debt company purchased debt - now got a charging order

bottle04

A debt company has purchased a debt that was mainly bank charges from the Halifax unauthorised overdraft of about £130 escalated to almost £2000 over the 5 ½ year period. they have taken me to court and I was ordered to pay it. I put an offer in of £1.70 per month after all my other bills were paid this was left over, I was on benefits but now am staring self employed but now can afford £10 per month or a little more. The court date came and I was violently ill so could not attend, can’t prove it as was not medical i.e. hospital, just poorly for a couple of days. In my absence the debt company has been successful in obtaining a charging order on my property. I still waiting for the forms but got the letter from the court saying they have awarded in favour of Debt Company. Pleas can any one advise me as what to do. I got a case worker at the C.A.B but she seems to just be accepting things rather than fighting them any help would be gratefully received.. not sleeping that well..Thanks ricko

Tixy

How recently was the court date (for the CCJ)?

Has there been 2 court dates - 1 for a CCJ and 1 for an interim charging order? or just one court hearing so far?

Is your property owned in your sole name? is there any equity in it currently? do you have any other unsecured debts?

National_Debtline

Hi bottle

Welcome to the forum.

You wouldn't have been expected to attend court in relation to the money claim itself - it sounds as if you did not dispute the debt and simply made an offer - this would have been dealt with by court admin staff without any hearing necessary.

However when the debt company then applied for a Charging Order, that's when a hearing would have been arranged. In all honesty, and without knowing every last detail in this particular case, it's unlikely that your presence at this hearing would have changed the outcome. The creditor only needs to show that it has a valid county court judgment for the court to make the charging order "final", regardless of whether you have been making the ordered repayments or not.

To put things in some perspective, it is very unlikely in our experience that a debt company would then try to take things any further. In the vast majority of cases they will simply "sit" on the debt while you gradually pay it off until either (a) you repay in full, (b) you remortgage, or (c) you sell up/downsize.

If the property is jointly mortgaged with anyone else, the creditor would not even be allowed to make such an application. I recommend that you read our Charging Orders fact sheet:

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=15_charging_orders_in_the_county_court

Regards

Dennis @NDL

dinky201

Was it halifax took you to court or a debt collector?

Could go to doctor about sleep problem cause by stress,
could phone Office of fair trading and complain about halifax or the DCA ( as they don't seem fair here) and dont think they allowed to cause stress. you be classed as vulnerable persons.

also look at OFT guidelines on their site and CPR protocols if they followed them?

Get all the ammo you need.