Amigos Loans

Social_Mime

Hello,


To put a long story short, my partner and I took out a loan some years ago with amigos loans. We split up, and in exchange of CSA payments for our daughter, he would pay the loan. He met somebody else and had a child with her. He stopped showing interest with our daughter and changed his number. I assumed he was still paying the loan as I heard nothing.

This week I have found out he has not paid the loan for a while. They are now chasing me full for the loan. I am happy to pay half, with him paying his half.. but they are not interested in chasing him (he is the guarantor and we both used the money). I have just had a bailiff at the door asking for attachment of orders. They are threatening prison and all sorts. I need to go to court 9th of June too.

I am out of work having leaving my job - after I was sectioned under the mental health act. I have Bipolar, PTSD, anxiety, and kidney problems. I am just about getting back on my feet and this has knocked me back.

I am going to the court tomorrow to send my attachments of earnings - which is little. I put down an offer of £45 a month until I am hopefully back in work to pay it off. Can they accept this? I am on PIP, Child tax credits and child benefit.

Please do not judge me - a silly mistake when I was younger. The remaining of the loan is £5,000.

Thanks for any advice, I am pretty clueless of my rights.

fermi

Sounds as if they have a CCJ against you or both of you on the loan if it has reached that stage.

Can be enforced against either or both of you, but frequently they will just come after who seems the softer target.

National Debtline has a factsheet on AEOs that you should read if you haven't already.

--> https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/countycourtattachmentofearningsorders/attachmentofearningsorders.aspx

Honestly, I'm not sure the court has the power to order or set payment of any amount by you under an AEO or similar if your only income is benefits.

I would strongly suggest giving National Debtline a call on 0808 808 4000 to chat this through with a debt advisor, so you have things 100% straight for whatever forms and court comes up.

tonyh66

If he is the guarantor, they they should be chasing him not you.

DCFC79

If you cant pay you cant pay but I don't see you going to prison

I also agree as he is the guarantor he should be the 1 being chased.

Maybe they have given up chasing him and have come after you.

Clive_Woody

Plenty of people have stopped paying Amigo loans and I am pretty sure that none of them have gone to prison for this reason. They were trying to scare you and it is nothing but hot air.

Give StepChange a call, they are a free debt charity who will be able to offer you proper advice and take away the stress. It's a freephone number and they will have been through this many times and can help.

Tel: 0800 138 1111

http://www.stepchange.org/

National_Debtline

Hi

It's certainly a good idea to give National Debtline a call on 0808 808 4000 as fermi suggests.

The court will not be able to make an attachment or earnings order if your income is only from benefits. Do you also get a main benefit such as Employment Support Allowance?

You still need to return the information the court asked for, but make sure you indicate that you don't receive a wage.

An offer of £45 per month towards this debt sounds like a lot to me from a benefit only income. We'll go through it in more detail if you call us but I recommend completing a statement of affairs (financial plan) to see how much you can realistically afford to pay towards this debt, and then apply to vary the court judgement using court form N245. The court should then set affordable instalments for you to pay yourself rather than a deduction. As long as you stick to those payments Amigo can't apply to use enforcement.

The N245 application costs £50 but you shouldn't have to pay if you're on benefits so also use a court form called EX160 with your application.

You can search for the forms here:
http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/FormFinder.do

James
@natdebtline

Vikipollard

...and be sure to pursue him for Child Maintenance!

sourcrates

You cannot go to prison for debt, not since Victoria was on the throne.

You say your not working, do you also rent where you live ?

If so, there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to you to make you repay this debt, if your a homeowner then they can obtain a charging order.

Please follow the advice given by national Debtline above.

fermi

sourcrates wrote: »

You cannot go to prison for debt, not since Victoria was on the throne.

Not for non-payment of the debt.

It sounds here as if there has been an order to complete an AOE/statement of means, and/or attend a hearing for that.
Failure to comply with such an order from the court can in theory result in attest and imprisonment, so I suspect that is what the bailiff or their paperwork referred to.

National_Debtline

fermi wrote: »

It sounds here as if there has been an order to complete an AOE/statement of means, and/or attend a hearing for that.
Failure to comply with such an order from the court can in theory result in attest and imprisonment, so I suspect that is what the bailiff or their paperwork referred to.

I think you're probably right on this. It sounds like the OP may not have responded to an N56 form requesting information.

James
@natdebtline