Some help for a friend please.

shell06

Hi Guys,

This is quite complicated so bear with me.

My friend bought a TV, a washer and a tv stand from brighthouse (bad idea I know) with her ex. Said ex took all 3 when they split up and moved out. Only thing is they were all 'bought' in her name.

now she has not been able to afford to pay and at a bit of a loss as to why she should when he has the items. But now that is not what matters. BH want a payment of £200 or they are sending the baliffs monday. Now she has written to brighthouse and offered to pay £50 for the next 3 weeks then go back to the £20 a week that she was paying. they are refusing to accept this and is wanting to get another loan which thus far I have disuaded her from doing.

So my question is, can brighthouse do this, if offer of payment is amde can they just refuse point blank to accept and send in the baliffs?

Thanks in advance x

Jesthar

Hi Shell,

It's highly unlikely that these people can just 'send in the baliffs' - they would require a court case and all sorts to do that legally! Unless they have already done all that (in which case your friend would have had a chance to defend herself in court), it's probably all scare tactics designed to panic her into paying up, and anyone who does turn up will have no more legal rights than anyone else. She does NOT have to let them in, and shouldn't even open the door to them, just tell them to go away through the letterbox or an upstairs window. And if they don't do so, she can call the police and report them as trespassing.

As long as she continues to pay as much as she can reasonably afford to each month, then if the twits ever did decide to go to court they'd probabkly just pay a good chunk of cash to in all likelyhood get the same payments they'd already been receiving, or possibly less if the judge decides she can't reasonably afford what she has been paying. So they are very unlikely to do more than threaten, but they will try and scare your friend as much as they can - so keep coming back here if you need helps

The ex is another matter, though - if the good were bought in her name and he just took them, she may have the basis for taking action against him, unless she received something of equivalent value in return?

~Jes

anh1904

I don't KNOW the answer, but I would have thought that having made a sensible offer to clear the arrears, the law would be on her side.

I poresume she can evidence that this figure is a sensible one given her income and outgoings (should she ever need to)?

As for the Bailiff's, they have very limited rights by all accounts, and can only come into your property if you let them. Plenty of help on the board for that sort of thing.

shell06

Thanks guys

My thinking was that they couldn't just 'send in the baliffs', to my knowledge she hasn't been to court or anything. I have told her not to let them in but she is really in a state about the £200 for monday. i am off to tell her to read this thread x

GeorgeUK

They may send round a collection agent, but they will definately not be bailiffs unless this has gone to court.

Has she tried to get the goods off her ex?
She may be able to take him through the small claims court.

If she doesn't want the goods, she may be able to get him to buy them off her or sell them if he hands them back.

RAS

shell06 wrote: »

My friend bought a TV, a washer and a tv stand from brighthouse (bad idea I know) with her ex. Said ex took all 3 when they split up and moved out. Only thing is they were all 'bought' in her name.

now she has not been able to afford to pay and at a bit of a loss as to why she should when he has the items.

She needs to report the items as stolen and advise the police who took them. They will help her retrieve them.

shell06 wrote: »

BH want a payment of £200 or they are sending the baliffs monday. Now she has written to brighthouse and offered to pay £50 for the next 3 weeks then go back to the £20 a week that she was paying. they are refusing to accept this and is wanting to get another loan which thus far I have disuaded her from doing.

So my question is, can brighthouse do this, if offer of payment is amde can they just refuse point blank to accept and send in the baliffs?

Brighthouse cannot just send round bailiffs. There would be a lengthy court procedure involving several opportunties for your friend to offer installments and keep to the plan agreed. Even if she faled to do so, the chances of a judge agreeing to bailiffs for a consumer credit debt is minimal.

Debt collectors have no legal power.

Brighthouse are breaking OFF Guidelines and need to be referred to the OFT for

1. Suggesting your friend takes out another loan to pay of the existing debt - out of order.
2. If they have suggested bailiffs or implied that debt collectors can do anything more than ask politely for the bil to be played - out of order.

shell06

I have pointed her in the direction of this thread. thankyou all for you help x

rubyslipper

Good luck to your friend. Relationship break downs are hard enough without this sort of thing going on. She's lucky to have a good mate like you x

Dinah93

My ex used to work for Brighthouse. They employ their own in house debt collection team, who go around and repo the goods if people fell behind on the payments. If her ex has them, does she know his address?!

RAS

Dinah93 wrote: »

My ex used to work for Brighthouse. They employ their own in house debt collection team, who go around and repo the goods if people fell behind on the payments. If her ex has them, does she know his address?!

Is brighthouse hire purchase then?

If so they can repro and she needs to send them round to the ex to colect the goods.

Dinah93

No idea if they are hire purchase to be honest, all I know is his store had 3 sales assistants, a manager, 2 guys who did deliveries of items, and 2 guys on another van who went and took back the items!