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Need some quick legal and money help!!

18 replies

zephyrcat · 24/11/2004 11:18

Hi - hoping someone can give some advice. Dp got a car about 4 years ago from a car credit company. To cut a long story short they tried to screw him for more money - we gave the car back, arranged a payment and never heard from them again. Dp lost his job and couldnt pay for a while. Last week we got a letter to fill out with all our outgoings etc. so we sent that back saying we could only pay £20 a month at the moment as dp is still inbetween jobs. They then sent a letter yesterday saying as we hadnt replied they were taking him to court, so he phoned last night and left a message. This morning he gets a call from them saying they wouldn't accept £20 a month because we were paying so and so x amount a month so could afford to pay them (they have obviously gone thru dp's credit report - but i thought the point of the form was so you declare whats left after paying other stuf??) Anyway - they then said 'and you didnt fill the form out properly' so they did get the form!! So - dp said he is only paying £20 a month til we can afford more so they have told him they are going to make him bankrupt!!! Can they do this when he is making an offer to pay something?? He is just starting a new job but is self employed so how will it affect that? Sorry its long but we really need to find out where we stand before they try something ...... TIA x

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tiredemma · 24/11/2004 11:33

i dont really know the law and maybe someone will post on here who knows a bit more than me, but as far as im aware, if you offer to make a payment then they should really go along with it, if they decline and choose to go to court then the court will ask you again how much you intend to pay.
they sound like a load of tosspots, they have checked his credit ref file to see how much he is paying other companies?? that doesnt sound right.
courts dont really tend to go in favour of unscrupilous credit companies who try to rip people off.
hope someone can offer more advice to you.
id contact CAB straight away.

WigandRobe · 24/11/2004 11:34

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zephyrcat · 24/11/2004 11:37

thanks loads - thats put my mind at rest for now - was having a bit of a panic!!! Will be around all evening w&r so anytime is fine

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tiredemma · 24/11/2004 11:40

i was hoping wigandrobe would pick up on this- she knows her stuff!!!

zephyrcat · 24/11/2004 11:48

me too lol

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krisked · 24/11/2004 11:52

Yes Zephyrcat dont worry, I had a similar situation with creditors when i was on maternity leave and was so scared to pick up the phone as my loan company were phoning me and harrassing me daily. I had made them an offer but they just tried to bombard me with calls. I finally told them that it was considered harrassment to continue calling and they were to put everything in writing. I then offered them £20 a month again in writing and set up a DD so i was paying in the meantime. Although they sent back a letter saying it wasn't good enough i re-offered the £20 and they finally accepted. I also asked them to stop any further interests which they did. I was later advised that it is not in the companies best interest to take someone to court who is making an offer of repayment because the court can only make someone pay what they can and in this case it will be £20 per month. In some cases the court awards less. When you re-send your offer of repayment make sure you enclose a financial statement which lists your incomings and outgoings so that the company can clearly see what you are paying out and if £20 is reasonable. I upped my food bills and travel expenses and childcare a bit so that it worked out as oppossed to other upping repayments to creditors.

Freckle · 24/11/2004 11:53

If it turns out that your dp does owe this money (i.e. the contract wasn't terminated when you made a payment and they then went quiet), I can understand that, looking at your credit report, they can see other creditors being paid a larger sum.

What you could do is sit down and do a budget. Work out all your income and write down all your outgoings (excluding debts). Make sure you put a reasonable allowance for living expenses as you don't want to end up not being able to put food on the table because you miscalculated. Then you see what is left at the end.

You then have to do a pro rata calculation. This is worked out as follows:

amount of debt x amount available
---------
total amount of debt

For example, say you had debts of £200, £400 and £800, but only £200 available to pay it off. With the above calculation you would offer £28pm to the £200 creditor, £57 to the £400 creditor and £114 to the £800 creditor, totalling £199.

This way each creditor is receiving the same proportion of their debt as the other creditors. You need to get each creditor to agree to this. Most creditors will agree when they see that you are being fair and genuinely trying to pay off the debt. If some nasty company decides to go down the bankruptcy route, the court may not grant their application if they can see that you are making genuine efforts and are being reasonable.

As I say, this is something to think about once you've established if the money is still outstanding, rather than the company trying it on after having terminated the agreement.

zephyrcat · 24/11/2004 12:02

Thanks freckle - that makes sense. The contract was terminated ages ago, the car was returned and they re-sold it agreeing to take off what they got for the car. However they say we still owe the remainder of the amount we initially agreed to pay for the car, and still owe the insurance on it. Thing is we aren't disputing that we owe them which is why I'm surprised that they are being so nasty!! We're just unfortunately in a period of time where dp is literally just starting a new job in the hope that we can make enough per month to start paying off quickly. Our biggest worry is that they are saying 'we will start proceedings to make you bankrupt tomorrow' Dp said ok then we will go to court about it and i will continue to offer to make payments, but the company said they didnt need to go to court, they would just advise all our other creditors that we are bankrupt and cant pay them!!!

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tiredemma · 24/11/2004 12:14

zephyrcat, as far as im aware, they cant just contact people and tell them that your bankrupt- a court has to declare you bankrupt- not the creditor.
it will be interesting to see wigandrobes view on this.

Freckle · 24/11/2004 12:19

Sorry, but that's b&ll&cks. They can only make you bankrupt by following very strict procedures. They will need to send your dp a Statutory Demand which gives him 28 days to pay the amount in full. If he fails to do that, then they can submit an application for bankruptcy. However, I don't think that is going to happen.

I would strongly urge you to contact your local trading standards office and report this company as they are using intimidatory tactics.

zephyrcat · 24/11/2004 12:28

thanks guys. cant wait to show dp this - they've really put the frighteners on him! The company we're dealing with has actually been on Watchdog a couple of times in the past (after we got the car) so we arent their first victims! However it does make you panic!

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WigandRobe · 24/11/2004 12:32

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zephyrcat · 24/11/2004 12:35

thanks w&r. They must have taken information on our other credits from equifax or experian because they said told dp the exact amount he is paying monthly to another company and dp didnt fill that out in the form they sent us. I'm going to try and ring him and let him know that he needs to get them to put it in writing. I'll also dig out the original contracts etc just to see where we stand

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zephyrcat · 24/11/2004 19:06

Hi all! dp is home now so have just gone through all this with him. He says to thank you very much for your advice The company have without doubt been looking through our credit references as there is no other way they would have known exact amounts that we are paying other creditors. I'm sooooo p*ed off with them!!!

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WigandRobe · 24/11/2004 19:13

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munnzieb · 24/11/2004 19:15

(quietly stops in...... god W&R u know ur stuff, wouldn't like to come up against u in a court room!)

zephyrcat · 24/11/2004 19:17

THanks W&R - have made a note of that - our only problem being that we dont have any proof as it was only said in a telephone conversation. Typical!!!

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WigandRobe · 24/11/2004 19:24

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