We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

Could You End Up In Court Over Debt?

I'm just curious, I know there are people out there who take out credit and have the money to pay it back but they just can't be bothered.

Then theres the like of me who take out credit, over commit and genuinely ca not afford to pay it back.

But you can tell credit companies this till your blue in the face and they still don't believe you, I mean they then ask you for an income and expenditure form and even when its in black and white in front of they they still do not believe you, They then make you offers I.E say you owe them £900 they make you an offer of £100 which I still can not afford to pay but yet they still think you have money and your having them on, They eventually get !!!!ed of and pass it to another collection agency.

So I'm wondering what actually would happen if you genuinely could not afford to pay and a creditor took you to court, sure I make payments to my creditors (What CCCS came up with) but its never enough

Comments

  • Conor_3
    Conor_3 Posts: 6,944 Forumite
    Either way, both have obtained credit by fraud. One because they had no intention to pay, the other because they knowingly borrowed beyond their means to pay.

    Its usually a county court matter though.
  • Hi DJ

    The simple answer to your question is, yes, you may can end up in court if you can not meet your contractual payments and you could then have a County Court Judgement for your debt. Not ideal, but a Judge would look at how much you could afford and set the amount using your financial statement and then that creditor could not purse the debt any further provided you paid the ordered amount on time each month.

    I should probably disclose that I'm a debt adviser (need to get my signiture sorted out). It sounds like your doing all the right things with your creditors but they are known for being awkward when a customer tries to sort out their debts themselves, so their could be one of two things hindering your negotiations.

    1. Your financial statement show things they do not want to see you spending your money on - alcohol, cigarettes, too much on leisure or housekeeping is unusually high for the size of your household etc.

    2. Your creditors think they can ignore the protocols of dealing with a customer who's over stretched themselves because you are negotiating with them rather than using a debt advice service.

    If your financial statement is fine, I'd recommend getting some face to face debt advice. You may only need one appointment as you've done all most hard work yourself but just a headed letter from a money advice charity or CAB could be all it takes to get your creditors to listen to your offers. And there should be something available near you as the DTI's funding loads of debt advisers to get trained to the moment.

    And hopefully, you maybe able to avoid going to court at all.

    Hope you find this useful.
    Finished the training and I am now a Debt Caseworker
    I am disclosing this information in accordance with Martin's code of conduct so my knowledge may be of use to others. My posts are not intended to give anyone advice in a professional capacity.
  • Hi again

    I just spotted that you are in Northern Ireland, the info I've given still should apply but I recommend getting debt advice as the rules governing debt collection of non-priorty debts may vary to England. And it's best to avoid going to court as it will add costs to your debt as well as possibly result in a CCJ
    Finished the training and I am now a Debt Caseworker
    I am disclosing this information in accordance with Martin's code of conduct so my knowledge may be of use to others. My posts are not intended to give anyone advice in a professional capacity.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 348.3K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 452.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 240.9K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 617.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 175.6K Life & Family
  • 254.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.