Apologies to all who have sent PM's etc to me. I have been off line for some time not being able to pay for my broadband connection due to an embarrassingly low level of funds. I have been maintaining my payments due to my creditors including Restons who within a very short space of time were trying to come to a settlement. As I have no spare funds at present I have simply ignored them. I did have a few heart stopping moments after the judgement when the court clerk dropped a clanger and sent both me and Reston's a letter stating the judgement was for £100 a month instead of the £10. Immediately I contacted the court and requested them to correct their error. I received a corrected letter but I'm not sure Reston's did as I received several very threatening missives from them. To give them their due they did apologise profusely when I pointed out to them the settlement was for £10 per month ands asked them to double check with the County Court before they jumped up and down any further with their threats! I am hoping to cobble together some cash from my sons and a possible lucrative work offer that I will know more about in June/July and then approach Reston's for a 'full and final'. If that comes to pass I will no doubt be here again for some sage advice. Thanks again to everyone. In the next few days I will try and catch up with the PM's etc.

Thanks CB Well Reston's got their Charging Order but I did manage to win some breathing space. The judge ordered that MBNA could take no further enforcement as long as I maintain a payment of £10 per month. This has been fixed for one year. So hopefully I can start getting my finances back on an even keel again. So one very quick question - at the end of the year do I need to go for another Variation Order so as to fix payments again when this period expires? Again thanks to all who sent PM's of support and those who have helped on this thread to date.

Hearing time today! Thanks to all who have given help and opinions - all greatly appreciated. I'm just wondering what I am going to get in the judge lottery today! If I get someone like the last one I may as well roll over and die! My main hope is that the judge will look at my Variation Order and set payments to start paying off these horrendous people so I can at last start getting all my finances in order. Knowing MBNA as soon as they are able they will go for the jugular with a Sale Order and I want to give them no ammunition whatsoever. If there is anything I can do to pre-empt such an action I look forward to further contributions! Anyway I will post up the result of my hearing later today.

Jeff200 As far as I know the other creditors have no knowledge of the CO. My wife does not want to appear in the court - far too nervous. She is also working at that time. I could get her to draft a letter with her objection to the CO and take that with me. I have not paid anything towards this debt since the last payment made on the last statement received. There are reasons for this - each time I tried to negotiate payments - myself, CCCS and Communtity Legal Advice MBNA flatly refused stating it was not enough. I have also spent a lot of time in hospital - in total I have had five operations in the last year and a half which was the reason I defaulted. Who did I send payments to - Virgin, MBNA or Reston's? Who was the payment to be made out to? How was the payment to be made? I had/have no bank account so needed BGC details or clear instructions of where payments were to go as these had to be made by others when I was in hospital.

Removed as it was a double posting.

Jeff2000 Thanks for your interest and assistance. Yes I do have other creditors. These have (except for one and this one is accepting reduced payments) all accepted token payments and frozen interest. This was negotiated through the Community Legal Advice people and all payments have been religiously made as negotiated. There is probably enough equity to repay all debts - the mortgage still has a few years to go and is about a quarter of the property value. Though how much the house would fetch in today's market is anyones guess!

Thanks Jeff2000, I have phoned the court and the Interim order was issued on 14th October so I'm afraid the CO has precedence.

Jeff2000, My Variation Order was received and acknowledged by my local County Court on 21/10/10. The restriction was placed at the Land Registry on 26/10/10.

Thanks rebel11 I do not think my son will actually count for much as he is living at home (he's 21) before going to University next year. The only reason he is here is to save as much as he can before going to University.

I think I have four arguments to use to fight the Charging Order: 1) It would prejudice my other creditors who have agreed token payments and frozen interest until I am in a position to afford to pay more. 2) I have not been given the opportunity to demonstrate I can make regular payments as ordered by a court (submitted Variation Order). 3) The debt is small in comparison with the total value of the property. 4) It is unfair to subject my wife and son to penalties as I am solely responsible for this debt and my wife paid the deposit and mortgage since its inception. 5) The original debt is made up of a high proportion of higher than average and punitive interest rates. These interest rates reflected the risk the bank took when they granted the credit facility on an unsecured basis. A CO will negate this risk factor as the bank will have a secured debt after having charged an interest rate far higher than that of a secured credit facility - they will have charged for the risk without having taken any. Whatever the outcome I will be asking for an installment order. Comments welcome particularly if the arguments are valid and what would be the correct order of presentation in the Court. Any other arguments I can use would be most welcome.

Thanks Paulb1972 I have an income expenditure sheet ready to print off in triplicate. Also I will take details of my other creditors in case I am asked with the Community Legal Advice documents where payments to these were set with their help and, if I can find it, the letter when CLA advise me MBNA had turned down the offer of payment they tried to negotiate. The CLA payments were negotiated through a joint income (me and the wife) expenditure sheet though this is not clear in the documentation. Am I correct in assuming the court will only assess my income with the Variation Order as I am only intending to provide my income and expenditure? - After all it is my debt not my wife's.

