Help with 12 year old debts?

[wishes]

Hi everyone

 

Apologies if this is on the wrong place as wasn't sure where to put it.

 

I've had a look around the forum but my circumstances seem a little different to the norm. (and there's so much info-which is good-I keep getting lost).

 

My circs.

My (violent) partner and I split 12 years ago, we had joint debts (eg bank account) which transferred solely to my name when we split. He went to ground and when I tried to find him to sort the debts he strongly advised me not to.

 

When the debts hit the fan, the companies piled on so many charges it was unreal-eg the joint bank account transferred the outstanding balances off 2 loans into current account and charged approx £125 a day in interest/over limit overdraft charges (I wasn't over limit until they transferred the outstanding loans). I tried to negotiate with them at the time but failed miserably. I got debt advice at the time (which was to pay as much as you can) so I completed budget statements every year for the next 12 years, paying token payments off each of them.

 

Since we split I have remained single and 7 years ago was seriously ill, leaving me with a disability. Due to having so much time off with this I lost my job. The current climate means I am still unemployed, and when I find a job I can only work part time due to my health.

 

The problem

I had a bad relapse again about 6 weeks ago, and when I was strong enough to open post there were court papers and a CCJ that I didn't get chance to reply to. I've written to the courts explaining i'm unemployed, but had a 'pre-bailiff' visit last Monday. I live alone with no family, and this really scared me. The info. the 'pre-bailiff' (?) had was that i'd not paid when this is not the case, i'd paid token payments for 12 years as advised.

 

What scared me is this 12 year old debt that i'd never missed a payment on went to court and realistically they could ALL do this. I really can't afford any more than i'm paying, and my circs have taken a huge downturn in 12 years so if they do send bailiffs i'd find it almost impossible to replace household things. I don't live in luxury-far from it. Don't smoke, drink or do holidays and my window to the world when i'm housebound is TV/internet.

 

Do I just keep paying them token payments and being chased by them until I die? Can't cope with that thought at all. They have all sold my debts on so many times and each time a letter appears out of the blue from a new company with no references to which debt it is, and it's so difficult at times to identify what it is-and scary as the token payments are now going into the wrong account.

 

Is this how it has to be?

 

So sorry that this post is epic - and my first post - I wanted to try and explain that I have stepped up and done my best through all this time.

Please move this if it's in the wrong place, thanks.

 

(BTW I always signed my letters to creditors, but after reading advice here it wasn't the best thing to do)

[andydd]

Two suggestions..

 

Contact Payplan, I found them very helpful and now my credit cards have the apr frozen and Im paying them all a small token amount.

 

Secondly write to all your creditors asking for your credit agreement, search on here for 'CCA' youll find various template letters, etc. You may find that many of these debts are unenforcable.

 

Andy

Andy

[blueda]

Hi Wishes and welcome to CAG, As the debts are over 12 years old and have been passed and probably sold to other companies, the first advice is to find out if these companies have a legal right to enforce these debts, they are supposed to send you notice of assignment that the debt has been transferred. The first move to make is to send each of the current creditors a CCA request to find out if the debts are legally enforcable, below is the link to the letters templates page, copy letter N, enclose a £1.00 postal order, print your name DO NOT SIGN and post 1st class recorded delivery, the creditors then have 12+2 working days to reply, if after then they do not supply a valid CCA copy, then you can declare the account in dispute and stop paying them until they do.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/generel-debt-issues/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

You may also be able to claim back unfair charges that have been applied.

Edited August 7, 2009 by blueda
Added content.

[IdaInFife]

can you list who your creditor are, what the debts are for and also the same for the ccj,

 

ida x

[wishes]

Thank you all for your replies, i've copied template letter N and intend to send to all companies involved next week (though this is scary as in the past when i've contacted them it tends to rattle their cage and make things worse).

 

 

In the letter to the court I didn't mention that the debt was 12 years old, should I have said this? (ie would it make a difference?). (Also didn't mention that i'd paid them every month for the past 12 years)

 

 

I wrote to CL Finance to advise i'd written to the court and got a reply this week saying CL Finance has instructed an agent from the Lewis Group to call and collect £122 (court order was for £125) Don't know what to do, and i'm scared.

 

Hi IdainFife, thats a really difficult thing to do. It will take me about 2 days to go through all their letters and link up which debt has been sold onto who. It needs to be done (and it used to be in order) but several of them at once sold debts on a few years ago and I lost track. I phoned the companies at the time but I got 'well it could be a credit card, bank account or store card' (ie they couldn't give me details).

