Cleaning up a mess...

onside

Hi,

New here and straight in with a saga - any advice would be gratefully received.

I had a business that didn't make it through the recession. In a pit of despair at the time I basically borrowed anything I could to keep it going, maxing the cards and adding a loan. When the inevitable came I was of course left with the debt and holding a personal guarantee for the company's overdraft.

As a result the bank in 2010 took a charge over my share of the house (jointly owned with my wife) against a debt initially for £31k and change. They started pressing for payments in 2015, by which time the interest had taken the debt up by a further £10k.

The remaining debts totaled about £50k across 3 main cards and a loan.

A CCJ was granted for the loan in 2010, but never acted upon, so that unless I'm mistaken is now at the mercy of them asking a judge to allow enforcement which after this time would be unlikely.

One card debt was never mentioned, so statute barred; another was sent to the County Court by a debt collector and defended with a straightforward 'never heard of them'. Nothing further there, so again statute barred.

The final credit card was a complete !!!!-up. Again it was sent to Northampton, only this time I managed to try and formulate a more robust defence while managing to miscount my days. As a result I wound up typing up a defence on the MCOL site tight up against the deadline. My session time out, I lost my carefully typed words and only managed to hit submit 10 minutes too late. Judgement in default a couple of hours later for £20k :mad: That was 2014.

A couple of weeks ago I received a note from the court saying that the debt collector in question had had the order on the name changed (from Aktiv Kapital), followed this week by an interim charging order.

In the meantime, we have also managed to run into a situation with HMRC regarding a tax credits overpayment. When my son started school I called to say our childcare had finished, they decided not to make the change. While they accept that, it was apparently our fault for not knowing that they had dropped one, leaving us liable :mad: That is £3.5k that is going to need urgently addressing.

So having burdened you, I am looking for some words of wisdom and advice. We have been through really tough times - depression, illness, the whole shooting match.

I had been hoping the last CCJ might have been lost in an archive box, but obviously not. Is there anywhere to go or any mileage in fighting the charging order? The judge isn't going to revisit the initial hearing obviously if I try to re-argue my case that the debt collectors have no right to the money, is he? Do we have a play, does my wife? Should we just be seeking an affordable repayment order?

The payment to the bank for the business overdraft is pretty crippling, and barely pays down that sum after the statutory interest. Is there anywhere I can go to argue that? After all, the sum of the overdraft contained a hefty chunk of charges and interest?

The latest charging order is our priority, as we are going on holiday at the weekend and would need to serve any defence before we go. Over to you guys, I hope somebody has some good advice :beer:

ethranes

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

This statement of affairs will be your first task, post it when done.

sourcrates

Hi,

If the house is jointly owned, and the debt is just in your name, then there wont be any charging orders, they will just be restrictions.

Whats your total (enforceable) debt as things stand ?

Best to do an SOA (statement of affairs, as advised above) that then gives us something to work with.

onside

We recently refinanced our credit card debts, so with the reduction in monthly payments I'd say this is about right:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1620
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1481
Benefits................................ 82
Other income............................ 750
Total monthly income.................... 3933

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 539
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 541
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 366
Council tax............................. 170
Electricity............................. 37
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45
Telephone (land line)................... 46
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 700
Clothing................................ 80
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 13
Car Insurance........................... 15
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 70
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 24
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 25
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 10
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60
Haircuts................................ 12
Entertainment........................... 105
Holiday................................. 130
Emergency fund.......................... 60
Professional memberships................ 35
Tax re BTL property..................... 65
Total monthly expenses.................. 3350


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 320000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 900
Other assets............................ 160000
Total Assets............................ 480900


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 137500...(539)......4.74
Secured Debt.................. 20000....(0)........0<
Business OD guarantee..........39000....(400)......8.25<
BTL mortgage...................135000...(141)......0.74
Total secured & HP debts...... 331500....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................1500......40........19.9
Loan...........................18500.....337.......5
HMRC...........................3580......0.........0
Water..........................400.......50........0
Total unsecured debts..........23980.....427.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,933
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,350
Available for debt repayments........... 583
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 427
Amount left after debt repayments....... 156