Thanks DD for your input. I had not been idle since MBNA got their CCJ. Following FG's advice I wrote to the court immediately asking for them to set a payment schedule to start paying off the debt. After hearing nothing I phoned the Court who told me I had to submit a Variation Order. I managed to get the £35 from a friend and I submitted this. From the Court I received aknowledgement of this and a date for the hearing (Tuesday). About a week afterwards I received the notification that Reston's were going for the CO - hearing exactly the same date and time as the one for my Variation Order. I did ask on here whether the hearing for both was now one and the same - heard by the same judge. Presumably no one knew the answer to this or it was obviously the case. Of course I am panicking - I have not been in this situation before and just the faint threat of losing my home over what is (still) an unsecured debt made up of huge chunks of punitive interest charges with a bank who has steadfastly refused all offers of payments negotiated through myself, the CCCS and Community Legal Advice based on my current income. The Variation Order I hoped would set a level of payment that MBNA had to accept until I was in a position to pay them more. In fact I still do not know what the position is regarding this VO that I paid for - was it a total waste of money or will it be dealt with on Tuesday?

Thanks Paulb1972. Very unfortunately I had no idea I had to present my arguments against a CO in advance to both the court and the creditor. Obviously 'ignorance is not bliss' so I am going to have to plead my ignorance of this due to being unable to afford legal assistance or advice. I thought that because my wife has a 50% stake in the property and the debt having nothing whatever to do with her would make it difficult for them to get a 'Sale Order' as this would be punitive for her rather than for me. This whole situation seems to be going from bad to worse!

I failed to add that a couple of days ago - totally out of the blue - I received a copy of an Interim Charging Order that Restons's had obtained. Until I received this document from the Land Registry this is the very first I had heard of it. It is too late obviously for me to do anything about this but surely I should have had some information that they had applied for this so I could object? Or is this yet another underhand tactic that they are going to get away with?

My CO hearing is on Tuesday so I am doing some last minute preparations for this. Thank to FG I have the couple or arguments to use that she so kindly outlined - namely: a) A charging order would prejudice my other creditors who have agree token payments until I am back on my feet again and can afford more. b) I have never been given the opportunity to demonstrate I can maintain regular payments as ordered by a court. Also I have been considering adding the argument that I have been paying a higher level of interest on this credit card debt to reflect the risk of it being an unsecured debt. MBNA are now attempting to turn the unsecured debt into a secured one - hence taking no risk whatsoever meaning all the extra interest and punitive rate hikes charged to myself have been unjustified. Thus if the debt becomes secured through a CO then it should be done so on a far lower figure to reflect this. If this is a valid argument I would appreciate some assistance from wordsmiths who are adept at phrasing such an argument clearly and effectively. As always all comments, help and opinions welcomed.

Thanks to all who have added their input. My apologies for no reply till now - my Internet access is currently very haphazard which is one of the consequences of struggling along on £63 a week! Also much of my time is spent job hunting - a no mean task these days when locally every vacancy seems to have 30 or 40 people chasing it. Being an 'old fart' probably means I am back of the queue when the CV's are considered! Still I remain optimistic and am happy to accept anything going so I can get off Jobseekers Allowance and start building up a little capital to get myself going again! Anyway I will take FG's usual excellent advice and defend the CO up to the wire. I must admit though I now have a very jaundiced view of our legal system after my last encounter with it so am prepared for the worst case scenario. Once the hearing is over I will post the result here. Any further advice/comments are always welcome.

I have been offline for a bit so am just catching up with all the responses. My thanks to all those who have added their comments. It has given me food for thought and a little optimism as the last thing I want to happen is for my wife to find herself homeless due to my borrowing mistakes and the do-do I am up to my neck in caused by my illness (and failure to recognise I would not be able to cope with my level of debt in the case of an emergency such as the one that caused my defaults.) It looks as if I will not be able to prevent the Charging Order - but so long as Reston's cannot force the sale of the house I am not too concerned by this. What is important to me is the Court fixing the amount I need to pay MBNA/Reston's so I can get my finances on an even keel and then get back into work again and start the slow process of paying off my creditors. If I am able to re-activate my company I hope, within a year of two, to make a substantial dent in what I owe. With regard to the property transfer - this was done at a solicitors. It is the mortgage holder who has failed so far to return the documentation back to the solicitors so the change could be registered with the Land Registry. As has been stated this would look like a 'device' to avoid the CO now - despite it being done to protect my wife in the event I pegged out whilst in hospital - which was a very strong possibility. Thus my understanding is - Restons get the CO but cannot force the sale of the property and cannot do anything further if I maintain the payments as stipulated by the Court. Am I correct in this or deluding myself? I am currently in the process of getting back on my feet again - but I now have a CCJ registered against me. Does anyone know if I can open a basic bank account in my Company name and another in my own name? In order to get my business going again I am going to need banking facilities. Without these I will not be able to get off the ground. Again all thought and comments most welcome.

