HFC want my house

[hkm27uk]

Long story.

About 1998 had loan from HFC around 2k - this was some sort of flexible loan which came with a cheque book. Then had loads of other probs, and took them up on an offer of a consolidation loan - probably in 1999.

However, they converted £2k variable loan to £2k fixed loan AND then also gave us a £5k consolodation loan (same day). Added to this was PPI.

Due to ill-health and redundancy could not meet payments - PPI should not have been sold as had not been employed long enough. Eventually went to CCJ.

They have now got Charging Order on house and threatening to sell. They never sent any paperwork about applying for Charging Order.

Ages ago I ask for copy of agreement, and did a DPA request, but they said they had no documents.

They probably charged me late fees, plus default interest, the PPI was miss-sold, when they did the paperwork for the loans the woman said that a CCJ had just gone on - so it probably could have been irresponsible lending...but they want our house for the sake of an £9k debt - yet say they have no paperwork that I can check to see if I can fight it.

[iancognito]

Unfortunately if this loan is subject to a CCJ, a CCA request would be worthless as there is no doubt the debt exists.

There are however other issues here, if you were unable to claim on the PPI because of its terms, the PPI is definitely been mis sold and you need to claim back both the payments and the interest paid thereon (they add it on as they do with the loan).

You need to send them an SAR to find out what charges have been applied and claim them back, get this done asap as the account is then in dispute. You will be able to stop them selling the house until the dispute is settled and to be honest, I'd be very surprised if they would be able to sell the house for a relatively small debt.

Are you sure you didn't receive any correspondence from the court regarding this CCJ or charging order? When did they get the charging order?

[hkm27uk]

Thanks. They got the charging order last week - all I knew about it was a letter from the Land Registry saying they had taken out an interim, the next document I had was from the court saying it had been made into full charging order at hearing where their solicitor was present and I was not - I had no knowledge of that hearing whatsoever.

I had sent a DPA last summer, and they sent my £10 back saying they had nothing.

[iancognito]

I would get on to the court as soon as possible on the grounds that you were unaware of their application and had no opportunity to defend.

DPA - nothing, if they had nothing on you they would not be able to ask you for money, take you to court, sell your house, nothing, even if its only your address they hold, under the DPA they are obliged to provide you with that information, you need to report them to the ICO (ICO – Information Commissioner's Office) or sue them for non compliance but I would send a new SAR first, if they have just been to court they cannot possibly have no information on you!!!

[hkm27uk]

Thanks very much, will do that.

[CYNthesys]

I imagine they made an ex parte application for the interim charging order. You should have had paperwork from the courts and been given the opportunity to attend a hearing before it was made absolute

[hkm27uk]

Had nothing at all from the court until the notice saying that the full order had been made.

[CYNthesys]

I would certainly challenge the Charging Order, but I'm not sure how you would go about it.
Before a court makes such an order final the court would normally check with you to make sure there weren't any other debts secured on your property,as its highly unusual to have a 3rd charge. Interests of other creditors need to be taken into account.
Thats how it used to be anyway, but my experience of CO is from about 10 years ago. Things have possibly changed

[Kafka]

Charging Orders

HKM

I had a Charging Order placed on my house in March.

This came from a CC with Citicard that I was trying to clear over a year at a bargain payoff. I paid half but while trying to remortgage I had to agree reduced payments for awhile. Despite honouring the reduced agreement, Citi sold the debt to a disreputable DCA.

The DCA demanded £1700 within 7 days then filed a default. While the remortgage dragged on they refused to accept the offer of £50pm that was generous in the circumstances. Eventually they took out a CCJ and Interim Charging Order - I did get the paperwork. I attended the Final Charging Order hearing, but the judge was not interested in facts - they had said I refused to cooperate and he accepted this without a shred of evidence although they were not there.

However, at the end he was very helpful. He said that with the CO, they had gone about as far as they could through the courts. He said that he had only ever granted an Order of Sale a few times, and then only when someone had sat in court and absolutely refused to pay anything at all, leaving him no option.

I asked how much they could demand and he said "Pay what you can afford". As I still have priority debts, I have only paid them £10 per month since, and they have never been in touch again. My credit file under the default says there is an agreement to pay about £130 but this is another lie.

Providing you can evidence more important debts, and pay them something every month, I doubt a court would agree to an Order of Sale. You must keep receipts for everything, and NEVER deal with them on the phone. Also remember that a CO secures the debt, but doesn't generate income for what may be years if you don't sell or remortgage, so they are likely to settle for a big knock-down rather than wait for years. Certainly DCAs will do this, and the best bet is to try to raise sufficient cash to offer to settle in full at a hugely-reduced amount. This would get them off your back and the CCJ would then be marked as satisfied so that it would start its 6 years to clear.

I hope that this helps you a little. I found that the CO has not been the problem I was expecting, and they seem more of a threat than mine has turned out to be.

K.

[CYNthesys]

When a CO was made against my home I attended the court for the final hearing. The Judge asked me if there were any other debts (by that I assumed he meant secured debts) When I answered no, he said he didnt have any choice other than to grant the CO as there was only a 1st charge against the property.
The CO resulted from a High Court Judgment, not a CCJ, and statutory interest accrued. I never made any monthly payments at all, and about 8 years down the line I remortgaged and negotiated a reduced settlement of 50% in full and final payment.
High Court Judgments were not recorded on registers way back then, however the system changed early last year and now they are recorded along with CCJs at the Registry Trust.

[hkm27uk]

Thanks again.