Lloyds business loan and formal demand.. owe £50,000

[purpletree]

I'm new here so I apologise if I'm posting this in the wrong section.

 

My wife and I purchased a business a few years ago that we closed earlier this year. The seller tricked us into buying the business by inflating the figures and we fell for it.

 

Anyway.. we have lost our entire life savings trying to keep it going and earlier this year when we had no money left we had no choice but to walk away as we could not find a buyer after trying so hard to sell it for over a year.

 

We have a business loan for £45k with Lloyds which we have personally guaranteed (I've been told the PG is watertight). We also have a £4k overdraft. They've sent us a formal demand for the loan and overdraft. I called them last week to set up a payment plan and I was told that they would contact us back.

 

I wanted to know if anyone has been in a situation where Lloyds have accepted a payment plan for this kind of situation or will they force me to sell my house in order to pay them? I'm quite worried as I really don't want to move. My wife and I are currently working but we have only been working for 6 weeks so we will not have the right paperwork to remortgage the house.

[caro]

Hi and welcome to cag.

 

Have you calculated how much you can afford to pay a month and roughly how long it would take to pay back?

[purpletree]

Thank you Caro.

 

I believe the loan has 12 years remaining and the total payments come to £370 per month.

 

I am going to see if they will agree to keeping the loan in place and allowing us to continue to the £370 payments. We have jobs now and money coming in so we can afford to pay this amount.

 

I will also propose to pay the overdraft over 40 monthly payments of £100 per month.

 

Do you think this is reasonable?

[caro]

Well it seems reasonable to me but then I'm not Lloyds. Bear in mind before you start worrying about being forced to sell your house that Lloyds would need to take you to court to do this, so make sure that you keep all your dealings in writing so that you have a paper trail to prove to the court that you are trying to resolve the situation. If anything so far has been by phone, send a letter confirming what's been said on the phone and asking for any response to be in writing.

 

Make sure that any offer you make is affordable and is paid on time to avoid the likelihood of court. If Lloyds don't accept your proposal, and you can't negotiate something affordable, pay that money off anyway to prove to the court that you are willing and able to pay.

[caro]

By the way, whose names are on the loan, guarantee and house?

[purpletree]

The loan is in the name of our limited company and the guarantee is in my wife's and mine as well the house.

 

I will be sure to keep everything in writing.

 

Do you know how long it can take for Lloyds to take us to court and force a sale? If this happens, will they allow us to achieve the best possible price for the house?

[AndyOrch]

" The loan is in the name of our limited company "

 

Have you dissolved the company?

 

Andy

[purpletree]

" The loan is in the name of our limited company "

 

Have you dissolved the company?

 

Andy

 

We're about two weeks into the strike off process

[stevehatesbankers]

Hi purpletree, have the bank got a charge on your property, if not, it may be worth exploring placing your house into a family trust.