Please Help - Statutory Demand - Petition for Bankruptcy

mick6551

Hi,

I'm new here, i really hope someone can help with something i have received today...

Over the last few months since my relationship broke down i have been suffering financially. My now ex and my children are living in the house which i pay the mortgage on and i'm in rented accomodation. I have a few loans and cc's but nothing out of the ordinary. Last October i took out a loan from a short term lender - PaydayMoney they are called with an arrangement to repay the next month. I did and then took out another loan with them at christmas to get my kids some prezzies. Unfortunately i was made redundant on 27th December so in January i couldn't repay the total amount. I contacted them but they refused to accept a lower offer and the matter eventually went to court. I have a CCJ for this now which was issued about 3 weeks ago. I have been a bit silly as i havn't done anything about it other than contact them to ask if we can come to some agreement. The total oustanding is £1000 and there is no way i can afford to repay all of that, i've already slipped in to arrears with my mortgage as because i was made redundant apparently i can't claim anything for a certain amount of time?? (i'm 56 so its taking me a while to find a new job as i'm in sales primarily and they arn't too keen to take on the older types).

They have sent me horrible emails saying basically i havn't made any attempt tp repay and that they are continuing with further action. I have today received a statutory demand - petition for bankruptcy and dn't have a clue what to do. I presume that as i havn't done anything about the court judgement they can now make me bankrupt? Does this mean that they can reposess my house because of this, even though its in joint names with my ex and she owes them nothing. Also, can they reposess my preoprty which is worth about £140,000 (no equity as we have a secured loan too) just because of a £1000 debt?

Does anyone know what i should do next as i've contacted them and they won't budge on accepting a monthly offer or anything, not that i can really afford anything at the minute!

Please help......stressing like mad!!!!!!

Mick

fermi

The first thing to know is that a statutory demand isn't the same as a petition for bankruptcy.

You can download the form for a statutory demand from the internet and send it yourself. It doesn't cost anything, or need a lawyer or the court to be involved.

As you can imagine, this means it makes the ideal scare tactic for creditors to use to frighten the life out of you. And 95% of the time, it is just that. A scare tactic.

If the creditor wants to actually try and make you bankrupt, then to take the next step and do it for real will cost them somewhere between £590 and £1700 in court fees and legal costs. The creditor has no guarantee that a bankruptcy will result in them getting these costs back, let alone the original debt.;)

There is some good information on statutory demands here:

http://www.consumerwiki.co.uk/index.php/Statutory_Demands

and here:

http://www.insolvencyhelpline.co.uk/legal_issues_explained/statutory_demand.htm

mick6551

Thanks for the quick response, much appeciated. The form does not have a court stamp on it or anything but i assumed as i'd already had teh CCJ it didn't matter. Where should i look to find out if its genuine or not? The form is just filled out in biro pen, nothing formal.

Thanks again...getting less stressed...

Mick

fermi

The form does not have to be stamped by a court. It can also be filled in by pen if you want to.

The form should look like this: http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/pdfs/forms/6-2.pdf

or at least similar to that.

Does it state that it is: Statutory Demand under section 268(1)(a) of the Insolvency Act 1986. Debt for Liquidated Sum Payable Immediately Following a Judgment or Order of the Court

[STRIKE] Has the creditor attempted to enforce the judgement against you by other means?

As far as I remember, they shouldn't be issuing a Statutory Demand unless they have attempted other means of "enforcement" on the CCJ which has failed. But that needs professional advice. [/STRIKE]

EDIT: Ignore that last bit. hadn't remembered it quite correctly.

fermi

How did you receive the demand? What is by post, hand delivered, or served on you personally?

While this may be a bluff. You need to get some professional advice ASAP.

Tomorrow when they are open try contacting.

The Insolvency Helpline - Tel: 0800 074 6918 or
National Debtline. - Tel: 0808 808 4000

mick6551

Hi,

Letter just came in the post 1st class. It does look identical to the form you attached a link to but i've read some other posts and they all say it has to be stamped by a court.

They havn't tried any other methods of enforcement (i know you edited that but just to let you know), i only had the judgement about 3 weeks ago. I am aware it only gave me 14 days to pay but i had intended on booking an appointment with my local CAB but never seem to be able to get one and they are only open one day a week apparently. I know its my own fault as i've been putting it off - embarassment mainly.

I have contacted them several times telling them of my situation and asking if we c an come to an agreement between ourselves but they refuse to budge and have now stopped answering my emails, if they do its a one liner saying i had my chance and this now serves me right basically.

I might add aswell just asan afterthought, they sent at least one letter each week to my home addres (i was still living at my house when i took the loan out) addressing it to "the occupier" and stating that they have a legal obligation to advice any occupants of the property that they may be applying for a charging order against my house which may result in repossession. My ex wasn't best pleased with this and subsequently stopped me from seeing my children which hasn't helped my mental state at all to say the least (i have since resolved this but could have done without the hassle).

Does this make it any clearer....am returning to stressed stage now as the form is obviously not a fake. Has anyone else ever had this and what did you do ??? Did you have to go to court?? Would the court be likely to listen to my pleas of offering a lower payment than the full amount and if so does the creditor have to accept if th ejudge rules this or can they still make me bankrupt and if they do what happens to my ex's half of the house???

Sorry to bombard with questions!!!!!!!!

