HFC/Weightmans Advice

[mazel01]

I desperately need some advice please....

 

Weightmans have wrote to me and asked me to sign a voluntary charge letter for the outstanding debt I have with HFC. I don't know what to do about it.

[rory32]

Weightmans have wrote to me and asked me to sign a voluntary charge letter for the outstanding debt I have with HFC. I don't know what to do about it.

Can you please give us some background information on this debt. If they are asking that you sign a voluntary charge on your property then on no accounts should you do this.

[bladeboy]

Not been on here long and don't know too much but there's no way you should do that EVER!

 

In the templates section I'm sure there's a letter regarding a specific reply to that, there's some civil procedures rules stuff in there too.

 

Matt

[mazel01]

Took out a personal loan with HFC. All was going ok until last year when I couldn't afford to pay the monthly instalment. Weightmans wrote to me and agreed that I could pay a reduced amount for 6 months then they would review it. I paid the reduced payments for 5 months then couldn't continue to do it. Things have been really bad, I have been ill & one of my parents seriously ill. I hadn't heard anything from Weightmans for months until yesterday. I have already sent HFC a CCA request and recieved a photocopy of my agreement which appears to have all the prescribed terms. I haven't sent a SAR as yet. The amount they are asking for is £19k however if I would have paid all the payments it would only of been paying back £15k. The payment also included £75 month for PPI which I never wanted. If I calculate the payments without PPI cover minus what I have already paid it comes to approx 12k.

[mazel01]

The deadline from Weightmans for me to agree to the voluntary charge is 22nd February.....

[mazel01]

Getting worried now...

[rory32]

Okay first of all forget about the voluntary charge. If they were to go for a charging order themselves they would need to get a CCJ first and then you would need to fall behind with any repayment order the court made on the CCJ for them to be able to go for a charging order. Get that SAR sent off and inform Weightmans in writing that the account is currently in dispute (we've got a template for that - I'll have a look for it). Start the process of reclaiming the PPI if missold and any charges on the account (have a look in the PPI forum for additional information on reclaiming PPI). Have you made any repayment proposal on this account in line with your ability to pay?

[rory32]

Here we are

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to your letter of **/**/**, in which you advise of your intention to issue court proceedings with regard to the outstanding balance of my current account overdraft.

As you are aware, this account and the balance thereof is currently subject of a dispute. I can only assume your letter has been sent in error, as you must surely be aware that action such as that you propose would constitute breaches of the banking code. This matter has been discussed in correspondence with your clients ********* department and on **/**/** I received a letter from ********, which acknowledged no such action should be taken on a disputed account and did in fact apologise for previously suggesting otherwise. A copy of the correspondence to which I refer is enclosed for your reference.

Additionally, this action you propose is clearly quantifiable as retaliatory due to my own claim against your client to recover unlawfully levied penalty charges. To proceed as you have indicated would therefore be contrary to the statement of the Financial Services Authority of 6th July 2006 in which it ruled such action to be discriminatory. I also believe this action to be tantamount to a sanction imposed merely for pursuing my legitimate right of seeking a judgement from a court.

I trust your client is committed to upholding the standards of the Banking Code to which it subscribes, and would not hold its regulator, the FSA, in such contempt as to ignore its 6th July statement.

I will allow you 7 days to reply to me, in writing or by Fax only, withdrawing the threat of action imposed in your letter of **/**/**. If you do not do so, I will draw your client’s transgressions to the attention of the Financial Services Authority and the banking code standards committee, by making formal complaints and enclosing copies of all recent correspondence.

I look forward to your prompt response.

 

Yours faithfully

[mazel01]

Do I send the SAR request to Weightmans or HFC? Also they mention a deadline in the letter to sign the voluntary charge, what happens to that?. Finally once I send the SAR in to them can they still continue with there legal action or do they have to answer me first?

[rory32]

Do I send the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request to Weightmans or HFC?

HFC.

Also they mention a deadline in the letter to sign the voluntary charge, what happens to that?.

Forget about it.

Finally once I send the SAR in to them can they still continue with there legal action or do they have to answer me first?

They could continue (although they shouldn't) but as I stated earlier it would be for a CCJ which you can defend on the grounds of missold PPI and charges. Even if they got a CCJ against you you can apply for a time to pay order where the judge will make on order to pay based on your disposable income.

[rory32]

Once again I'll ask you, have you made any repayment proposal on this account in line with your ability to pay?

[mazel01]

Thanks Rory. You mention disposable income. Well I lost my job last year and am now in the process of starting my own business. At this moment in time I don't have any disposable income. What would happen there?

[mazel01]

I was making a reduced monthly payment(50%) of the original amount to Weightmans. I was being helped out by a family member at the time.

[rory32]

Basically if you have made a repayment proposal in line with your ability to pay and provided a list of your incomings and outgoings to support this then they are not going to prosper by getting a CCJ against you. First of all a judge wouldn't be overly impressed at them doing this and secondly they would receive no more than you are currently offering - in some cases the amount that you would pay monthly would actually be reduced as the court may view that your payments were too high.

Thanks Rory. You mention disposable income. Well I lost my job last year and am now in the process of starting my own business. At this moment in time I don't have any disposable income. What would happen there?

I would suggest that you try and make some sort of payment. Even if it is only one pound per month, this shows a willingness to repay the debt.

[mazel01]

Ok, just to recap.... I send the SAR first thing tomorrow to HFC to see what charges have been added to the account & ignore Weightmans letter regarding the voluntary charge for the time being. I presume that Weightmans have added on huge fees and thats why this balance is so high. Can those fees be removed when I receive the SAR?

[rory32]

I would also ask for a statement of account from Weightmans (this is free and should show their charges). The only charges they can add are court costs. They can not add any collection charges apart from this. As they have not been to court they can not add any charges at all. Initially ask them to remove the charges in writing, if they don't you can file at court against them.

[mazel01]

Is there a standard letter for requesting statement of account from Weightmans?

[rory32]

Not really. You just need to ask them for a statement of account.

[mazel01]

Thanks again Rory for all your help, I will get these letters off tomorrow and keep you informed.....

[mazel01]

With regards to the PPI cover, how do I handle that? This equates to £4500 of the oustanding amount they are asking me for.

[rory32]

Have a read through the stickies in this forum http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/payment-protection-insurance-ppi/

[mazel01]

I sent off my SAR to HFC but haven't had a response yet. Weightmans have sent me a statement of account.....really strange though! Balance outstanding shows £8000 but there letter refers to £18000 and that is the figure they say I need to pay

[mazel01]

Please could someone help me on this one....I don't know what I should do next....

[mazel01]

I have just been looking through the statement of account and it was sent from HFC to Weightmans then on to me.....surely Weightmans couldn't have added nearly £10k!!!

[mazel01]

I have spoken to Weightmans and simply asked the question of why does the statement show £8k but they are asking me to pay £18k.....there response was, we will get back to you!!!