Got Date For A Court Hearing - Need Advice

[speedy016]

Hi everyone

 

My hubby had a HP agreement on a car he bought about 4 years ago.

The finance was taken out with BLACK HORSE.

The debt has escalated to about 14.5K

 

A few years ago he was out of work for about 12 months and we couldn't afford to keep up to the repayments.

 

It resulted in a CCJ, we have been arguing ever since about how much we can afford to repay each month. We sent an expenditure form to the court with all our incomings and outgoings and offered to pay 50 each month.

 

This was declined and we were told we had to pay 150 each month.

 

When we filled out the expenditure form the court took into consideration my full time wage but didn't take into consideration any outgoings I have. A BIT UNFAIR ME THINKS!

 

Unfortunately due to an accident at work, I have only worked for 5 weeks since December and I do not get paid, I only receive SSP. We then got a letter saying that they were applying for an attachment of earnings for 150 each month.

 

I wrote to the court straight away and explained that our incomings have gone down due to my accident. I also stated that we do indeed want to pay for the debt but would they reconsider a payment of 50 each month until I am well enough to return to work.

 

This morning we received a letter from the court stating that as we have filed an objection regarding the attachment of earnings order my hubby has to attend a 10 min hearing on 3rd July and he has to take details of income and expenditure.

 

We have not actually objected to the order, we are just asking for lower repayments.

 

Can anyone advise what all this means and what we need to do to prepare ourselves for the court.

I'm really worried now, never been to court before!

 

Any help or advice will be really appreciated.

 

Thanks

Speedy

[Drexl Spivey]

I only have limited knowledge, but others will reply soon. You need to get a form N245 (variation of an order ) to lower re payments , and return it to the court that issued the judgement. You may also need to get form EX160 (application for fee exemption ) if on a low income.

[speedy016]

Thanks Drexl

 

Does my husband still have to attend the court, if we fill in those forms.

Thanks

Speedy

[Drexl Spivey]

Well, they got you down as an 'objection' to the attachment of earnings whereas this isn't what you are intending at all. They have asked you to attend so you'd need to phone them before this to express specifically that it's not an objection you are making , merely a request for variation of an order . And to request those forms. It may be that they will say you no longer need to attend now that you have stated your intentions specifically ( which is not an objection to the attachent of earnings ) and requested the documents that are relevant to what you actually are asking of them .

 

You should phone them up thou first regarding this, as they will be able to tell you what it is you must do or if you still need to attend . Again, this is only what i'd do, Im not really an expert on all this either

[speedy016]

Thanks so much Drexl

 

I'm gonna get my husband to fone them, really appreciate your input.

 

Thanks again

Speedy:-)

[Drexl Spivey]

np , let us know how you get on ..

[hellhasnofury]

Hi everyone

 

My hubby had a HP agreement on a car he bought about 4 years ago.

The finance was taken out with BLACK HORSE.

The debt has escalated to about 14.5K

 

A few years ago he was out of work for about 12 months and we couldn't afford to keep up to the repayments.

 

It resulted in a CCJ, we have been arguing ever since about how much we can afford to repay each month. We sent an expenditure form to the court with all our incomings and outgoings and offered to pay 50 each month.

 

This was declined and we were told we had to pay 150 each month.

 

When we filled out the expenditure form the court took into consideration my full time wage but didn't take into consideration any outgoings I have. A BIT UNFAIR ME THINKS!

 

Unfortunately due to an accident at work, I have only worked for 5 weeks since December and I do not get paid, I only receive SSP. We then got a letter saying that they were applying for an attachment of earnings for 150 each month.

 

I wrote to the court straight away and explained that our incomings have gone down due to my accident. I also stated that we do indeed want to pay for the debt but would they reconsider a payment of 50 each month until I am well enough to return to work.

 

This morning we received a letter from the court stating that as we have filed an objection regarding the attachment of earnings order my hubby has to attend a 10 min hearing on 3rd July and he has to take details of income and expenditure.

 

We have not actually objected to the order, we are just asking for lower repayments.

 

Can anyone advise what all this means and what we need to do to prepare ourselves for the court.

