Moneybarn want my house

UpToMyNeckInIt

pottersjam,

Sorry to hear of your situation.

Some great advice here already.

Trouble with DMP's is that creditors are still free to go after you. As you are a homeowner with equity, I guess going bankrupt is not an option.

However, if you have reached the point where you are considering selling up, have you thought about an IVA as an alternate option?

The following link to the 'Debt Camel' website (set up by a CAB advisor) provides one of the best comparisons in layman's terms, of all the debt management solutions that I have seen:

http://debtcamel.co.uk/debt-options/

Properly research all your options to see if a DMP or IVA really is right for you or not.

Best of luck.

arcon5

I'd start by challenging the sum of £8k... you paid a few installments and £1200 deposit and they sold it for £5500... so they've recovered about £7k. Leaving £1k outstading + interest on original loan + recovery costs/auction fees/etc. This should come to nowhere near £7k!

Has it been to court?
Have you seen a breakdown of the debt?

Buzby

MBNA were famous for this - they rarely enforces a sale, they simply used it to ensure they got their pound of flesh - effectively turning their non-secured CC into a secured debt.

Anecdotally, if have heard that is better to challenge the order (preventing it becoming confirmed) this is because whilst you may not be challenging the amount owed, the process being used is way out of proportion (and since they are charging you for it, is onerous).

By stating that the amount of interest charged on the loan would have been considerably less IF secured, then by giving them the ability to do this after the event is an abuse of process. I'm aware of three much rejections being upheld by the court, admonishing the lender for trying it on.

magpiecottage

That is an interesting argument from Buzby which would seem to form the basis of a complaint against the lender.

As this is a consumer credit agreement taken out since April 2007, FOS would have jurisdiction.

The complaint would need to be on the basis that although the debt was owed, your financial circumstances were ignored, you were not treated sympathetically and additional costs were incurred and added to the debt unnecessarily.

You need to complain to the lender first and then to FOS if you do not get a satisfactory response.

dancingfairy

It doesn't seem fair to me that creditors are able to change unsecured debts (or debts secured on a car for example) to secured on your house. It seems an abuse of power and disproportionate.
There was a thread on the debtfreewannabe board all about charging order which although long may have info and advice about challenging the charging order.
df
Edit: maybe look into the OFT guidlelines on being a responsible lender and Treating Customers Fairly (TCF). There's also the OFT's guidance on debt collection which you can quote at them if you wish to contest this.

pottersjam

really appreciate all the advice and will check out all links etc for advice

i will post what happened following the court date in january if anyone is interested

one final point , my partner of 20 years has severe arthritis and i have to help dress her etc she takes chemo injections daily and other medicines
( i have kept this from her as she is really low)

can this be used as a defense in any way as to not being forced to sell house?

also my son is just starting GCSE's and could do without disruption

pottersjam

arcon5 wrote: »

I'd start by challenging the sum of £8k... you paid a few installments and £1200 deposit and they sold it for £5500... so they've recovered about £7k. Leaving £1k outstading + interest on original loan + recovery costs/auction fees/etc. This should come to nowhere near £7k!

Has it been to court?
Have you seen a breakdown of the debt?

court is jan 07th and it is almost exactly as you put your reply, i have paid approx 2K including deposit , they got 5500 from sale of car and the car was originally 8200 when bought....seems wrong to me they are still asking for 8k ( which is nearly all interest)

National_Debtline

pottersjam wrote: »

really appreciate all the advice and will check out all links etc for advice

i will post what happened following the court date in january if anyone is interested

one final point , my partner of 20 years has severe arthritis and i have to help dress her etc she takes chemo injections daily and other medicines
( i have kept this from her as she is really low)

can this be used as a defense in any way as to not being forced to sell house?

also my son is just starting GCSE's and could do without disruption

Hi pottersjam

The points you raise above are probably more relevant to fighting an Order for Sale (OFS) application than the initial Charging Order (CO) itself. That's not to say that you can't bring these points up now - but a lot of district judges tend to deem that granting the creditor security for the debt is far less significant than forcing the sale of a property, and so they will spend far less time deliberating over it. Remember that at this stage we are only dealing with an application for a charge, not a forced sale.

In our experience, it's highly unlikely this creditor would go on to seek an OFS, simply because they would have low to zero expectation of a district judge agreeing to it. Judges know this themselves as well, hence them not usually fretting too much about granting the basic CO.

Please do keep us updated on your progress.

Good luck

Dennis @NDL

National_Debtline

Hi there,

I've just pulled up some statistics from the court service to give you an idea about how the courts deal with charging order applications.

In 2012 there were 65,131 charging order applications, of these 59,501 were granted. There were 273 orders for sale granted.

For the first 2 quarters of 2013 there were 29,867 charging order applications, of these 25,033 were granted. There were 114 orders for sale.

I hope this gives you an idea as to just how rare orders for sale are. What we cannot find out is whether or not these have arisen out of consumer credit debts such as loans and credit cards etc.

It doesn't seem fair to me that creditors are able to change unsecured debts (or debts secured on a car for example) to secured on your house. It seems an abuse of power and disproportionate.

This has been an ongoing debate for many years, and certainly it makes a very good point. The key issue, though, is that once the contract defaults and becomes a county court judgment it doesn't matter what type of debt it is - as the judgment creditor has a right to enfore the debt using any of the enforcement mechanisms. Although to have a charging order may be somewhat frustrating they may be a better alternative to another potential option for creditors - bankruptcy proceedings. There used to be greater protection afforded to those with county court judgments with instalment orders, the rules of the court prohibited making a charging order unless the debtor defaulted. Sadly these rules have recently changed in favour of the creditors. I think it's always worth trying to contest the making of a final charging order, as you can see from the court statistics some people do succeed.

For the record, I agree that a charging order could be a disproportionate measure for sure.

Best wishes,

David @ NDL.

pottersjam

Ok thanks for all the replies really appreciate it. Would you recommend getting a solicitor (although i doubt i could afford one) to represent me.

My plan is to print out all my arguments and points as to why i think it is unfair and read them out in court.

Just panicking that i might forget to say something whilst under pressure.

Thanks again