Charging Order ! Please help.

LBaum

I have maintained a DMP for over a year. One of my creditors has passed the debt over to a DCA. They obtained a CCJ against me which required me to pay the DCA ten times the amount of the DMP agreement. I stuck to the original agreement and applied for a redetermination at a local court. My case is due to be heard at a local court within 14 days. I am fairly certain they are going after a charging order.

I am really worried by this and I need to prepare for the case.

Here is an outline of my situation.

1. The house is in joint names. The unsecured debt is in my name only.

2. We have one child under eighteen living at home with us.

3. There are four creditors and the loans are currently unsecured.
The DCA bringing this action against me has taken on a relatively small loan by comparision to the two of the other creditors. The other creditors accepted the DMP and the DMP is up to date.


4. My wife and I genuinely want to sell our home and downsize within the next 12-18 months . The house requires a good deal of renovation to realize its full market value. The reason we got into debt was due to us borrowing money to renovate our home. We have spent the last two years living in an unfinished project.

We are both self employed and when the recession came our incomes dropped drastically and we were unable to keep up with repayments, and like many people the whole thing spiraled into charges and late payments, which is why I took out a DMP.

I am considering taking out a bridging loan to finish the work on the house, because there is no way I'm going to allow our home to be repossessed and sold for a small amount its value.


Any advice would be welcome.

thechippy

Even "if" they get a charging order, judges are generally unwilling to allow forced sales.

What's in your favour is the fact the house is joint and the debt is in one name only. This means the co would only effectively be a restriction.

If you want to sell, make sure you have a solicitor who knows about co's.

Basically, the solicitor is only required to inform others of the impending sale 14 days before completion. This allows not enough time for the creditor to get thier wheels in motion. So, the house sells, you get all the proceeds, creditor gets nothing and the co falls off upon completion.....:D

WRINKLES

LBaum wrote: »

I have maintained a DMP for over a year. One of my creditors has passed the debt over to a DCA. They obtained a CCJ against me which required me to pay the DCA ten times the amount of the DMP agreement. I stuck to the original agreement and applied for a redetermination at a local court. My case is due to be heard at a local court within 14 days. I am fairly certain they are going after a charging order.

I am really worried by this and I need to prepare for the case.

Here is an outline of my situation.

1. The house is in joint names. The unsecured debt is in my name only.

2. We have one child under eighteen living at home with us.

3. There are four creditors and the loans are currently unsecured.
The DCA bringing this action against me has taken on a relatively small loan by comparision to the two of the other creditors. The other creditors accepted the DMP and the DMP is up to date.


4. My wife and I genuinely want to sell our home and downsize within the next 12-18 months . The house requires a good deal of renovation to realize its full market value. The reason we got into debt was due to us borrowing money to renovate our home. We have spent the last two years living in an unfinished project.

We are both self employed and when the recession came our incomes dropped drastically and we were unable to keep up with repayments, and like many people the whole thing spiraled into charges and late payments, which is why I took out a DMP.

I am considering taking out a bridging loan to finish the work on the house, because there is no way I'm going to allow our home to be repossessed and sold for a small amount its value.


Any advice would be welcome.

Taking out another loan when you are in so much trouble already would just land you in more trouble , a court will take into account your priority bills and living expences , they will only make you pay what you can afford , if you do not pay what the court orders you to pay after a reditermination then you would have real problems , try not to worry , are you being represented at court.

Tuscan

Ok first off dont panic, ive been in the same position as you back in 2008, was on a dmp and all creditors were happry apart from Natwest who took me to court, same as you thay wanted a payment amount way above what i could afford. It went to court and i got a CCJ and then applied for the redetermination hearing..

To cut a long story short i attended the hearing in person and on my own (Natwest never turned up) you will speak with the Judge in a private room your not on trial, i had a informal chat about the whole situation i was in and how going on a DMP was the best thing to do as it allowed me to pay off my debts rather than running away, i told the judge what i could pay and she accepted it and refused the C/O, she made it clear she had a dim view of Natwest for not giving me any slack what so ever and for being unreasonable in there demands, there is a caveat on my file that allows Natwest to re apply in the future to have my statement of affairs looked at again by a Judge but they havent bothered as of yet.

Also i always over pay by about £20 every month on my CCJ so if it does got back to court it shows im making an extra effort to clear the debt faster, however next spring our house is going on the market and we are clearing all debts and will rent for a few years then buy again, we are lucky in that we have a very large equity so will clear debts and still have a very nice deposit, but with bad credit history we wont get a mortgage for around 2-3 years later when the CCJ and defaults drop off the file...

best of luck

LBaum

Wrinkles: Not borrowing any more money , in fact never borrowing money again is probably the soundest advice that can be given to anyone who has been minced up in the 'debt-machine'.

