Many of you have either followed our postings on this site or assisted us with advice and information (mid 2002) and we feel an update to be in order.

We have just received a letter from Mortgage Express (a nice Christmas present) in which they express their concern over our previous postings. They feel that we were biased in not informing you all that they had made us a settlement offer. To set the record straight we are therefore printing below their letter of the 19th December 2002 and our reply of the 22nd. We trust that you will draw your own conclusions regarding these matters ~

mortgage express A wholly owned subsidiary of Bradford & Bingley Group Our ref GC

Mr & Mrs xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

19 December 2002

Dear Mr & Mrs xxxxx Re: Account Number xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I refer to the previous correspondence in respect of the above.

I am of course aware that due to there not being a Money Judgement Order in place, no oral examination took place. However notwithstanding this we are still at liberty to pursue the matter of the shortfall with you, by taking the matter to court. This is being given active consideration.

One of considerations has of course to be the question of your ability to pay. You have given no specific information in this regard, other than to offer £1,500.00 in settlement. The assumption must be that you are employed or of sufficient means to repay your debt.

I now refer to correspondence of 4 December 2001 in which we made an offer to you to the effect that we would accept the sum of £6,146.87 in full and final settlement providing this was paid by 31 December 2001. This offer made allowance for your contention that xxxx xxxx was undersold. As this has been going on for some time and to avoid the necessity of any court action we are willing to accept this sum by the end of March 2003, all be it over twelve months later.

We have of course followed the correspondence you have exchanged with a web site (being in the public domain) that deals with questions relating to repossessions and other mortgage based issues. We are very disappointed to note that you did not make the readers/users of this site aware that we had made an offer to you as stated above, this offer having made allowance for any possible dispute in the sale price. The advice from readers and posters may well have been different if you had provided them with full details.

In the absence of information or the acceptance of the settlement offer made, then we will on the basis of assumed means take legal action in due course.

Yours sincerely

Geoff Cumber Project Manager

Correspondence address: Telephone 0870 6013220 Fax 0870 6013228 DX 21761 Skipton

Mortgage Express acts as Administrative Agent for 1 Providence Place Bradford & Bingiey plc, HSMS Registered No. 1192730 Skipton Bradford & Bingiey Home Loans Limited, Regd No. 2405307 Registered Office: Endeavour House, North Yorkshire Bradford & Bingiey Mortgage Management Limited, Regd No. 2405306 1 Lyonsdown Road, New Bernet, BD23 2HL Registered Office: Croft Road, Crossflatts, Hertfordshire ENS 1HU Bingley, West Yorkshire, BD16 2UA

Mortgage Express, Registered No. 2405490, Registered Office: Endeavour House, 1 Lyonsdown Road, New Bernet, Hertfordshire, EN5 1 HU All Companies registered in England & Wales

xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx email: mike@resdev.freeserve.co.uk 22nd December 2002.

Mortgage Express. 1 Providence Place, Skipton, North Yorkshire BD23 2HL For the attention of Mr. G. Cumber (Project Manager) 1 page by Recorded Delivery.

WITHOUT PREJEDICE Dear Mr. Cumber, Your Ref: A/C xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your letter dated 19th December 2002, which arrived with us yesterday. We note that your last correspondence regarding this matter was on the 8th July 2002, through your Solicitors DLA, who attempted to enforce an ‘Order To Attend Court For Questioning’ upon us. This was considered to be unreasonable by the Court, you having no Money Judgement Order in place, as you correctly state in your latest letter.

