Clearing Half of a Joint Debt

dancingfairy

Like the above person said - 1) they can't have what you haven't got and secondly a charging order is not the end of the world - they are extremely unlikely to make you sell you house (though they may well say this to you on the phone with no proof of what they've said ) - it is technically possible but highly highly highly unlikely - I really can't see a judge granting an order of sale based on what you've said - basically they want it as security - so when you sell the house they make sure they get their money.
A CCJ - there are various ways of defending against these as has been described by the above poster - they may not have a valid legal agreement, even if they do get a CCJ then you have a certain amount of time to pay it before it becomes lodged on your credit rating and if they demand full payment then youcan apply to the court to pay what you can.
I would definitely agree with the above poster - contact National Debtline ,CCCS (Consumer Credit Counselling Services) or your local CAB.
Oh and don't panic just yet - so far all you've had is scare tactics from the debt collectors - not any real action or letters by the sounds of it.
df

NorthernLas

Take it as a lesson learnt - debt collectors are not your friend, their job is to get money from you. They are not interested in your circumstances, the operators are interested in a sales bonus that they will get on recovering money from you.

They will talk rubbish on the phone because it frightens people and it has worked. Now you need to find out a more balanced opinion and decide for yourself what to do. Luckily, your offer of £7k was also on the phone, so they have no evidence of that either

YOU are in charge of how much you pay them. They can ask all they want, but you are the person paying. Hopefully you pay by standing order (if not it should be).

They will not have looked to see if the agreement you signed is valid. Your name will have come up on a list as someone to phone. They want some money from you.

Take it easy & don't panic.

barbiedoll

This is why we advise people not to call the DCA's! Please don't get too stressed about this, even if they get a charging order, they will not be able to order you to sell your house to pay it, if it means that you will be homeless. All it means is that if and when the house is sold, they can claim the money then. And even then, there are ways of avoiding this but that's another story for another time.
For now..you definitely need to request your CCA. Don't worry about upsetting them, they are not doing you any favours at the moment anyway and without the CCA, they cannot enforce the debt through the court although this will only work IF you have requested it and they don't have it. (Not all judges are financial law experts so they could well grant a CCJ without a valid CCA, if no-one has requested one!)
A good template letter is here (thanks again to Niddy)...
http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=603#p603
It's under the "CCA Request" header.

Send this letter off as soon as possible (recorded delivery only) and enclose a postal order or cheque for £1. Do not use one of your own cheques, get someone else to write one out for you and DO NOT sign the letter. As soon as they receive the letter, the account is formally in dispute so they cannot demand payment for it. You could also send the "contact in writing only" letter here....
http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=178#p178
That should stop them phoning and hassling you.

If they are offering a "discount" then you can bet that they don't have the CCA to hand. They may try to fob you off by saying that they have to contact the original debtor (Barclays) but they still have 14 days to comply with the request, which they know full well. DCA's buy debts for a very small percentage of their original worth, even if you only paid your half, they would still make a profit out of you. Why pay more than you have to, especially if they are going to bully you and distress your girlfriend over this?
Please do this as soon as you can, tomorrow if possible. Once they have the CCA request, they can't go ahead with court proceedings until they have it and you have a copy of it. Don't be outsmarted by these buffoons, you have to let them know that you are aware of your rights. And don't panic, which I know can be easier said than done! We are all behind you on this so get your letter off and sit tight and wait. Keep us posted.

NWMazda

Thanks everyone for your replies on this one, much appreciated.

I honestly had no idea they would go this full on and ask for £312 a month which they basically admitted they know I can't pay. All they want is the order on the house.

Can they prove I am on the mortgage of the house or does that have to come from my word? It was mentioned in a phone call so I can ask them to prove that I own property?

And yes, I've been totally naive and fell for the friendly approach. I stupidly thought that if I was friendly back and played ball, they'd work with me here but no, they are shafting me as hard as they can.

In respect of the 7k offer, I made it very clear that this was not my money and that it would only be loaned to me if it cleared the balance. They did ask me to pay it and then make smaller payments but I made it uber clear that I was not able to repay them and my family together.

In my haste this afternoon and with quite heavy pushing from my now very stressed girlfriend, I made a solicitors appointment for tomorrow afternoon but it's a free half hour one so I might aswell keep it.

I will definitely do the CCA request tomorrow and the write only letter and pray that something comes back that I can stick to them. I never had any intention of shirking this responsibility but they evidently have no interest in my circumstances so it's time to stop caring about theirs now.

NWMazda

Can anyone advise me on a CCA template issue please?

I followed the link to another forum to obtain the latest CCA template letter. However, it has a word in there which my spellchecker is upset about. It says this:

"I require you to provide me with a true copy, or reconsitituded copy of the credit agreement relating to any account you deem to be mine"

Is this a genuine word? I'm not exactly sure what it is asking of them, does this mean they can provide a true copy or knock one together? I am just worried that they'll use this as an excuse to say they have no idea what I'm asking for.

Hopefully this is a real word and I'm just getting stressed for nothing!

sofababe

That should read reconstituted . Just rewrite that word and send it in the morning. Recorded delivery always, and never signed! Hopefully they won't send u anything except a letter to say they don't have the CCA in which case u give them a great big "up yours!" :rotfl: