Notice of being served with a statuatory demand

[Tops36]

My husband walked out of the house at 6.45 this morning to be confronted by a man who'd been parked outside for ages.He asked hubby to confirm his identity,which he refused to do,and went off to work.The guy then posted us a notice that he intends to return at 7am on 21st to serve us a statuatory demand for bankruptcy and to call on a mobile number if we want to change this appointment time.

I don't know what the debt is,we have 2 outstanding from a few years back when we were in trouble finiancially.We have no clue what to do and we are panicking at the thought of losing our house.Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[Tops36]

Btw it's from the Lewis group.Not heard of them before.

[Tops36]

No replies..Ok,nevermind,I'll sit and search for old threads on here tonight see what I can gather.Thanks all for reading. x

[DonkeyB]

Well, there’s really nothing you can do until it is served. Pointless trying to avoid it – otherwise you’ll become nervous wrecks. Have you had any letters at all from Lewis Group in the recent past?

 

How old are the debts you know about? Come back to us when you know what it’s about.

[DonkeyB]

By the way, an SD is the first step if they want to try to make you bankrupt. Don’t panic yet – a lot of steps to go.

[Benbane_Head]

A statutory demand is nothing till it is served, after which you get 21 days to pay it off or dispute the debt. If you dispute the debt, or pay a small amount towards the SD, the SD becomes worthless and you can actually apply to the court saying that the amount claimed is disputed and the SD will nicely be quashed. At least you can find something in it to have it disputed. Make no contact with them before you have served it. This is plain scaremongering and you can get plenty of help here. The least you can do is find a reason to dispute it. May it be by paying a £1 towards it before the end of the 21 day period.

[DonkeyB]

Not sure that’s true about paying off just £1!

 

Taking the amount below £750 would be fair, but simply paying of £1 off a much larger amount would be looked on unkindly by any decent judge, IMHO. Simply because no SD could ever be successfully taken out if all the debtor kept doing was paying a pound every 21 days, which is plainly illogical.

 

And I believe you have 18 days, not 21.

[MARTIN3030]

Flagged for 42m

[Benbane_Head]

DonkeyB,

 

I agree with what you said. I would doubt you could carry on paying £1 and getting away with it - may be once but the point is that even with that figure the SD would technically become faulty. If there is a debt which is disputed, it will be difficult to get through with the Insolvency court as these are not there to decide on disputes.

[sequenci]

Reducing a SD by making a contribution does NOT invalidate it.

[DonkeyB]

DonkeyB,

 

I agree with what you said. I would doubt you could carry on paying £1 and getting away with it - may be once but the point is that even with that figure the SD would technically become faulty. If there is a debt which is disputed, it will be difficult to get through with the Insolvency court as these are not there to decide on disputes.

 

Personally I think it would be a bit of an idiotic approach, and frowned upon by a court. You’d never get costs for such a blatantly technical action. If there is any genuine dispute, much better to rely on that than just paying £1. By the sounds of it, the SD has been issued before any other method has been used to chase the debt, which would be strictly against OFT guidelines – SDs should not be used as debt collection tools, but as a method of last resort.

 

Anyway, the OP still has no idea what it’s all about. May even be SB for all we know. Let’s wait to hear.

[Tops36]

Thankyou so much all.After talking tonight hubby says it is a CC debt,pushing 5k.We fell into dispute after we hit problems,they refused to freeze the interest or accept the payments we could afford.So we stopped paying.Naughty I know

 

The other possible debt is £600 and being paid £50 a month so can't be that as we entered into a repayment agreement as soon as moorcroft proved they owned the debt.

 

This CC debt has gone through company after company,each time we've requested the CCA but it hasn't been supplied and it's ended up with this threat of SD being served in two days. It isn't SB,it's pushing 5 years.

 

The reason I posted is I was hoping there was a way of stopping it being served.

 

The bankruptcy threat is so scary.We are up to date on our mortgage/council tax/loan/utilities.What happens if they do take us to court?If we are declared bankrupt will we lose the house?

 

So when this guy turns up on thursday at 7am do I answer the door??I am so sorry to ask so many questions.I'll be at home on my own with 4 small kids and am very nervous

Edited June 19, 2012 by citizenB
spacing for easier reading

[Tops36]

Btw the last contact was from lowells over 18 months ago.They said they couldn't supply the CCA and we have heard nothing else,until today.

[havinastella]

Btw the last contact was from lowells over 18 months ago.They said they couldn't supply the CCA and we have heard nothing else,until today.

 

As said earlier in the thread, don't lose any sleep over this. Should be easy to get set aside and hopefully with costs!

