Paying back an old loan - please help!

darren.thrower

Hello everyone - this is my first post so i'm hoping someone can help me and my wife out here as we're quite worried!!

Many years ago when I was with a previous partner - we took a loan out for consolidation purposes and over the years, overdraughts and re-finance have gone on it to make rather large - over £20,000!!

In 2006, whilst self employed, I wasn't bringing in enough money to pay the loan and so started to fall into arrears with the payments.

We had to sell the house and moved in with in-laws and the bank were given this address but nothing was sent to me via that address.

I was applying for full MOD security clearance (summer 2008) and they sent me a letter asking for more details on the 2 CCJ's against me.

One was for Inland Revenue which has since been cleared.
The other was for the bank loan.

The bank had taken steps to get it back and in November 2007 a CCJ was made.

I phoned the bank at the time of applying for SC and I was told to speak to the recovery department in Edinburgh.
They said it was being dealt with by some solicitors in Glasgow and was given phone number and reference.
The solicitors said they were waiting on the bank to advise them what to do so I was stuck.

Since then I have heard nothing from no one until end of last week when a letter was delivered to my in-laws from a debt collectors addressed "to the occupier" saying they were updating their records and was this my current address.
My in-laws replied saying it wasn't my address.

Then today I receive a phonecall from these debt collectors asking if I can pay off the debt today (with interest it's now over £26,600)
When I said I couldn't - they asked if I could if they reduced it by £10,000 for 7 days.
I said in my current financial status I couldn't pay them if they made it £1,600 as we're are living week to week.

I was at work and couldn't take any details down so I asked if they could post some contact details to me - he refused due to the postal strike!

When I said again I couldn't take any details down as I was at work and in the middle of something - he hung up on me saying "well i've given you 7 days..."

My wife and I are quite worried now on how this might move forward, we don't have the funds and have no way of getting them.
What if bailiffs turn up on the door to take goods from the house - we don't have that much money in items in the house.

I think I have listed all relevant information but if anything is vague, please ask and I will reply to clarify.

Any help and ideas on how to move forward would be greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks,

Darren and Tracy

darren.thrower

Can anyone offer some help or advice please?
I'm starting to have sleepless nights worrying about bailiffs knocking at the door!

Jamesf81

What debt collectors is it?

darren.thrower

Hi there and thanks for getting back to me.

He did say but as I was at work and in a busy environment - I can't remember.

I'm just worried that as he's contacted me and given his company name and given me 7 days to reply (even though he knows I don't know how to contact him) he is 'legally allowed' to move to the next stage (stating I've ignored his instructions) and serve bailiffs on me???

di3004

Hi there

I cannot actually give you any advice on this matter myself and can see that others are trying to help you through this, but did you take out insurance with any of your finance?

Thought I should mention this because not everyone are aware they have this added to their loans.
In this case if you have insurance and you did not know you had this you can reclaim this back, its also known as PPI.
Also if your unable to make a successful claim on this for example unemployment/sickess etc.

I would check out any policies that you have just in case.

It could be that if this is also the case, you can reclaim on the PPI, and if successful, this will then help to reduce any debt.;)

vaporate

No bailiffs can enter a house that does not belong to you as you are not the house owner.

Secondly the gestapo, sorry bailiffs, need a court order.

RobertoMoir

vaporate wrote: »

No bailiffs can enter a house that does not belong to you as you are not the house owner.

Interesting theory. It's not as simple as that. Bailiffs can certainly enforce against, for example, rented addresses. Lodgings in someone else's house is a bit of a grey area, with the obvious proviso that they can't remove goods that don't belong to the debtor.

vaporate wrote: »

Secondly the gestapo, sorry bailiffs, need a court order.

They have one, apparently. Note the mention of a CCJ.

OP, if this was being enforced by bailiffs then that would be through the courts, not a debt collection agency. If it goes back to court for enforcement then you can usually halt a bailiffs visit and make an arrangement to pay the court. The point is that bailiffs will not randomly turn up. Debt collectors may do so, however, and they'll talk like they can do all kinds of things but don't worry - they can't do anything to you or your property if they visit.

katsu

Can you try following up this issue by going back to the bank or solicitors firm whose contact details you do have?

Perhaps they can either tell you who the debt collector is or give you some up to date information.

darren.thrower

Thanks for all your replies - very much appreciated!!

We received a letter from the debt company asking for the full amount on a card or cheque or to get in touch.

After speaking to some other people - we were advised to try and get an IVA sorted.

I tried a few websites and spoke to a company who has started the ball rolling to enter an IVA so we're very much relieved.

So once again, many thanks for your help!

KiKi

Hi there Darren

Please make sure you read this post BEFORE you enter into an IVA. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2077631

There are organisations that can help you do this for free; you do NOT need to pay companies who are only out for themselves to help you achieve this!

Please read it so that you can make an informed decision for you; any company who charges you for this is there to make money from you and not acting impartially.


KiKi

darren.thrower

The website I went on was Trapped and they put me through to Bains & Ernst.

They want £272 on the 22nd Dec and £272 on the 19th Jan and then the DD will be set up for £272 for 60 months.

Does this sound ok or should I look elsewhere?