How can I help him?

suzialwaysbroke

Just to say - re business & personal bank accs at same bank. We have this & I have claimed bank charges back from both in 2 separate letters. Business one paid up immediately (well 8 weeks - immediate for them) while personal acc is now in giant queue for court case, so, go for both, but treat them individually.

HTH

Suzi xxxx

PS, big hugs as being a small business at the moment really sucks!!!!!

milliejon

Just a quick note to update. We sat down yesterday and went through all his unopened envelopes. He's in a mess and keeps saying that he'll sort it tomorrow. He's cancelled his direct debits from his personal overdrawn account but won't write to his creditors until he's been able to speak with his business account manager some time this week.

He seems really worried but not able to bring himself to admit defeat and try a new line of defence. I'm tired of trying to find ways for him to sort it out. I've offered to write the letters to offer token payments for a while - but he doesn't want me to. I've suggested that we write to at least stop them calling, and to put things in writing, and he won't let me do that either.

I would take a step back knowing that I've done what I can, but I'm worried about his mum and sister. They all live together with their home as the guarantee for his business and his mum (who's gone 70) is having to take the calls at home from his creditors when they chase him. She's worried - although won't show it.

I'm so worried for her.

milliejon

It gets worse. Nearly two weeks ago he had a demand from an auction house for £6k. He's managed to borrow £2k from his sister, but needs to find the other £4k within the next two weeks or so. From what I can make out, the bill is for unpaid tax. Does the fact that it's with an auction house mean that its gone to court etc?

He saw the business bank account manager yesterday, who wouldn't lend him any more money (no surprise to me, but it was to him and his mum). The only suggestion the manager came up with was to take a mortgage out to repay the loan on the house, and for him to pay this back from the business. My first reaction is that they should absolutely not do that, but I'm not sure what I would suggest.

Any advice? I've advised him to get in touch with Business Debtline.

GeorgeUK

I'm afraid i've no idea MJ, but i've never heard of an auction house dealing with debts. DCA's and solicitors, yes, but not auction houses.

Could it be that he has bought or sold something via the auction house and still needs to pay the tax part of the bill?

I'd definately get him to contact business debtline if he hasn't already.
Can he ask to pay them in installments?

milliejon

I have no idea why an auction house is in contact with him. He's stopped talking to me know (at least about this) - I think I may be asking too many questions.

RAS

Can his mum get any more information out of him?

milliejon

RAS - he's just trying to avoid everyone and not give straight answers to anyone about anything. I'm really at the end of my tether with him, and his mum is so worried. I'm not sure anyone can do anymore than just watch him loose everything. His mum has an appointment to see her solicitor to see if he can suggest anything.

Unfortunately, I don't think she really wants to hear anything other than good news and that's not going to happen.

milliejon

Well - I'm back. Even more frustrated! He's given me a free reign with dealing with these so here goes....

I've just spent another evening opening envelopes and date sorting them. He's somewhere near £20k in debt with no income. He has seven creditors, five are just being promised money here and there, but he isn't able to pay them - therefore the debt keeps going up.

One is with a debt collection agency, and being threatened with court action. The last is with a solicitor - again threatening court action.

I just wanted some advice about the next steps. My thought is for me to write and send the first five a letter asking them to hold any action for a month so that he can seek advice. With the other two I thought he could send the letter to ask for evidence that the debt belongs to him (I can't remember the term for that).

Does this sound like I'm on the right track?

As you can imagine, I need to get moving with this. My guess that the worry about his business being affected by his personal finances, is probably obsolete now because nearly all of the accounts have defaults against them. So the letters aren't going to make that worse.

Please let me know what you think. All advice gratefully received.

GeorgeUK

For loans, HP and creditcards, it might be worth requesting a copy of the CCA.
For overdrafts, there's not much you can do other than try to claim back any charges.

Even with a CCA request though, they may just give you a reproduction rather than a copy of the original agreement. You may be better sending a subject access request (especially if there are charges that you can reclaim - if he has no income now he should qualify under the hardship guidelines.

Fire_Fox

Have you checked if he is entitled to any benefits? I would have thought so if he is unable to draw a wage from the business. At least it's something coming in.