Natwest's Charging Order on my property

[ontheedge]

Please help, I'm desperate and can barely sleep. I'll try to give all the details but please ask any questions if not clear.

In 2007, I went over my overdraft with Natwest (I've had the account over 10yrs). Before I could pay back, they closed the account without warning and threatened me with balliffs to pay the balance owed (just over 1K). As I no longer had an account, I was sent some vouchers to pay with at a nearby branch, and I started to pay but fell into financial difficulty due to a divorce and losing my job. I also had a toddler and so paying at a branch wasnt so convenient and I'd stopped paying after a while.

Last November, I received a notification from the Land Registry that a company that I'd never heard about, CL or C1 Finance, had applied through the courts in Sept and been granted an Interim Charging Order on my property. I didnt know what it meant until I did some research - basically I cant sell the property without informing them and they'll take out their money first in case of a sale. They can also force me to sell the property to retrieve their money. Problem is, they are asking for almost 11K (yes, eleven thousand pounds)!! I have no idea how that can happen in less than 2 Yrs?!

I had not been informed of the court case or I would have contested it.

A month later I received a notification from Howard Cowen Solicitors on behalf of C1 Finance about a court date in Bradford where the final decision on the Charging Order would be made. All indications from my enquiries at the CAB and other solicitors was that it would be a formality and they would normally be granted, but I sprung into action nonetheless and applied for the case to be transfered to my local court, where I managed to persuade the Judge to postpone the case as I had not been told about the initial court date and had no paperwork at all from Howard Cowen (I didnt even know the case was related to Natwest by then!) to find out on what grounds my home was being threatened.

Thankfully, the case has now been adjurned till July, and I have applied to the Retail Regulatory Risk Dept at Natwest for details of my account charges over the past 6years (using the template on moneysavingexpert.com, where I also found details about this forum)

Is there anything I can do to challenge the Interim Charging Order and prevent the final order being granted? can it be removed? cos the company never contacted me or I would have made an arrangement to start paying again, however little I could afford. That has to be illegal, right? how could they boycott the actual person and just go for her property? what if I didnt own the property?

I'm on income support with 2 young children and the house is all I have! I cant afford to have them attach a debt to it. I've been on a fixed rate mortgage for 5 years or I would have sold the property by now, but unfortunately I have only about 5K equity on it which is why I didnt break the fixed term cos the penalty would have been almost 9K. I was hoping to be able to sell the property this Summer when my fixed rate term expires cos the 5K seems like 5 million to me right now!

I feel trapped! does anyone at all understand anything I've said above? how can I get out of this?! How can I persuade the company/the courts to give me a chance to pay installmentally whatever is legitimately owed?? thank you very much. thank you.

On the edge

[Amethyst]

Re: Natwest's Charging Order on my property

All indications from my enquiries at the CAB and other solicitors was that it would be a formality and they would normally be granted, but I sprung into action nonetheless and applied for the case to be transfered to my local court, where I managed to persuade the Judge to postpone the case as I had not been told about the initial court date and had no paperwork at all from Howard Cowen (I didnt even know the case was related to Natwest by then!) to find out on what grounds my home was being threatened.

GOOD for you and well done getting the case adjourned. Amazing how CAB etc can tell you to roll over and accept £11k on your home when you don't know what it is for.

Yes you can get the interim order removed, if this is the £1k Natwest debt then you should be able to get the judgment down to a sensible amount and an installment order on that amount. You need to get the original judgment set aside first. The CO can't have been granted unless they had judgment against you, so you need all those details of the original claim against you.

Do you have copies now of the original papers from the court from CL Finance and Howard Coen ? If not you need to ask the court for their papers and do a FULL SAR on CL Finance and Howard Coen. I'd also do a FULL SAR on Natwest rather than just asking for the charges as per the MSE template.

Have you had it confirmed to you now that this 11k is that £1k Natwest debt?