HCEO for Husbands Funeral Debt - Please Help

[Shelley7t8]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm looking for some advice please.

 

To cut a long story short my husband died 3 years ago.

He left me with a business which had an enormous amount of debt

and I have been dealing with those since (it has now ceased trading)

and continue to do so, it has not been an easy 3 years.

 

I am at my wits end with a personal creditor in relation to my husbands funeral costs which given the situation seems ironic as most of the other creditors have agreed reasonable plans (or i would have been forced to go bankrupt) but these just wont budge.

 

The debt began as £2200 and was with the coop.

My husbands family originally agreed to pay half of the total costs £5000 but never did

after paying the rest myself i was also left with this remainder to sort.

 

 

At the time, the coop sent me a couple of letters and i wrote back to ask if i could pay in installments.

 

Because i had bailiffs at the door for various other debts and a repossession order for my home to deal with i didn't prioritise the debt and it ended up going to court.

 

 

I was then given a CCJ.

My fault but couldn't be helped at the time.

I had stupidly assumed once that had been done i could then agree a payment arrnagement via the court.

This wasn't the case.

 

Within a month or so i had a letter from Andrew Wilson and Co demanding the full amount within 7 days.

I spent hours on the phone to them but they would not consider a payment plan as said i had broken the previous.

Fair enough i suppose.

 

 

Not having much of a choice the guy on the phone told me to wait until the HCEO came around and agree a plan with him.

Having considered this further and after a visit to the CAB i was told to go back to court and ask for the judgement to be varied.

I paid the fees to do this and went back to court.

 

In the court the judge told me he saw no reason for the judgement to be set aside (not what i'd asked for)

and as i hadn't bought any reasonable evidence as to why i couldn't pay

(had stacks of debt letters and my husband had only been dead 6 months)

he threw it out.

 

 

The solicitor for the other side was nice - looked through all of my paperwork and told me he couldn't really give me any advice as it was clear i had no money to pay and no assets to the value.

He said he would speak to his client about the £20 proposal i had offered as a token payment until i could get my finances in order.

 

2 weeks later i had a reply from AW telling me the client was willing to accept payments of £50 a month.

I couldn't afford it but agreed and somehow (mostly going without things other people might class as essentials)

i have been paying it for now 20 months.

 

Today i decided to ask for a balance on my account. The debt started out as £2200.

 

My balance as of today including the payments i have made is £3476. I am totally bereft.

 

I have asked for a breakdown which i will list below.

AW have also told me interest at a rate of 62p PER DAY is being added on continuously along with a monthly fee and VAT.

I feel like it is totally unachievable to repay this debt.

I see no light at the end of the tunnel despite having worked around the clock to try and get my life back in order.

 

Amount of judgement £2738

Execution costs £111.75

Admin /compliance fee £75

Enforcement stage 1 £190.00

Enforcement state 1% fee £163.77

Enforcement state 2 fee £495

Accrued interest £442.80

 

Due to claimant £3292.69 - how?

Total Levy £4401.21

Total enforcement fee £1108.52

VAT £184.75

 

Payments £925

 

Current balance £3476.21

Daily Interest £0.62

 

On the breakdown it says received from defendant and all the dates.

Each month has:

 

£50 credit

£25 "client"

£20.83 "fees"

£4.17 "vat on fees"

 

Can anyone tell me please how a debt that started as £2200 where i've paid off £1000 now rises to £3476.

 

I have emailed the coop but they have just sent me back to AW.

Just seems totally unfair and pointless i may as well of just taken the easy route at the time and gone bankrupt.

 

 

It would all of been over by now but i wanted to repay everything the best i could and although i knew it would be hard have worked tirelessly to keep on top of things.

 

Really feeling down about this.

 

Shell

Edited December 7, 2016 by Shelley7t8

[AndyOrch]

" I was then given a CCJ. My fault but couldn't be helped at the time. I had stupidly assumed once that had been done i could then agree a payment arrangement via the court. This wasn't the case. "

 

Why ? And why did you not submit an N245 to vary the forthwith judgment to monthly payment ?

 

" Can anyone tell me please how a debt that started as £2200 where i've paid off £1000 now rises to £3476."

 

Did the initial Judgment attract statuary interest 8% and also because of all the Bailiff execution fees...and again because you didn't make application to vary the forthwith to monthly payment plan .

 

Regards

 

Andy

[king12345]

If you have more than this debt and no assets, you should look at bankruptcy, especially because you can't afford things that others find essential.

Your credit record is not great anyway and your head is well stressed by all these dca, bailiffs and solicitors.

I've never looked into bankruptcy so I don't know if it really would suit your case, but my friend went through it 10 years ago and he keeps on saying that it was the best thing he ever did, otherwise he would be still paying debts for the rest of his life, unable to buy food.

[BankFodder]

Please have a look at the CONC rules – in particular part seven and in particular 7.12 http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?426145-CONC-7.12-Lenders-responsibilities-in-relation-to-debt-including-DMPs

 

See if anything here applies to you. If you have a debt management plan – and it doesn't need to be done through an official debt management organisation, then a lender is not allowed to refuse to engage with the plan when all the other creditors are cooperating.

 

Have a look through and let us know what you think

[ploddertom]

I am disgusted at how AW have allowed this to happen, particularly when their supposed solicitor agreed you could not pay the sum demanded and had nothing in the way of assets. You have just become a cash cow to them and they are coining money in for nothing. Then to come back to say they would accept 2.5 times what you offered is disgraceful. What happened when their Enforcement Agent visited you?