CL Finance Pre Bailiff Visit Advice Please

[hackster]

Hello

 

I'm new to these forums, my girlfriend had a joint halifax bank account with her ex husband and a joint mortgage, both their names are on the accounts but his is the lead name (I am not sure whether that matters or not). When they split and divorce proceedings began the account was still open and her ex husband was drawing money out of the account using his card. My girlfriend has some evidence in statements of this but not every statement showing every transaction. The debt dates back to 2004. During this time my Girlfriend has recieved infrequent letters from the bank, then Howard cohen solicitors and then CL finance. My grilfriend has written to them through solicitors offering to pay half etc which was declined. My girlfriend then recieved a letter advising it was being taken to Bradford County Court to have a restriction order on the property which was done by CL Finance (I have checked the land registry her husbands name is still on the mortgage even though he buggered off to Germany and left her and his little boy in 2004 and hasn't been seen since). My girlfriend has then heard nothing until tonight someone knocked on the door when she was in the bath so she didn't answer. She came down stairs to find a postcard from a debt collector called Ken who was calling on behalf of CL Finance (The Lewis Group) stating it was a pre bailiff letter leaving his mobile number to contact him urgently. My girlfriend knows she owes some money but denies owing it all which is why it hasn't been paid as before offers to pay half have been declined. Is it too late to do anything about this and can anyone offer some good advice on how to deal with this. or is it too late? There is no way my girlfriend can pay in full. Please respond with any advice as it would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, welcome to CAG

 

Is your girlfriend still living in the property they jointly owned, and has she been paying the mortgage on her own since her OH left? I'm assuming CL finance are chasing money owed on the bank account - how did the debt on the account arise?

 

Also, have CL finance obtained a CCJ and then a charging order on the property i.e. has this case actually been to court yet?

 

Ell-enn

[hackster]

Yes my girlfriend still lives at the property and is currently going through the courts to get it signed over to her she has recived a letter advising a CCJ has been applied for and a charging order has been put against the property and reads as follows: (09.07.2008) RESTRICTION: No disposition of the registered estate

is to be registered without a certificate signed by the applicant

for registration or his conveyancer that written notice of the

disposition was given to CL Finance Limited at Howard Cohen & Co.

P.O.Box 110.Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire BD19 4XT being the person

with the benefit of an interim charging order on the beneficial

interest of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx made by the Bradford

County Court on 1 July 2008 claim number xxxxxxxx.

 

My girlfriend actually has statements showing her ex husband drew the money out of the account after the split was official.

 

And she has made all mortgage payments in the interveneing time and is uptodate with everything else.

Edited February 11, 2009 by hackster

[hackster]

bump

[baileyboy]

You say a CCJ has been applied for. Has it actually been awarded against your girlfriend?

 

I think a charging order can only be applied for once the CCJ is in place.

[The_Grumlin]

Check with the court that the claim number is valid and relates to your girlfriend.

 

If a charging order had been sought you should of had a letter from the land registry informing you of this fact?

[Goldlady]

I have just read another thread tonight where Cohens/CL Finance have pretended there was a CCJ when in fact it hadn't got that far. Very dodgy people - not to be trusted. So you need to make damned sure there is a CCJ and if so we can work this one out.

[hackster]

My girlfriend has recieved no letter from the court re: a county court judgement but she did recieve a letter from these finance people saying a judgement had been entered against her with a payment book to pay to them. The restriction order is on the property and it is registered with the land registry. I am tryin to get my girlfriends credit report to see if there is a ccj there.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, a CCJ has to be awarded before a charging order.

CL Finance and Howard Cohen are not to be trusted in the slightest !!! Ring Bradford County Court and quote the case number you have been given and see what they say it's for.

 

Ell-enn

[sillygirl1]

There is no such thing as a pre bailiff visit - he is just a debt collector with no more powers than the pizza delivery person or a postman. They are clearly 'fishing' to try to get payment where none is due. There is no valid reason for them to go for a CCJ if payment has been kept up.

 

I'd speak to somebody at the court about this and if it is a load of tosh I'd go for a restraining order on them - play them at their own game.

