Charge on Property

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Hey Bob
I hae been reading this thread and I completly understand how you are feeling at the mo. Two years ago my daughter became very ill. Her levelcare was very demanding as well as having sleepless nights because my other daughter was also ill and woke alot in the night. Whilst I was coping with this my hubby also became ill. I became so very stressed like you say. To be able to keep my mind focused on getting my family well I ignored all my post. I even hid it from my hubby as I thought the stress would make him iller.

This went on for about 18 months.

Mu hubby started getting better and so did my daughters with the correct medical help. I then thought I had better start sorting all the debts.

Like you it was horrible. I felt like an acholic trying to resist a drink. This was something i was avoiding for years.

You are in the right place. You need to open them letters. Even if you sit here on linw with us and open them one at a time. With each one we can give you an option on what to do with it. Most from what you say can go away completley. Some we can claim the charges to give you some extra money in your pocket maybe.

Like X20 is trying to say though we can not help you without the info. You must be strong. This is no longer about them telling you what to do. This is about you taking control of them. YOU ARE TELLING THEM WHAT TO. This site is all about being empowered to beet the crooks that are DCAs.

Honestly we are here for you but we cant do it without you !

PLEASE BE STRONG

OLIVES XX

[surfaceagentx20]

Bob,

Thanks for the confirmation.

First important point. I think your position can be rescued so I want to see a smile return to your face. You must remain calm and do what I recommend as soon as possible.

The register at the Land Registry reveals that within the last 4-5 weeks (I know the exact date but I am not revealing it for obvious reasons) the court granted an interim charging order over your interest in your home to Lowell Portfolio I Limited (Lowell). I suspect that the letter which arrived and which prompted you to post to this forum was a letter delivered to you by Lowell or their solicitors notifying you about this.

If you have given this letter away it is essential that you recover this letter as quickly as possible. You need to have the information contained in the letter in order to proceed further.

The letter will have delivered the following:

[1] An interim order
[2] An application to the court made by Lowell for a charging order over your interest in your home.

The interim order
The interim order is a temporary order. The interim order will say something like:

On (date) District Judge (name) considered the application of the claimant from which it appears:

a judgment given on (date) ordered the defendant to pay money to the claimant
the amount now owing under the judgment is £(amount)
the defendant is the owner of the asset described below.

The court orders:
the asset of the defendant described below stand charged with payment of £(amount)

the application will be heard at (time) on (date ) at (court) when a judge will decide whether the charge created by this order should continue or be discharged.

You must make a note of
[1] the date and time recorded in the order and
[2] the case number

The application
The application will state near the beginning something like

Lowell applies for an order imposing a charge on the interest of (name) in the property below to secure payment of the amount owing by the defendant under a judgment given on (date) by (Judge) at (court) in claim number (claim number)

You must make a note of
[3] the date of the judgment,
[4] the name of the court which made the judgment
[5] the case number of the court which made the judgment.
[6] the address given at which payments should be made or documents delivered to Lowell
[7] the amount of the judgment

The court may not be the same as the court which issued the interim charging order.

Rescuing the position
The interim charging order has been made on what would appear to be a valid judgment. However, that judgment is unlikely to be a judgment based on the merit of Lowell's case. It is more likely to be a judgment obtained because you didn't respond to or defend the claim. These types of judgments are called 'default judgments'. Courts much prefer to issue judgments based on merit and will therefore allow a person to have a default judgment cancelled where the person can show a good reason.

The process where the court considers whether to cancel a default judgment is begun by an application to set aside the default judgment.
To set aside a default judgment you must complete a form in writing, deliver it to the court and pay the fee. I will be able to complete the form for you as soon as you have confirmed to me the information at items [4] to [7] above.

The grounds for setting aside the default judgment will be that you have a reasonable prospect of showing that you do not owe money to Lowell. I suspect you may be able to show you do not owe money to Lowell because I know that Lowell are in the business of buying up old debts from lenders. An old debt ceases to be enforceable where before legal proceedings had begun to recover it, the debt had been outstanding for in excess of 6 years and during that period of 6 years, [1] no payments had been made in reduction of it and [2] no acknowledgment of liability had been delivered in writing by the debtor to the lender. Such debts are called statute barred debts and the law makes them unenforceable by Limitation Act 1980 section 5.

Since you tell me that no payments had been made for say 8 years and Lowell are in the business of buying up old debts, there is some prospect that the debt which lead to the judgment against you was unenforceable before Lowell began proceedings against you. If you are able to show this is true or is likely to be true, the court will agree to set aside the default judgment.

Once your application to set aside the default judgment has been issued, you will get a copy of it and Lowell's will get a copy of it. The court will issue a notice saying where and when it will reach a decision on your application. You must make a note of this because you or someone on your behalf will have to go to court on that day to persuade the court to decide the application in your favour.

