Advice needed re Court Hearing

betsyboo44

Hi, We are new to this site and wondered whether anyone could give us some advice regarding a redetermination hearing.
We have been on a DMP with Payplan for the last 12 months and never missed a payment.
One of our creditors MBNA passed the debt on to Optima Legal who in turn took legal proceedings. A hearing took place at Northampton CC and the courts decided that we pay optima Legal a monthly payment of £271.22 which we cant afford to pay. I contacted Payplan and have now received a date for redetermination which is 27th July. I would be grateful if anyone could give us any advice please.

Sunnylooloo

Betsy - sorry didn't want to read and run.... not sure on this to be honest but stick around and someone will be along who can offer some advice

LL

Marisco

My partner had two cases heard in Northampton CC, and what I did was write a letter enclosing a soa and made an offer of £1 a month!! The court accepted that. Obviously if you can afford more, offer more, but don't leave yourself short! Also when doing your soa, "beef it up" a bit, so that you are not left with nothing at the end of the month. Did you write to them before the original hearing enclosing a soa? If not, this is probably why they set the payments so high!! Good luck!

RAS

have you arrranged to have the case heard at your local court?

betsyboo44

Hi, Thanks for your reply, yes the hearing is at my local court.

betsyboo44

Hi Marisco, Im not sure if a SOA was sent as when I received the original letter from the courts payplan asked me to forward it on to them, so I presume they sent it!!

Marisco

You should write/phone them and ask them if a soa was sent as the amount seems pretty high to me. Payplan should know your circumstances and should know you couldn't afford that amount!!! In my experience, I've found that courts are much more realistic re repayments than DCA's!:mad: The downside of course is you get a CCJ against you, but as my partners credit rating was through the floor anyway, a couple more made no difference!!:o

betsyboo44

I will contact them today to see if one was sent.

NorthernLas

The following text is from https://www.toomuchdebt.co.uk and explains more about the re-determination hearing. Rather than finding out if PayPlan sent your budget sheet, I would suggest that you review it and make sure you are happy that it is accurate with regards to cash available to repay the debt. You should err on caution rather than saying you can afford X and then being unable to pay.

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HOW DOES A 'RE-DETERMINATION' WORK?

'Where the Order was made by the court staff (you owe less than £50,000), the District Judge can decide to have a hearing or make a decision by looking at the papers. You can ask for a hearing when you write to the court to ask them to look at your case again.

If the Order was made by a District Judge without a hearing (you owe more than £50,000) then the "Re-determination" of your offer must be decided at a hearing.

If the Order was made District Judge after a hearing you cannot apply for a "Re-determination" - you can only apply for the monthly payments to be reduced or "varied".

ABOUT HEARINGS

If there is a hearing at any stage, the case will automatically be transferred to your local county court so you can attend. The court will give you a hearing date. You must go to the hearing which should be in the District Judge's Rooms (in private). Take a copy of your Personal Budget Sheet.

betsyboo44

Many Thanks for your reply northernLas, Im not sure what to do now because Payplan have asked me to forward the redetermination letter to them! Does anybody know why they would want it, also what happens in a redetermination do you have to explain your circumstances to the judge?