I'm really worried now, never been to court before!

 

Any help or advice will be really appreciated.

 

Thanks

Speedy

 

Hello Speedy,

 

Don't worry to much regarding the court thing. Just fill out you income and expenditure to show the courts how much you can afford, now that your circumstances have changed.

 

Now regards your CCJ. Was your debt amount made up of unlawful penality charges and did you ever see your credit agreement??????

 

I would be interested to know???

[speedy016]

Hi hellasnofury

 

Thanks for your reply, when he got the CCJ the amount included the original amount of the outstanding finance and lots of penalty charges which were added when we got behind with payments.

 

Speedy

[hellhasnofury]

Hi hellasnofury

 

Thanks for your reply, when he got the CCJ the amount included the original amount of the outstanding finance and lots of penalty charges which were added when we got behind with payments.

 

Speedy

 

Hiya Speedy,

 

What about the credit agreement did you see it?????? Some people have received a ccj on credit agreements that were not properly executed and would have been unenforcable in a court. but did not ask to see it before the court case.

 

Also if there was penalty charges ???? the outstanding balance owing was incorrect??????

 

I am not a legal expert, but have done a lot of homework on the consumer credit act. I would maybe ask some more of the learned Cager on the Credit Agreement thread for their opinion

 

here is a link to the thread, Its a big one about 7,500 posts probably take you the best part of a week to read, but it may have the answers you need. Maybe post your info on the thread and see what comes.

 

Consumer Credit Act Agreements

 

You certainly can reclaim back the penality charges.

There may or may not be something you can do regarding the ccj, we need to find out a bit more

[speedy016]

Hi hellasnofury

 

Your input is really appreciated, no we never requested the agreement so we haven't seen it.

Also do you mean that because there were penalty charges it made the amount incorrect so we could have contested it in court, and can we still claim the charges back even though it has resulted in a CCJ. I only found this site a few weeks ago, I wish I'd known about it at the time.

 

Thanks again

Speedy

[hellhasnofury]

Hi hellasnofury

 

Your input is really appreciated, no we never requested the agreement so we haven't seen it.

Also do you mean that because there were penalty charges it made the amount incorrect so we could have contested it in court, and can we still claim the charges back even though it has resulted in a CCJ. I only found this site a few weeks ago, I wish I'd known about it at the time.

 

Thanks again

Speedy

 

Hello Speedy,

 

As I say I am not a legal expert, but maybe you can get some more infor from them.

 

Have you sent a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) if not do so now. costs £10 You will find the letter in the

 

Also send them a CCA request costs a £1. If the agreement does not contain all of the prescibed terms under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 it was not enforcable and they would not have been able to get the ccj. but you did not know to request. I feel this is the problem, most people do not know that the do have right and therefore do not question????

 

I will post the links so you know where to find the letters to send.

 

S.A.R - (Subject Access Request)1. Data Protection Act, Subject Access Request letter - List of charges

 

CCA request, you need letter N

Creditors and DCAs - Letter Templates & Budget Planner

We may not get anywgere with this, but It might be enjoyable to see them squirm and actually have to earn their money.

[speedy016]

Thanks hellhasnofury

 

I'll get onto that, anythings got to be worth a try.

Thanks for the links also.

 

Speedy

[Jhawc24]

I'm a bit confused (which isn't difficult for me i suppose ) but if this debt is in your husbands name - why are you paying it?

 

My husband has debts from when he lost his business, some are personal and some are business. He's been on long term sick since. I work full time and at no point have I agreed to any of my financial details being included on his budget sheets. All we ever put down is what he gets in sick benefits and what proportion he pays towards the household income - whatever is left over is what they get - simple as.

 

Regards Joan.

[speedy016]

Hi

 

I'm a bit confused about that as well but when my husband got the expenditure sheet from the court, he was told that he HAD to include my earnings as well as it was going to be worked out on the household income.

But what really p****d me off was that they would not take into consideration ANY outgoings that I personally had in my name.

When we tried to argue that point we were told that witholding information would result in action being taken etc, etc.

So I also included my outgoings but they disregarded these and only acknowledged my monthly pay!!!

