help please

ms75

Hello

I wonder if you guys can give me some of the great help that you have given others.

3 years ago my dad had a several strokes and a heart attack, he also was diagnosed with an anurism to help things(he is now 61.)

At the time he had some money and some debt. I made sure his accounts were up to date! Now he hasn't worked since, because he is still ill and to be honest he wont work again. He is due to start recieving his pension in June.

On Thurdays i turned up at his house and he showed me a letter and, which the title is:

B10 notice of registartion of a bankruptcy notice.

the letter is from the land registry.

I asked him what this was about and he said he had been srtuggling pay his debts and kep getting letters which he put in a draw under his spare bed. There must be 300 letters there!!!

Today I will be undoing all the letters and working out who he ows money to. I phoned the court and found out that the obove debt is to a company called lowell, hamptons. They dont know the amount. I will be in contact with them asap. He says he has never borrowed money from them, but i figure they are collecting on behalf of someone else.

The court said a date had not been set and of yet is not bankrupt! I need to stop him beong made bankrupt, because i dont want him to lose his house or other posessions.

Can you guys shed any light on what the next steps i take are?

The good news is his motgage is up to date, as are his utilities!

Now all i need to do is stop being worried as i dont want to have a heart attack.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read. Any help will be appreciated!

benrsmith31077

First thing you need to do is find out exactly what he owes to whom. It is difficult to say what you should do as it will depend on the amount owed.

The Debt Collecter companies are not to be trusted under any circumstances. They WILL lie through their teeth if it suits them. Advise your father not to acknowledge anything to them in writing. Find out what he owes from the letters you have found under his bed. Send all the other debt collecters 'Prove it' letters (can be found by searching on this forum)

Contact the original creditors directly. Explain the situation to the creditors and offer whatever repayment terms you can reasonablty afford. You might be surprised how reasonable they can be.

The exception to the above is the Lowells debt as they are trying to make your father bankrupt. You need to find out exactly what it relates to and what the original amount was. Also make sure anything you recieve from the 'Land registry' or 'Court' is actually from the those two places and not a threat-a-gram from the Debt collectors.

Also, not sure about how your fathers health would come into the situation. Sure someone else on here will know, but I would say that he would be classed as 'vunerable' in the eyes of the law and therefore any further debt collection action against him would be inappropriate.

ms75

Hi

Thanks for the reply. I am still going through the letters at the moment. It looks like in one or two cases some of the debts have gone from company to company, so the same debt seams to show up 3 or 4 times. I need to work out who the debt it is with at the moment, and work out the origin of the debt. I will send prove it letters before doing anything.

I think my plan will be work all the depts out, then see what my dad can afford to pay. If I have to I have a car I can sell and maybe if i can negotiate some sort of payment plan, i can pay it for him. As long as he doesn't lose his house, we will be ok!

The amounts are certaily adding up!

Thanks for the reply.

RAS

Hi

Lowell/Hampton legal are often involved in collecting unenforceable debt. Unfortunately if you do not defend the case, the case is found in their favour.

You need to start with dad's credit records and sending out prove it letters.

CH27

Slightly off topic but have you checked your Dad gets all the benefits he is entitled to? Council Tax benefit? DLA if he is so unwell?

ms75

Thanks guys. After a horrid day I have added up a serious amount of debt, a ccj and a charge on the property. I feel so frustrated as this could have been avoided, had he just admitted he was in trouble.

Anyway today is the start of fixing things!!

I spoke to a nice guy at Lowell and they own the bebt on behalf of barclaycard. The amount is £8k inc legal costs. They have a court date booked at the end of may to make him bankrupt. We can avoid court by paying 25% of the balance and the balance spread over 18 months.

I will be sending out several prove it lessons tomorrow.

RE the benefits. My dad wouldnt accept benefits when i first suggested them, but now he realises he needs to claim and thats what they are there for. Ideally if he could get some form of housing benefit, then we could sort out this situation. I will look into that!

Thanks everyone!!! The advice really is appreciated!

Hannah_10

Please read this: The Golden Rule and safe payments.

benrsmith31077

ms75 wrote: »

Thanks guys. After a horrid day I have added up a serious amount of debt, a ccj and a charge on the property. I feel so frustrated as this could have been avoided, had he just admitted he was in trouble.

Anyway today is the start of fixing things!!

I spoke to a nice guy at Lowell and they own the bebt on behalf of barclaycard. The amount is £8k inc legal costs. They have a court date booked at the end of may to make him bankrupt. We can avoid court by paying 25% of the balance and the balance spread over 18 months.

I will be sending out several prove it lessons tomorrow.

RE the benefits. My dad wouldnt accept benefits when i first suggested them, but now he realises he needs to claim and thats what they are there for. Ideally if he could get some form of housing benefit, then we could sort out this situation. I will look into that!

Thanks everyone!!! The advice really is appreciated!

Dealing with the bankruptcy one first:

First thing, have they really got a court date? Or have they just said they have? Have you had it confirmed by the court? If they haven't and the debt is soon to be statute barred then they could be trying to get you to make a payment so they then can take bankruptcy action. Always be wary when DCs are being 'reasonable'!

Make no payments on that barclaycard debt until you have satisfied yourself that it is not statute barred. When was the last payment or acknowledgement in writing made by your father? Was the CCJ for the barclaycard debt? If so that will make the 6 year rule moot. Whatever the CCJ was for will probably have to be paid in full asap.

If not and it is over 6 years since the debt has been acknowledged then they will not be successful in court as long as you put in a defence.

Do not make any payments or acknowledge the debt in writing until you are sure of the above. And also make sure you never provide them with a sample of your dad's signature. They could use it to fake a CCA or letter.

Now for the other debts:

The replies you get from your prove it letters will most probably be B.S. They usually suggest that you need to check your records and prove the debt is not your dad's. This is rubbish, they have to prove he owes the money (they prob. won't be able to) so follow up with requests for CCA (Consumer Credit Agreement). You can find a template letter in this forum. The text of the template explains what they are obliged to give you under law and they cannot legally refuse. I am almost 100% sure that they will not be able to provide you with one. When they can't you simply tell them to get lost! The only exception to this would be a bank overdraft which wouldn't come under the CCA.

Again, make sure when writing to them that you or your dad do NOT sign the letters (use a typed sig in word or whatever). Remember that you are not dealing with legitimate, law-abiding companies. This industry has a history of fraud, deceit and general criminal activity.

Also please get some advice about your Dad's health situation. I really think he would be classed as a 'vunerable person' and that would put an end to a lot of this for you.

RAS

ms75 wrote: »

I spoke to a nice guy at Lowell and they own the bebt on behalf of barclaycard. The amount is £8k inc legal costs. They have a court date booked at the end of may to make him bankrupt. We can avoid court by paying 25% of the balance and the balance spread over 18 months.

Hi

Lowell are not known for being nice.

As said previously, they are known for buying and collecting debt that is unenfoceable. They buy a £8K debt for £1K and get you to pay even though it is not enforceable= nice profits.

Have you got dad's credit records as suggested yesterday?

WHEN did he last pay any money towards this debt?

NeverAgain_2

...Lowell are not known for being nice...

Just to reinforce the point, you really cannot take anything they say at face value.

The 'nice' man is almost certainly taking advantage of you in some way.