Ex- Credit Analyst - Throw your Credit & Underwriting Q's at me.

hsgamboy

I have already posted this on the board but think you might have an answer for me.

Hi

I am a 1st time user after many months of reading everyone’s threads. I have to say that this is a brilliant site and full credit to all of you.

Enough said, I have a massive problem and need your help.

I ran up my American Express credit card to 2k and couldn’t repay the debt. Couple of weeks ago I received a county court judgement to repay £4K and this week I received correspondence from both the solicitor acting on behalf of American Express and the Land registry that my creditor had applied to register their interest on my property and provided I don’t dispute or object by mid-Jan 2007 this would be the case.

My property is a Share Ownership scheme – 50% belongs to the housing association and the other 50% to me and my ex-girlfriend (she moved out over 3 years ago and I had been paying the mortgage, we are in the process of taking her name off the mortgage)

My question is – and bearing in mind that I cannot pay the £4K they are demanding;

1) Can my creditor and its solicitor legally exercise this threat?
2) Can they force both the Housing Association and me to sell our property to pay off the measly £4k debt?
3) When I do sell my share of the house, in 21 year (after paying off my mortgage) will they just be entitled to just the £4k or also the equity made on the property as well?

The property is worth £166k, I owe 83k of which 55k is mortgage.
I only want advice/suggestion and no criticisms please on why can’t I just pay up. I will pay the debt back in less than two years time when I am in a better financial situation. I don’t either want to borrow on my mortgage just to pay off this debt.
Look forward to your replies.

Mike_St_Helens

hsgamboy wrote:

I have already posted this on the board but think you might have an answer for me.

Hi

I am a 1st time user after many months of reading everyone’s threads. I have to say that this is a brilliant site and full credit to all of you.

Enough said, I have a massive problem and need your help.

I ran up my American Express credit card to 2k and couldn’t repay the debt. Couple of weeks ago I received a county court judgement to repay £4K and this week I received correspondence from both the solicitor acting on behalf of American Express and the Land registry that my creditor had applied to register their interest on my property and provided I don’t dispute or object by mid-Jan 2007 this would be the case.

My property is a Share Ownership scheme – 50% belongs to the housing association and the other 50% to me and my ex-girlfriend (she moved out over 3 years ago and I had been paying the mortgage, we are in the process of taking her name off the mortgage)

My question is – and bearing in mind that I cannot pay the £4K they are demanding;

1) Can my creditor and its solicitor legally exercise this threat?
2) Can they force both the Housing Association and me to sell our property to pay off the measly £4k debt?
3) When I do sell my share of the house, in 21 year (after paying off my mortgage) will they just be entitled to just the £4k or also the equity made on the property as well?

The property is worth £166k, I owe 83k of which 55k is mortgage.
I only want advice/suggestion and no criticisms please on why can’t I just pay up. I will pay the debt back in less than two years time when I am in a better financial situation. I don’t either want to borrow on my mortgage just to pay off this debt.
Look forward to your replies.

Hiya - I was just reading your other thread.

I personally would try and contest this as much as possible, its an unsecured debt, they have no right to your assets. Even if they are offered £1 per month they could not contest this, as long as you offer a reasonable amount for repayment, thats if you agree to repay then they cannot have the order on your home.

Mike_St_Helens

faffyman wrote:

Mike,

I hope you can help with this one. I bought a house about 18months ago and have been receiving letters from various DCA's ever since I moved in. Prior to moving in the property was vacant for about 9 months, the previous owner having died.

The debt letters are all for a Miss K M M who never lived at the address.
Miss KMM has debts with several lenders including Halifax, and one of these debts is for 15K.

Initially I sent the letters back, then I replied to those sent to 'The Occupier' and told them that no KMM ever lived at my house.

I still get the letters, with more threatening tones each time. The most recent one however was more disturbing in that it prentended they were looking for an old friend on a personal matter.

I have stopped replying and do not call their 0845 call centre numbers as this (fraudulent) debt is costing me money by putting the DCA's straight.

Some people have told me I should just ignore the letters and not contact the agencies again (makes no difference anyway) But can my credit rating be damaged by somone else's debt? what should I do?

I dont know if it helps but they always have the street name wrong but correct post code. The post office would do anything about that though.

Hiya.... The only advice I can give and its personal rather than professional is ignore them, dont open them and return to sender, theyll stop eventually. Just make sure there is nothing on youir own credit file relating to this and you will be fine.

hsgamboy

Hiya - I was just reading your other thread.

I personally would try and contest this as much as possible, its an unsecured debt, they have no right to your assets. Even if they are offered £1 per month they could not contest this, as long as you offer a reasonable amount for repayment, thats if you agree to repay then they cannot have the order on your home.



Thanks a lot Mike!

People on the other boards are suggeting that I borrow the 4K and repay the cc company. I am due to remortgage in May this year and one option I have is to raise the money that way or wait until couple of years time when my wife completes her studies, our financial situation would improve a lot by then.

I am very reluctant to add this debt on my mortgage (doubt if i would be able to now - with this debt)

What do you think is the best plan of action? I can offer them £20-£30 a month (all I can afford at the moment)

If they do refuse, Will the debt increase from the £4K when I decide to pay it back in couple of years time? Bearing in mind that the count judgement has already ruled that I pay back £4k. But this will mean that they would have sucessfully register against my property.

