Im really starting to panic now! Help please.

[1stlifeline]

Im sorry this is a bit long but I really need some advice.

We have a lot of debts and have been to the CCCS and done all the usual income/expenditure form filling and sent copies off to all our creditors. We have also have had the building society try to repossess the house although that has been suspended and we have it up for sale at the moment. Our plan was to sell the house and then make offers to each creditor to see if we can make reduced offer settlements.

Some debts are mine and some are my partners and all of the companies have accepted reduced payments for a while and all but one have suspended interest.

This is where we have the problem, my partner has a loan and a credit card with Nationwide which together come to just over 20,000. His credit card had a balance of just over 4,000 and even though he obviously no longer uses it they have added interest and charges each month and so now the figure is nearly 8,000. Nationwide have been inflexible from the start even though he has continually made reduced payments regularly and did inform them of the problem right at the start. On the loan they did accept a smaller payment which they said they would review after 12 weeks but during this period they twice took the origional amount from his bank without any warning which again caused him a £38 charge each time for the direct debit failing. They did agree that they should not have tried to take the larger sum as they had agreed smaller payments and promised to repay his bank charge but it never happened.

Yesterday he got a letter from a collection company and he rang them this morning. The woman he spoke to said they want over £150 extra each month. He told her that we do not have the mney and so cant promise that. They admitted that they had his income/expenditure form in front of them and could see that there was no possibility that he could increase the payments, however they said he must find a way or be taken to court. He told them that they would have to take him to court then and that he would show that he couldnt afford any extra and that he had always made a payment every month and so was doing his best.

They told him that they would take him to court and have a charge put on the house. The problem is that if they do this it will mean that ALL the collateral in the house would be eaten up by them. Our plan was to distribute the collateral between all the creditors to try to get back on our feet. We thought selling our home was a last resort but would allow us to make some headway to becoming solvent again.

Can they do this when we have other creditors? As the house is jointly owned and the debt is my partners are they entitled to my share of the equity? There really is no point in selling if they are going to take it all and by the time we get a sale they are going to add court fees and more interest and we could end up with negative equity.

Sorry this is long winded but can anyone advise please.

Thanks

[tiglet]

Send nationwide a CCA request for both the credit card and the loand to see if they ahve the correct paperwork. this should at least buy you a little time and if they don't have the correct paperwork, puts you in a much stronger position to bargain.

 

Or you can look at having the debt reduced by claiming back all unlawful charges on the account. you start by sending a SAR - follow the guide at the beginning of the website.

[shane5408]

Hiya,

 

I wouldn't worry to much about a DCA threatening to put a charging order on your house at this stage, what you have to remember is their one aim in life to coerce as many payments out of you as they can.

 

Tiglet has given good advice (as always:D ) I would send the CCA request to the DCA first, they then have to reply with 12 working days and prove they have a legal right to collect the debt, if they can;t provide an agreement the debt is unenforcable, most likely they will simply pass the account back to the original creditor in that situation.

 

Do you think there might be any penalty charges on any of the accounts?

 

With regard to your house how much equity do you have at present? When you sell will you have a lump sum left over?

 

kind regards,

shane

[1stlifeline]

Thank you Tiglet. Im really confused by this CCA request thing. I did do it with my Halifax account and my charges came to over £1000 but I fell at the last hurdle because they took it to the court stage and I couldnt afford th £120 to go the whole way and am not entitled to it FOC.

This thing about them having the correct paperwork confuses me because even if they dont have it what do you do? Do you still have to go to court yo argue it out because if you have been making payments then surely that means you have been acknowledging a debt which you are now disputing exists. Also if do I work out which are unlawful charges on the loan are they not just going to call our bluff on the premis that we owe them more than they will owe us.

[tiglet]

No CCA = no enforecable debt - the court cannot enforce the debt without the CCA, but you would need to go to court and defend their action.

 

If you owe them more than they owe you, then at least it will get the debt reduced - plus, if they take it to court you can defend on the bais that the amount they are asking for is not correct. But that is a long way down the line.

 

I'd get the CCA request with the £1 fee sent off to them pronto.

[1stlifeline]

Hi Shane, Thanks for the reply. At the moment we will probably have about 23,000 equity in the house provided we get the asking price we are hoping for. Im sure there are penalty charges on most of the accounts but as in my last post regarding the Halifax credit card I cant afford to take a claim to the court stage because of the costs and I feel that because we owe them money they will just call our bluff and push us all the way knowing we cant afford to take the final step as the Halifax did.

[tiglet]

You could always phone Halifax now and give them one last chance to settle amicably before you start court proceedings (they don't know you are bluffing).

 

You never know, they may give in or agree a partial refund.

 

Not all credit card providers are the same - but, as I said, the CCA is a good place to start.

[shane5408]

Hiya,

 

With regard to court action and not being able to afford fees keep in mind if you are defending any action you don't need to pay an upfront court fee so you need not worry about that. If they bring court action against you without holding an agreement they haven't a hope of suceeding, no agreement = no enforcable debt.

 

kind regards,

shane

[1stlifeline]

Thank you both very much for the help.

[1stlifeline]

Sorry to be a pain but could one of you please tell me which letter template it is to CCA the creditors to check they have got an enforcable agreement.

Thank you

[Curlyben]

First NEVER talk to these "people" on the phone as they will try and get you to agree to anything.

 

Before you even think about making any sort of acknowledgement or payment to a DCA you MUST ensure that they have the LEGAL right to collect the debt.

This is achieved by requesting a copy of the Signed, Executed Credit Agreement via a Consumer Credit Act (CCA) request.

There is a template letter to be found here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

Letter N.

Is it important to start the letter:

I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY in Big Bold letters.

 

It is best to send this request via recorded/special delivery as there are some important deadlines to observe.

 

After 12 WORKING days the "debt" is in default and stays that way until the request is complied with.

If a FURTHER month passes then the DCA has committed a summary criminal offence and the matter should be referred to Trading Standards for action once the DCA continues to demand payment.

 

I hope this clarifies some things.

[1stlifeline]

Thank you all for the replies. I am going to CCA them. Just out of interest though, IF, it did go to court and they want to secure the loan against the house, can they include my share of the equity as the debt is in my partners name. I plan to use my share of the equity to pay off my creditors which I want be able to do if they secure the whole loan against the house.

[tiglet]

Not sure, but I think you're thinking too far ahead - it's very easy to do, i know.

 

Best if you just take it one step at a time and try not to worry.

[Under Siege]

take Curlyben's advice and DO NOt speak to them on the phone, especially DCA's. I have had numerous telephone calls and letters from DCA's Threatening charging orders / Bankruptcy etc and I have point blank ignored them. Absolutely nothing has happened, they are just business' trying to make money by using scare tactics.

Keep all correspondence in writing and always use recorded or special delivery.

 

Good luck

[benson05]

Thank you all for the replies. I am going to CCA them. Just out of interest though, IF, it did go to court and they want to secure the loan against the house, can they include my share of the equity as the debt is in my partners name. I plan to use my share of the equity to pay off my creditors which I want be able to do if they secure the whole loan against the house.

 

 

Hi,

 

Just to set your mind at rest on this it is only your partners interest that they can secure on and should the worse happen andif you do get to this stage (which hopefully you wont) there would be a hearing and you would have chance as an interested party to defend the order.

 

Kind regards,

benson05