Being taken to court - help!

indebt123

I have posted previously about an agreement with HFC taken out many years ago which was then sold on to TBI and then for the last 12 months, its been on going through their solicitors, David Jones (same address as TBI??)

Since January they have not been happy with my £10 per month repayment offer (debt of £1300,) and advised that if I could not increase payments from March, they would go to court. Well, basically, I cannot increase my repayments (I already pay them far more than the pro-rata amount should be) and wrote to them with an I&E form in April to this effect.

I have received a letter today stating that this is not acceptable and my file is being prepared to be passed on to external solicitors to instigate court proceedings and the next I will hear is from the courts direct.

I have many other debts, of which I pay pro-rata payments and have not been taken to court with any of these.

Please help, what happens, what do I do? Could they take my home, OMG, I am scared. :(

antrobus

indebt123 wrote: »

....I have many other debts, of which I pay pro-rata payments and have not been taken to court with any of these.

Please help, what happens, what do I do? Could they take my home, OMG, I am scared. :(

You will go to court. A judge will look at your I&E etc, listen to what you and and TBI have to say, and make an order for you to pay so much a month. Which might be £10, or more, or less, it all depends.

You will not lose your home.

indebt123

They want £35 per month and the debt cleared in 3 years. I think I will have to give them this, I cannot afford to be taken to court.

RAS

How many years ago???

Was there ever a period of 6 years when you did not pay anything?

fermi

RAS wrote: »

How many years ago???

Was there ever a period of 6 years when you did not pay anything?

Previous thread: Constantly being harassed by one creditor - help please

indebt123

I took the initial debt out in approx 1992. There was a short period of about 18 months when I did not pay (they did not chase either,) and this was in 2009-2011. Since then they have chased regularly and I have always paid what I can afford. I know they will use this in court.

michael1983l

indebt123 wrote: »

They want £35 per month and the debt cleared in 3 years. I think I will have to give them this, I cannot afford to be taken to court.

Going to court will not cost you anything, but it will get the creditor off your back.

matttye

Can you actually afford to give them any more money? If your I&E form showed any disposable income then a judge might order you to pay them more. If you can afford to pay more you could do so and prevent court proceedings.

It's worth noting that their letter, at this point, is just a threat (common scare tactic used by debt collectors) and they might not carry it out.

If you can't afford to pay any more, you should invite them to take you to court, as the judge will see you can't possibly pay any more than what you're offering and will make a judgment that you pay what you're paying now or less. It would be a massive waste of their time even taking you to court if that is the case, and I expect you might be able to convince them of that with a strongly worded letter.

HappyMJ

Court isn't scary...and it doesn't cost much.. The court costs are between £70 and £80 and will be added to the debt...it doesn't cost you anything up front. You would have the creditor off your back and only be required to pay an affordable amount each month.

indebt123

No, I cannot afford to pay them more money, Just to currently keep a roof over our heads, feed and cloth us as a family is hard enough.

I am just scared of being taken to court and people find out, etc, the stigma attached and all that.

fatbelly

Repeating what I said on the previous post:

'If £10 is your pro-rata payment, then that is what you pay.

And if they do make a claim, that is what you offer on the claim form.

Factsheet | Replying to a county court claim form

They have probably picked up that you are worried by this and are playing on it. It may never happen.

But even if it did, a ccj followed by a charging order is not the end of the world. They would not be able to force an order for sale so the charge would just stay there until the debt was paid off.'

You will not be 'taken to court' or necessarily 'go to court' - there will only be a hearing if you dispute that you owe this sum. You do have that option if you want to investigate and argue against the penalty charges following the £10 Subject Access Request someone mentioned in the previous thread.

Otherwise you just reply to the form demonstrating why £10 is the amount you can afford - the link gives the process.