On the issue of whether we have the ability to pay your alleged shortfall we need to draw your attention back to our letter of the 24th May 2000, which you seem to have overlooked. In this letter we pointed out that I am suffering from severe arthritis, unable to work, and on Income Support. This situation has not changed. My Wife suffers from even more serious arthritis and has had total replacements of both knees so far, with both hips requiring attention in the near future. In addition we now have further complications, with me now having being diagnosed with Sleep Apnoea and my Wife just about to enter her third month in hospital. My Wife needed an emergency operation for a small bowel obstruction and this culminated with the removal of the small bowel and an ileostomy being performed. She has not improved since the last (of three) major operations and the Surgeon is not very hopeful with his prognosis. As you are also aware we moved to Cornwall to look after my elderly Father (82 years old) and are currently living with him, now permanently having had our own home repossessed by you. All assets of any value were sold at the time of our move, to finance this. We are however fortunate enough to have a loan car due to my Wife’s severe arthritis, supplied by ‘Motability’ and for her lifetime only.

As you may see it is not easy for us to make any offer towards your alleged shortfall claim however, despite everything, we are prepared to reiterate our offer of the 20th May 2002. That is the sum of £1,500.00 in full and final settlement whilst not admitting any liability for your alleged £28,146.87 shortfall claim. This is the maximum we have been able to borrow and the repayment will take us a long time. In return we will require a Deed of Satisfaction from you to conclude this matter. This sum is not negotiable and is, we feel, more than fair given the stress you have put us through due to your mismanagement as previously notified to both you and your Solicitors. You have stated that a Court will recognise that your written offer, of the 4th December 2001, eliminates any issue of your negligence in the valuation, marketing and underselling of or home. We had believed, prior our letter of the 12th December 2001 (incorrectly dated by us as the 12th November 2001), that you were probably unaware of the full extent of that negligence. However your offer predates our letter outlining the possible extent of your negligence and, prior to your settlement offer, we had only been requesting further information in order to determine if you had in fact exercised due diligence in the management and sale of the property! Therefore, when you made that offer of the 4th December 2001 we believe that you must have been fully aware of the depth of your mismanagement and were trying to ensure that this did not become public knowledge.

We note your comments regarding our previous postings on the website and feel that we have received a great deal of useful information and support from the contributors, for which we are extremely grateful. In order to redress the balance, which you feel to have been a little unfair to you, we are posting your letter of the 19th December and our reply, in order that readers/users may draw their own conclusions on this matter.

We therefore enclose a cheque for the sum of £1,500.00, made out to Mortgage Express, on the strict understanding that this is (jointly) our full and final settlement of your alleged £28,146.87 shortfall claim. Should you decide to accept, or cash, this cheque we will consider this matter to be closed and will expect the Deed of Satisfaction from you in due course. We will entertain no further claims from any party regarding this matter. However, should you wish to take this matter to Court, please return the cheque as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely, xxxxxxxxxx x xxxxxxxxx.

-- Mike (mail@resdev.freeserve.co.uk), December 22, 2002

Answers

Excellent!!!

Have a nice xmas and new year.

Stephen

-- (stephen.pooley@ntlworld.com), December 23, 2002.

Now come on Mortgage Express let's see you give them a Happy Christmas (as much as it can be), I don't believe you will get a better offer under the circumstances.

A Happy Christmas to you all, and good health for the new year.

Mark.

-- M Amos (idgroms@hotmail.com), December 23, 2002.

Further to yesterday’s posting we have received some valuable advice regarding the posting of a cheque “in full & final settlement” without the prior consent of the recipient. As a result of this we have decided to revise or letter (see the last paragraph) and this is reproduced below ~

xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx email: mike@resdev.freeserve.co.uk 22nd December 2002.

Mortgage Express. 1 Providence Place, Skipton, North Yorkshire BD23 2HL For the attention of Mr. G. Cumber (Project Manager) 1 page by Recorded Delivery.

WITHOUT PREJEDICE Dear Mr. Cumber, Your Ref: A/C xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your letter dated 19th December 2002, which arrived with us yesterday. We note that your last correspondence regarding this matter was on the 8th July 2002, through your Solicitors DLA, who attempted to enforce an ‘Order To Attend Court For Questioning’ upon us. This was considered to be unreasonable by the Court, you having no Money Judgement Order in place, as you correctly state in your latest letter.

