MBNA solicitors letter

CLAPTON

AGB863

a most interesting court case you quoted.....i'm sure the result would be of the utmost interest on this board...maybe you could post again when it is settled.

if this case goes for the creditor, it may mean that every creditor will rush to make a charging order at the first sign of trouble which will have the effect of making all debts effectively secured. (well for those people with assetts anyway). however it may backfire on creditors as people may choose to go bankrupt rather than try to repay over a number of years and still risk losing their house.

anyway, i'm not sure what the OP is making of all this...its still my belief that although routinely threathened its still relatively unlikely that the threats will be carried out.

Tootsie_Roll

CLAPTON wrote:

AGB863

a most interesting court case you quoted.....i'm sure the result would be of the utmost interest on this board...maybe you could post again when it is settled.

if this case goes for the creditor, it may mean that every creditor will rush to make a charging order at the first sign of trouble which will have the effect of making all debts effectively secured. (well for those people with assetts anyway). however it may backfire on creditors as people may choose to go bankrupt rather than try to repay over a number of years and still risk losing their house.

anyway, i'm not sure what the OP is making of all this...its still my belief that although routinely threathened its still relatively unlikely that the threats will be carried out.

Bankruptcy would be worse than a charging order as the OR would want the equity - no question. There have been similar cases to the one quoted before, to my knowledge the judge has granted the order, it's up to each individual creditor to get in as quickly as possible, their loss if they don't. Making a preference to one creditor over another is no defence to a DJ, the important issue is that there is sufficient equity to clear some/most of the outstanding debts. Creditors are/have been rushing to secure the debt since the Enterprise Act.

I have said many times before, if you own your home and have equity there is no such thing as an unsecured loan. I can remember advising a homeowner in the early 90's to take out a secured loan as the rate was so much cheaper, they just didn't understand and wanted to 'protect their house', they paid it all back with no problems, think how much money they could have saved !!

Pigeongirl

Tootsie_Roll wrote:

I have said many times before, if you own your home and have equity there is no such thing as an unsecured loan.

Very interesting...never thought of it like that before. Food for thought.

dollindebt

Are there any cases of creditors suddenly wanting a charging order after the debtor has been in a DMP, with say, Payplan, for a year?

I owe the majority of my debt to HSBC and every time I am in contact with Metropolitan (their in-house collections agency), they ask me if I have equity in my home. I happen to have quite a bit, but I do not feel obliged to tell them this.

My DMP is ticking along nicely, but I do have seven more years to go. All of my creditors eventually agreed to the DMP, and to be fair, HSBC was very good about it, considering I owe them about £25,000 altogether. I even found MBNA to be okay, in my case. In what case does a creditor decide to pursue a charging order? This scares me.

Thanks

Tootsie_Roll

Dollindebt

Rest assured - you should be OK as long as you don't miss a payment on your payment plan and if you do have to miss a payment, call them before it is due and let them know, they will be far more understanding.

Other things to consider - Metropolitan will want to review your arrangement from time to time (3-6 months is the norm), do it and increase your payments if your disposable income allows it. I would approach it with the view that they are doing you a favour by allowing you this concession and I would co-operate with them whenever necessary and reasonable. This is an unpopular view and I am sure it will raise a few eyebrows and comments but it is true and will mean they will be less likely to 'put you under the microscope' so less likely to find out about your equity.

dollindebt

They do know I have equity, but I do not tell them how much (I don't think I am legally obligated to do so anyway? They don't press for more information in any case). I have found them (Metropolitan) to be fine to deal with, and I have now done the first year of reviews with all creditors. I am always excessively polite and pleasant to them, even if I am feeling otherwise. Seems to work. All going fine and Payplan has been a real lifesaver!

No probs with keeping up the current payments, but I doubt whether I will be able to increase every year as the cost of living is going up and up. My disposable income is shrinking with every year; I had a 2.75% increase in my salary this year, but sadly all the bills have increased by much more than this Especially utilities (water, electric, fuel etc). Slightly depressing, but I am doing my utmost to pay off my debts. *sigh*

mort1768

ok well i am still confused i dont have a problem with the charging order as i have no equity in my house at all and i can make my payments to payplan. My main problem is if this goes to court and the judge awards in there favour can the men in white vans come and empty my house

mort1768

Anyone give me an answer on that one ?

kar

I mort1768 I don't know a lot about these things but perhaps you could answer a few more questions for me

How long have you been making payments through payplan??
Has an offer by payplan with your SOA been responded to??

You don't have any equity in your house but do you have a house with a mortgage or are you renting??

If they go to court you will not get a van round your house with no warning - there is a procedure they must follow. If it goes that far the only thing you can do is be honest with the court. I think the fact you are already using payplan who believe you are paying as much as you can afford will help you in this. As others have said from posts on here MBNA seem to be one of the worst creditors but please don't panic. The best thing to do is show the letter to someone from payplan. They know the whole picture and they have experience with dealing with these people so ask them your questions.

AGB863

If a CCJ is obtained against you and you do not keep up with the payments that have been set by the judge, the creditors can go back to court and ask for baliffs to attend your property.

One the first visit they will most likely do a walk in possession, which is when they itemise any belongings in the house that they deem that they can sell. (They can not list household items such as beds, clothes and kitchen equipment.)

These items then belong to the baliff and it would be illegal for you to remove them from your house, if you do, it can lead to you being prosecuted.

Usually at the "walk in possession" you will be given the oportunity to bring the account up to date.