Court claim from Cabot Financial please help with how to proceed

[MIKE770]

Amethyst

[eire13]

Thanks MIKE770. Hopefully Amethyst will be along to help soon. It doesn't seem like Cabot are willing to take a low amount for this debt.

[Amethyst]

Morning xxx Having a read back

[Amethyst]

The CCJs are not going to affect your credit file as it is already knackered so it's likely best to get them all in one go asap so they all fall off in six years - o rgetting everything on an agreed plan out of court as you are currently trying to do with Cabot - but your priority is keeping your home, on top of priorities ( mortgage, council tax, utilities ) and ensuring you have enough to live on and get you through this rough patch. Thankfully it seems your debts are with the better end of the debt purchasing market - Lowell and Cabot - so talking to them and being open about your circumstances may well be the best policy here.

You've got your IE sheet from Stepchange now and their recommendation was token payments until things improve. They suggested bankruptcy but presumably there is concern about your property being affected. The other option is to try and get in to CAB, both you and your husband together with details of ALL the debts and overall situation - they can look at everything with you and help you come up with an overall plan to get this dealt with.

So immediate court claim stuff wise, you've got 5? claims in progress at the moment between you and your husband.

Those which have provided documents you can make offers to pay on. You should use your household IE sheet. You've sent your individual IE to Cabot and they're asking for the household IE. Not surprising and it sounds like your joint IE doesn't show much of a difference in disposable income. The joint IE will have all the debts on as well as all the income. Does it actually make much difference between the sole and joint IE sheets ?

If providing that can get an acceptance of an affordable amount it's worth doing. Cabot ( and Lowell ) have multiple debts and once they are fully aware of your full circumstances they should be able to see that pushing you through court isnt to get them any more, although they might want to secure the debts with the CCJ. It's also worth making them aware of the health issues you're dealing with. Remember they don't know anything unless you tell them so will treat you as a 'won't pay' person rather than a 'seriously can't pay trying my best to sort things' person.

Can you do a list of the court claims and where things are at with each. Then if you need/prefer to try deal with each individually we know exactly where you stand.

eg:

Cabot - Capital One - £2000 - stayed but produced documents and applying for summary judgment.
Cabot - Lloyds Bank - £5000 - filed defence and awaiting mediation appointment - no documents provided.
etc.

[eire13]

The CCJs are not going to affect your credit file as it is already knackered so it's likely best to get them all in one go asap so they all fall off in six years - o rgetting everything on an agreed plan out of court as you are currently trying to do with Cabot - but your priority is keeping your home, on top of priorities ( mortgage, council tax, utilities ) and ensuring you have enough to live on and get you through this rough patch. Thankfully it seems your debts are with the better end of the debt purchasing market - Lowell and Cabot - so talking to them and being open about your circumstances may well be the best policy here.

You've got your IE sheet from Stepchange now and their recommendation was token payments until things improve. They suggested bankruptcy but presumably there is concern about your property being affected. The other option is to try and get in to CAB, both you and your husband together with details of ALL the debts and overall situation - they can look at everything with you and help you come up with an overall plan to get this dealt with.

So immediate court claim stuff wise, you've got 5? claims in progress at the moment between you and your husband.

Those which have provided documents you can make offers to pay on. You should use your household IE sheet. You've sent your individual IE to Cabot and they're asking for the household IE. Not surprising and it sounds like your joint IE doesn't show much of a difference in disposable income. The joint IE will have all the debts on as well as all the income. Does it actually make much difference between the sole and joint IE sheets ?

If providing that can get an acceptance of an affordable amount it's worth doing. Cabot ( and Lowell ) have multiple debts and once they are fully aware of your full circumstances they should be able to see that pushing you through court isnt to get them any more, although they might want to secure the debts with the CCJ. It's also worth making them aware of the health issues you're dealing with. Remember they don't know anything unless you tell them so will treat you as a 'won't pay' person rather than a 'seriously can't pay trying my best to sort things' person.

Can you do a list of the court claims and where things are at with each. Then if you need/prefer to try deal with each individually we know exactly where you stand.

eg:

Cabot - Capital One - £2000 - stayed but produced documents and applying for summary judgment.
Cabot - Lloyds Bank - £5000 - filed defence and awaiting mediation appointment - no documents provided.
etc.

Hi Amethyst ,

Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. Yes my credit file is very knackered. I was even refused for a basic bank account that we were talking about before. Yes you are right I just want something sorted now so it's not hanging over me and causing me stress. I would be happy with an out of court settlement as long as I could afford it and Cabot or Lowell didn't start asking me to increase it again. I have been worried they will ask for too much and I will be in a worse mess than I am now. When I spoke to Step change they did say that the home could be at risk which I have to avoid. That's good that Cabot and Lowell can be reasonable.

Yes I did the IE form from Stepchange but it was difficult because I was doing it in my single name not the joint one with my partner's income and what bills he pays and I ended up with a big deficit on it. Cabot have written back and said it's not clear how I am having the means to live and I don't know what to say now. Yes I offered token payments of £1 per month. One of the problems is my husband is not keen on the idea of this being kept out of court. His opinion is the courts might be fairer than the debt collectors. It leaves me in a difficult position because now I can't write to Cabot with the joint income because he doesn't want me to. But the joint IE sheet will not show much disposable income. I might have done the single sheet wrong because I put all the bills down and my husband pays some of them. I was just getting confused with it really.

I wasn't sure about explaining all the health issues to Cabot. I have 2 conditions that can affect your mental health. I was thinking they probably won't care and yes they probably think I don't want to pay. There are 4 court claims at the moment.

My husband's are :

Cabot Capital One £1,200 stayed have applied for summary judgement court hearing
Cabot Capital One £1,300 stayed have applied for summary judgement court hearing

My Debts;

Cabot Capital One 2,000 stayed but produced documents have offered to pay but want the full IE form
Cabot Capital One 800 stayed but produced documents Cabot have not written back about my offer to pay.
Cabot Catalogue 160. Cabot sent a payment card for this one and they accepted £1 per month but I don't even have any paperwork for this debt.
Lowell £1,000 Credit Card They have not written to me about this in a while so I have been ignoring it. I have no paperwork for the debt.
Lowell £1,300 Credit Card I have been ignoring this too. I have no paperwork for the original debt.
Lowell £1,200 Credit Card. I'm just ignoring this too. I have no paperwork just letters from Lowell.
Lowell £150 Mail Order. I have no paperwork for this one.
Intrum Finance Mail Order 350 I have no paperwork for this one just debt collector letters.
Hoist Portfolio 250 Credit Card/Store Card. I have no paperwork for the original debt.

I have not been too organised really and I don't have paperwork for most of this debt. My husband is actually going to a court hearing about his credit card claim because they have lifted the stay on both of his claims. I don't really want to go to court but I don't know what to do if I can't tell them the full household income. I would be grateful for any more advice please. Thank you so much for your reply.