On the issue of whether we have the ability to pay your alleged shortfall we need to draw your attention back to our letter of the 24th May 2000, which you seem to have overlooked. In this letter we pointed out that I am suffering from severe arthritis, unable to work, and on Income Support. This situation has not changed. My Wife suffers from even more serious arthritis and has had total replacements of both knees so far, with both hips requiring attention in the near future. In addition we now have further complications, with me now having being diagnosed with Sleep Apnoea and my Wife just about to enter her third month in hospital. My Wife needed an emergency operation for a small bowel obstruction and this culminated with the removal of the small bowel and an ileostomy being performed. She has not improved since the last (of three) major operations and the Surgeon is not very hopeful with his prognosis. As you are also aware we moved to Cornwall to look after my elderly Father (82 years old) and are currently living with him, now permanently having had our own home repossessed by you. All assets of any value were sold at the time of our move, to finance this. We are however fortunate enough to have a loan car due to my Wife’s severe arthritis, supplied by ‘Motability’ and for her lifetime only.

As you may see it is not easy for us to make any offer towards your alleged shortfall claim however, despite everything, we are prepared to reiterate our offer of the 20th May 2002. That is the sum of £1,500.00 in full and final settlement whilst not admitting any liability for your alleged £28,146.87 shortfall claim. This is the maximum we have been able to borrow and the repayment will take us a long time. In return we will require a Deed of Satisfaction from you to conclude this matter. This sum is not negotiable and is, we feel, more than fair given the stress you have put us through due to your mismanagement as previously notified to both you and your Solicitors. You have stated that a Court will recognise that your written offer, of the 4th December 2001, eliminates any issue of your negligence in the valuation, marketing and underselling of or home. We had believed, prior our letter of the 12th December 2001 (incorrectly dated by us as the 12th November 2001), that you were probably unaware of the full extent of that negligence. However your offer predates our letter outlining the possible extent of your negligence and, prior to your settlement offer, we had only been requesting further information in order to determine if you had in fact exercised due diligence in the management and sale of the property! Therefore, when you made that offer of the 4th December 2001 we believe that you must have been fully aware of the depth of your mismanagement and were trying to ensure that this did not become public knowledge.

We note your comments regarding our previous postings on the website and feel that we have received a great deal of useful information and support from the contributors, for which we are extremely grateful. In order to redress the balance, which you feel to have been a little unfair to you, we are posting your letter of the 19th December and our reply, in order that readers/users may draw their own conclusions on this matter.

As you will be aware, from our posting on the website, we were intending to enclose a cheque for £1,500 in full and final settlement. However we have received several advice emails which caution against this action and therefore feel it to be inappropriate at this point in time. This cheque is however made out to Mortgage Express, sitting here awaiting your acceptance of our offer, and will be posted by return should you decide to accept our offer.

Yours sincerely, xxxxxxxxxxx x xxxxxxxxxxxx

A Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2003 to all who use or view this site, Mortgage Express employees included. One never knows when unemployment will strike us and cause such devastation as we have experienced, it can happen to anyone in any business. However I must admit that our recent health problems, including the still possible death of my Wife, eclipse even the worst that Mortgage Express may dish up. I will do my very best to enjoy this Christmas, at my wife’s bedside, and just pray for a better future for us all.

God bless and thank you all again for your support, Mike.

-- Mike (mail@resdev.freeserve.co.uk), December 23, 2002.

Mike,

Just in case you didn't see one of my earlier postings, don't forget to make sure that your full and final settlement offer has dealt with the whole shortfall and you do not still owe money to an insurance company for the amount paid out under any mortgage indemnity insurance.

Mark.

-- M Amos (idgroms@hotmail.com), December 24, 2002.

Mike earlier this year i managed to fight off a shortfall claim for a similar amount of money.I was lucky and you are having a battle at a time when for obvious reasons your wife in particular can do without it.keep up the fight and try to get away without paying them any money.contact your mp or namv or be strong enough not to give in to them.see my entry under mortgage express.

good luck

-- anon (cibcrepo95406929@aol.com), December 30, 2002.