 

Speedy

[Drexl Spivey]

put all your outgoings on your husbands tab .

[Jhawc24]

Hi Speedy

 

I think you really need some good advice on this one. Perhaps if you PM a moderator they can read through your thread and point you in the right direction.

 

As far as I'm concerned you are not responsible for your husbands debt. But where you go from here I'm not sure there are some court forms as previously mentioned to fill in.

 

Also you may be financially linked with your husband on the credit files so your credit rating may be affected by this.

 

Regards Joan

[speedy016]

Thanks Joan

 

I'll do what you suggested, I do know that my credit is being affected by this but I thought it was just part and parcel of being married.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

Speedy:-)

[payingonlyencouragesthem]

The court has no power to order you to pay other people's debts. Ask the court to cite the exact law they believe makes your income relevant. You will need to do something about those charges and penalties. Possibly the best course of action would be to request a set aside on the grounds that BH's claim consists of substantial charges which you now know to be unlawful. I would PM Laiste - she's an expert in this field. Don't hold out much hope of BH not having the agreement but it's worth a go with a CCA request.

[speedy016]

Thanks for that, I'll pm laiste and see if she can help

 

Speedy:-)

[speedy016]

Just an update.

 

My hubby phoned the court and he has the N245 form to fill in. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO OFFERED THIS ADVICE.

 

He has to attend the court hearing next Tuesday, they say it will be to his advantage if he does. I will keep you all posted on the developments.

 

Also, I am not putting ANY of my financial details on the form, like a few of you good people adviced, my hubbys debts are nothing to do with me and I am not held responsible.

 

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP SO FAR. IT IS REALLY APPRECIATED.

Speedy

[speedy016]

Hi

 

Sorry to bother you all again, I just need a bit of advice.

 

My hubby is in court in the morning and I have filled out an income and expenditure form and also put together a bundle of letters etc, confirming his outgoings but I was wondering if he should mention that the CCJ was ordered against him for the wrong amount, i.e., because of unlawful penalty charges etc., but that he wasn't aware of this at the time. We have no proof yet of any charges applied and would it go against him tomorrow if he mentioned it.

 

I don't want them to think he is trying to get out of paying but I just want to get the amount reduced to the correct figure.

 

Would he be better not mentioning this tomorrow and sorting it out at a later date.

 

Sorry I've left it late to ask but my heads in bits tonight I'm really stressing.

 

Thanks

Speedy

[Laiste]

Hi Speedy,

 

You will be fine tomorrow, try not to panic, you need to keep a clear head to put your arguments forward to the Judge. I would raise the issue of the penalty charges certainly. If the Judge asks why you haven't mentioned this earlier on in the case, explain that you had no knowledge of the law at all, but it has recently come to your attention that these charges are unlawful that have been added to your a/c.

 

Do you have a credit agreement for this debt? The judge may ask you if you intend to have the decision set aside, I would tell him that you would like to. When speaking to the Judge refer to him as Sir and if you want him to do anything preface your request Like this, "Respectfully, I would like to like to request/ask for..." You get the idea. Be polite, and pleasant and you will be fine.

 

Hope all goes well for you!

 

Regards,

 

Laiste.

[speedy016]

Thank you soooooooooo much Laiste

 

You have no idea how much just hearing from you has made me feel better, I have read so many threads where you have helped people and I think you are amazing.

 

Thanks for the advice regarding how to address the judge, I wouldn't have had a clue, never been to court before.

 

I can't thank you enough.

Speedy

[speedy016]

Sorry Laiste I forgot to say, we have no credit agreement in our possession and we have no proof of the unlawful charges yet.

 

Speedy

[Laiste]

You are very welcome Speedy! I am very flattered by your

comments! You will be fine tomorrow, try to stay as calm as you can. I would get there about 15mins before your case is due to be heard, it will give you a bit of time to collect your thoughts and compose yourself.

 

Do you have a copy of an agreement that this judgment relates to?

 

Post back as soon as you can tomorrow! I will keep everything crossed that all goes well for you!

 

Regards,

 

Laiste.