Letter threat of BK - old ltd company debt - claim form received - help

[mryummy]

Hello everyone,

 

Not sure if I have put this in the right place, but I need some proper advice on a serious matter that has arisen.

 

Last year, I sadly lost my business of 8 years due to various reasons and it went into administration.

This cost me in excess of £100k that myself and my family had invested in to it.

 

This has caused serious issuEs for me financially, and only this January did I manage to find work, all be it part time as I have 2 children to look after and provide child care for.

 

Yesterday, I received a letter addressed to me personally at my home address from a creditor of my previous business (now closed)

asking me for the payment in full of the debt.

This debt was in the name of my previous company, not myself personally.

 

The letter is from an accountancy firm which used to represent the company I owned and relates to monies owed by that now closed business,

yet this is addressed to myself and demanding the money from myself.

 

The letter is very threatening and asks for the amount of £2650 to be paid within 7 days ,

or they will issue a statutory demand for full payment,

 

going on to say, in bold type, that failure to deal with the demand within 18 days,

they will immediately file a bankruptcy bankruptcy petition against myself personally.

 

This is repeated again in bold type, stating,

 

" I can assure you that if we do not receive payment in full we will issue these demands without any further re-course and cost me an additional £1000.

 

This is very worrying and I feel very threatened by this letter and the threats on it.

 

I have 2 young children to support and I only have a part time job.

 

I have no spare income every month and receive housing benefits to help with bills.

 

Every month I have nothing at all remaining and have no way of paying this bill.

 

Also, as this bill was of the previous business and not in my own name,

should this not be the liability of that company as it was a ltd company.

 

They have claimed I signed a personal guarantee but have no paperwork or no recollection of this and certainly did not receive any legal advice for this even if I did.

 

Can anyone help me or advise me to my response.

 

I really don't want to be made bankrupt as I hope that in the near future my situation will be better and I can live normally again.

 

Thanks for reading this and I hope to hear your advice

 

Thank you

[dx100uk]

I would suspect you have nothing more than a cleverly worded threat-o-gram.

 

do not say WILL anywhere

but every word but

 

if.might.could,instructed. etc etc.

 

if they have no document with YOUR SIGNITURE on it regarding a per guarantee - tough luck on them.

 

you need to SAR them or whomever the debt originates from.

 

get ALL the documents and prove it one way or another.

 

dx

[brokebutnotbeatn]

if it was a ltd company then you are not personally liable for the debt.

[mryummy]

Thank you guys.

 

I was just wondering what the legal stance of such a letter is, its very direct and threatening and didnt give me any other options of repayment or advice, all it stated was the problems being made bankrupt would cause.

[brokebutnotbeatn]

See DX's reply (#2).

[citizenB]

You could also copy the letter to the Office of Fair Trading.

 

As already mentioned, you cannot be held liable for the debt of a Limited company.. that is the whole point of them !

[mryummy]

Thanks for your responses, its very encouraging.

 

My concern is any alleged personal guarantee, as, even if one ios signed, it wasnt to my knowledge and I wasnt given, reccomend or directed towards any legal advice.I also never received a copy of this if it was the case.

 

I dont believe I did sign one, but, given the allegation that I may have (could be scare tactics), what is the legal standing of such?

[brokebutnotbeatn]

Again, see DX's reply.

You need to see any relevant paperwork pertaining to this.

If you did sign a personal guarantee then you will be liable and may be able to come to some negotiated settlement.

 

One couldn't have been signed by you if it wasn't to your knowledge!

 

You could respond initially with a 'prove it' type response as opposed to a formal SAR.

 

There is no reason why they shouldn't send you a copy if it exists;

they certainly are not able to pursue you for the monies if it doesn't.

 

One step at a time. If you did sign a personal guarantee then you can deal with it when you are satisfied it is your signature.

[mryummy]

Thanks guys.

 

i sent the letter by recorded delivery.

 

Havent heard anything back yet but will update when i do.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

There will a lot of searching going on I would expect a reply in 7-10 days.

