Let's get straight to the meat... Robyn Hall asked to interview us for Mortgage Solutions. We answered his first set of questions. Note: Robyn Hall is now editor of Mortgage Strategy magazine and can be contacted at robyn.hall@centaur.co.uk.
Then he sent us these questions. (His questions in blue, our answers in black)
Subject: Mortgage Solutions
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 00 17:40:35 +0100
From: RobynH
To: "Lee Kimber" repossession at. bigfoot dot com,
Lee
Well, I've been doing my research for some weeks now and I've just got one or two more questions to put to you before we go to press next week. If you can get back to me by Tuesday am it would be most appreciated.
1: You say you are based in Acton but the person who took over your room in the house at 
Highfield Rd, , said you had moved to the US. This also seems to tally with the statement on the company records for Kimber Consulting that I found at Companies House. And also with the Kimber Consulting web site kimberconsulting.com that you have under consrtruction. First off, if you're going to lie to me, how do you expect to beleive what you say?
Answer: I can find no trace of me telling you that I live at Highfield Road, Acton, but I can trace me telling you that I am based in Acton, London.
The information gave you was accurate last September, when he took over the room.
However, things have moved on since then. I am based in Acton, London, but, as you have demonstrated, the site's tendency to attract unannounced callers gives me good reason to keep my residential address confidential. Hence, I use the Highfield Road address for some Home Repossession Page-related mail.
It says on your web site that it was the Guardian site of the day. Really? Not only does the Guardian not have a web-site of the day, but, a spokesman for the newspaper told me: "As far as I am aware we do not do sites of the day. Some sections of the Guardian will do a round up of interesting sites to look at but in no way is this a ringing endorsement from Guardian. As far as Iım aware we have not recommended this site and are archive record shows that we have not written anything bout it in the last three years. When we do review sites they are normally those of the entertainment variety and carefully monitor the content of any consumer sites before we publish details."
Perhaps you would like to explain how this spokesman for the Guardian is so mistaken?
Answer: The Guardian described the Home Repossession Page's advice as "unique and valuable" on 20 June 1998 on page 20 of its "The Editor" supplement. It also commented on the site's "admirable detachment".
On 22 January 2000 - about the same time as its spokesman was telling you that The Guardian is unlikely to have published anything about the site - the Saturday Guardian published a supplement titled "Life Online - Our pick of the best websites to help you run your life", which reviewed the site on page 10, calling it "excellent".
The Guardian's online section awarded the Home Repossession Page with its "site of the day" award in May or June 1998. The chap at the online Guardian who I had contact with was Ian Katz. I think his job title was Features Editor. The Online Guardian subsequently sent me the badge-image that you see on the site today.
The Guardian has archived none of its online editorial from before 1 September 1998 but The Guardian linked to the Home Repossession Page again in a story dated 8 June 1999. That link is at the bottom of the story at:
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,3872746,00.html
3: You say you are a journalist but are listed as a communications supplier, which also ties in with dormant status of Kimber Consulting in the UK, the re-invention of the said company in the US, and the work you do, did, for Direct Connection. What magazines, journals etc have you worked for in the past in order for me to verify that what you say is correct?
Answer: Feel free to confirm what I do for a living with the Bradford & Bingley. My last DPA subjects access rights on them showed that they had correctly identified what I do for a living. See
http://www.home-repo.org/reposses/mindset.htm
4: Would you like to explain your connection with David Milton at City law firm Walker Martineau? Or would you like me to do so?
Answer: David Milton's name was given to me by the National Association of Mortgage Victims about two years ago. They said he was good on CMC/Ocwen related matters. Since then he has taken on the National Association of Mortgage Victims' class action against certain Ocwen-related companies. If you know of any connection between him and me other than that, then, yes, please do explain it to me.
5: Bradford & Bingley say that you have a chip on your shoulder and that a lot of what you say is either innaccurate or that you have taken it out of context.
Any comment to that and what kind of system for repossessions would you rather see in place?
