A charge on my house

Sarah1971

I posted on here a while ago about the bad financial situation my ex-husband left me in. I have a payment plan set up with CCCS now that has been going well, I pay an agreed monthly amount,as much as I can afford.

I received a letter today fro weightmans, a legal firm, (debt from HFC)who have advised me that they are not happy with the rate of payment via CCCS and they are putting a charge on my house, if i don't respond by Wednesday 29th they will apply to the court for this and i will also have to pay legal expense too.

This debt was an unsecured joint debt with my ex husband and was around £15k, with all of the accrued interest the balance is now £21876! I am so annoyed I have to pay for this just because he declared himself bankcrupt!!

I am a single mum, who works p/time, he rarely make a contribution to the childrens maintenance payments, my mortgage is £152,000 the house is only worth approx £175,000! I struggle to make payments each moth but i am not in any arrears with my mortgage or anything.

So what do I do, sign this bit of paper and when I sell the house one day they will take this £22K?! Or is there anything else I can do? Also does this amount now stop accruing interest ie will it be capped?


Thanks for any advice

Sarah

CLAPTON

they can't just put a charge on your house.

they can apply to the court for a charge and you can go you court and put your side of the case i.e. you are doing your best to repay your debts etc.

what exactly does your bit of paper say? maybe it is asking you to voluntarially agree to a charge.....don't do it. or is it simply asking for more money...dont pay any more than that agreed with CCCS

dinkylou

Phone the CCCS back up and tell them all about this sending them copies.

They are trying to bully you and they cant do this. Chances are that even if it did go to court, the fact that you are paying via CCCS would go in your favour.

Dont agree to anything with Weightmans/HFC they are just trying their luck.

Tootsie_Roll

dinkylou wrote:

Phone the CCCS back up and tell them all about this sending them copies.

They are trying to bully you and they cant do this. Chances are that even if it did go to court, the fact that you are paying via CCCS would go in your favour.

Dont agree to anything with Weightmans/HFC they are just trying their luck.

Er no.....

I don't know why people keep on thinking this is the case. As the OP mentioned HFC's solicitors have written stating they are going to apply to the court for the charge and that any legal expenses incurred will be added - nothing wrong with this and they are quite within their rights to do so. Also the courts are obliged to take the FULL financial situation into consideration including any equity when making an award. Just because the OP is on a DMP with CCCS does not mean this type of action cannot be taken.

I keep saying over and over - there is no such thing as an unsecured loan.

Sarah1971

You say they want you to respond by Wednesday 29th - have they suggested a new payment amount ? Is this figure completely out of the question ?

Unfortunately for you this type of action is more and more common and not just an idle threat, however it is not the end of the world. Just find out from them how they intend to proceed and consider the consequences once you know all the facts. Post them on here if you are unsure and we can help you.

stellagypsy

Hi Sarah9171 - HFC tried this with OH a few years back (seems to be their standard MO) - we were paying £40 pm, proved we couldn't afford any more at the time but they still went for it. It went to Court, we put up a fight (no arguement about owing the money, just their tactics). Judge was great, came down in favour of OH, refused to grant the order, called them greedy, froze the interest and worked out how much a month we should repay so that the debt doesn't finish till we retire!!!!!

So- my tip is fight it all the way, make sure you are totally honest with the Judge if it gets that far and you will probably find that he/she is on your side as regards the tactics they use. Also, if it goes to Court, it is finished with so long as you keep to the judgement, they won't harass you ever again.

HTH, Stella xx

fatbelly

Sarah - do they aready have a CCJ against you on this debt? Everyone (well Tootsie and Clapton) seems to be assuming that they do, but this is not clear from your post.

They can only execute judgement (bailiffs or attachment of earnings or charging order) if you default on a judgement.

So if they are only now applying to get a CCJ, the key is to persuade the court to give you a judgement to pay in affordable instalments. If the court grants a 'forthwith' judgement (pay the whole lot immediately) then appeal within 14 days. And if that fails try a variation using an N245.

Tootsie_Roll

fatbelly wrote:

Sarah - do they aready have a CCJ against you on this debt? Everyone (well Tootsie and Clapton) seems to be assuming that they do, but this is not clear from your post.

They can only execute judgement (bailiffs or attachment of earnings or charging order) if you default on a judgement.

So if they are only now applying to get a CCJ, the key is to persuade the court to give you a judgement to pay in affordable instalments. If the court grants a 'forthwith' judgement (pay the whole lot immediately) then appeal within 14 days. And if that fails try a variation using an N245.

Fatbelly - it is clear from Sarah's posts that they haven't been awarded a judgement yet and it also looks like this may be her only problem debt - does she even want a ccj when it may be possible to avoid it ?

You are correct about the forthwith judgement which means that this sentence 'They can only execute judgement (bailiffs or attachment of earnings or charging order) if you default on a judgement.' is wrong and a variation order is only applicable for an agreed monthly payment order.