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Repossession rules being ignored
14/03/2006 16:59:00
Mortgage lenders are not heeding the voluntary six-year rule when it comes to chasing repossession victims.
In 2000, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) drew up a deal stating that lenders should not look for debts owed up to 12 years after repossessing a home.
Ahmad Butt, mortgage debt expert at Barnet Citizens Advice Bureau, told the Guardian: "There are no cases recorded by money advisers of the six-year rule being successfully pleaded by shortfall victims."
Debt advice agencies and consumer bodies have always said that 12 years after the property's initial sale was too long to wait and that it should be limited to six years, as with credit cards and car loans.
"The six-year limit was a public relations exercise which defused growing calls for better treatment. And it worked. Despite some doubts at the time, the controversy disappeared and the media mostly stopped hounding lenders over this," concluded Mr Butt.
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