend treat the documentation as Not Received since there exists no proof that it has ever been delivered? (as per LOP act) 2) Would failure of the DCA to prove service of said SAR documents within the statutory 40 days be sufficient grounds (in court) to lose their case? 3) Although we don't know what my friend's ex-spouse has been telling (or even paying) the DCA, would the lack of any reference in the SAR to any communication whatsoever between 1999 and 2007 constitute grounds that both NR and the DCA have breached CML code of practice of not pursuing debts where no contact has been made for 6+ years? My friends next move is to wait for DCA to make contact again, and reinforce previous letter that they are acting outside CML policy (which duty they inherited from the Principal) Meantime, we will be contacting NR to ascertain if any Mortgage Indemnity Policy was enacted on repossession, as well as making a formal complaint to NR that no correspondence was received from them in 8 years despite them having full knowledge of my friends subsequent address. I would really welcome any comments - good and bad - as based on the above assumptions my friends position is that they won't pay a penny unless legally obliged. Thanks (to everyone for a Brilliant website) the Arctic Wanderer

Aw, thanks for helping enamae and GuidoT. enamae, the info in your link went back as far as 2000, and although there was a sale entered for (no12 DL3 6DJ) in 2003, it was not the transaction I needed. I'll go and see if I can get the info from the Land Registry for 1999 transactions Thanks again for helping..... Nordkapp

Hi Everyone, I thought I had trod in something revolting:eek:, but it turned out to be a letter from Asset Recoveries UK.... usual story, antique mortage shortfall, joint/several liability, not sure if ex-spouse making payments, SAR request going in next week. To get to my point, does anyone know of any sources of house sale prices from 1999-on? all the sites I tried go back max 7 years. Thanks Nordkapp

We find ourselves in a similar predicament - letter from Fairmile asking for 5k repayment of Northern Rock reposession shortfall debt (DOA, etc) from 11 years ago. Luckily, the person on the recieving end has little in the way of assets, does not work, and has no interest in any property, so we're just ignoring any correspondence (based on professional legal advice). We are informed on that basis that there is nothing that could be gained by taking a person of straw to court, and I personally think that Fairmile, from a business point of view would prefer not to gamble in court, and go for the 'low-hanging fruit' instead. Couple of points someone may be able to help with though, and maybe food for thought.... 1) Has anyone lodged a complaint against NR with the Financial Ombudsman (FOS)? Whilst chasing a mortgage capital debt after a decade may be legal, is it ethical that NR's FIRST course of action (10 yrs after the Repo Order) is to assign the debt by deed to a DCA without even attempting to contact the debtor? 2) Note that ALL customer complaints via the Ombudsman automatically accrue (I believe) a 400 pound charge against the bank regardless of whether the claim is upheld 3) Does NR's action in 1) contravene the banking code? 4) Does NR's action in 1) contravene their own mortgage T+C's? (regrettably we don't have a copy of the mortgage small print from 1996) Good luck everyone