to cut a long story short i have recv'd a shortfall letter, i choose to ignore it as this is what my ex partner keeps doing & the b/soc have now given up chasing him despite knowing where he lives & the fact he works two jobs. apparently everytime he gets mail to the address he lives at he returns it person unknown. therefore i tried this & now it would appear that people are watching my house. they pull up outside & make it quite obvious that they are watching me as when i look at them they do not turn away. it is not always the same person it has been three differnt lots. who are they & what are they doing any ideas????? surely this is harrassment as it is making me very uneasy. they even appeared to be writing down the reg plate number of the car. am i being paranoid!!!!!!!!

-- samantha westwood (gingerspice@aol.com), April 02, 2001

Answers

In the first instance you should note their registration numbers, then perhaps get somebody to ask them who they are.

Ignoring a letter isn't the same as marking it 'person unknown', and you've possibly got skip-tracers onto you. See elsewhere on the site for who these people are and what they are doing.

-- Andy Turner (andy.turner@ramesys.com), April 02, 2001.

This *is* HARASSMENT. You should call the Police and get them moved on - they are intimidating you and this is against every code of practice recently adopted by the CML. Who is/was your Lender? Who is the Insurance Co? Has anyone noticed how many women these people seem to do this to? I would go out there with a witness and make a scene next time they are parked outside; get their license plate and write down a detailed description of the people in the car. Peer into their windows and make it clear you won't tolerate their presence. Ignoring the letters won't make them go away by the way. They may leave you alone for a while and just as you start re-building your life they crawl out of the woodwork. Your best bet is to face them off using this site if you have a case for fighting the repossession and alleged shortfall amount.

-- Too scared to say (iwasduped@yahoo.com), April 02, 2001.

Take photographs of them also if you can, from your house, from the street looking towards your house with them in the picture, close ups of faces etc etc....

-- pendle (pendle@amun-ra.demon.co.uk), April 02, 2001.

Please write down their registration numbers and tell the Police.

No-one should have to put up with this kind of unacceptable behaviour. You will probably feel better for having done something concrete about it.

It is probably, as Andy suggests, a skip-trace (i.e. the lender finding you) or it could be a pre-lit (i.e. the lender has found you and wants to see if you're working or not). So don't be too spooked by this, OK? Think of it as a bunch of macho saddos doing a job of 'work' because they can't get any other kind of decent employment.

But if the lender hasn't done you the courtesy of informing you of its activities, you are entitled to assume what you like and call the Police. The complaint should indeed be one of harassment, which is now a criminal offence (Protection Against Harassment Act), given that this is a cause of action which has alarmed and distressed you, and, given the behaviour of the cars' occupants, they must have reasonably known that this was going to be the outcome of their actions.

Tell your MP as well. Mine has been brilliant.

-- Eleanor Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), April 04, 2001.