Please Help credit card debt - CCJ & Charging Order

AJ0907

Not sure if this is the correct board so I am just going to be cheeky and post it on another board as well.

Firstly, Thanks a lot to all you good people on MSE

I was foolish enough to ignore a credit card debit of £3,000 back in 2006. This was then taken to court and a ccj followed by an interim charge on my share ownership property (50% my share) was registered on Dec 06. Earlier this week I received a letter from the solicitors threatening to pursue the forced sale of my property if I don’t settle the debt (now at £4,800). I called the solicitors to offer £100 per month payment and they insisted that I pay the whole amount within 7 days or they will force a sale on the property. I argued with them that it’s impossible as the property is not wholly mine and the housing association will not allow this to happen.

Now this got me think – that the amount they are demanding may not be the true figure set by the courts and that since I owed only £3000 of the debt and also when the debt was passed to them it was only £3,300. Realistically I should be able to claim the £300 through unfair credit card charges and possibly argue on the £1,500 added by the solicitors.

As mentioned above, I have now dug my head out of the sand and prepared to face this debt. Pay what I owe, get the charge on the property lifted and subsequently satisfy the ccj.

I need your help as to how to go about getting this done;

• Is my first point of call to contact the courts and agree on a fixed amount to pay?
• Wait for the solicitors to take me to court again therefore attend the hearing and pledge with the courts to set a monthly payment? Will this mean more charges added to the £4,800?
• Is the £4,800 likely to be what the courts set in the first place? Or have the solicitors added more charges since then?
• My understanding is that since this debt is covered as by the consumer credit agreement and below £5,000 no other charges/interest can be added to the amount the courts set when the ccj was granted.
• Basically how can I go about reducing this debt to the original amount owed (£3,000) and agree a payment plan? Although I can afford a monthly £100 p/m, I will also pay about £1000 May08 and another £1000 May09 towards the debt when I get my employment bonus. I am confident that by May 09 I will be able to settle the debt. However I am reluctant to pay back £4,800 for an initial debt of £3000

Sorry for the long post and I welcome any advise from anyone with past experience, knowledge of the law regarding such a case.

Anyone with negative comments to give or simply wanting to have a go on how stupid I have been – please don’t bother. Yes I know I have been really silly for letting this go this far but I am now ready to pay what I owed

Thanks I advance

hypno06

Sorry, I don't know the answer, but didn't want to "read and run" so have bumped it up in the hope someone else can answer pretty soon.

I hope you get it sorted soon - it does seem harsh.

AJ0907

Thanks Hypno.

I have just finished reading a lot of positive threads about dealing with CCJ and Charging order.

I now feeling even more positive that they will not be able to force a sale as only half of the property belongs to me and the other half to the housing association. The debt is also not that huge to force a sale.

Come Monday I going to the following;

1. Contact the Court and find more about the ccj, what amount it was set at and whether there was any annual interest charges.
2. Contact the Solicitors for a breakdown list of the £3,300 debt passed by the CC company
3. Contact the CC company for a detailed CC statement upto when I defaulted

Once I receive all the necessary information, I will then contact CAB, CCCS or anyone one of the free debt advice agency and find out what my options are.

Although I messed up big time, I am all positive now and will neither let the solicitors threatened nor bully me to accept their terms. I will try my hardest to get this debt reduced whilst paying a minimum of £100 p/m