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 480,900
Total HP & Secured debt................. -331,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -23,980
Net Assets.............................. 125,420

Created using the SOA calculator at stoozing.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Hiddenidenity

onside wrote: »

We recently refinanced our credit card debts, so with the reduction in monthly payments I'd say this is about right:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1620
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1481
Benefits................................ 82
Other income............................ 750
Total monthly income.................... 3933

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 539
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 541
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 366
Council tax............................. 170 Over 10 or 12 months? Could ask to spread over 12 months to save a little and keep the budget the same every month
Electricity............................. 37
Gas..................................... 40 Combined with Electricity this is quite high for a family of 3. Shop around and compare. Don't forget cashback
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45 Again this is quite high. Are you on a meter? Or just in an area where its expensive?
Telephone (land line)................... 46 Assuming this includes broadband?
Mobile phone............................ 35 Can you switch to sim only? or lower tariff?
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 700 Sorry but this is ridiculous for a family of 3 Even half of that would be 'high'
Clothing................................ 80 Every month?
This is high.
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 13
Car Insurance........................... 15
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40 Do you actually save this so its there when needed?
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 70 Assuming this is needed not 'wanted'
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 24 Would a prepaid card not be cheaper?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 25 Make sure you shop around at renewal and use cashback sites
Contents insurance...................... 0 Should be something here.
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 10 Is this needed?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60 Quite high
Haircuts................................ 12
Entertainment........................... 105 Too high.
Look for free things to do and make the most of parks etc
Holiday................................. 130 Sorry but you can't afford this
Emergency fund.......................... 60 Do you save this? nothing in assets to reflect this
Professional memberships................ 35
Tax re BTL property..................... 65
Total monthly expenses.................. 3350


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 320000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 900
Other assets............................ 160000
Total Assets............................ 480900


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 137500...(539)......4.74
Secured Debt.................. 20000....(0)........0< Guessing this isn't 0%
Business OD guarantee..........39000....(400)......8.25<
BTL mortgage...................135000...(141)......0.74
Total secured & HP debts...... 331500....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................1500......40........19.9
Loan...........................18500.....337.......5
HMRC...........................3580......0.........0
Water..........................400.......50........0
Total unsecured debts..........23980.....427.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,933
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,350
Available for debt repayments........... 583
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 427
Amount left after debt repayments....... 156 Do you actually have this left at the end of the month? If not keep a spending diary. Its surprising how much the odd coffee/lunch at work/pop to the shop adds up too.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 480,900
Total HP & Secured debt................. -331,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -23,980
Net Assets.............................. 125,420

Created using the SOA calculator at stoozing.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

My comments in red. Good luck

onside

Hiddenidenity wrote: »

My comments in red. Good luck

Hi, and thanks. To clear some of these up:

1. This is our current spending, I'm not pretending that we spend well at the moment
2. The secured debt with 0% interest is the the credit card CCJ referred to in my OP for which they are seeking a charging order
3. Gas was put onto a prepay meter when a big bill was run up when BG failed to supply a final bill when we tried to change supplier; that has been cleared off so will be looking to go back to credit account
4. One of the issues is that the debt is 'mine' - my wife is very resentful of it all, and is not at all happy about it impacting on her life/spending. It's the cause of a huge number of rows and stress, and is why several of the figures are high

Raven42

You have a second property with 25K in it from what I can see, you should look at selling this and realising the profit to clear you of this debt, also I see no maintence/Emergency fund for this property which a good landlord would need.

Good luck

Windofchange

onside wrote: »

Groceries etc. ......................... 700

:shocked:

Are you feeding a baby Elephant or something!?

kram

Hmrc will setup a payment plan for you for the overpayment if you ask them.

Good luck

K