Robyn Hall, then from Mortgage Solutions magazine, asked us for an interview. Here are the first questions he asked us... and our answers. (His questions in blue, our answers in black)
The next questions he sent us are here.
His request for an interview is here.
Great to have touched base with you.
I don't think I've ever interviewed anyone by email before so this will be a first for me and may take some time.
I think the best way to start is from the top.
So if you don't mind, I'll just fire off a list of questions to start with so that I know who it is I'm talking to.
Who are you? (Full name, age, occupation, previous occupaton)
Answer: Lee Kimber, 38, freelance journalist (trade), trade journalist
When did you set up the site? (Month and year)
Answer: June 1997
Why did you set up the site?
Answer: I was perturbed by what happened when Bradford & Bingley asked me for £36,577 as a repossession shortfall payment. They had sold the security property (a flat) for about £5,600, which seemed rather low to me. I thought it was odd when they refused to supply any evidence of their attempts to sell it for its true market worth. What was odder was that they became more threatening when I insisted on seeing evidence. I thought this was a strange way to react and began publishing what had happened on the web to see if anyone could shed any light on it.
In your earlier email you said that you set up the site with the help of customers. Are they your customers?
Answer: No. I have no customers - I don't charge. I meant lenders' customers.
Who are the specialist mortgage brokers / debt advisors that help you?
Answer: They have asked not to be named. I know of no-one who wants to be openly associated with a web-site of this nature.
What is the site meant to do? (Is it meant to offer help and guidance to joe public?)
Answer: Yes... among other things. What it is meant do to depends on their situation. If they are at the sharp end of a repossession shortfall claim, it aims to point them to lawyers, voluntary groups, etc that can help them with the complex legal stuff, while giving them background information (like the value of Data Protection Act SAR notices) and "you are not alone" type support that they might not otherwise have got.
If their needs are different - perhaps they are coming back into the mortgage market - it tries to help them find new lenders.
If they are in arrears, it tries to help them understand the process of repossession, how the lender sees their arrears and why the lender will act the way they will.
When I started doing the site, to have been repossessed was such a private shame for most people that it was little discussed and therefore people did not know where to turn for help. I hope the site has made finding help easier.
What the site provides changes with each customer and with time. Overall though, it is about trying to answer these questions: what, why, when, how and "what should I do about it?"
Where are you based?
Answer: Acton, London
Do you do it full time, part time, or just as a hobby?
Answer: Varies with demand. Most of the time it is a part-time job.
What do you get out of it?
Answer: ha ha good question.
It helps people and, God help us, we need help with Britain's mortgage industry.
I learn from it.
Like any journalist, I'm also very, very interested in the future of publishing and the Home Repossession Page lets me try different ways of publishing *effectively* on-line.
Although this was never the intention of it, I have met some characters through it, three of whom are now friends, several of which are not.
How do you choose your prey? (I notice your looking for some dirt on Abbey National at the moment. I might be able to help you.)
Answer: Interesting question. I never have considered them "prey" so I can't answer it in that context. (I feel like you might feel if asked which bit of DIY in a tumbledown house you might choose to do. You just go for the stuff that looks worst or which looks as though it will be fixable with the resources you have.)
There is a process, which is that a lender's customer contacts me with their story and usually a plea for help.
I'll point them to whoever can help them or point them to where they can help themselves.
If the story is believable and supported by evidence, and if I or the customer has the time, I'll publish it - usually with copies of supporting evidence. This is how the lender's shortfall and arrears letters got to be on the site.
One might say that lenders select themselves really. Treat a customer badly... provide the customer with enough evidence of their treatment to convince me... give me enough time... and I will publish it.
Hope that helps.
Lee, I appreciate that you're on Holiday I've heard Laous is really nice but a swift response to these questions would be greatly appreciated.
The way I normally interview people is that they answer my questions and then, as a general rule of thumb, there'll probably be two to three supplementry questions per question depending on the response given.
So if you don't mind, there may be some more to come.
In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your stay and hopefully I will hear from you soon.
Robyn Hall
Robyn Hall
See Robyn's request for an interview
Kind regards
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 second set of questions
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