I need to lay them all out and link them but I remember hitting dead ends last time.

I think what made it worse was when the debts hit the fan, although there were joint debts from me and my ex, there was about half as many again that were a complete surprise to me, and as they have been sold on many times I genuinely have no idea who's got what.

The recent CCJ is for £7122.93 and CL Finance own the debt. I asked who the debt was originally from and they think Bank of Scotland or Royal Bank of Scotland, but I don't know what it was for.

 

 

When I wrote to these companies making an offer of a token payment, I always enclosed a budget statement and list of creditors so they could see my circs. but the first letter I got from CL Finance after they bought the debt was a demand for full payment. Had no notice that this debt was sold on, and i'm assuming none of my papers showing my budget went with it.

 

 

A further thought - in light of CL Finance sending a collector to my door, should I sent them letter N as soon as possible? Or would it not make a difference as they've got a court order against me?

 

Thanks.

Edited August 8, 2009 by wishes

[IdaInFife]

send it anyway as you need to find out what the debt was from.

 

I wrote to CL Finance to advise i'd written to the court and got a reply this week saying CL Finance has instructed an agent from the Lewis Group to call and collect £122 (court order was for £125) Don't know what to do, and i'm scared.

 

is this the recent ccj? is it £125 per month? can you afford this?

 

ida x

[postggj]

I asked who the debt was originally from and they think Bank of Scotland or Royal Bank of Scotland, but I don't know what it was for.

 

 

they thnk, dont they know

 

my alarm bells are ringing as soon as you said cl finance then the lewis group

 

£7122 QUID DEBT IS ABOUT RIGHT ALSO

 

i may be totally off base but the regular caggers understand

 

DID EITHER YOU OR YOUR PARTNER IN THE PAST APPLY FOR A CAR LOAN OR PERSONEL LOAN OR MAKE ENQUIRIES WITH A COMPANY CALLED WELCOME FINANCE

 

THERE IS A VERY GOOD RASON FOR THIS

 

IF NO, GREAT

IF YES?

 

 

PLEASE CONFIRM AND ILL GO AWAY

[wishes]

send it anyway as you need to find out what the debt was from.

 

I wrote to CL Finance to advise i'd written to the court and got a reply this week saying CL Finance has instructed an agent from the Lewis Group to call and collect £122 (court order was for £125) Don't know what to do, and i'm scared.

 

is this the recent ccj? is it £125 per month? can you afford this?

ida x

 

No, I lost my job due to illness (well, the last 3 due to the same illness) and am on Incapacity Benefit at the moment. Can't even afford utility bills etc as I get £63 p/week and that's it. They (or the previous company that owned the debt) have had budget sheets from me showing income/expenditure.

[wishes]

they thnk, dont they know

 

my alarm bells are ringing as soon as you said cl finance then the lewis group

 

£7122 QUID DEBT IS ABOUT RIGHT ALSO

 

i may be totally off base but the regular caggers understand

 

DID EITHER YOU OR YOUR PARTNER IN THE PAST APPLY FOR A CAR LOAN OR PERSONEL LOAN OR MAKE ENQUIRIES WITH A COMPANY CALLED WELCOME FINANCE

 

THERE IS A VERY GOOD RASON FOR THIS

 

IF NO, GREAT

IF YES?

 

 

PLEASE CONFIRM AND ILL GO AWAY

 

My ex did apply for a car loan in the past (would be about 14 years ago I think) and I remember trying many companies before he got it and Welcome was probably one of them as we literally picked up yellow pages and phoned around.

 

Are they known for this?

[wishes]

Question - Should I tell the court the debt is 12 years old? I.E. will the Judge look to see if the company has a legal right to enforce the debt if I tell him this(as in post 3)?

Or will it not make a difference as they now have a court order?

 

Question - Should I tell the court I paid regularly for 12 years without fail? Forgot to put this in the letter and from speaking to the 'pre-bailiff' CL Finance have said I haven't paid which is not true at all.

 

 

Thanks for all your help - a lay person needs to know so much legal stuff to have even half a chance of keeping up with these companies.

[postggj]

bloddy hell

 

got you

 

cant say to much on the forum for obviouse reasons

 

give me an hour to dig out my files

[blueda]

As you are struggling to pat utility bills, you could go to a price comparison site such as Martin Lewis and find out the best deals online to help your circumstances.

