Legal Charge or Court Action?

[macmcrae]

Not sure what to do for the best ....

Back in 1989, we took a secured loan against our then property. In 1991 we were repossessed and there wasn't enough equity in the property to settle the legal charge (Swallow Finance who later turned into Greyhound Bank).

We sorted a repayment plan and everything was fine until April 2004 when our payment book ran out, and I wasn't going to send a cheque to them without some form of receipt.
We wrote (the debt had now been taken over by Equity Credit Management) and asked for a new book, but one never came. The debt slipped our mind .....
A few months ago we were again contacted about this debt, and told it had now been taken over by Commercial Lion .... we explained we were finding things tough and asked them to consider a monthly payment plan again. They said this would be fine as long as it was on a legal charge ... against this house which already is mortgaged and has two other secured loans.
The amount has rocketed to £25000, and we have been told if we don't sign the legal charge, which I have now, then it will go to court.
The hugest problem is, we stupidly threw away the initial paperwork and they are saying my parents were guarantors on this loan, when in fact we thought they were witnesses. It had been brought up before and my parents did involve solicitors etc at the time, and it all died down.

I really don't know what to do do we send the legal charge back and keep our fingers crossed they don't suddenly raise the monthly payments, or do we go to Court and risk my parents being involved?
Any advice would be so much appreciated....

[old_andrew2007]

I am sure someone will be along with advice, so my reply is to bump your thread, why has the amount risen to £25000, send an S.A.R - (Subject Access Request).
Personally I would hold fire for a short time to allow with someone expertise to advise.

Andy

[macmcrae]

Hello, and thanks to all for helping this far

Well, yesterday we received individual claim packages from the court that is representing them.

The defendants listed are both myself and my husband, so am I right in assuming they have dropped my parents from this?
Some photocopies of original paperwork are included, and in the 'borrowers signatory box' are the signatures of myself, my husband and my parents we had been led to believe by the broker at the time that these were just for witness procedures.

Can they later make a claim against my parents????
Their claim pack also includes a breakdown of the charges, and the interest accruing, even though, when we were paying the debt, we were under the impression that the interest charges had been frozen.

We have 14 days to return these claims, and state what we would like to do, we also still have the legal charge papers sitting here, and really don't know which way to turn for the best...

[caro]

Can you see on the paperwork if your parents signed as witnesses. If so they can't be dragged into it.

I'm going to try and get you some more help on this.

[macmcrae]

Hi Caro, and thanks

Their signatures are in the borrowers box how stupid were we to think that this was where the witnesses were meant to sign.

Does it still mean they could be dragged into the court procedures at some stage, even though it's just myself and my husband listed as defendants? If so, then we will have no choice but the sign the legal charge as they're too old to be dragged through all this.

Thanks again, so grateful

[caro]

I think that your best bet for now is to acknowledge the claim and say that you intend to defend it. You will then have 28 days from the date of service to submit your defence.

I would also agree that you should do a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) and see what information that produces. If your parents were misled into believing they were witnesses instead of guarantors I would think it throws doubt into the validity of any claim that may (or may not) come up later.

[macmcrae]

Thanks again, Caro

Sorry to be stupid, but how would I go about doing a S.A.R.?

[ukaviator]

Hi

There is a generator here:

Data Protection Act - Subject Access Request Generator *** New ***

Fill in the details and print it off. The loan seems to have grown due to charges probably, which you could claim back. I assume you already have a CCJ on this debt?

[macmcrae]

Thanks for the link

No, they've never taken us to court over this debt before, we have no CCJ and nor is it registered in any way on our credit report.

[macmcrae]

Sorry to be a pain, the link didn't work

[caro]

Try this one instead. 1. Data Protection Act, Subject Access Request letter - List of charges

[macmcrae]

Thank you.

Right, do I send this to the solicitors that have been dealing with me regarding this case, or dig around and find the address of the company who now have the debt?