Litigation Loan Interest charges

[Deleted User]

FionaE wrote: »

apparently in the terms and conditions it states that any monies repaid before sale of my house, will automatically go onto the interest first ....

That's good news. Start paying what you can and bring the balance down.

It doesn't really matter where they allocate the payments - the interest accrued is now capital, so it will all reduce the balance.

CakeCrusader

FionaE wrote: »

Yep that's what I am pushing for this house sale, unfortunately, the Judge just assumes the best she can at the time of the final court hearing that the property will sell at that price and no more is said after that, in a nutshell!


My brief...

Did your brief advise you to go to this particular loan provider?

FionaE

Hi there
Yes they did

FionaE

That's the problem I am offering an affordable amount to these litigation loan people (which is a lesser amount than what the interest charge is per month) and they have advised me because it is lesser that they can't accept this payment...
It shocks me that I am trying to offer a proposal of any monthly repayments and they are telling me because it is less than the interest amount they can't accept my offer... ludicrous surely!


I have advised Financial Obudsmen of this proposal and as the loan company is FCA registered they can work with me to get a proposal agreed, however, I am constantly emailing them with other suggestions, given my current situation

CakeCrusader

I think you're going to have to seek legal advice on this, I'm sorry, it's impossible for anyone to give you help on the web. I wouldn't go to the same firm though! Most firms offer a free initial consultation, or they may offer 20 mins for £20. It might be a good idea if you ask them about your current firm, as they were the ones who introduced you to the loan company and they must have known how vulnerable you were. 100k on legal fees is a massive amount of cash, has the law firm supplied you with a full breakdown of costs?

System

FionaE wrote: »

You also mention, searching a realistic price, this is not that straight forward when I am residing with my son (7yrs old) whilst my ex husband isn't...

When your son is in bed go on Rightmove, search for similar properties in the area. On the right hand column of the page you can see something that says "Sold House Prices". Click on that and you'll see what houses have actually sold for. That will give you the realistic price.

FionaE

Yes, I have a full break down of costs from my lawyers firm..
To the point that they have waivered £25,000 from the total bill, which they didn't have to do..
It is a lot of cash, due to the conduct of my ex husbands behavior, economical abuse, mental abuse, threat of child custody, so you can see why I could not be protected and represent myself, had I known what the price would be I may have re thought about this... being in a vunerable position emotionally and scared for my life, looking at the terms and conditions of a litigation loan agreement wasn't in my thoughts!


on the flip side the judge ordered my ex husband continues paying for me and my son to live in the marital home, and I have a larger percentage of proceeds of house sale, but none of this matters now or until the house is sold, due to the extortionate monthly interest charges ...eating up out of my pot once house is sold...

CakeCrusader

FionaE wrote: »

Yes, I have a full break down of costs from my lawyers firm..
To the point that they have waivered £25,000 from the total bill, which they didn't have to do..
It is a lot of cash, due to the conduct of my ex husbands behavior, economical abuse, mental abuse, threat of child custody, so you can see why I could not be protected and represent myself, had I known what the price would be I may have re thought about this... being in a vunerable position emotionally and scared for my life, looking at the terms and conditions of a litigation loan agreement wasn't in my thoughts!


on the flip side the judge ordered my ex husband continues paying for me and my son to live in the marital home, and I have a larger percentage of proceeds of house sale, but none of this matters now or until the house is sold, due to the extortionate monthly interest charges ...eating up out of my pot once house is sold...

Goodness, you've been through hell. There's rules that Solicitors have to follow when they are directing clients towards third parties like this, it has to be in your best interests but if you were in a vulnerable situation then I'd query whether this was the right thing for them to do. You'd need to complain to your solicitors firm to start off with, and you can then go to the Legal Services Ombudsman if you feel that their reply hasn't answered your complaint. I hope the 25k has reduced your bill.



There's a post above asking if you've looked at similar properties in your area to see what they are selling for, this is a good idea. Have you made sure yours is 'sale ready', it's painted in a neutral colour, there's not too many personal items there when you're showing people around, making sure the gardens are clean and tidy so your property looks inviting etc?



There's some really useful information about interest rates here; https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/debt-collection/charges-and-interest-on-debt.aspx It's probably worth speaking to Stepchange or a debt charity to see if they can help you to find a way out through this.

macman

Why would they reduce your bill by £25K so readily if the work done justifies the hours billed? I would be requesting to have the bill taxed in these circumstances.

FionaE

Due to the solicitor being a friend of a friend..... she is also a Partner of the firm so I guess she is in a position to waiver amounts. Thankfully for me!


My divorce (just like any) was very very acrimonious, 1st hearing my bill was already at £27K, and other factors were brought in in order to look at a fair split like my ex husbands company I requested to have a valuation, however 1st judge dis-agreed causing this proceeding to move along to a 2nd hearing (FDR) - in which a different judge agreed to a valuation which again by this time more costs, and time passing until valuation is completed... Valuation was completed 3 months later, - Final Hearing was due a year ago -2 weeks before due to attend Final Hearing, Judge on this hearing had a Heart Attack - fortunately Judge is alive and well now, however, we were then moved back in the waiting date list for Final Hearing - yes took over 6mths - yes more costs and time spent, so I then applied to a different court date ~(London Family Court) due to hopefully receiving a sooner date and we did and guess what my ex husband declined and yet he still chose to ignore my constant requests and Offers to settle and Proposals (costing me more money from my solicitor) and in the end I gave up sending and we received a final hearing date 6mths later...
This of course gave him time to move monies, and he then put a spanner in the works by requesting a new valuation of his business in which the judge was horrified at 1. the costs, 2. how he was hanging this divorce out and so he had to pay some of my costs (not the whole amount unfortunately) but yet he was still approved for him to run a new valuation - needless to say to show his company went from first valuation worth £1.5million and 6mths later to £40K (another bad card dealt for me again)!!!


So, the above is just a piece of my 2.5yrs divorce proceedings and clearly shows where the costs have been spent!!!


Sorry to rant... but there's always more involved than anyone can think..