mbna taking me to court

[concerned]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me as I have no idea what im doing at this point.

I was trying to set up a payment plan with MBNA for £1 a month as I am on income support since having to leave my job for health reasons , i am actively trying to find another job but its tough, hence i set up a £1 payment offer for all my debts most banks have accepted this but MBNA did not and restons took me to court. I didn't contest it as i had no idea about that and offered £1 a month on the court payment form which they upheld, over £500 was charges added on - its over £7000

MBNA/restons have appealed regarding this and I have to attend my local court on the 12th October, it doesn't give me any information - what i need to take, if i need to prepare any thing, what happens if i dont attend??

I cant afford to pay more, and my income support runs out in a few weeks and i will have no income and be totally reliant on my husband who is currently paying all our bills on his own.

Ironically i had almost secured a job on the basis that i had no ccj's on my credit file, the day before my final interview i received my ccj; had they not proceeded with the ccj I would be in work and be able to offer them more than £1 a month.

help please!!!!

[Amethyst]

Re: mbna taking me to court

Hey concerned, welcome to Beagles.

Restons will have disputed the amount of the installments ordered and will argue that it is over too long a period and try and have them raised. They will also ask for permission to apply for a charging order on your home (if you own it)

You will need to prepare an Income Expenditure sheet and send it in to court a few days before the hearing with a witness statement.

We can help you with it so dont worry. We'll need to know a bit more info on your circumstances tho. Did you send IE sheets to them when you made your £1 offer ? I presume you did to the court with your admission and offer to pay ? so can use that updated for your IS stopping.

With regards to your benefits how come you are on income support rather than job seekers ?

Ame
xx

[concerned]

Re: mbna taking me to court

Hi, Thanks Ame,

I may have it wrong; I've got myself into a bit of a state about it - I am on the jobseekers/income support that I have for my past NI contributions, I don't qualify for the other one because my husband works.

I sent an income and expenditure in to the court and filled in as much of the paperwork as I could understand, stupidly I didn't keep a copy.

I have no equity in my home and it is jointly owned with my husband who is not linked to the debt, most of the items in the house are his, I am seriously considering having to declare myself bankrupt but amusingly I can't afford it.

What witness statement do I send?

I dont understand why they are persecuting me to this extent, it is clear that i cannot afford more at this time - as soon as i can I will.

[Amethyst]

Re: mbna taking me to court

Don't worry it isnt personal at all, Restons ALWAYS do this I have a CCJ and a Charge order for 6.5k through the gits for an old HFC loan, have had it for 4 years with no problems.

What other debts do you have? Bankruptcy is a bit extreme for £7k and a temporary blip. As you say most of your creditors have accepted and will be okay for a few months while you try sort things out/find work etc.

Are yours and your husbands finances currently seperate or did you complete the IE sheet for the court as a household ?

With the court letter was there any copy of Restons application or did it say what the hearing was for ?

[concerned]

Re: mbna taking me to court

i really only put my finances on the i& E with a note that my husband gives me X amount towards household costs etc, i didnt fill out his salary at all

sorry to be hopeless but i cant find anything else that came with the court order - the mortgage is in joint names and is approx 10k over the value of the house. I have about 20k worth of debts - pretty much all with LLoyds TSB who have accepted my payment plan for now, and a small amount to capital one and barclays.

you mentionned a witness statement - what is this?

[Amethyst]

Re: mbna taking me to court

Big Panic- Tesco/ Incasso V Me- Notice of Hearing after a CCJ Judgement - Legal Beagles Consumer Forum Similar situation and have just been getting together a witness statement for hearing on Monday there,so may be worth a nosey.

Will come back on tmw xx

[WendyB]

Re: mbna taking me to court

As MBNA are going to court with this, then it's probably a fair guess that you have a fair few charges on your account? Late payment, overlimit, bounced dd fees, that sort of thing? Might be worth checking that out and reclaiming them. Probably wouldn't be enough to wipe the debt out, but could reduce the amount owing?

You never can tell with MBNA, sometimes they cough up easily, sometimes they dont. Although I have to say when I did them for my husband, they were a complete pushover

[concerned]

Re: mbna taking me to court

Thanks again all, I will have a look at the witness statement when I get to library as have no net access during day.
wendy, can a claim back my charges even after I have the ccj?

[WendyB]

Re: mbna taking me to court

I don't see any reason why not.

[ERD]

Re: mbna taking me to court

Hi Concerned -

I am in the same boat, but about 11 months later. I want to share my full story (it is also ongoing) on another thread, but want to point out a few things.

1. After they win the judgment, they will seek a charging order on your house. They did this to me, and from what I read and have learned, they do it to everyone...

2. It seems they will NOT try to force you to sell the house (at present at least). It is good to understand why (so among other things, you can predict what they will do in the future...)

I am not sure about your home and mortgage, but mine is negative equity. However, by *securing* the (alleged) debt, the debt paper (the thing that says you owe them xxx pounds) becomes worth more and increases the paper value of their company. Got it :-) In other words, it is the same old same old that got us the wonderful banking crisis and will without a doubt happen again... (but don't shed any tears for them, the Govt will likely bail them out again, though they will charge you for it...)

Ok, sorry for the political digression...

From what I can tell at this point - I am deeper in this hole than you just now... - here is a BIG mistake I made that I would encourage you NOT to make.

Do NOT admit in any way that you agree with the debt - whatever you write, always refer to it as an "alleged debt" and that you dispute it. That doesn't mean don't pay them £1 per month, you just want to keep the record straight.

There are several grounds you may have for disputing the debt, the CCJ, and the default notice. You need to take stock of the situation, ask the court for some time, and get all your chickens in a row. And remember, you are in the right, they are in the (moral) wrong - I know this just from reading your thread ;-)

This needs to be a quick reply, but among other things, your going to want to send an SAR (Subject Access Request) based on the Data Protection Act and you are going to want to make a request for information based on the CCA (Consumer Credit Act). You need to do all these things in the right way in the right order. You need first to ask the court for time...

ok, more later, or I will refer you to my experiences that I will try to write about in another thread.

Good luck!

[GoldenEagle]

Re: mbna taking me to court

Quick question - Is it better to do IE individually or as a household?