Thanks, as usual, for your input FG - greatly appreciated. If Restons had applied before the Summary Judgement hearing for an Interim Charging Order this was never made clear to me by any indication whatsoever. So as far as I know no such application was made. At the moment there is no order for any payments to be made at all - hence my appliacation for a hearing through the variation Order. All offers of payments negotiated by the CCCS and Consumer Legal Advice were ignored or declined by MBNA/Reston's - though not in any direct communication to me. The last time I paid them any money was when I received the last statement from Virgin. There was never any method made clear to whom and how I should continue to make any payments. I will take my list of creditors with me to the hearing - after all I am paying them small amounts as negotiated by the CCCS and Community Legal Advice as this also forms part of my income and expenditure. These payments are currently being maintained by assistance from my wife and sons - thus any payment made to MBNA/Reston's will also be subsidised this way until I get back into work again. So I assume the Charging Order and Variation Order hearing are now one and the same? Will my wife have to attend or can she just submit a letter to the court outlining she pays the full mortgage and has always done so and explaining that I had arranged to transfer the property into her sole name due to my illness. Again all thoughts welcome.

Thanks for the responses. What I am unsure about is the status of my variation order in relation to this charging order - and will both be dealt with at the same time by the same judge? Can anyone enlighten me? I do not really have a problem giving Reston's my list of creditors but would prefer not to if I do not have to. I have a pathological dislike of helping them in any way whatsoever! As regards my only income that is an easy one - DHSS Income and Support Alowance of £63 a week - shortly to be Jobseekers Allowance of the same when my last medical certificate expires - and that until I can find some kind of work again. With the Charging Order I think my wife can challenge this with a statement and the documents to back it up that she has paid all of the Mortgage throughout its life by Standing Order through her bank. I had thought the property was now fully in her same having signed it over some time ago - but this has not yet filtered through to the Land Registry. It seems that this takes forever to do. The Mortgage is in her sole name now. So I think she can make a good case that her stake in the property is quite a high one. Does anyone also know if I have to submit any documentation to the court in advance or is everything produced on the day? I have a few weeks leeway but time very quickly erodes this so I like to be well prepared in advance for what is going to happen and I also need to prepare my wife - who does not want to appear in court and is extremely nervous about it all. As usaul all thoughts and contributions welcome.

I am in need of a little bit of advice again to put it mildly! As indicated previously I applied and paid for a variation order so as to fix the payments due to MBNA under the judgement they won against me in my local county court. This is due to be held in December. Today I receive from Reston's an Interim charging order dated 14/10/10 (the actual letter is dated 2nd November) which is returnable on exactly the same date and time as my hearing for the Variation order. They enclose a copy N379 Form dated in September in support of their application. Reston's are asking for details of all creditors - do I need to provide them with this information? Do I need to contact the court with details of my Variation order? Or will these be dealt with at the same time by the same judge? I must admit I am a little confused by all this and need to know what my best option is now! Any and all advice greatly welcomed.

Thank again FG, My youngest son turned up with one of those mobile phone dongle thingies!! So I'm on the internet with that. I already use my local library when I get into town - but this mostly for job hunting and the like as my time is limited whilst there. I live a couple of miles outside town so it is a special trip to go in - bus fares to pay etc. As said before I hope to get some sort of work soon so I am not crawling along watching every last penny!

Thank FG My apologies for the delay in posting back. My internet access is now severely limited as I cannot currently afford the service I used before. Living on Income and Support Allowance of £65 a week means almost everything has been cut to the bone! Hopefully I will be back on the job market in a week or so and my Internet connection will be one of my first priorities to restore! Once I have had my hearing I will post the result up here. Thanks also for the PM's - I will anwer these today whilst I have my connection. Again apologies in advance if I appear lax in response - its not because I am lazy or ignoring anyone its purely due to lack of Internet access!

Well I have been away for several weeks recuperating from the operation I had and things have been very quiet up until today. The last action I took before departing to stay with my eldest son in the wilds of Snowdonia was to file for a variation order. This morning I received a letter from my local court that a hearing of 10 minutes has been allocated at the beginning of December where it states "10 minutes has been allowed for the hearing of the defendants application for a variation order". My question is what documents do I need to provide here? Presumably proof of income and expenditure? And again, presumably I am asking the Court to fix the amount I need to pay each month to MBNA? Any guidance from experts on variation orders would be most welcome.

Thank CB and FG. I will be dealing with the form today and mailing it tomorrow. The original letter to the court went by first class post - not recorded as I did not have time to get to a post office before going into hospital. I suspect it was not Royal Mail who are the incompetant ones here! At my hearing the judge had never seen my Witness Statement which was handed into the court a few days prior to the hearing. Somehow this 'disappeared'. I did have a spare which was handed to the judge about halfway through the hearing when she realised I was referring to points within it and she did not have a copy! I could probably write a very good farce about the whole thing! Anyway I will get the form filled in and mailed tomorrow and will keep things updated as I go along. Today is my staple removal day at my local surgery so will not have much time until later.

Just got off the phone to the Court. My letter has not been received - but was told that is probably not unusual as it went to the Court not the mailing address of the Court which is totally different! The person I spoke to said that I had to apply for a variation order (cost £40) which is sent to the claimant - they will probably refuse - then it goes for redetermination. Presumably this is the road I have to go down? If yes I will get on with it tomorrow.