Please Help. Court in 11 days. Feel lost!

Firemountain

Hi,

First of all I'm in Scotland so laws will differ on my problem from England and Wales.

I had a warrant delivered to me by sheriff officers a few weeks back. Found out its a debt to shop direct for roughly £1500 they passed this via debt collectors eventually to a solicitors in Edinburgh Shoosmiths.

They have petitioned the court and I have a court date of 13th January. The debt was only incurred in last few years.. i was working then taken ill and been signed off for nearly 3 years I voluntarily came off and went back to college two days a week in August just gone to try get myself back to health and back to work eventually. So I'm a full time student just now ( even though 2 days class based still full time).

I contacted CAB a guy came out took all the info and said he'd pass it to the main guy that would deal with this in their main office. I never heard anything back. I called the office on 23rd hoping someone would be there as the date i had to respond to the warrant was Dec 30th. Noone was there they arent back in the office for another couple of days.

I'm terrified as to what they can do if i don't go to court. Ultimately I think due to other debts owing it would be better if they made me bankrupt but I don't know if or how they can do that. I don't have the monies to pay for that myself and have no means to borrow it from anyone either.

Really looking for some help and advice if anyone can assist? It's giving me sleepless nights and not exactly best start to the new year.

Thanks in advance

another_casualty

Sorry to hear about your anxious situation.
The good thing you have done , is post on here. I'm sure someone will be along sometime in the morning, with some sound advice to put your mind st rest.
In the meantime, I have a suggestion .
You ssy you have other debts ,as well as the £1500 .
My advice is to look on the forum for an s o a form and fill that out, listing all of your outgoings etc.
You could also contact stepchange or PayPlan, who will advise what the best solution is for you . Stepchange post on here ,and may even see this thread and respond.
They may suggest a debt management plan/ I v a , or bankruptcy.
Btw, going bankrupt is not so scary if you don't own a house etc.
You may qualify for a debt relief order, which I know nothing about.

Bottom line is , things will get done for you one way or another imho.
Try not to get too stressed though, as there's nothing you can do if everything's shut for the holiday season, you still have time.
If you do deal with anybody independently , do it in writing.

Best of luck .

Other posters will respond shortly ..

sourcrates

Hi,

Did you submit your defense by Dec 30th ?

If not, its important that you do so by tomorrow, otherwise the creditor can obtain judgement by default against you.

The law differs a bit in Scotland, unfortunately i am no expert on Scottish law.

I would contact either Stepchange (Scotland) or National Debtline (Scotland) first thing in the morning, tell them that you have received a summons, and have missed the deadline for submission of your defense, they will be able to advise you best.

Check here for more information :

http://www.debtscotland.com/useful%20information.pdf

Could be that a DAS (Debt arrangement scheme) may be of use to you, as you have other debts.

Firemountain

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,

Did you submit your defense by Dec 30th ?

If not, its important that you do so by tomorrow, otherwise the creditor can obtain judgement by default against you.

The law differs a bit in Scotland, unfortunately i am no expert on Scottish law.

I would contact either Stepchange (Scotland) or National Debtline (Scotland) first thing in the morning, tell them that you have received a summons, and have missed the deadline for submission of your defense, they will be able to advise you best.


Could be that a DAS (Debt arrangement scheme) may be of use to you, as you have other debts.

I didn't submit anything to the court as defense as I have none and don't know what to submit. I was waiting on the CAB help as to how to proceed.

It's still a public holiday here in Scotland barely anything reopens for business till Wednesday

sourcrates

Dosent it instruct you what to do in the paperwork ?

When you receive a claim form in England or Wales, there are clear, presice instructions on how to proceed.

National_Debtline

Hi Firemountain

We’re open today and we can advise you on Scottish matters. It’s best to telephone us so that an adviser can get a good idea of your circumstances.

www.nationaldebtline.org/S/Pages/default.aspx

From what you’ve said it sounds like you should still be able to ask the sheriff for 'time to pay’, where affordable instalments can be set. There are details on this factsheet:

www.nationaldebtline.org/S/factsheets/Pages/simple-procedure-actions/time-to-pay.aspx#

Other options such as DAS or bankruptcy might also be suitable depending on your situation.

James
@natdebtline

Firemountain

Spoke to debtline and the court. basically told to wait till CAB is open.. wont be a hearing as i never replied in time with any options.
The summons does give info about what to do but was beyond me and thought CAB were helping before being let down.
My real panic now is that they will get their decree file a charge for payment against me and go after my bank account. I never have any money of note in it but when i get my student loand and bursary money thats to pay rent and bills .. worried about that impact on keeping the roof over my head .
MAP or bankruptcy suggested but i dont ahve the money to pay for those and dont know if they could be instructed in time to prevent further action on this one ?
Sorry if im spiralling but in real panic mode now

coolcait

Ok, there's still time to speak to CAB and get some advice and work out what you want to do. If you owe Shoosmiths less than £3,000 they can't petition for your bankruptcy.

