Secured debt on property - advice please

teddy54

Hi everyone, Having defaulted on a bank loan some 6 years ago the bank concerned took out a second charge on my property. The amount is around 8K. I also have another charge on the property.
I assumed that the charge would just sit in the background until the property was sold for whatever reason, but have now received letters basically saying that they want their money now, and threatening to take further action, which I assume would be an application to the courts to force me to sell.
I am obviously worried about this. What normally happens, is it common for banks who have a second charge force the sale of the property? I am not in a position to repay the 8K, and could only afford a relatively small amount each month to pay the debt in instalments.
Please advise what the best course of action for me to take here - should I make an offer of instalments, or wait to see if they apply to the courts, or would that be too late?
Any advice would be welcome, thanks

National_Debtline

Hi teddy54


Were there any specific conditions attached to the charging order at the time the court granted it? If so, the creditor could only seek a forced sale if these conditions had been broken. This is assuming that the bank obtained their county court judgment (CCJ) before 1 October 2012 - there were some slight changes to the rules for CCJs obtained later than that.


It's not especially common for banks to seek Orders for Sale, but it can and sometimes does happen, especially if the debt isn't being otherwise paid and has been passed on to debt collectors who are after a quicker return.


I'm assuming from your post that you haven't been actively offering or paying instalments up until now. I would suggest that you begin to do so ASAP, as this will bolster any arguments you have in the event of an Order for Sale hearing.


It may be that these threats are, more than anything, intended to jolt you into some sort of response and payments. Either way, best not to presume - I'd suggest that you have a read of our charging orders fact sheet:


https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/countycourtchargingorders/chargingorderadvice.aspx


Dennis
@natdebtline

teddy54

I should add the mail came from HSBC Litigation Department, is this a DCA?

teddy54

Sorry, posts crossed, thanks for the reply. There where no specific conditions regarding repayment as far as I can recall

National_Debtline

teddy54 wrote: »

I should add the mail came from HSBC Litigation Department, is this a DCA?

Looks like it is still in-house - this might not be a bad thing, as historically banks are not as inclined to seek Orders for Sale. It may be that they are doing a periodic review of their "cold cases" and seeing whether they can shake a few trees. Again though, best to assume the worst and proceed accordingly.


Dennis
@natdebtline

fatbelly

http://debtcamel.co.uk/charging-order-sale/

teddy54

Thank you all.
Its interesting that HSBC Litigation is seen as a DCA from what I have read, I did used to get letters from DG Solicitors, but these stopped and then the letters from HSBC Litigation started arriving, from roughly the same Birmingham address, I wonder if this was a change of name? Do you feel if I make an offer of £50.00 per month, which is all I can afford, would be a good initial action to take?

fatbelly

The FCA, when they came into being a couple of years ago, decided that it was an unfair practice for creditors to 'pretend' to be something they weren't.

I used to know which made-up names were which lender though it's getting a bit hazy now as those old names aren't used more. Probably HSBC pretended to be DG Sols and are now writing as themselves.*

Yes, if you can afford it, make the offer. Can't do any harm

* yes, mentioned here: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jul/04/banks-legal-demands-that-scare-customers

teddy54

Thank you all.
Firstly I will write for details, I know I should be able to recall, but I cannot remember if this debt was in joint names with my wife. as she has died since, and perhaps this will make a difference.

teddy54

Hi again all. just to say I have written requesting details of tis debt, I do not know if it was for a loan, overdraft or credit card at this stage. To be truthful I wrongly just put my head in the sans and ignored what was going on I was struggling at the time due to my wifes death.
I discussed this with a close friend, he is adamant that even though the debt is secured by a final charging order on my property it can still be statute barred? He seems to recall reading about a similar case in the past.
I am not trying to necessarily wriggle out of this, but interested to know that this could be the reason why the debtor is trying to get me to come to some arrangement, so to nullify the statute barred status. To the best of my knowledge there was nothing in the charging order stating I had to start paying back the debt, and I have not paid anything. I assumed that the charging order would just sit there awaiting the sale of the property.
Sorry for so many questions

teddy54

Sorry, bad spelling in the above post, hope it makes sense