DLC scoundrels

[purple blue]

Can anyone help me. I have been in constant correspondence with Direct Legal Collections for a few months which ends up they taking me to court. I can quite clearly say they are bullies. They have recently put a charging order on my home for a mere £2642.00. ( Bearing in mind I have made offeres of payments) Prior to this they said if they obtain the order they will accept any rate I offered. So I made them an offer. Next thing I know I get a letter from solicitors going to issue a warrant of execution. DLC didnt even replied to say whether or not they will accept the offer.

 

My plan is to make a complaint to the ombudsman. Does anyone have any other advice.

[stormo]

Hello purple blue can you provide any more details of the alleged debt are DLC agents or are they the legal owners of the alleged debt.

 

as far as i am aware to get a charging order placed on your house they must have obtained a ccj and made the charging order final.

 

Also did you defend the claim at all? ,and did you ask for a copy of your original agreement under the 1974 Consumer credit act?

 

There are posts on here about what happens regarding charging orders i would have a look using the search tool.

 

regards S

[purple blue]

Thanks Stormo Direct Legal colletions are debt collectors for city bank credit card. I am ashamed to say I didnt go to court to defend myself and i didnt ask for the original copy of the agreement.

As for the ccj. The offer I made they did not accept it and the court did not file on my side. i gave them my financial statement and showed I was on benefits and all my outgoings. I have no CCj with them becasue they never agreed to my offersso it went straight to court to put an order on my house. I have read about that, but i assumed that because they turned down my offer it made it invalid.

Thanks

[LAN01]

You say you have no CCJ with them, but you must have before they can put a charging order on yur property. Also the Land Registry would have also contacted you prior the the charging order being made final, they would have also contacted anyone one else who has an interest in the property.

[purple blue]

I told the court what I could afford. DLC did not accept it. neither did the judge say I have to pay all the money at once. It was left open. I'm going to have to tripple check but I am sure. Even with the warrant they want to issue. they never even responded to me whether or not they are going to accept it. They didnt even make an offer.

regards PB

[PriorityOne]

I have to agree with LAN01... a CCJ comes before a Charging Order. Was the court hearing for a CCJ then ? I'm a bit confused ....

[purple blue]

. They refused my offer of payment and took me to court. I filled out my financial statements and another offer of payment. They still refused and it was left like that. then they issued a charging order and won. They said that if they succeed with a CO they will accept any rate I offered. I made an offer and then they got there solicitors to issue a warrant of execution.

[purple blue]

If I fail payments which were ordered by te court then they have a right. But they never excepted any payment. I also read that if the payment offer is too low they can also obtain a CO.

[purple blue]

Lan 01 Yes the land registry did get in contact with me. My real issue is also they are trying to get baillifs to get the full amount. What I dont understand is wouldnt they have gone for the baillif option first if all fails then apply for the charging order as the very last resort?

[PriorityOne]

How do you know that they issued a Charging Order and won ? Was this confirmed in court ?.... or is it just what DLC have told you ?

[purple blue]

I have the neccessary papers.

[PriorityOne]

Are those papers from the court or from DLC ? Apologies for all the questions, but the procedure for a Charging Order is a CCJ followed by an Interim Charging Order and then a Final Charging Order

 

What do the papers say ?

[LAN01]

If you have evidence to prove that the DLC have refused your offers of payment then I don't think a court would agree to force the sale of you property. Have you sent any payments to the DLC? and if so have you got proof ie PO receipts, bank statements etc.

 

I had a charging order placed on my property up until last year when I cleared the debt and I was told then that no court would agree a forced sale as long as payments were met, no matter how small, as long as they were made regularly.

 

This has to go to court again before they can force the sale of the house and if this happens I would strongly recommend that you attend in person to defend your case and seek legal advice.

[purple blue]

Pone1 Yes I recevied the interim then the final order. I'm stumped as to how can I have a ccj if i was not offered one. But I have read that if payments seem tooo small they can still go for a CO.

 

Lan I havent sent anypayments because of their refusal to accept any offer I give them. I was paying £15 about a year ago which they accepted, then out of the blue payments were stopped. They never informed me that they stopped them then months later demanded £109 a month. I said I couldnt afford it sent financial statement and explained situation and its been down hill from then.

Im going to be asking for their solicitors and DLC complaints procedure and then contacting the law society and the financial ombudsman and take things from there. What i cant understand is that i have always corresponded with them. The bullying tactics is getting very tiring. If they try and force a sale I will be definaetly going to court. I dint slave away saving my pennies to buy my flat then to have to sell it for a mere £2000 debt.

[LAN01]

The creditor can only apply for a charging order if either:

 

• You have been ordered to pay the whole debt immediately or by a certain date, (this is known as a "forthwith" judgment) and have not done so.

 

or:

 

• The court has ordered you to pay the judgment by instalments and you have missed one or more payments

 

 

The court must consider whether it is reasonable to make a charging order. Under The Charging Orders Act 1979 the court has to consider all the circumstances of the case and in particular:

 

• The personal circumstances of "the debtor"

 

• Whether any creditor would be "unduly prejudiced". This means the court has to decide if making a charging order would disadvantage other creditors.

[LAN01]

Have a look at this it may help:

 

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/ex325_0405.pdf

[LAN01]

Also I would begin to make payments to the DCL as soon as possible, it is up to them whether they accept them or not, but at least then you can show the courts that you have shown willing in clearing this debt.

[purple blue]

thanks alot I wil definaetly set up payment. Yes my other debts will be prejudiced. Ill have to search if i could get the CO lifted by default or something.

thanks

[LAN01]

You can try, but honestly I don't think it will work I tried that when it happended to me and they weren't interested.

 

But good luck and let us know how you get on m:)

[PriorityOne]

I'm stumped as to how can I have a ccj if i was not offered one.

 

 

A CCJ is a County Court Judgement.... and you are not offered one.

 

I think what has happened is that DLC have got fed up with collecting small payments, so they have stopped receiving your payments to make it look like you have defaulted. They have then gone to court for a CCJ, which you did not defend. From that point, they have gone for a Charging Order.

 

All very underhand and nasty.

[purple blue]

yes i totally agree my fault when i discovered they stop collecting payments i should have just continued paying. They r nasty. I have also just read that the government is reorming the CO act to make it easier for these people to put a CO on peoples hses. To stop people escaping through the loophole. I did defend the CCj but they refused payments so technically i never really got one.

 

Thanks for your advice guys with all my debtors i have to deal with these r the worse. I have to put through my charges with city bank at least get them credited to my account. Its only small but it is something. C how they like it?

[purple blue]

Thanks for your advice guys. I did defend the ccj thats why they turned down the offer. I recevied letter they turned down the offer.

[PriorityOne]

I did defend the CCj but they refused payments so technically i never really got one.

 

 

They will have gone for the CCJ on the grounds that no payments were being made any more. For them to have gone for a CO, you must also have a CCJ.... it basically sets the debt in stone, so to speak... until it's paid. The CO secures it even more .

 

If the debt is made up of charges however.... you might be able to get it set aside on the grounds that it relates to an incorrect balance.... someone else would have to confirm this though.

[LAN01]

 

If the debt is made up of charges however.... you might be able to get it set aside on the grounds that it relates to an incorrect balance.... someone else would have to confirm this though.

 

You could try this, but I know from past experience once the charging order has been made it's very difficult to remove unless you clear the outstanding amount. But it is important for you to continue making some payment towards the debt until you can get the matter resolved by what ever way you can.

[LAN01]

Hi Purple

 

I would contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau for advice on the charging order and the CCJ. If you have all the documents with you when you meet them they should be able to help.