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Hello all,
New to the forum, and looking for some guidance please.
I stupidly agreed to act as a guarantor for my mother-in-law in 2015 on an Amigo Loan for £7500.
Everything went smoothly until early 2017 when there was an incident within the family, meaning her and her partner didn't work for approx 6 months. During this time I covered the payments, then my MIL set up a weekly payment plan for a reduced amount (approx £60 a month less than the contracted payments).
I then found myself in financial difficulty, entering into a debt management plan with Step Change.
Since then, things have taken a turn for the worst. I have struggled for several months and am finally getting back on top of my finances, and then my MIL stopped paying her payments. She would make maybe one payment every month or so. Amigo chased me for the payments as expected, I went through an income and expenditure breakdown with them and in March I did make a payment of £220. My wife then took ill, meaning our income was reduced temporarily. I did explain this and they understood. This was mid April time. I have more recently found out that my wife is pregnant, meaning I am eager to have a better control of my outgoings as we need to budget more strictly for her maternity leave etc.
It may be worth noting that I informed amigo loans I can not ring them during their opening hours as I work 7-7 shifts mostly, in environments where I do not have access to a phone, but do have access to emails. Yet, they would not make any formal agreements via email to help this debt.
There is arrears of approx £950, which I am in the position (with some tight budgeting) to clear at the end of this month, but Amigo won't accept this and have submitted papers to court. I'm awaiting the response pack now, but I am unsure on how to proceed from here. I have checked all my credit file, but there is no account listed for amigo, nor is there a default against me in regards for this.
I plan on making a considerable payment at the end of the month regardless, to show to court I haven't just been ignoring the debt. I understand the severity, and I do not dispute that I guaranteed the debt, but do I have any ground to defend or only partially accept liability as I was not the one who actually spent or received any benefit from the money? Or am I best just swallowing the sour taste in my mouth, accept the debt and agree a payment plan with the court.
I look forward to hearing peoples advice.
Thanks in advance,
Alex
New to the forum, and looking for some guidance please.
I stupidly agreed to act as a guarantor for my mother-in-law in 2015 on an Amigo Loan for £7500.
Everything went smoothly until early 2017 when there was an incident within the family, meaning her and her partner didn't work for approx 6 months. During this time I covered the payments, then my MIL set up a weekly payment plan for a reduced amount (approx £60 a month less than the contracted payments).
I then found myself in financial difficulty, entering into a debt management plan with Step Change.
Since then, things have taken a turn for the worst. I have struggled for several months and am finally getting back on top of my finances, and then my MIL stopped paying her payments. She would make maybe one payment every month or so. Amigo chased me for the payments as expected, I went through an income and expenditure breakdown with them and in March I did make a payment of £220. My wife then took ill, meaning our income was reduced temporarily. I did explain this and they understood. This was mid April time. I have more recently found out that my wife is pregnant, meaning I am eager to have a better control of my outgoings as we need to budget more strictly for her maternity leave etc.
It may be worth noting that I informed amigo loans I can not ring them during their opening hours as I work 7-7 shifts mostly, in environments where I do not have access to a phone, but do have access to emails. Yet, they would not make any formal agreements via email to help this debt.
There is arrears of approx £950, which I am in the position (with some tight budgeting) to clear at the end of this month, but Amigo won't accept this and have submitted papers to court. I'm awaiting the response pack now, but I am unsure on how to proceed from here. I have checked all my credit file, but there is no account listed for amigo, nor is there a default against me in regards for this.
I plan on making a considerable payment at the end of the month regardless, to show to court I haven't just been ignoring the debt. I understand the severity, and I do not dispute that I guaranteed the debt, but do I have any ground to defend or only partially accept liability as I was not the one who actually spent or received any benefit from the money? Or am I best just swallowing the sour taste in my mouth, accept the debt and agree a payment plan with the court.
I look forward to hearing peoples advice.
Thanks in advance,
Alex
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