Mick

fermi

Right. First of all, whatever posts you may have read that say it should be stamped by the court, that is wrong.

From the horses mouth. The government's Insolvency Service:

Link: How to make someone bankrupt.

The court is not involved in the issuing of statutory demands, so no court fee is payable.

The letters regarding the charging order sound a slightly more realistic threat than bankruptcy, but the threat that a charging order will lead to repossession is rubbish. Especially if it is a family home with children. The court would never grant an order of sale based on a charging order in those circumstances.

It sounds like these evil little parasites are trying every nasty threat they can think of one after the other in order to intimidate and scare you.:mad: It sounds like they have succeeded.

It is possible to oppose the bankruptcy petition on the grounds that the creditor has unreasonably refused fair offers of payment by you, but whether they would refuse the bankruptcy on those grounds would be up to the court on the day.

I still think it's very unlikely they would really try for the bankruptcy, but get some professional advice tomorrow.

If the property doesn't have any equity in it then the Official Receiver wouldn't allow it to be sold. The creditor has no choice in these matters once you are bankrupt.

Richard_S

mick6551 wrote: »

Hi,

Letter just came in the post 1st class. It does look identical to the form you attached a link to but i've read some other posts and they all say it has to be stamped by a court.A Statutory Demand doesn't have to be stamped by a Court, or issued by a solicitor; a Bankruptcy Order does have to stamped by a Court. That isn't an opinion, I've got both of them in the filing cabinet behind me.

They havn't tried any other methods of enforcement (i know you edited that but just to let you know), i only had the judgement about 3 weeks ago. I am aware it only gave me 14 days to pay but i had intended on booking an appointment with my local CAB but never seem to be able to get one and they are only open one day a week apparently. I know its my own fault as i've been putting it off - embarassment mainly.That was a mistake, if you'd gone to Court and demonstrated that you could only afford say £1 per month, the chances are the Court would have accepted your proposition. It's not the end of the world, but it's definitely lesson for anybody else in a similar position.

I have contacted them several times telling them of my situation and asking if we c an come to an agreement between ourselves but they refuse to budge and have now stopped answering my emails, if they do its a one liner saying i had my chance and this now serves me right basically.Keep ringing; they will do a deal eventually.

I might add aswell just asan afterthought, they sent at least one letter each week to my home addres (i was still living at my house when i took the loan out) addressing it to "the occupier" and stating that they have a legal obligation to advice any occupants of the property that they may be applying for a charging order against my house which may result in repossession. Having got the CCJ they can apply for a charging order, but if there's no equity in the house, there's no point them doing that. However, If they do go that route, don't under any circumstances miss the opportunity to attend the Court hearing. That is your second chance to make an offer to the Court.My ex wasn't best pleased with this and subsequently stopped me from seeing my children which hasn't helped my mental state at all to say the least (i have since resolved this but could have done without the hassle).

Does this make it any clearer....am returning to stressed stage now as the form is obviously not a fake. Has anyone else ever had this and what did you do ??? As I said earlier, we had them, and they did result in a bankruptcy petition, but only because the cretin of a creditor thought that he could get his hands on our assets. Did you have to go to court?? We chose not to. We made a third party offer before the hearing to the creditor, and then declined to waste any more of our time. If we'd gone to Court our offer would probably have been accepted, but we saw it as an opportunity to get shut of a mountain of other debt, at somebody else's expense.Would the court be likely to listen to my pleas of offering a lower payment than the full amount and if so does the creditor have to accept if th ejudge rules the creditor has to accept the Court's ruling this or can they still make me bankrupt and if they do what happens to my ex's half of the house???If there's no equity in the house, and the mortgage is being paid, nothing will happen to the house.

Sorry to bombard with questions!!!!!!!!

Mick

Hi Mick,

Don't ignore the post; open everything. If you've any queries about letters from a Court, post them on here. It's always difficult in the anonymity of the web to know all the facts, but you should have every opportunity to make a reasonable offer to an unreasonable creditor.

Above all, seek professional advice from one of the debt charities listed in my signature.

I honestly don't think you've anything to worry about, providing you keep on top of things.

Regards

Richard

fermi

Thanks Richard. I was going to PM you, but kept getting distracted.

mick6551

Thanks so much i feel i can at least see a little light at the end of the tunnel.

Am a bit confused one one thing though, you say that no court would make me sell my house is there is no equity in it and the mortgage is being paid. If the bankruptcy petition did go through and was served on me by the court how could i keep the house anyway - wouldn't it have to be sold, even if my ex and children shared half of it aswell? I didn't think you could have a mortgage if you were bankrupt? Above anything else i'm not really worried about myself as i got into this mess to start with but i can't see my kids out on the street.

If they still decide not to accept an offer what happens next? Do i contact the court or do i just get a letter from them with a date or does everything carry on regardless of whether i do anything and one day i just get up and have a letter telling me i'm bankrupt?

Sorry to go on but i really need to understand the process of this so that i can get my head around what i need to do next...

Thanks again

mick

fermi

A house is only sold in bankruptcy if there is equity in it that can be used to pay your unsecured debts and the costs of the bankruptcy. So if you have no equity, it won't be sold.

You can still have and pay a mortgage while you are bankrupt as long as it isn't a ridiculous amount.

for the real bankruptcy to happen the petition must be properly served on you, and a date will be set at court. You will have plenty of notice of it. It won't suddenly just happen.