Charging Order hearing.......gulp!!

GasHead · 24 April 2008 at 12:26AM

Hi All,

I've been lurking around this site for some time and have finally plucked up the courage to ask for some advice regarding an upcoming Charging Order hearing.

I would be grateful if any of you lovely people who have been through (or are going through) the same situation would share your advice and experience.

First, a quick history of my situation......

I'm currently on a DMP with Payplan, which has been running for 15 months. I have 6 creditors, who I owe just over £15,000 in total. Everything had been going fine until NatWest decided to turn nasty and issue County Court Claim Forms, just before Christmas. NatWest are my biggest creditor, who I owe £8,000.

As advised, I sent the Claim Forms off to Payplan, who said they would process them. At the time I was concerned that due to the Christmas break, the forms would not be processed in time before the deadline. I expressed this to Payplan, but they assured me everthing would be fine. Unfortunately, my fears were realised. Due to the backlog after Christmas, the forms were not submitted in time. Subsequently, I received a Forthwith Judgment from the Northampton County Court for the full amount.

Payplan advised me to issue a Variance Order, which I did with on offer of payment (my current DMP pro-rata payment). NatWest in their wisdom decided to reject this and have gone for a Charging Order on my house.

Last week I received a phone call from NatWest's solicitors asking if I could pay the full amount. When I replied I couldn't, the lovely lady asked if I could take out a consolidation loan to pay off the debt. What planet are these people on!! It was also stated that I would have to up my monthly payments from £90 to £270, to stop the Charging Order. She also threatened that they would also be looking for a forced sale of my house.

I have just received the details of the Charging Order hearing on May 13th and I'm officially soiling my panties!

How serious should I take the threat of the forced sale? Are they just trying to scare me into paying up? I've read that forced sales are rare but it's at the back of my mind all the time. I jointly own my house with my wife and have 1 dependant aged 11. All the debts are in my sole name.

Paypal have sent a letter to the court, pleading my case but I'm also going to send in my opposition to the Charging Order. What are the best arguments I can use? Does the fact I'm in a DMP, help or hinder my cause?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

cassy · 24 April 2008 at 12:47AM

hi there i was in a situation like this a few yrs ago, but they did agree the payments i was offering so all has been ok since then,

i think for them to force a sale a court has to agree this and from what i think as long as you have offered payments and attempted to repay no court would force a sale for that value,

im also not sure from your post if you have a charging order already or not, but even if you get a charging order it then still has to do back to a judge to approve it

the process as far as i know is

CCJ > Charging order > approve the order

what i did was remove the company from my DMP then pay them seperate
it was the fault of my DMP that they went for a ccj in the first place

gatwickba · 24 April 2008 at 12:48AM

I cannot offer any advice, but am simply bumping this up as I am on a self managed DMP with 4 creditors oweing around £90,000 total. I am waiting for the creditors to begin turning nasty and taking me to court so I am very interested in this thread.

fermi · 24 April 2008 at 1:01AM

Sounds like the help you have had from PayPlan has been next to useless.:rolleyes:

This may be useful to you.

From link: Replying to a county court claim form.

CHARGING ORDER

This is the way in which the creditor can ask the court to put a charge on your home which basically 'secures' the debt, so it must be paid off when the house is sold. Some creditors will ask the court to make a judgment for you to pay the debt back immediately or 'forthwith' so that they can ask for a charging order to be made as soon as you don't pay.

WARNING
It is getting more common for the court to agree to a forthwith judgment even where you have made an offer to pay in instalments by replying to the county court claim. If this happens to you phone us for advice immediately.

You may be able to get the court to change its mind by asking for a re-determination within 14 days of getting the order. Alternatively you can ask to pay in instalments by putting in a county court form called an N245.

A charging order application is a two-stage process and there must be a hearing in front of a district judge before it is made final. Having a final charging order does not mean you will lose your home. A further application has to be made asking the court to order a sale of your home. It is unusual for the court to agree a creditor's application to be allowed to sell your home.

FACT SHEET
We have a fact sheet on 'Charging orders in the county court', which may be of assistance to you

As shown in that extract, there is a second National Debline factsheet that may be very useful for you to read.

Link: Charging orders in the county court

GasHead · 24 April 2008 at 1:10AM

Thanks for your replies.

Cassy: I haven't been issued been with the Final Charging Order yet. I've got that hearing on the 13th May.I have been issued with an Interim Charging Order, which I presume stops you from selling your house in the meantime. I wouldn't have thought they would go for a forced sale for such a relatively small amount, but it doesn't make me rest any easier. Hopefully, they're just scaremongering.

gatwickba: I hope everything works out with your DMP.

GasHead · 24 April 2008 at 1:19AM

Fermi,

Thanks for the info and links.

I don't like to slag off Payplan, as they have been brilliant throughout a very bad time. I was just frustrated that I could have sent the Claim Forms off myself before the deadline, rather than Payplan insisting they were sent to them first. Oh well, water under the bridge.

fermi · 24 April 2008 at 1:25AM

Normally I see Payplan being very good as well.

Unfortunately any organisation can sometimes make a mess of things. These things just happen sometimes.

GasHead · 24 April 2008 at 1:34AM

fermi,

Of course, your right. Regarding the hearing, hopefully the judge will see that I'm making every effort to pay this debt off through the DMP and throw the Charging Order out. Not holding my breath though!

claireabelle_2 · 24 April 2008 at 9:19AM

:hello: Hi Gashead, just wanted to say hello and welcome from another gashead!

Best of luck with your case
Claire

GasHead · 24 April 2008 at 9:33AM

Hi Claire,

Thanks for your kind words. Hopefully the case will turn out OK. Probably worrying about nothing as usual.

craftingqueen_2 · 24 April 2008 at 10:21AM

Hi Gashead,

Hubby is going through CO's with NR 5.5k and Nationwide 3.5k. They never accepted our DMP,hubby is going to the courts as he was told it shows he is serious about paying he's debts.Not sure it will do any good,we expected to get CO's,we will have to see what happens next!

CQ

Charging Order hearing.......gulp!!

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free