[postggj]

now ref this debt

 

who have you been making payments to and have you ever come accross a firm of solicitors called h cohen

 

pleas answer

 

its important

Edited August 9, 2009 by postggj

[havinastella]

Question - Should I tell the court the debt is 12 years old? I.E. will the Judge look to see if the company has a legal right to enforce the debt if I tell him this(as in post 3)?

Or will it not make a difference as they now have a court order?

 

Question - Should I tell the court I paid regularly for 12 years without fail? Forgot to put this in the letter and from speaking to the 'pre-bailiff' CL Finance have said I haven't paid which is not true at all.

 

 

Thanks for all your help - a lay person needs to know so much legal stuff to have even half a chance of keeping up with these companies.

 

Unfortunately it's too late to tell the Court anything. CL have got a 'default judgement' against you.

 

What you need to do now is called a 'set aside'.

 

Jogs

[Old Cogger]

Bump

[postggj]

now ref this debt

 

who have you been making payments to and have you ever come accross a firm of solicitors called h cohen

 

pleas answer

 

its important

 

you wont regret it

[wishes]

As you are struggling to pat utility bills, you could go to a price comparison site such as Martin Lewis and find out the best deals online to help your circumstances.

 

It's more that there's not enough money coming in rather than me paying too much. Martins site is one of my tabs:) but thanks anyway

[wishes]

now ref this debt

 

who have you been making payments to and have you ever come accross a firm of solicitors called h cohen

 

pleas answer

 

its important

 

Before they took over the debt i'd have to check back on the paperwork to see who previously owned it. I have asked them for their details etc but they've chosed to ignore me so i've kept paying the token payment each month hoping that the previous owner will pass on.

 

 

 

Howard Cohen & Co? Theyre the ones who just took me to court and wrote to me this week saying (basically) youve written to the judge, tough, we're sending someone to collect the £125 (though they said £122) from you.

You dont have to be a rocket scientist to realise I cant pay £125 p/month when my income is £63 p/week.

[postggj]

Rubish ANSWER ON MY PART

[wishes]

Unfortunately it's too late to tell the Court anything. CL have got a 'default judgement' against you.

 

What you need to do now is called a 'set aside'.

 

Jogs

 

Ive written to the court on the appropriate form asking for a set aside, but I also included a letter to the judge giving him my reason why I couldnt reply at the time and some background to the debt, as he only has their side and I know they havent got it right.

 

 

 

I'm asking about writing to the judge to say this debt is 12 years old as on here it says under some legislation debts over (I think) 6 years can be unenforceable. That way he has all the facts in front of him before he makes his judgement. (I'm not too hot on the legislation/terminology so you'll have to excuse me).

 

Theyre sending someone again to collect and I am so worried.

[postggj]

Contact Cl Finance In The Morning

 

Find Out What This Debt Is And Get Them To Send Details

 

Ive A Feeling You Have Been A Victim Of A Fraud That Was Rife At Welcome

 

Cant Say Much More Until Confirmed

 

If No Joy With Cl Finance Contact Lewis Group

 

Cohen Will Just Ignore You

 

Get Back To Me Asap

 

You Are In For One Hell Of A Pay Day If Ime Correct

[IdaInFife]

if you can get the info for postgg (he loves welcome and knows what game they have been playing)

 

re the 12 years: it only becomes statuts barred after 6 years if youhave not paid then anything but you say you have paid it all that time so the SB won't come into play.

 

ida x

[wishes]

Contact Cl Finance In The Morning

 

Find Out What This Debt Is And Get Them To Send Details

 

Ive A Feeling You Have Been A Victim Of A Fraud That Was Rife At Welcome

 

Cant Say Much More Until Confirmed

 

If No Joy With Cl Finance Contact Lewis Group

 

Cohen Will Just Ignore You

 

Get Back To Me Asap

 

You Are In For One Hell Of A Pay Day If Ime Correct

 

I'm sending template letter N to the other companies this week, should I send it to CL Finance too to get this information (or Lewis Group-or both)??

I've a feeling if I phone them all they'll do is try to push me into paying.

 

A pay day would be a nice balance-out from 12 years of aggression and bullying tactics.

[postggj]

You Realy Do Need To Find Out What This Debt Is For

 

Dont Get Into A Debate With Them

Stick To Your Guns

 

Just Ask What This Debt Is

 

If No Joy Ill Give You A Special Letter To Send

 

Please Be Firm With Them

[IdaInFife]

do you not still have the court papers?

 

 

it should say on them who they are acting for

 

ida x