I would urge you to issue your application to set aside the default judgment before the date given for the hearing as recorded at [1] above. This is because if you issue the application to set aside promptly, you will be able to go the court dealing with the charging order on the day recorded at [1] and explain to the Judge that you have made an application to set aside the default judgment. Once the Judge knows you have made that application he will adjourn the charging order hearing to await the outcome of your application to set aside the default judgment. You will then be sent a notice by the court telling you when the adjourned hearing will take place. You must make a note of the date and time for the adjourned hearing.

If you are successful in having the default judgment set aside, the court will issue an order to that effect. You will then be able to go to the adjourned hearing and produce the court order setting aside the default judgment. Once the Judge sees that the judgment has been set aside he will know that the judgment on which the interim charging order is based no longer exists. He will then be bound to discharge the interim charging order.

In discharging the interim charging order you will be provided with a copy of the court's order. You will be able to produce the court order discharging the interim charging order in order to have the entry removed from the register at The Land Registry.

The above is the ideal way to go about rescuing the situation. If the interim charging order hearing is to take place imminently so that you could not get an application over to court to set aside the default judgment, please let me know.

If the charging order hearing has already taken place, please let me know.

I realise there's a lot of information here to digest and understand. I've tried to make it as straightforward as I can. You may want to read it over a few times to enasble you to understand exctly what I am saying. If you require any clarification just post to the forum.

I end in the same way I began. Please remain calm. I'm confident this can be rescued as long as you act promptly.

x20

[bobneedhelp]

open one letter dated jan 2008
States:
our client - cabot Finance (Europe) ltd
a/c no - xxxxx
Clarity ref: - xxxxx


said reduce settlement offer repay about half , letters valid for 7 days - sign
collections manager

open no 2 letter dated feb 2008
from Red debt -
original creditor - barclaycard
they have appointed agent Lowell portfolio Ltd to recover, as you have failed to settle ...instructed to use a) Licensed Home Visit Agent' and b) start legal proceedings for CCJ and then charging order, use bailiffs to remove goods should debt remain unpaid

like you to contact and give opportunity of contacting and agreeing payment ..if not hear from you within 7 days then will use methods above
collection advisor

do i contact them or just wait now that a CCJ and a Charging Order has been made against me?

my hands are all wet and I am shaky whilst typing this in ..sorry ...and i am being tearful on this - will stop and open another letter soon ...thanks.

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

WELL DONE.
1 Cabot are easy dont worry about them. There is a whole fan club on here. Will point you in the right drection.

2. Barcalycard/lowell. This is probably the chrging order as it is the same comapny. That one X20 has advised on above.

Keep going
olives xx

[bobneedhelp]

Thanks for detailed instructions x20 - having to read many time to understand what I have to do - I will open all remaining letters, post it here and see if i can locate what you ask - IF I CANNOT LOCATE IT, THEN WHAT DO I DO?

opened letter 3 - march 2008 - red debt
creditor - barclaycard ( same as letter 4)
states - Pre Litigation Dept, Final Notice
..our agent failed to make contact and will instruct legal department to review your account ..may involve commencing legal proceedings -
1.instruct bailiff who may remove goods should debt not paid in full
2.deduct payments via attachment of earnings directly from employer
3.obtain a charge on your property
4.obtain payments directly from your bank account via third party order
5. requests attendance at court for examination of financial means
A final attempt to resolve this matter, you MUST act now .

opened letter 4- May 2008 - red debt
creditor- barclaycard
as you continued to persist with non-payment of debt...your account fast track to approved debt collection specialist who will contact you to negotiate a repayment plan - we want to bring resolution as amicably as possible

opened letter 5 - Claim form
Northampton (CCBC) Claim no: xxxx date April 2008
claimnant Lowell Portfolio will send this to you X20 in PM or do i post this one here?

[bobneedhelp]

Thanks Olive ..my hands are wet and shaky but i am opening the letters ...it hard but i can do it ...

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

You are doing really well Bob.

Barclaycard again are easy. I owed them £300 went for the charges and they now owe me £100.

Once the letters are opened and you have decided which way to deal with them then we will help you with letters to these people telling them your plans. That should control them more and you wont really hear that much from them

Once again you are doing so well. So far this is ll manageable from what I can see.

olives xx

[surfaceagentx20]

Good work Bob. Letter number 5 is the vital one. It will give all the answers to the questions I asked under [4] to [7] above.

Give me the answers to [4] to [7] in a new private message to me.

Keep on searching for the letter which gives the information at [1] to [3]. It will be a letter delivered in the last month.

x20

[bobneedhelp]

I have not managed to locate letter from land registry - my nephew has resent it back - sigh! what do i do now? if i do not even have this letter as you stated...

opened letter 6 - April 2008 Cope's
Registered county Court Judgement
Client - Arrow Global Ltd
debt value -xxxx
Claim ref - xxxx
copes ref - xxxx

write on behalf of client, failed to discharge our client's claims. have applied for CCJ to be registered against you and will remain on Public Register for a period of 6 years, if nothing received within 7 days, seek enforcement which may include one of the following-
1. insolvency Proceedings
2. Bailiff/Sherriff
3. Attachment of earnings
4. Charge on Property
5. third Party Debt Order
6. Injunction to Freeze Assets

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Was this from the court or from DCA?
olivesxx

[surfaceagentx20]

Help requested please.