[hackster]

I should add that payments of all bills have been kept up to date apart from this overdraft as my girlfriend refuses to pay more than half, even though she probably shouldn't pay anything at all as it was not her who accrued it. Waiting for her to get back from work to find out baout this ccj. Anybody got any advise about this pre bailiff thing should it be ignored?

[Goldlady]

You need to send them a letter which includes the following:-

 

 

Please note that I am only prepared to communicate with you in writing. Should it be your intention to arrange a "doorstep call", please remember that there is only an implied license under English Common Law for certain people to visit me on my property without express permission; the postman and people asking for directions etc (Armstrong v. Sheppard and Short Ltd [1959] 2 Q.B. per Lord Evershed M.R.).

Please therefore take note that, I revoke license under English Common Law for you, or your representatives to visit me at my property and if you do so without my permission, you will then be liable to damages for a tort of trespass. You would also be conspiring in a trespass if you sent someone to visit me nevertheless.

 

Pre bailiff is utter cr*p. They have no right to hassle her at home, even if they did have a charging order. Which makes it even more likely that they are telling porkies about having a charging order.

[hackster]

Thanks I'll start putting together a letter including what you reccomend to send them. The charging order does appear on the land registry but no official court letter has been recieved just a letter from the land registry and the entry shows on their official website so seems genuine. No letter at all from court about the ccj just one from them with a payment booklet which was the icanpayu.co.uk website logo on it. I'm still waiitng to find out about the ccj if it is genuine. Whether it is genuine or not will there be some way of fighting this?

[Goldlady]

Well you can go for a set aside of the judgement if indeed they have one. I guess if there is a charging order then they must have sneaked one in, unless they have somehow managed to get a C/O without a CCJ:confused:. See what else you can find out and we will work out a plan of action.

[hackster]

Finally did some checking and my girlfriend has no ccj registered on her credit reports or anything. And no letters from a court only letters from CL finance the charging order has been logged at land registry but again no letter from a court just CL finance. The letters from CL finance says bradford county court did all this. Is there a special number for the court to check? and what type of information will they give over the phone? Anyone have any other advice?

[Goldlady]

I would ring the court and ask for information. Have you got a case reference number of any sort as they will probably need this to check. This all seems extremely strange but if you are certain the charge has been registered then it must be true. Normally if there is an application for a charging order you get a load of bumph from the land registry giving you a short period to dispute it etc.

 

CourtServe Legal Information Centre - Bradford County Court Details

 

Actually gives an email address for them which might make it easier to explain the situation than 'hanging on the telephone'

 

I am sure we can sort this out once you have got to the bottom of it.

[tigra]

Hi thanks for all the advice given on here, I received a Pre-Bailiff card through the post so I contacted them. Someone called Vincent said he needed at least 120 quid from me as a first payment but if I paid him 167 pounds he could get the rest of the debt wiped off. The whole amount of the debt was 202 pounds which had risen from 86 quid which it was before CL Finance got hold of it. After reading all your advice I contacted Vincent and told him I had been in contact with a solicitor who wanted to know the details of the CCJ which he was unable to give me. He then said that he was sending the debt back to CL Finance and I was to deal with them. I rang the number he gave me and they told me to ring them at the end of the week when they have received all the paper work back. Thank you everyone for all your help in this matter.

[jed52]

This kind of sh*t really does my head in. These people are nothing but legalised bullying sh*theads.

Tell them to foxtrot oscar.

Pre-bailiff visit my *rse.

And I'll bet that clown 'Vincent' will pocket half that money aswell.

 

Sorry about my rant, I'll probably have Cagbot on my case now, but it really annoys me what these lowborn, bottom feeding pondlife think they can get away with.

jed

[sillygirl1]

As I said in an earlier post, there is NO SUCH THING as a PRE BAILIFF VISIT, it is DCA speak for a doorstep collector to come and see if you are a Wont Pay rather than a Cant Pay and to see how many flat screen TVs you have as well as other gadgets.... it is a scare tactic and needs to be reported to Trading Standards via Consumer Direct.

 

Yoiu also need to report them to the OFT as it is against debt collecting guidelines.

 

DO NOT offer to pay these [problematic] a single penny, they are paid purely on commission and therefore any additional sums go in THEIR pocket and not against your alleged debt.