I have read most of your replies and I admire your frankness and appreciate you view on this matter.

charmaine

Mike , hopefully you can help me, i've just got my credit report which is quite good apart from the fact they're 5 defaults from 4 years ago all for mail order places and all of small amounts. I've only had 1 mail order catalogue and i've still got it. This was at my last home which has since been demolished. I lived in a block of 6 flats - do you think someone has been ordering things in my name? Also my birth date is wrong on these it down as 20/7 and its the 28/7. What should I do can I get these removed and will these defaults stop me getting a mortgage.

SunderlandBlackCat

Hi Mike

I hope you can help with this.

Now that I've cleared the worst of my debts & cleaned up my credit report I seem to have finally lost the ability to obtain new credit to do a balance transfer when the current 0% deal ends (1st of Feb).

Marbles turnend me down because I didn't fit their profile (Applied Oct 06) & Morgan Stanley because I am "Overcommitted" (Applied 28 December & received letter today). I did however get accepted for an Egg Money card at the beginning of December but there's a low credit limit & no 0% transfer on that which is fine because I only wanted it for cashback & have set up a dd to clear it each month.

Since I obtained my current 0% card my debts have been reduced by £1700, I have 3 fewer credit cards, no longer have an overdraft or bank loan & my income has increased by 40%. The only black marks left on my credit report are 4 late payments between Oct 05 & Jan 06 which were all paid 1 day late.

Address has been the same for 11½ years & I'm on the electoral register & I've had 1 current account for 10 years & another since July 06. I've paid off & cancelled the following cards in last year & another this month.

06/01/06 Mint
06/01/06 Barclaycard
15/10/06 Halifax One
05/01/07 RBS Mastercard

I'm confused because when my debts were in excess of my annual income I was still able to get credit cards at good rates close together. Can you offer any advice?

gmb_2

Hi - I have got into trouble paying my credit card - the Company have now sold the debt to a debt recovery company - I have now received a Statutory Demand - the debt is for £1,000 even though they offered to cut it by half if I paid before Christmas which I could not do - can you tell me what I have to do - if I phone the Company and make them an offer to repay it do you think they will accept and stop any bankruptcy proceedings they threaten - please reply - thanks

Mike_St_Helens

charmaine wrote:

Mike , hopefully you can help me, i've just got my credit report which is quite good apart from the fact they're 5 defaults from 4 years ago all for mail order places and all of small amounts. I've only had 1 mail order catalogue and i've still got it. This was at my last home which has since been demolished. I lived in a block of 6 flats - do you think someone has been ordering things in my name? Also my birth date is wrong on these it down as 20/7 and its the 28/7. What should I do can I get these removed and will these defaults stop me getting a mortgage.

I would contact the mail order firms themselves. I know its an !!! to do , but by speaking to them you will find out if they are your debts or not and if not be able to get them removed from your file.

The defaults will have an effect with some lenders but not others...

Mike_St_Helens

SunderlandBlackCat wrote:

Hi Mike

I hope you can help with this.

Now that I've cleared the worst of my debts & cleaned up my credit report I seem to have finally lost the ability to obtain new credit to do a balance transfer when the current 0% deal ends (1st of Feb).

Marbles turnend me down because I didn't fit their profile (Applied Oct 06) & Morgan Stanley because I am "Overcommitted" (Applied 28 December & received letter today). I did however get accepted for an Egg Money card at the beginning of December but there's a low credit limit & no 0% transfer on that which is fine because I only wanted it for cashback & have set up a dd to clear it each month.

Since I obtained my current 0% card my debts have been reduced by £1700, I have 3 fewer credit cards, no longer have an overdraft or bank loan & my income has increased by 40%. The only black marks left on my credit report are 4 late payments between Oct 05 & Jan 06 which were all paid 1 day late.

Address has been the same for 11½ years & I'm on the electoral register & I've had 1 current account for 10 years & another since July 06. I've paid off & cancelled the following cards in last year & another this month.

06/01/06 Mint
06/01/06 Barclaycard
15/10/06 Halifax One
05/01/07 RBS Mastercard

I'm confused because when my debts were in excess of my annual income I was still able to get credit cards at good rates close together. Can you offer any advice?

Hi there,

From what you indicate, your profile seems ood.

As you know each lender is entitled to have their own rules, so being overcomitted with one lender, doesnt mean another will think the same. What is your 'debt to income' ie: amount you owe/earn ?

I do personally think lenders are tightening the belt mind, credit isnt as easy to get as it were 18 months ago. Probably my fault

Mike_St_Helens

gmb wrote:

Hi - I have got into trouble paying my credit card - the Company have now sold the debt to a debt recovery company - I have now received a Statutory Demand - the debt is for £1,000 even though they offered to cut it by half if I paid before Christmas which I could not do - can you tell me what I have to do - if I phone the Company and make them an offer to repay it do you think they will accept and stop any bankruptcy proceedings they threaten - please reply - thanks

Hiya.. They are tryoing to scare you. I very much doubt if a DCA would bankrupt you for this amount, the fees for them to do this exceed the amount you owe !!

Call them and offer if you like, if it EVER wet to court, you offered.. they wouldnt have a leg to stand on.

Have you called CCCS, payplan or national debtline ? They have great advice, and in some circumstances will take the problem from you and deal with it on your behalf.

MIke