Please Help! I received a Statutory Demand tonight and don't know what to do!

[GNA]

I received a statutory demand tonight for a debt I do not dispute but cannot afford to pay in full.

 

I agreed a payment plan in May but then lost my job,

 

I have been able to find another job which goes permanent next week.

 

I have emailed the solicitors tonight to see if they will agree to the original payment plan.

 

Do I need to write to the court, or fill certain forms out.

 

The demand is dated 6th Sept but only received it tonight and it says I need to reply with 18 days,

should I seek advice from a solicitor.

 

any advice will be very welcome.

[maroondevo52]

Hello and Welcome GNA,

 

I have moved this thread to the appropriate Forum, hopefully you will get some advice shortly, It can be a bit quiet over the weekend.

 

Regards,

 

Scott.

[GNA]

Thank you,

[renegadeimp]

As above. Please give as much info as possible

[citizenB]

Ok, if you have emailed the solicitor, give them say until Wednesday of next week to respond.

 

The time to respond to the demand is 18 days from when YOU receive it. So 14th September + 18 days = 2nd October.

 

A Stat demand is different from a Claim issued via Northampton or local court. There is nothing registered with any court until such times as you personally make the application to have it set aside. Once you do that it enters into the court system.

 

If you do need to do this, then we can help you.

 

We wouldn't ordinarily advise you to telephone the solicitor but in this case it might be worth your doing this say on Tuesday of next week if they haven't responded.

 

In order to stay focussed you should have prepared a common financial statement - (Income & Expenditure form) - just in case they want to ask you some questions. I have attached one that you can use below.. however if you want to telephone National Debtline they too, will be able to help you prepare one.

 

Ellens Budget Sheet.xls

[citizenB]

I am assuming this is a Lowell/Capone Debt ?

 

Do you own your own home ? They love to issue stat demands if the debtor is a home owner.

 

However, if you can give us as much information as possible, if you need to have it set aside then we will be prepared. Do you know if there is any Payment Protection Insurance on this account and were there many Default/penalty charges added, do you know ?

[GNA]

The amount is for 25k,

 

I have offered to pay £300 per month until Nov then £500pm to be reviewed in Feb 2014,

with the intention to clear the debt in 18 months as I would aslo clear it with any bonuses I receive annual mainly.

 

I would prefer not to give you the solicitors name but can give you the name and creditors name privately if it is very important, sorry don't mean to be awkward.

[maroondevo52]

GNA anything you wish to keep private (off the Forum) should be sent by Private Message to a Site Team member.

[GNA]

There is no PPI,

it is owed for school fees, so not a big corporate.

 

I do intend to get it clear as soon as possible but am not in the financial position I was.

 

I am hoping they will accept my proposal for payment.

 

Do I need to do anything immediately?

 

apart form panic

[dx100uk]

certainly no need to panic

 

lots of SD's floating around.

 

easily dealt with

 

can I just ask

 

how did this get to £25k!!

 

disregarding any penalties that might have been introduced.[though useful to mention so]

 

are you happy that the figure is correct from the educational est?

 

or are there circumstances that you think are unfair in this balance being so high.

 

can we also confirm that the solicitor are acting for the educational est the debt is owed too

 

and its not a debt sold to a debt collector and thus is somewhat speculative?

 

dx

[dx100uk]

just for your ref

 

I have pers know say private uni fees of £8k from sev years ago

being sold on

and hugely inflated by a chain of buyer and speculative solicitor

even claiming upto £500 per letter sent purposely to old addresses.

 

in the end it resulted in the whole thing being thrown out

and the real fees of £3500 being paid at an ageed level direct to the private uni over 5yrs

 

thought i'd just tell you that story

 

dx

[dx100uk]

aware of the PM you sent siteteam

 

dx

[citizenB]

I have removed some posts as they are irrelevant to this particular thread and for no other reason

[citizenB]

Ok, if you have emailed the solicitor, give them say until Wednesday of next week to respond.

 

The time to respond to the demand is 18 days from when YOU receive it. So 14th September + 18 days = 2nd October.

 

A Stat demand is different from a Claim issued via Northampton or local court. There is nothing registered with any court until such times as you personally make the application to have it set aside. Once you do that it enters into the court system.

 

If you do need to do this, then we can help you.