 

Have you checked your credit reference files for activity regarding this alleged debt? If not it would be wise to do so.

[mryummy]

Hi, yes I have checked my credit report and their is nothing on there about it at all.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hi, yes I have checked my credit report and their is nothing on there about it at all.

I would then reject their claim, if the company was liquidated and you have given no personal guarantees then you are not liable.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Send this to:

 

 

The Company Secretary

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Ref: Alleged Debt.

 

Sir/Madam,

 

I refer to your correspondence dated xx xx xxxx regarding an alleged outstanding amount of £ xxxx.xx which relates to xxxxxxxxxx Ltd. (now liquidated), please note I do not accept or acknowledge any person liability for any monies allegedly owed by xxxxxx Ltd., therefore your claim is rejected.

 

For your information I have no realisable assets therefore the threat of a statutory demand and bankruptcy has no merit what so ever.

 

I now consider the matter closed.

 

Send by recorded delivery.

[mryummy]

Wow thankyou.

 

Well the issue is, I dont know if I have signed a guarantee or not. I have no recollection of doing so, nor did I speak to my solicitor in reference this or have it independently witnessed if I did. I also have no copy of such guarantee in any of my paperwork and I have everything else.

 

Am I best to wait until I receive a response back to my SAR request?

 

I am currently under Stepchange help due to my personal circumstances and they have advised me that any debts I do have, if proved, I am legally allowed to offer £1 per month and they will be made to accept it.

 

I would like to think if worst came to the worst and they tried for bankruptcy then a judge would allow this repayment?

 

I am very worried about this

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Personally I would send the letter now, apart from the debt being in the company name from what you have said a statutory demand and a BR petition would be pointless. Bankruptcy is considered the ultimate form of debt collection and should be only considered when all other methods including county court claims have failed,

[mryummy]

Still no news from this company, been a while now so not sure what is happening?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Still no news from this company, been a while now so not sure what is happening?

It may just be that the lack common courtesy and can't be bothered to reply to the final response letter.

[mryummy]

Well I have noticed they have cashed my £10 cheque today! Im preparing to send the final letter today or tomorrow if nothing else comes back.

 

It wouldnt surprise me if they just ignored it and then issued the statutory demand without any further response. I wont be bullied and will fight people like this

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Well I have noticed they have cashed my £10 cheque today! Im preparing to send the final letter today or tomorrow if nothing else comes back.

 

It wouldnt surprise me if they just ignored it and then issued the statutory demand without any further response. I wont be bullied and will fight people like this

 

Now it's wait and see, I'm afraid but at least you know that the SAR is being actioned.

[mryummy]

either that or they want to just take my £10. If there is an alleged guarantee, i certainly didnt know I had signed one and never took or offered legal advice so I will deal with that with solicitors if needs be.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

either that or they want to just take my £10. If there is an alleged guarantee, i certainly didnt know I had signed one and never took or offered legal advice so I will deal with that with solicitors if needs be.

 

If they take the £10 for any other purpose than the statutory fee, then they have misappropriated that money.

[mryummy]

Hi guys.

 

Just had a response by the way if a money claim on line claim to the amount of £4083.21!!!

 

There is no response to the sar, no information, nothing just the form from the court asking for this amount. This amount doesn't even match the previous letter and demand.

 

So what action do I take now? This is clearly an act of harassment

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Have you been sent any forms?

You have a clear defence in that the debt that the alleged debt is in the name of the liquidated limited company.

[mryummy]

It's a claim form from the court.

 

Obviously I'm going to reject the claim in full but I don't know where all this stands with the sar and the letters with differing amounts and demands and threats.

 

I still have no information from them and dispute this entirely

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

You need to collate ALL the data, note carefully all the discrepancies

.

Give them a short reminder on the SAR and mention that non compliance and/or failure to produce all data will be put to the court.

Acknowledge the claim asap

I'm going to ask a member of the site team to help you with the forms as I wont be around a lot for the rest of the week.