arrow global/wilkin chapman grange - final charging order

[jj7452]

Hello,

 

My partner has been ignoring a debt for some time He has now been given a final charging order for the sum of £1501.85 together with any further interest becoming due and £264.00 the costs of the application.

 

Wilkin Chapman and Grange wrote asking for a VAST amount of information on his financial status. We wrote back to say we had taken advice and were told that only the court could ask for all of this information but offered £20 a month to start paying this debt off

 

Today received a letter saying:- "We note that you are not willing to complete the income and expenditure form provided. We can confirm that your offer of £20 per month is not acceptable on the basis that it would take in excess of 7 years to repay the balance which is an unreasonable offer.

 

We can confirm that we have been instructed to proceed with Order for Sale proceedings without further notice. However if you would like to make on account payments we will credit these and adjust your balance accordingly"

 

They have then given their bank details

 

My question is surely they cannot sell our property for such a small amount?

 

We are not in a great financial position and probably could afford £40 per month but really not sure what to do? any suggestions

 

Thank you in advance

[Ganymede]

They can try?

 

Is the property in negative equity and are there children/vulnerable people living there?

 

If the answer is yes an OFS is almost impossible.

[jj7452]

No the house has good equity in it but yes there are two children aged 9 and 10

 

The thing is I have offered some kind of payment which they have refused, understandably £20 is not a great deal Do you think they might accept £40 so I can stop any further action. Surely if it did go back to court I could show we have offered some payment

 

I could understand if it was for a greater amount to try to sell the house but surely for that amount a judge would not allow it anyway?

[Ganymede]

Just make the offer if you can afford it. The worst that can happen is they say no!

 

A Court is very, very unlikely to award an OFS for such a small amount and make 2 young children homeless.

[jj7452]

Thank you for your prompt reply - Just have a feeling they will say no again because they will think by me increasing the offer they will keep pushing for more each time. Definitely can only afford £40 but I am just wondering why on their letter they have put "if you would like to make on account payments, we will credit these and adjust your balance -

 

Does this mean if I make payments they will adjust the balance accordingly before they TRY to sell our house or do you think if I make the £20 payments they will just back down and not take it further. I feel they are just using scare tactics but could be wrong?

 

Also when writing back to them do you think I should mention we have two children

[Ganymede]

They probably are trying to scare you.

 

Couldn't hurt mentioning your 2 children, might make them think twice about an OFS.

[jj7452]

thank u will post back when i hear anything

[eggboxy1]

jj7452

 

Can you just confirm what the debt is for (ie is it for a credit card or loan) and can you confirm he has definitily received a CCJ and you were notified of a Charging Order being sought by a Court?

[jj7452]

Hi, the debt is for a credit card

 

regarding ccj I have a copy of a final charging order from the court and from memory there was something sent a few months ago regarding the debt going to court but to be truthful he just ignored it as he was sure it was statue barred but I got so worried when we received this final charging order and wrote a letter just to try and sort it out and offer some payment to stop them pursuing things further

[Ganymede]

You never said that before, why do you think the debt was statute barred?

[eggboxy1]

If the debt is for a credit card then an OFS wouldn't be obtainable by the creditor if you have children at home as their rights far outway any creditor chasing consumer debt on jointly owned property. Whilst they "technically" can apply for an OFS, having received a CO, they never would because they know they would never succeed.

 

It's a scare tactic and my response would be to halve your offer to £10.00 and inform them you will contact them when your situation improves. They have gone as far as they can regarding scare tactics so please don't fall for outfits like this!

[jj7452]

Well I remember he got the card just after we moved to our house ten years ago and everything was ok for a few years then we had a difficult financial time and was unable to pay a few debts because this debt was small we carried on paying but then stopped and by my account that was over 5/6 years - but irrespective of this we have now contacted them by letter and in my eyes that is us really accepting this debt belongs to him - it is not that i am not willing to pay this as it was money that we have used I just want to offer an affordable payment to stop them trying to take things a lot further

[eggboxy1]

They can't take it any further which is why they are trying to scare you with an OFS tactic (have a search of CAG and you won't find anyone who has had to sell their house because of an OFS on consumer debt)

 

If you are willing to pay just pay what you can only definitily afford (and not a penny more) then just ignore them and they will stop contacting you once they realised they have been rumbled.

[jj7452]

Thank you eggboxy - I will let you know the response - you just panic at first but on reflection I realise they are just scare tactics - thanks for reassuring me

[eggboxy1]

Thank you eggboxy - I will let you know the response - you just panic at first but on reflection I realise they are just scare tactics - thanks for reassuring me

 

No problem but the panic is what they want to try and extract a higher payment often above what you can afford.

 

You must understand, though, that once you have made your offer you must ignore any further contact with them. If you don't they will continue to hurl threats at you as they know they have you on the hook.

[Anamur]

Hi, I can't seem to start a new blog/post but I had been sent letters from collectors such as red castle and other ollectors over past year and have never responded to them as i am not aware of the debt and cuecking my credit file i cant see this debt. I am now contacted by Wilkin chapman who say a claim form has been issued at court and court will serve claim shortly. Do I still ignore this? I think original debt may have been with littlewoods via shop direct but this was paid off about 4 or 5 years ago and I haven't kept the proof. My credit file doesn't have this on there either. Should I now contact them? I don think I should have to pay as I've either paid it already or this is not my debt.

[eggboxy1]

If the debt "owed" isn't listed on the DC letter you can pretty much well assume it's just been passed down the line and can be ignored as such.

 

However, if you genuinely don't owe anything then you need to point this out to them explaining any further letters will be passed on the police as fraud.

[Anamur]

I think this debt was originally under Shop Direct then passed on and on through red castle and others until this letter. The letter just states to ring Arrow team but no ref to amount or original debtor. It also states that the charges for action and interest will be added, again with no ref to the actual amount. The first demand from red castle were for about 550 but cant remember exactly. Like i said i paid off all my credit and store card debts about 5 years ago (apart from one to barclacard which im paying off monthly) but hold no proof anymore. I dont know who shop direct is but internet research points to possibly littlewoods (through i think barclaycard), which would have been one of those debts i cleared fully. Im not sure how to proceed with this or to wait till i get the court letter, but all debts i had i can reference thru my credit history apart from this, so any advice will be helpful. There is only one ref to barclaycard i have on file which i am paying off monthly which a fixed sum.

[Anamur]

I've received a court claim form today and still not sure whether to contest it or not. If I do wont they have to prove that I owe this money and without proof of my payment I guess I'll have to still pay? Not been in this particular situation before so advice would be welcome