HFC/Paragon/Restons

[nino1]

Ive had dealings with with restons initially on one unsecured loan that they put through the court process and got set as a charge on my house. they have now notified me that they are going to do the same with a second loan.

I tried to defend the first time and lost, now having come across your site is there any advice you can give me please?

 

I am looking at seeking full information about the charges that are on this account- should I ask of HFC or restons or both?

 

Where next, will the court be willing to put the date of hearing back based on my seeking further account details?

[rory32]

What is the hearing for is it for a CCJ or a charging order nisi. The process of getting a charging order (as you are probably aware) is CCJ, charging order nisi then charging order absolute.

If it is a CCJ you need to send them a CCA request. If they already have a CCJ you need to send them a SAR.

 

I would send the CCA request to the DCA (RESTONS) and send the SAR to the OC (HFC).

[powelll]

You can only defend a claim on the basis that you don't owe the money. If you get county court claim forms through and you admit that you owe the money you need to fill out the Admission form with an offer of payment ( there's a budget sheet to help ). If the creditor refuses the offer and asks for a 'forthwith' judgement ( ie you have to pay the full amount immediately ) it's up to the court to decide what is reasonable in the circumstances.

 

Even if you get a forthwith CCJ or a CCJ for instalments you can't pay you can apply to the court free of charge for something called a redetermination. The judgement will be looked at again.

 

You can apply for this via form N244 but it's usually better to simply send a letter as if an N244 is received with no fee it often causes confusion ( especially if the creditor has gone via Northampton county court bulk centre ).

 

Going this route you can try to avoid the possibility of defaulting on the CCJ ( ie by trying to get a CCJ you can afford ). It's when you default on a CCJ that the creditor can then apply for further enforcement such as a Charging Order.

 

If there have been any penalty charges included in a county court claim you could PARTLY defend the claim on this basis.

 

Hope this helps

[nino1]

Interestingly enough the most recent papers from Restons refer to a missed payment of a sum that I have no details of.

 

I had ongoing arrangements on both loans with the original companies, and they just transferred me to Restons. In between I moved address informed the companies but Restons continued to write to my old address I eventually got them to send letters to my new address but their actions certainly made it tough for me to keep up to speed with what they have been doing through the good old bulk centre at northampton.

[nino1]

To all you clever devils out there that have managed to sort these people out.

 

I have already got one CCJ against me from HFC bank via Restons solicitors which they have now used to get a charging order against my house.

 

They also have a second one against me and are going for another charging order(final) on June 4th.

 

I've sent a SAR to HFC to cover both accounts today.

 

Any other bright ideas as to what I can do to slow Restons down???

 

As previously stated they seem up to every trick.

[lookinforinfo]

Did you do as Rory rightly said and sent a CCA request to Restons?

[nino1]

Sorry if this is a bit simple but As a solicitors acting on behalf of HFC will a CCA request achieve anything?

[rory32]

Sorry if this is a bit simple but As a solicitors acting on behalf of HFC will a CCA request achieve anything?

 

Yes. Send the CCA request to the solicitors. They can not act while the account is in dispute. If they do they are aware that any case will in all probability be thrown out.

[powelll]

You may find the below link useful in relation to charging orders - but lots of judges now see it as quite reasonable to grant these... is there any equity in your property?

 

National Debtline England & Wales | Debt Advice | Factsheet 15 Charging Orders In The County Court

[nino1]

A bit of equity but it is a shared ownership and any equity will have to be split before any repayments are made

[powelll]

You can argue 2 ways - if loads of equity you can say the debt is disproportionate to this equity so CO not fair on this basis. Or if hardly any equity you can argue there is no point in making a CO as may not get paid off if property sold...

 

.Then again, some judges won't listen to the arguments as many now feel that a CO is reasonable

[nino1]

OK so I've sent the CCA to Restons, any idea if that has any effect on my court appearance next week to see about a final charging order going through?

[lookinforinfo]

Who has a share in the equity [is it a 50/50 share] and are they involved

in your debt with HFC/Restons?

[nino1]

former partner has a share, I guess 50/50, and they're not tied in with the debt

[powelll]

Who has a share in the equity [is it a 50/50 share] and are they involved

in your debt with HFC/Restons?

 

Good point - Any CO can only be made against your share of the equity

[lookinforinfo]

Good point - Any CO can only be made against your share of the equity

 

 

It wasn't so much that I was thinking about Powelll. It was more along the

lines that I seem to remember reading on here, I think, that it is much more

difficult to apply a charging order when there is a third party involved who

has nothing to do with the debt. Prejudicial to their interest in the property?

Maybe the CO could wrongly affect their creditworthiness?

[Chips123]

****

[nino1]

I'll have a look at that idea. Been to court today and argued that I had found unfair charges (unknown full amount) and thus had put a SAR on HFC. Also found that the judgement from the interim charging order had never reached me. Judge agreed to postpone for a month and told me I had to return with a strong case to strike out the original application. So I guess this round is about a draw, any advice out there??

[lookinforinfo]

There is something to do with the Law of Property Act 1925 s.70[1][g]

where your ex has a beneficial interest which, I thnk, overrides their right to

impose a charging order. Sorry I am a bit hazy on it-but can't find anything

that quite matches your situation.

Lloyds bank v Rosset argues the case, but Mrs Rosset was not on the loan-just her husband- but they had intended for it to be a joint mortgage, and I

got the impression that had she been on the form, then the charge could not have been issued.

Although there is also something about the other person being present in the house at the time of the charging order, I believe it has been modified to

take into account that the other party was in the house at the time of the exchange.

It might be worth ringing the Court asking for a stay as you are waiting for

the CCA request to be complied with-since without the executed agreement

the charging order cannot go through.

[rory32]

Also is the mortgage a joint tenancy or a tenancy in common? This makes a big difference.

 

This link will explain the two http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library/documents/public_guide_018.pdf

[nino1]

Something that occurred to me as I was talking to the judge about the rights and wrongs of the charges.

When HFC send my stuff to Restons for action, all this actually achieves is for Restons to add about £1500 charges to my bill.

Surely this can't be right? Surely what we're all trying to do is get the debt cleared not add to it???

Any thoughts

[lookinforinfo]

Once a case looks like it is going to Court, in view of the amount of money

involved with property, it is important that the solicitors do not mess up and

lose the case. So they have to be pretty thorough to cover al the angles.

Also, the Court charges are a lot higher than in the Small Claims Court which adds to the bill.

 

The important thing therefore is to avoid going to Court if you can. The

lender tends to use the Court as a last resort so you may have to ask

yourself if there was something you could have done earlier to prevent

the situation arising regardless of the financial situation. Sometimes just

keeping them updated will stave off Court action.

 

That aside, how did the day go?

[nino1]

I'm sure this lot will have done some homework but equally as sure that they are not used to being challenged. Similarly their lines of communication with HFC must be pretty grim or they'd have already passed on the information I was asking for a SAR.

 

The judge has put the case back a month, and today I collected the court letter telling me the date and time of the next hearing, and it was sent to my old address, despite me telling the judge that previous information had gone to an incorrect address and Restons and the court having my current address.

 

I had kept HFC informed every step of the way, but once Restons got involved it was rushed into court. They ignored my request to discuss the suggestion from HFC that there could be a chance of a settlement that could be beneficial(HFC had already offered a settlement at about 30%) and instead just whacked their charges on and run to court- thats why I feel so grieved- I just don't see that kind of behaviour as helping sort out debt problems at all.