I have drawn up the application for Bob to submit to the court in order that he can apply to set aside the default judgment.

I can not see there is a facility to attach a pdf to a private message. Is there a facility?

If there is no such facility, I propose to submit it to the thread and to then delete it once Bob has confirmed to me that he has succesfully downloaded it. But I do not want to do this if I will be unable to delete it once it is posted to the thread. Will I be able to delete it?

x20

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Hi SX20
What we usually do is attach to the post but to leave out any personal info. That way it can also help others in there quests. and Bob can fill in the blanks

olives xx

[surfaceagentx20]

Olives, I've completed all the paperwork. All Bob needs to do is sign it, date it and send it off.

Bob, please send me a personal message with your email address and then I'll email the paperwork over.

x20

[surfaceagentx20]

Bob, I have sent over to you by email a completed application notice in Form N244 with which to apply to the court to set aside the default judgment. The document is in pdf format.

Please confirm that you have been able to succesfully download the pdf.

You will need to print off three copies. You will need to sign the application on the first page where indicated and again on page 2 where indicated. You will also need to date the aplication with todays date.
You should then attend at the court office. The address of the court office is given at the bottom of the form.

On arrival at the court office tell an official there that you wish to make an application to set a judgment aside. Go to the desk where the official says you should go to.

When you present your application you will have to pay a fee to the court of £75.00 unless you receive one of the following means-tested benefits:

• Income Support; or
• State Pension Guarantee Credit; or
• Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance; or
• Working Tax Credit provided you are not receiving Child Tax Credit; or
• your gross annual income does not exceed a specified limit. (See leaflet EX160A for more details).

If you show that a payment of a court fee would involve undue hardship to you, you may be eligible for a part remission. The amount decided will be based on a detailed means-test to assess your disposable income. Court staff will calculate what contribution you should make towards the fee.
For further information, or to apply for a fee concession, ask the court staff for a copy of the combined leaflet and form EX160A – Court fees – Do I have to pay them? This is also available from any county court office, or a copy of the leaflet can be downloaded from the website Her Majesty's Courts Service - Home.

The court will accept the application and send out or give you a notice saying when your application will be heard. The court will also send the application notice and notice of date for hearing to Lowell.

Whilst at the court office, ask them to tell you what date and time has been fixed for the hearing of the application for the charging order.

Since the court to which the application has been sent is the same court as the one which is dealing with the charging order, no further applications will be necessary at this stage.

If anything is not understood, let me know.

x20

[surfaceagentx20]

For the assistance of others, set out below is the text of the body of the application notice prepared to assist Bob in setting the default judgment aside.

I am the Defendant in this case.

I very recently received a notice through the post saying that a judgment had been entered against me and that steps were being taken to secure the judgment on my home. I am not familiar with legal procedure in England and did not know what to do until I took some advice. This application notice has been prepared by someone who was able to give me advice about what I should do.

I was advised that I may have some important papers concerning this case at home and which I should search for. In carrying out a search I found an unopened envelope which I then opened and which I now know contained the Claim Form in this case and issued at the request of the Claimant.

In the Claim Form the Claimant claims to be entitled to the sum of £xxxx.xx. The claim has the appearance of being a claim for interest at the rate of 8% per annum during the period xx xx xx until xx xx xx. The Claim Form does not set out any basis whatsoever for alleging a right to be paid interest at such a rate or over such a period.

The Claim Form also appears to include a claim for statutory interest of £0.00 and continuing statutory interest at a daily rate of £0.00 until judgment or sooner payment.

Thirdly, the Claim Form also appears to identify an agreement by reference to a series of numbers only some of which numbers may or may not be intended to identify a date. The Claim Form does not allege that in relation to this agreement, either [1] I was a party to the agreement or [2] the Claimant was a party to the agreement. Neither does the Claim Form explain (if alleged) that the agreement is an agreement under which the Claimant has a right to recover money from me and if so what that right might be.

I am advised and believe that the Claim Form is devoid of any relevant particulars which it would be necessary for the Claimant to prove and if proven, would establish that the Claimant has a right in law to be paid the sum of £xxxx.xx by me.

I deny having ever entered into an agreement with the Claimant. I deny that I was at the date of the commencement of these proceedings indebted to the Claimant in the sum of £xxxx.xx.

For the reasons set out above I believe that if the judgment against me was set aside that I would have a real and substantial prospect of successfully defending the entire claim.

I regret that I did not deal with the Claim Form when it arrived. I did not open the envelope and I did not know the envelope it came in would contain the Claim Form. I seek to be excused for my failure to deal with the Claim Form. I believe I have