I do have equity in then property. Basically we have lived like paupers and never tried to utilize that equity. It is possible the house would be worth a good deal more if fully renovated with all the buyers report/ survey boxes ticked-much more than the value + interest on the bridging loan.

Selling our house would allow us to downsize and live mortgage and debt free , but this is not something I want to do until our child finishes college. - When I do downsize will still live like a paupers, but have no debts, no threatening letters, no telephone harassment
and none of the stress that goes with debt management.

Don't worry, I'm not about to jump into this yet, and I'm still thinking about it.


Tuscan

The problem I have is that being self employed our income is variable. I am seriously worried that if I set a high estimated repayment then one month I might not have enough to pay the charging order + DMP after all priority payments are made.


I'm wondering if the Judge might accept a lower, safer level of monthly repayment on the guarantee of the house sale within 18 months?

Any ideas?

LBaum

Thechippy- that is an interesting piece of information . I do actually want to sell the house and clear debts. I hate being in debt and never want to have it over me again.

WRINKLES

LBaum wrote: »

Wrinkles: Not borrowing any more money , in fact never borrowing money again is probably the soundest advice that can be given to anyone who has been minced up in the 'debt-machine'.

I do have equity in then property. Basically we have lived like paupers and never tried to utilize that equity. It is possible the house would be worth a good deal more if fully renovated with all the buyers report/ survey boxes ticked-much more than the value + interest on the bridging loan.

Selling our house would allow us to downsize and live mortgage and debt free , but this is not something I want to do until our child finishes college. - When I do downsize will still live like a paupers, but have no debts, no threatening letters, no telephone harassment
and none of the stress that goes with debt management.

Don't worry, I'm not about to jump into this yet, and I'm still thinking about it.


Tuscan

The problem I have is that being self employed our income is variable. I am seriously worried that if I set a high estimated repayment then one month I might not have enough to pay the charging order + DMP after all priority payments are made.


I'm wondering if the Judge might accept a lower, safer level of monthly repayment on the guarantee of the house sale within 18 months?

Any ideas?

Explain to the judge how you income is not guaranteed offer to pay what you can realisticly afford he will likely accept this, As to the house renovation are you any good at DIY or have mates who are, do it in small stages, wait untill you have saved enough to do a job then save again for the next,

LBaum

Wrinkles - I spend my entire working life renovating other people's homes and live in an unfinished tip myself. It's what I do for a living.

I don't have the physical energy to start on my own property after a working week, and I've learned if I do seven days a week I get overtired and ill, and I'm not a young man anymore.

Tuscan

I forgot to add i am also self employed (building trade) and i am suffering with the down turn and the wifes only part time as we have a baby, so i offered what i thought i could afford on a bad month, worse ways if your short one month then you just lower your dmp payment for that month then if needed make it up over the next month or two, i have only had to do this once since 2008 and the other creditors were ok with it, at the end of the day you can only do your best and if paying a sercured debt means not paying a unsercured debt then it has to be done. its all about priority and buying some time in my book.

decide what you can afford and stick to that, no one can or will make you pay what you havent got theres a duty of care to debtors, what i some times think is this, "it would be much worse if they owed me all that money lol", let them worry about it not you...

LBaum

" if paying a sercured debt means not paying a unsercured debt then it has to be done. its all about priority and buying some time in my book."

I've been thinking on this one. Can you shift any available income to pay secured debts at the expense of the others in the DMP?

If so, I get what you mean, if they get a CO and you have a bad month then you pay the CO first and what remains is shared out by the other creditors.

I still got this nightmare that we won't be able to pay one month if they do get a CO.

Building trade really slow around here and have spent the last eighteen months doing odd jobs.
Drive a seriously ancient van which they couldn't afford to repossess, and I own very little. Even buy all my clothes S/H which for some strange reason I enjoy more (maybe because of the bargain factor) than when I could afford to buy new clothes.

How do you address the judge BTW when you go in the room ?

Is it Sir/ Madam ,

thechippy

Use Sir / Madam.

They may not even get the co anyway.
You have an under 18
You are attempting to pay
It gives them an unfair advantage over larger creditors who've accepted the dmp.

You'd have to miss more than one payment for them to apply for a forced sale, which judges try to avoid anyway.