 

Jogs

[Tops36]

Thankyou for replying.how do you get a debt set aside? If they can prove you owe a debt?

[Crapstone]

Check out the person serving the SD on the CCL register to make sure they are a licensed process server. You need the name of the person trying to deliver the notice and not the company that's sent it.

 

Service through a letterbox should be the last resort and, as already pointed out, not a means for debt collection. IMHO don't answer the door and obstruct the letterbox if needed so service can't be done. Don't let them bully, frighten or threaten you. If I'd have been paid everytime we were under threat from SD's I'd be rich by now and fortunately none of them ever went to court as you can almost always find fault with them and they are just a very cheap and easy way of trying to scare debtors into paying. In reality even if they do take you to court they have no idea of what full debts you have and they are still going to have to sit in the pecking order to get the crumbs and also foot the bill for making you bankrupt.

 

If it's a debt collection company they will have purchased the debt for a fraction of the cost. So let's say they paid £1000 for a 5k debt, unlikely as it's more like pence in the pound but let's go with that. To serve, go to court and follow up it would cost more than that and they then have to rely on the funds being available after all the other priority debts are paid and that's if bankruptcy is even granted.

 

Do you own your own home? If the answer is no then they have no realistic way of getting the money as it doesn't sound like you have a luxury life and also have a family to support. If you do then it just shows how stupid they are as if they had any real chance of getting the money, and were serious, they would have gone down the CCJ route and secured the debt ages ago. It's getting close the SB point so the value of the debt has decreased as it's been sold on again and again so it's all or nothing and a last chance to scare you into contact. Don't let it worry you.

[DonkeyB]

If they remain in default of a CCA request and have said in writing they can’t comply, that is a total defence and reason for setting aside.

 

You will need to act quickly to get the SD set aside when it turns up, but you should also be able to get your costs. And you MUST complain to TS and the OFT about their use of the SD when they know they are in breach of a CCA request – it’s not on.

 

A full history of the account would also be useful.

[42man]

Carry on with life as normal.....but be prepared !.however it would seem that you already have a dispute (do you still have any of the copies of the previous CCA requests from the past ? - including any recorded delivery slips ?) This could possibly be the game winner for you. I would at this stage send a SAR to the original creditor too (and another CCA request for good measure). Keep us posted

[42man]

In the meanttime do spend some time reading through the forums, you will find plenty of threads on Lowells stat demands here. Do not start paying £1 at this stage and if you do want some help with the form filling then please do ask...

[Tops36]

Thankyou for the replies.The guy turned up at 6.45am,didn't knock and posted the stat demand through the door.I'm now literally worrying myself sick.We have no records of CCA requests,they were to a different company who bought the debt previously.It is now a total of 7k they are asking for.I unfortunately have post natal depression and a new baby at home and cannot think straight since getting the letter,this has made it so much worse so I'd really appreciate any help here now please.

Basically we have no proof of requesting CCA from previous debt collectors,have not contacted this company.We own our home and are fully up to date on payments all round.So if they are successful in their petition do we lose the house??

Thankyou

[sequenci]

Quick question. Is the property mortgaged? Do you have equity?

[Tops36]

Yes mortgaged and has over 100k equity plus a 15k loan secured on it which is fully up to date.

[42man]

Please try and relax, sit down and have a cuppa...do you not still have any of the requests at all ? It doesn't matter if they went to other companies, and as long as you can remember the rough date you sent it and to whom then that can be added to the witness statment.....if not don't worry but do send out another one (recorded delivery) with a postal order for £1. You should also organise a SAR to the original creditor.....it would also be good if you can copy up here the particulars of the debt/claim but don't be too specific with dates and figures. Also is the named court on the form your nearest ? You can send me a PM with the court named and I can check it. I will give you some assistance, but it is down to you if you want to stand up in court and be prepared to fight your corner. You should also spend some time reading around these forums too as you will be surprised at what you read, and you will become more knowledgable. Please don't panic....you are amongst others who have been through what you are facing, you will certainly feel more empowered...

[Tops36]

Thankyou so much you are all so very kind on here.

The court is the nearest yes.They state at the bottom of the demand they will still accept a realistic repayment offer.Should we just go down that route? The MAIN thing I need to know is if we did go to court and lose,does the house get taken?

[42man]

If there is any kind of significant dispute or abuse of process or there is a triable issue then the judge usually sets it aside, out of all the many statutory demand cases on here I think there are about 3 which have not been successful....but I will say that DO read through the threads and I assure you, you will start to feel more and more empowered - take a look here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?190-DCA-Legal-Successes