The court date isn't until the 13th. CAB can tell you if there's anything you can do about getting your side heard, even though you missed the deadline of 30 December.

If you can't do anything, then the Sheriff will probably issue decree without a hearing. After that, Shoosmiths have to sort out issuing the Charge for Payment - it might take them a few days or they might try to pressure you to pay up without them serving a charge for payment. That would give you more time to get advice from CAB.

Even if they process a charge for payment the day after they get decree, and even if sheriff officers are able to serve it on the same day (all fairly unlikely), you still have 14 days until the charge for payment expires. Shoosmiths can't do anything until at least the 15th day after the charge has been served.

That means you have at least another two weeks, after the court date, to talk to CAB. If you still need more time to discuss what you want to do, the CAB can submit a moratorium application to the Accountant in Bankruptcy.

If the moratorium application is accepted no later than the 14th day after the charge for payment is served, that means that Shoosmiths can't go for a wages or bank arrestment for another six weeks. If they do try to put an arrestment in place, the CAB can challenge them about that.

Basically, even if Shoosmiths serve a charge for payment the day after decree is issued (unlikely), you could have at least 8 weeks to talk to the CAB before Shoosmiths can do anything about a wages or bank arrestment.

DAS might be a possibility, but it's just one of many things that you can look at with CAB.

Just remember that you have more time to think about what you want to do, and talk about it, than you realise - it doesn't all have to be done and dusted by the 13th .

The Accountant in Bankruptcy's guide also tells you a bit more about how a lot of it works: https://www.aib.gov.uk/sites/default/files/aib_-_debtors_guide_-_november_2016.pdf

Firemountain

coolcait wrote: »

Ok, there's still time to speak to CAB and get some advice and work out what you want to do. If you owe Shoosmiths less than £3,000 they can't petition for your bankruptcy.

The court date isn't until the 13th. CAB can tell you if there's anything you can do about getting your side heard, even though you missed the deadline of 30 December.

If you can't do anything, then the Sheriff will probably issue decree without a hearing. After that, Shoosmiths have to sort out issuing the Charge for Payment - it might take them a few days or they might try to pressure you to pay up without them serving a charge for payment. That would give you more time to get advice from CAB.

Even if they process a charge for payment the day after they get decree, and even if sheriff officers are able to serve it on the same day (all fairly unlikely), you still have 14 days until the charge for payment expires. Shoosmiths can't do anything until at least the 15th day after the charge has been served.

That means you have at least another two weeks, after the court date, to talk to CAB. If you still need more time to discuss what you want to do, the CAB can submit a moratorium application to the Accountant in Bankruptcy.

If the moratorium application is accepted no later than the 14th day after the charge for payment is served, that means that Shoosmiths can't go for a wages or bank arrestment for another six weeks. If they do try to put an arrestment in place, the CAB can challenge them about that.

Basically, even if Shoosmiths serve a charge for payment the day after decree is issued (unlikely), you could have at least 8 weeks to talk to the CAB before Shoosmiths can do anything about a wages or bank arrestment.

DAS might be a possibility, but it's just one of many things that you can look at with CAB.

Just remember that you have more time to think about what you want to do, and talk about it, than you realise - it doesn't all have to be done and dusted by the 13th .


Thanks so much for that youve really helped a lift a bit of weight off and reduced the panic that I've been in . I'll read through everything in advance of appts . Thank you again!

Firemountain

Hi guys,

Hope you don't mind me coming back to pick your brains again .

So I've had a letter form the Registry Trust Limited telling me that a scottish decree has been granted against me on the 13th January.

I have not been able to get any help from CAB despite this guy telling me he passed my details to the relevant person and Ive been calling them every day since and it just rings out.

No charge for payment has been recieved as yet so hopefully they arent dashing to get that from the court.

I'm just wondering if you all think I can do this alone without any other outside help.

The moratorium thing is what seems a big deal to me but it's something i deffo need. I have a job on and I need to earn the money from it asap it's a promo thing which means i might not get paid till Mid march ... I NEED that money to be out of my account and put aside elsewhere so i can may my rent in june july etc as I'm at college at the moment and o guarantee that I will have work over the holidays etc. I hope this makes sense.

Just really looking for the support from those in the know and I really appreciate any help,advice and support you can give. Thanks so much for your time in advance .

sourcrates

Right so it appears you have a judgement by default then.

The thing you have to remember is, they cant take what you dont have, i suppose a monthly repayment has been ordered by the court, do you have any details on that ?