Charging Order papers received

Debt_Free_Chick

Sadly, there are a number of lenders that are (ab)using what seems to be a (legitimate) loophole in the law ... the one that results in unsecured debt being secured.

Pere Ubu .... what happened when they petitioned for the CCJ? Did you appear and defend it? Did you make an offer to pay by instalments? I guess this is all academic now as they seem to have obtained a judgment (CCJ) for "payment forthwith". You, of course, could not pay the full amount "forthwith" so they're going for the charging order.

Unfortunately, your suggestion that you argue that they could have given you a secured loan at the outset does not seem to be a useful defence, to me. You are effectively saying "we asked for a secured loan, they gave us unsecured and now we don't agree to it being secured". If it was acceptable to you at outset, why not now? I simply wouldn't use that argument.

What is the position with this loan? Are you in arrears? What are paying now?

Can you give us more background so we can find some useful pointers for you.

Regards

Bossyboots

Pere Ubu posted the details a few weeks ago and I think it was pretty inevitable it was going to go this way.

What is important now is that they go to court and argue against the charging order, but I would be surprised if they were successful.

Pere_Ubu

We had a CCJ and have kept up with the payments set out by the district judge through Payplan. In fact Payplan pay more than what the CCJ set out. We then get these papers for a charging order.

Can someone tell me how rare/often do the courts force a sale of a house once a charging order has been granted. The Cardiff court said it wasquite rare but feeling jittery. Anyone know some stats???

Bossyboots

Pere_Ubu wrote:

We had a CCJ and have kept up with the payments set out by the district judge through Payplan. In fact Payplan pay more than what the CCJ set out. We then get these papers for a charging order.

Can someone tell me how rare/often do the courts force a sale of a house once a charging order has been granted. The Cardiff court said it wasquite rare but feeling jittery. Anyone know some stats???

I can't give you stats but from my experience, the creditor has to have a really good argument for a sale to be granted. The only time I knew it to happen was when the debtor left his house to go to ruin rather than pay what was owed. The court agreed with the creditor that it was a deliberate attempt to deny him his money and ordered the house to be sold. He also placed an injunction on the owner to stop him causing any damage or further devaluation to the property. Even in this extreme case (and there was a lot more to it than that) the creditor had to provide loads of evidence and appear in court before he won his case.

If you have not defaulted on the payments, then there should be no grounds for a charging order. If your agent has defaulted on the payments then again, this would be a defence to a charging order. If the charging order was to be granted, the fact that your agent defaulted this time and not you will be something you can raise if they ever went for a sale. However, the risk of the court action for sale failing is so high, that a creditor would only chance it if there was an extreme situation. The other thing they could try is applying for an order for sale if, for example, they became aware that you had come into a sum of money sufficient to pay off the debt. In those circumstances trying to force a sale would most like persuade the debtor to pay off what is owed from the windfall.

I hope this reassures that it really is rare for a charging order to be satisfied by a forced sale but you should still try to defend this if you can.

Xbigman

Pere

If you have a CCJ for regular payments, and you have made those payments, then they should not be going for a charging order.
Phone them and ask why they are going for a charging order when you have honoured the CCJ. You must do that immediately because it could change everything anyone on this board might tell you.
Regards



X

Pere_Ubu

I have phoned and they offered me a loan to clear everything!! Crazy I know. I said no of course. The courts are somewhat confused why they are applying for a charging order as well. Can't get through to Payplan, left messages and written to them but no reply as yet.

Xbigman

If you have the paperwork for the charging order hearing then arrange to go to it. Either request it be moved to a local court or you need to travel. Your defence would be that you have honoured the CCJ and the charging order is out of procedure and not valid. Take all the paperwork you have and details of all the phone calls with them to show they have not acted in good faith or answered your letters in a timely fashion.
Keep trying to talk to them about the reasons for the attempted charging order. Each time they don't answer or try it on with loans it strenghens your arguments.
Next step is the CAB. Speak to one of their legal advisors about the exact grounds for stating their case is invalid and get some general advice.
Regards


X

Debt_Free_Chick

Pere_Ubu wrote:

I have phoned and they offered me a loan to clear everything!! Crazy I know. I said no of course. The courts are somewhat confused why they are applying for a charging order as well. Can't get through to Payplan, left messages and written to them but no reply as yet.

I am equally confused as I understood that the debtor needed to have defaulted on the CCJ in order for the creditor to be eligible to apply for Charging Order.

A CCJ is an order to pay ... if you are complying, then I understand that's the end of the matter.

All very confusing .. do keep us informed

Pere_Ubu

I have today spoken with Asset Link who are applying for a charging order. I told them I was confused as to why they are applying for one as we had not defaulted on the CCJ. They said the CCJ was a "hybrid one" does anyone know what this is? I have still had no luck with Payplan but I did get to speak with National Debtline. They were stunned that Payplan are paying the CCJ. The guy said that my husband and I should have been paying the CCJ amount to Asset Link through the court. Payplan did not tell us this they said to keep paying them and they will deal with it. The National Debtline guy said in all the time he has dealt with Payplan he has never known them to do this, he fears that we may have defaulted because of the "mis-understanding" between us and Payplan. Has anyone ever heard of a hybrid CCJ. From what I can make out it doesn't matter if we deafault on the CCJ or not they simply apply for a Charging Order because the hybrid CCJ allows this. I very worried now I don't want anymore "hybrid" surprises" surrounding the charging order, I'm worried that after they get one they will apply to sell the house.

Bossyboots

This has me stumped. I have trawled around and can find no mention of a hybrid CCJ, nor any forms/information on the court service website that differ from the rule that the CCJ has to be defaulted on before a charging order can be applied for. If such a thing as a hybrid CCJ exists, as far as I can see the same system applies. Your next move, unless anyone here knows what Asset Link are talking about, is to telephone a county court and ask them to explain what it is. I would be surprised if it exists and even more surprised if it allows Asset Link to bypass the system.