Charges against property

steve811

I must be going mad as I thought I had posted this here before but cannot find it! Apologies in advance for the long post.

Almost ten years ago (October 2000) I took a new job which paid a lot less than my old job. Part of the job was a two year training period which was paid even less! Towards the end of the second year my bank (Lloyds) offered me a credit card with a £3000 limit and a loan (£4000). As we needed cash and I was in a mess financially I took them both and started to use the card to pay for things when the money in the bank ran out! I used the loan to buy a car and pay of existing debts. About 12-18 months later I had exhuasted the card, and had a large overdraft. I then changed banks, but continued to ignore the debt and Lloyds piled charges upon charges until the total bill came to over £12000! Despite trying to get them to freeze the interest and the debt they continued to add more and more charges.

They then took me to the County Court and obtained two CCJ's one for the overdraft and loan (£12000) and one for the credit card (£4600). I was never in a position mentally or emotionally to fight the decision and never replied to the claim.

I made a few token payments to keep the baliffs at bay but never really could afford to seriously tackle the debt. Lloyds then went to court and obtained two charges against the house, one for the loan and overdraft and one for the credit card. I did negociate with the solicitors for the credit card and we entered into an agreement where we pay £40 a month, it is now down to about £2000.

Had I not been a bloody fool and dealth with the problem early I know I would not be in this position. However, the problem is we now have these two charges hanging over us. One relates to grossly execessive charges levied by Lloyds as overdraft, charges for the overdraft and interest on both! The charges are against a family home, jointly owned by both me and my wife, and what worries me is that if I die they have claims against my childrens home, and against my wifes share in the house. Although I have been told it is highly unlikely a court would order an eviction or allow Lloyds to try to force us to sell, there is always the worry of what would happen if we split up.

My question is, do we have any options to try and get the charges lifted? I know the fact that the debt has been "proven" in court means we cannot challenge it, but is there not something we can do to challenge the amounts and reduce it? Any help and advice is welcome.

NorthernLas

You could look at the reclaim bank charges guide http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges#reclaim

I think the charge only relates to your share of the house and the house should not be sold while the children are still children http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=15_charging_orders_in_the_county_court

steve811

Thanks for that. I don't think we could claim back charges as it is over 6 years old. I don't have any paperwork from that time and I am sure the bank don't!

The information on the debtline is usefull, particularly about the way the charging order should have been applied for, I am not sure we got the notice of the Interim Order, and I think we missed the chance to appeal.

NorthernLas

There is a whole forum dedicated to claiming back charges. I found the following post which may give you some hope that the bank may actually hold paperwork on your accounts. Although they are only obliged to hold for 6 years, many hold for longer and they are obliged to send it to you if they have it.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=33775149&postcount=7

If nothing else it may reduce your debt

steve811

Thanks for that, will have to write to Lloyds and see what they have on file. Might work!

RAS

Here is your previous thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607011

You may well be able to reclaim charges on the credit card. Also you need to see if there is any PPI on either account.

steve811

I did contact one of the companies who recover charges to try and recover the credit card charges, but they said that as it was over 6 years old it was impossible. I think I might give it a go anyway.