Answer: Dealing with each part of this question in turn:
Chip on my shoulder:
In my opinion, this view springs from my publishing details of a conflict in which Bradford & Bingley wants me to give it a great deal of money without me exercising my right to work out how it arrived at the amount it is demanding.
Inaccurate or taken out of context:
Let me know which bits are inaccurate and/or taken out of context and I'll respond.(Home Repossession Page note: Bradford & Bingley has never taken up this offer)
What system would I rather see in place:
I would rather see a system where either customer or lender can take a repossession threat to arbitration, where a surveyor will compare the costs/income of leasing a property to its about-to-be-repossessed householder for a set period of time against the costs/income of repossessing and reselling the property. The surveyor would advise on the least damaging option for all concerned. An arbitrator makes a decision based on that recommendation and any other factors.
I also want a system where lenders may not chase for any repossession shortfall, except for that caused by the homeowner willfully damaging the building during repossession. This would give lenders an incentive not to dump property but to try to recover best market value for the property (assuming that you agree with me and the Treasury that lenders do dump repossessed properties). This is - roughly - the US model.
6: Paragon say that all the information that you're carrying about them is so old its riiculous. They say its full of innaccuracies too. For instance, they have never had a dialogue with the Office of Fair Trading, either as Paragon or National Home Loans. The OFT has confirmed this. Another innaccuracy is you say something along the lines of consumers may not know that they have taken a Paragon Mortgage as they're sold through brokers. That in itself is ridiculous as brokers are obliged to reveal who they are lending from.
Any comment?
Answer: Dealing with each of the points in this question in turn:
Inaccuracies:
Thanks for bringing the possible inaccuracies to my attention. My understanding is that National Home Loans/Paragon is one of the 70 specialist mortgage lenders warned by the OFT over the use of high interest rates to penalise borrowers in February 1997.
I invite Paragon to email me with details of any inaccuracies. Paragon has visited the site on several occasions over the last 18 months and has looked at the page concerned several times but it has not told me of any criticisms.
(Home Repossession Page note: Paragon has not subsequently told me of any inaccuracies)
As a precaution, I've modified the copy.
Too old:
The way newspapers and magazines "expire" deprives readers of older information and web-sites can go some way towards balancing this by making information available for longer than was traditional in the past.
Brokers may not tell people who the lender is:
They were not until recently required to reveal who the lenders were until rather later in the selling process than they are today. In my opinion, it should be earlier still.
As you can see Lee, I've been quite busy on this. Your input to the article that I am writing would be helpful, if only to clear up some of the things that you have said, or say, on your web site. You may also stand a chance of changing the perspective of this piece, as, at the moment, your not coming across as too credible.
Clarifications of the points you raised but did not directly question:
Kimber Consulting has never traded in the US but leased server space in the US because server space is cheaper there than in the UK. It donated web space to the Home Repossession Page because its non-trading status left it with excess capacity that it had already paid for.
I have a separate US mail server for Home Repossession Page and personal email use.
I set up Kimber Consulting because I saw potential for it to offer Internet publishing consultancy - hence the "communications supplier" tag. When it became clear last summer that it was not going to thrive in the UK I made it dormant and went to the US to see if it could thrive there. By December - after its accounts were filed - it was clear that it couldn't. Personal ties were also behind the decision, but they have also changed.
I've travelled extensively since then.
I have never worked for Direct Connection - I am a customer of theirs.
Obviously I'd like to speak to you so if you've got a chance, do try and call. If cost is a problem I can phone you right back.
Otherwise, if you think your not up to the challenge, feel free to email.
Answer: Thanks for your offer to cover the costs of handling this by telephone. If we stick with email we'll both an accurate record of exactly what the other said and in what context.
Hope this helps. But feel free to send me any other questions you have.
Lee
Kind regards and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Robyn Hall
Robyn Hall
Senior staff writer
City Financial Communications
7 Air Street
London W1R 5RJ
E-mail: RobynH@invweek.co.uk
Tel: 020 7432 6962
Fax: 020 7439 3070
Mob: 0976 869 192
www.ifaonline.co.uk
See Robyn's request for an interview
See the first set of questions
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