Natwest Drydens Solicitors help please

Superkitten76

Natwest loan I defaulted on August 2024 - been waiting for contact to arrange DMP - have received letter from Drydens solicitors in January saying passed to them and threatening action. I made contact and filled in their income form and offered £45 - the loan balance is £17,723 

This is now their response I'm confused, what is the charge they mention?

Thank you for coming to an arrangement to make payments towards your balance. The arrangement is accepted on an informal basis due to the length of time this will take to clear the outstanding sum and as we have advised you, whilst the agreement will limit potential enforcement, it will not prevent legal proceedings being taken against you.

The details of the arrangement are:

Method: Direct Debit

Amount: £45.00

First Payment Due Date: 2nd February and thereafter on the 1st day of each month

All payment arrangements are subject to review at our discretion and can be terminated at any time.

We are now instructed to proceed with legal action with the intention of applying for a Charging Order as detailed in our letter dated6 January 2026. If this is granted by the Court, the Charging Order will be registered at the Land Registry, in much the same way as your mortgage, in order to secure the debt against your beneficial interest. In the event of a sale or re-mortgage you may have to repay the amount outstanding to our client. If the Court grants the Final Charging Order, the outstanding balance is still required to be paid and additional enforcement action could be taken in the event that any agreed repayments are not maintained.

Please continue to maintain payments under this arrangement in the meantime, but do not hesitate to contact us if you can offer an increase or lump sum payment in the future as our client may consider an offer of a reduced amount to settle your account providing this is affordable to you. We or our client may also contact you during the arrangement period to provide you with information about your account

ManyWays

I assume you lost the FOS case about this.

It does seem an oddly written letter. 

How large are your total debts? And how much a month do you think you could pay to them? 

Grumpelstiltskin

Long thread here about  Charging Orders.

Charging Order? The myth - Page 516 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Do not set up a direct debit, set up a standing order when you are sure it's right to pay them. A standing order means you are in charge not them.

Superkitten76

ManyWays said:

I assume you lost the FOS case about this.

It does seem an oddly written letter. 

How large are your total debts? And how much a month do you think you could pay to them? 

yes, not upheld. my total debts are 

£69,988.37

virtually everything bar my updraft which they cannot answer the dispujte on (shoujld be about £14K, but they are claiming £24K as n ot taking off the interest for upheld complaint when they sell it to collectors)  is on payment plans now and I'm paying out a total of £122 a month i offered £45 a month to Drydens, I could if I really push it pay them £150 a month at absolute max to stop enforcement action, but I didnt want to really for a couple of years till our car finances end (currently 381 and 427 a month till Jan and october 2028). I plan to up everything then

Superkitten76

I have a shared ownership house also that I have a mortgage for, so I'm not even sure if they can apply a charging order that circumstance?

sourcrates

Superkitten76 said:

I have a shared ownership house also that I have a mortgage for, so I'm not even sure if they can apply a charging order that circumstance?

If the house is shared ownership, it would only be a restriction on the deeds, not a full charging order, this is nothing to fret about, as they can`t take that any further enforcement wise, so just pay what you can comfortably afford and let them do their thing.

ManyWays

will you own the two cars in 2028? because if not, what is your plan for then, as you won't be able to get new finance at a reasonable rate.

Superkitten76

ManyWays said:

will you own the two cars in 2028? because if not, what is your plan for then, as you won't be able to get new finance at a reasonable rate.

They are 2018 models and we will just have to keep them, they are on HP so will own outright

Superkitten76

sourcrates said:

Superkitten76 said:

I have a shared ownership house also that I have a mortgage for, so I'm not even sure if they can apply a charging order that circumstance?

If the house is shared ownership, it would only be a restriction on the deeds, not a full charging order, this is nothing to fret about, as they can`t take that any further enforcement wise, so just pay what you can comfortably afford and let them do their thing.

wouldnt they need a CCJ though, the whole point of doing the DMP was to try and manage everything without ever getting to CCJ stage.

fatbelly

Superkitten76 said:

Natwest loan I defaulted on August 2024 - been waiting for contact to arrange DMP - have received letter from Drydens solicitors in January saying passed to them and threatening action. I made contact and filled in their income form and offered £45 - the loan balance is £17,723 

This is now their response I'm confused, what is the charge they mention?

Thank you for coming to an arrangement to make payments towards your balance. The arrangement is accepted on an informal basis due to the length of time this will take to clear the outstanding sum and as we have advised you, whilst the agreement will limit potential enforcement, it will not prevent legal proceedings being taken against you.

The details of the arrangement are:

Method: Direct Debit

Amount: £45.00

First Payment Due Date: 2nd February and thereafter on the 1st day of each month

All payment arrangements are subject to review at our discretion and can be terminated at any time.

We are now instructed to proceed with legal action with the intention of applying for a Charging Order as detailed in our letter dated6 January 2026. If this is granted by the Court, the Charging Order will be registered at the Land Registry, in much the same way as your mortgage, in order to secure the debt against your beneficial interest. In the event of a sale or re-mortgage you may have to repay the amount outstanding to our client. If the Court grants the Final Charging Order, the outstanding balance is still required to be paid and additional enforcement action could be taken in the event that any agreed repayments are not maintained.

Please continue to maintain payments under this arrangement in the meantime, but do not hesitate to contact us if you can offer an increase or lump sum payment in the future as our client may consider an offer of a reduced amount to settle your account providing this is affordable to you. We or our client may also contact you during the arrangement period to provide you with information about your account

It means they accept your offer of £45 per month but because that will take an unreasonably long time to pay off, 32 years) they want to secure it by way of a charge against property that they think you own

So you can expect

A formal letter before claim
A claim form from the County Coury Bulk Centre
In due course, an application for a Charging Order
An attempt to record something against your property at the Land Registry

ManyWays

at this point I think you should be considering an IVA. That will mean Natwest will only get a proportion of the money back, if they get a CCJ and then a restriction they are likely to want it all.