Advice needed please - letter from Restons

fatbelly · 31 May 2018 at 3:55PM

If what he's had is an N56

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n56-form-for-replying-to-an-attachment-of-earnings-application-statement-of-means

then he does have to complete it. National Debtline can assist with this. The court shouldn't agree to an aoe if there is no surplus but not to comply with the court forms in this case is potentially serious.

However, they would have had to pay out for this, and if they've just cobbled together some forms of their own, then you don't need to fill them in.

Did you send the letters anyway? See what comes back.

sourcrates · 31 May 2018 at 4:03PM

CurlySue2017 wrote: »

So after taking the advice from here and speaking to National Debtline, we have checked the register and the CCJ's for these loans have indeed been granted at an old address, so we knew nothing about them until today. That was in 2014 so well within the six years and they are now looking to enforce.

I cannot tell you how scared I am.

What do we do now?

Try not to worry.

In reality there is little they can actually do.

Doing as Fatbelly suggests is the way forward for now.

CurlySue2017 · 31 May 2018 at 4:08PM

Thanks for the reply.

The form is definitely not a court form, it is one of their own and their letter states that they have "had instruction to enforce the judgement" it doesn't say that they have yet.

The letters to them requesting details of the debt / CCJ have already been sent - did we do the right thing sending those?

So do we contact the court now to make them aware that he knew nothning about these judgements?

fatbelly · 31 May 2018 at 6:49PM

CurlySue2017 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

The form is definitely not a court form, it is one of their own and their letter states that they have "had instruction to enforce the judgement" it doesn't say that they have yet.

The letters to them requesting details of the debt / CCJ have already been sent - did we do the right thing sending those?

So do we contact the court now to make them aware that he knew nothning about these judgements?

You did the right thing - see what comes back.

The only thing you would contact the court for at this stage would be to try to get the judgement 'set aside'

But to do that you need (amongst other things) a defence with a prospect of success. As I read it these debts are genuine and not statute barred so you might struggle with that.

CurlySue2017 · 1 June 2018 at 8:21AM

fatbelly wrote: »

You did the right thing - see what comes back.

The only thing you would contact the court for at this stage would be to try to get the judgement 'set aside'

But to do that you need (amongst other things) a defence with a prospect of success. As I read it these debts are genuine and not statute barred so you might struggle with that.

That's a relief, thankyou!

So am I right in thinking that for the moment, we don't do anything and see what reply we get to the letters?

It is a bit complicated because he is aware of one loan for £8k that he took out - however the letters received refer to two seperate loans - one balance is over £12k and the other is around £2k. So the larger one could be the £8k loan with charges added? But that seems like a lot!

But he has no idea what the smaller amount is for.

So although he doesn't dispute having a loan, the amounts being chased are very different to what they should be and because he has buried his head in the sand for so long, he has missed any opportunity to check the amounts and dispute them.

I assume it is too late for that now?

sourcrates · 1 June 2018 at 11:29AM

CurlySue2017 wrote: »

So although he doesn't dispute having a loan, the amounts being chased are very different to what they should be and because he has buried his head in the sand for so long, he has missed any opportunity to check the amounts and dispute them.

I assume it is too late for that now?

After legal action has been taken, there is only one route you can take to challenge the judgement, that`s the judgement, not the debt itself, and that is to apply for a set aside motion.

But to do this you need a good reason for doing so, in other words a good defense, your partners unreliable memory may not serve them well here, and there is a fee of £255.00 per application (two debts, two applications £510.00) with no guarantee of success whatsoever.

The time to challenge them is prior to any legal action taking place, afterwards it just gets a whole lot more complicated.

CurlySue2017 · 1 June 2018 at 12:21PM

I thought as much.

There is no way that we can afford to pay that amount of money, we simply don't have it and have no way of raising it either.

What is the next course of action for us please?

Bailiffs at the door taking things? Clamping our cars? Which would actually be my things because he moved in with me with nothing but bags of clothes and still has nothing of value.

Absolutely devastated

sourcrates · 1 June 2018 at 1:17PM

CurlySue2017 wrote: »

What is the next course of action for us please?

Bailiffs at the door taking things? Clamping our cars? Which would actually be my things because he moved in with me with nothing but bags of clothes and still has nothing of value.

Absolutely devastated

Further escalation, again, costs them more money.

If a bailiff were instructed, they would only be county court bailiffs, they could clamp any car on your drive yes, but they have no power of entry for this kind of debt, to private property, and you do not have to let them in, they can however enter through an unlocked door.

They would not really be interested in taking goods, unless you have a Rembrandt or a Picasso on your living room wall, its normally money they want, but the threat of removing goods is used in order to persuade you to pay up.

I would say wait and see what comes back from the creditor, then to avoid further action, make an arrangement to pay with them, you may have to do this through the courts, its called, varying a court order, using form N245 with a copy of your budget as a back up, just offer what is affordable, the court will agree with it as long as its backed up on paper.

Link to form here :

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n245-application-for-suspension-of-a-warrant-and-or-variation-of-an-order

CurlySue2017 · 1 June 2018 at 2:18PM

sourcrates wrote: »

Further escalation, again, costs them more money.

If a bailiff were instructed, they would only be county court bailiffs, they could clamp any car on your drive yes, but they have no power of entry for this kind of debt, to private property, and you do not have to let them in, they can however enter through an unlocked door.

They would not really be interested in taking goods, unless you have a Rembrandt or a Picasso on your living room wall, its normally money they want, but the threat of removing goods is used in order to persuade you to pay up.

I would say wait and see what comes back from the creditor, then to avoid further action, make an arrangement to pay with them, you may have to do this through the courts, its called, varying a court order, using form N245 with a copy of your budget as a back up, just offer what is affordable, the court will agree with it as long as its backed up on paper.

Link to form here :

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n245-application-for-suspension-of-a-warrant-and-or-variation-of-an-order

Ok thanks. I'm so nervous about all of this so can I just double check (sorry about this).

If bailiffs are instructed, or any further action is taken, we would be informed first right? By a letter from the courts, or some kind of warrant?

I know bailiffs are a worst case scenario, but I am utterly terrified by all of this and looking for a bit of reassurance I suppose. I get a lump in my throat and feel sick every time I think about this.....which is basically constant now.

sourcrates · 1 June 2018 at 2:47PM

Usually you get sent a 7 day notice of attendance before they call.

Their fees can increase a debt substantially as well, even if they do not gain entry, the fee`s are still payable.

https://www.payplan.com/advice/collection-of-debts/dealing-with-bailiffs/

Best to avoid all this potential stress by doing as advised above and vary the payment to a manageable level.

Advice needed please - letter from Restons

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