 

We wouldn't ordinarily advise you to telephone the solicitor but in this case it might be worth your doing this say on Tuesday of next week if they haven't responded.

 

In order to stay focussed you should have prepared a common financial statement - (Income & Expenditure form) - just in case they want to ask you some questions. I have attached one that you can use below.. however if you want to telephone National Debtline they too, will be able to help you prepare one.

 

[ATTACH]46443[/ATTACH]

 

Ok, with the information we now have I think all you can do is as advised above - give both the Claimant and the solicitor time to respond, the Solicitor will need to take instruction from the claimant.

 

You have 18 days from the time the Stat Demand came into your hands to apply for a set aside if they do not respond or they refuse your offer.

 

If you need to apply for the set aside then there are two forms which you will need to complete and we can help you with those or you can contact National Debtline or Citizens Advice Bureau. I have attached the Nat Debt Stat demand fact sheet for your information.

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=36_dealing_with_a_statutory_demand

 

A few months ago, you would have been required to take the two forms to your local court and have them signed off by the court. You can still do this, but they will accept postal service.

 

You have until the 2nd October before you need to make application to the court so if you have not heard from either the solicitor or the claimant by the end of next week. Let us know and we can help you complete the forms.

 

If the Claimant is prepared to accept your offer then it will need to be formalised in writing - this is for your protection as well as theirs. If you read the ND fact sheet, you can see that you can offer a voluntary charge on your home.

 

 

 

•Offer a voluntary charge against your property. This would mean the debt is then ‘secured’ (like a secured loan or mortgage). You could offer this with conditions attached, such as that the house cannot be sold by the creditor (so that they only get their money when you decide to sell the house yourself). You could also ask that interest on the debt is frozen.

 

If you are happy to do this, I would be inclined to make payments off the debt as well and not leave it that they only receive their money if and when you decide to sell the property. You should certainly ask that any interest is frozen.

 

If they refuse your offer, then you would need to mention this within the Set Aside Application, we can help you complete the forms if this is necessary.

[GNA]

Hi and Thank you.

 

In my email last night to the solicitor last night I suggested putting a charge on my home while the debt is cleared and have put together an Income and expenditure sheet, will email it to them later today, for them so they can see the timeline over which the debt gets repaid. Just to clarify it is the solicitor working on behalf of the education est, they have not sold the debt.

[citizenB]

Hi and Thank you.

 

In my email last night to the solicitor last night I suggested putting a charge on my home while the debt is cleared and have put together an Income and expenditure sheet, will email it to them later today, for them so they can see the timeline over which the debt gets repaid. Just to clarify it is the solicitor working on behalf of the education est, they have not sold the debt.

 

That sounds like a good plan - as I say, give them a few days to speak with their client for instructions. But you really need to know by Friday of next week and in writing, one way or the other so we can help you complete the two forms for the set aside application in the event they refuse

[GNA]

Thank you, I will keep you informed.

[citizenB]

[GNA]

Hi,

I have just had an email from the solicitor saying the client will not accept my payment plan as I have promised before and not kept to it. What do I do, I am very worried.

[renegadeimp]

Tell the solicitor to go back to school and read your letter again.

 

You have clearly given them a guaranteed payment offer. If you fail to pay the installments, then they have a charge on your home which they could call in.

 

If they took you to court, you can easily tell the court this. You offered a repayment plan according to your financial means, offered them a guaranteed failsafe, should you not meet the repayment plan, but they completely ignored it and are insistant on making you bankrupt.

 

Lowell are well known for misleading , inventing amounts and charges on a debt, purely to get money and make people bankrupt. It's only a matter of time until they get caught.

Edited September 16, 2013 by citizenB

[GNA]

OK will do, thank you

[citizenB]

Imp, I do not think this has anything to do with Lowell !

[citizenB]

GNA, I would indeed respond by saying that you feel they might not have fully read your letter and that you are offering to have a voluntary charge on your home in addition to the instalment plan.

 

That your schedule of payments is affordable and will be maintained.

 

If they still refuse, then we need to start work on your application which will include their refusal.

[GNA]

Thank you, I will let you know as soon as they respond, I am not hopeful, I am not sure what making me bankrupt will achieve. If they refuse again I will plead with the creditor. I am very worried.

[citizenB]

I thought you had already contacted both the solicitor and the creditor ?