ccj enforcement and Marlin Financial

tessbroke

I am new on here but feel I need to make sure everybody knows this.

You do NOT need to default on a CCJ in order to get a charging order. I have one and it was granted without my ever being in arrears. The judge(registrar or whatever he was) said that I owed the money therefore the company was entitled to whatever they liked!!!

I also want to hear whether anybody out there has dirt on Marlin financial services/phoenix recoveries/whatever other names they go by. I have had loads of problems with this company despite trying to be as co-operative as possible. I may lose my home to these people!!

:mad:

RAS

Hi

Firstly, have you sent a CCA request out on this.

Secondly, I think the part of the law that the judge applied has not actually been enacted yet. Please talk to NDL ASAP.

fatbelly

tessbroke wrote: »

You do NOT need to default on a CCJ in order to get a charging order. I have one and it was granted without my ever being in arrears. The judge(registrar or whatever he was) said that I owed the money therefore the company was entitled to whatever they liked!!!

From National Debtline:

If you have been ordered to pay the debt in instalments and are not behind on the payments the court should not make a charging order. This is because of a very important case called Mercantile Credit Co Ltd v Ellis in 1987.

Sometimes the judges need to be reminded of the law!

I think you should contact National Debtline

fermi

From the same factsheet that fatbelly is quoting from (I presume):

Link: Factsheet | Charging orders in the county court

I ALREADY HAVE AN INSTALMENT ORDER AND AM NOT BEHIND WITH IT

If you have kept up with instalments on a county court judgment then the court should not make a final charging order. According to a case called Mercantile Credit Co Ltd v Ellis in 1987, a charging order should only be made if the payments on a judgment are in arrears or you were ordered to pay the judgment in one lump sum immediately (forthwith) and didn't pay. This case is very important. If you are in this situation and still have an interim charging order made, you must go to the hearing and take evidence that you have kept up with the instalments ordered and mention this case to the district judge.

WARNING
We have heard of cases where a creditor asks the court to change or 'vary' the terms of your judgment from an instalment order to a forthwith judgment. If the court agrees, it makes it easier for the creditor to apply for a charging order. If this happens to you, phone us for advice.

mojo-jojo_2

Hi, we didn't default on our CCJ instalment order either, but HFC/Restons got a redetermination and a forthwith order for the full amount which we couldn't pay so essentially we were then in default. This then allowed them to get an interim charging order.

Our final charging order hearing was today and they didn't turn up so the judge threw the case out.

mjjj

ANY_CHANCE

This is all very useful as we have been threatened with a CCJ, charging order and then order of sale if OH does not agree to a voluntary charge on the house :eek:

Any suggestions for what to do?

RAS

Who is making the threat in relations to what debt?

Have you spoken to NDL, as you really do need to urgently. And start quoting the case above if they tell you it is appropriate.

fermi

ANY_CHANCE wrote: »

Any suggestions for what to do?

Take professional advice from somewhere like National Debtline at every stage so that you have the best chance of heading it off and making the best responses to the courts.

Even if they managed to get a charging order in the end, it's still very rare for the court to agree to follow that with a sale order.

Deep_In_Debt

Thanks for this. I shall follow this thread. It seems that CO's are becoming very common and I wonder how many judges are aware that many of the CCA's are not valid? It seems they are just agreeing to CO's. Something that concerns me.

fatbelly

You're right to be concerned. The most recent figures I could find are for 2006 (published Nov 2007):

"A charging order enabling the creditor to obtain security for the payment
against a property owned by the debtor. 93,000 applications were made for
charging orders in 2006, 41% higher than in 2005 and 480% more than in
2000 with around 72% resulting in orders being made."

I suspect that things are getting much worse much faster now!

From BBC News: The number of lenders seeking court orders to secure personal debt against property hit 131,644 in 2007, a 42% rise year-on-year. The Ministry of Justice says the data is provisional but that it is "unlikely to change".

ANY_CHANCE

Do you think it makes a difference depending on equity and wether they are the creditors you have the largest debt with?

Our house bought for 232,000 (prob now worth 220,000? less if they ordered a sale of the house) mortgage of 198,000 Then they would have to take out solicitors fees estate agents fees.

The debt with HFC is for 6000, we are not charged interest etc by HFC but their solicitors have added around 800 of their own costs to our debt. I requested a breakdown of costs they have not sent it.
we pay 23.00 per month through cccs on a DMP we do not have CCJ yet.

Other unsecured debts not with HFC total 40,000 ??? Why sould they get a CO when there are other creditors with larger amouts owed to them than HFC??