Would appreciate some help please

[Flowingone]

I had already spoken with the solicitors who handled the sale but they said they strictly only deal in conveyancing and nothing else.

During the sale my husband wasn’t asked to be involved in any way (including the settling of Lloyds loan) or to sign anything other than the one document to confirm he also occupied the property and would vacate on completion.

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

During the sale my husband wasn’t asked to be involved in any way (including the settling of Lloyds loan) or to sign anything other than the one document to confirm he also occupied the property and would vacate on completion.

Did he take independent legal advice on this issue?

Di

[Flowingone]

If you mean at the point the house was sold the answer is no

[Joanna Connolly]

Hi Flowingone

Did you take legal advice before you and your husband signed the personal guarantees?

If you did did you take independent legal advice from your husband or did you both use the same solicitor before signing the personal guarantee?

Were you :
1. a shareholder in the limited company
2. a director of the limited company
3. an employee of the limited company

As to the other credit cards and loans were they in your name or your husbands name or both? It would be a good idea to send a S.77 (loan) or S.78 (credit card/personal overdraft) consumer credit Act request (enclosing the statutory £1 fee as suggested by The Tech Clerk. Template requests can be accessed by clicking on the link in The Tech Clerks first post on this thread. The importance is that if creditors cannot comply then the agreements are unenforceable in the courts until they can.

[Flowingone]

Hello Joanna,

Yes we did receive separate advice before signing . We were both all 3, so shareholder, director and employee.

The credit cards and loans are in my husbands name only, we would like to list these for advice but don't know how to do it. Somebody at the start of this thread suggested they be added separately in their own post but not sure if they meant in this thread or a new one.

Thanks
Alice

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

Somebody at the start of this thread suggested they be added separately in their own post but not sure if they meant in this thread or a new one.

That was me

No need to start a new thread - the history of how these debts occurred (in your earlier posts) is useful.

Just make a separate post for each debt on this thread.

Since you say your husband is in a DMP with StepChange have any of them been assigned (sold) to a debt purchaser or are they still with the original lenders?

Di

[Flowingone]

Di,

It wasn't a DMP but a TPP (token payment plan) which happened for 6 months but as my husband never got to a stage where he was earning enough for a DMP or IVA Step Change said they would no longer help until his situation improved. After this my husband changed the direct debits to pay them the pound per month direct and they have never complained, and a couple have even written to say "as your circumstances haven't changed keep paying us a pound".

We will post these ASAP (perhaps someone could send me a link or two of how to lay them out), most of them have been assigned to the likes of PRA.

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

most of them have been assigned to the likes of PRA.

I'll comment on each one when you've posted the background. PRA sometimes struggle with assignment issues.

This is what happened when they took me to court and lost as explained by Jo >

‘“RECONSTITUTED AGREEMENT” – IRREDEEMABLY UNENFORCEABLE”
“UNREDACTED DEEDS OF ASSIGNMENT – NO ASSIGMENT PROVED”


So, held Recorder Bellamy in PRA Group (UK) Limited v Mayhew at Central London County Court on 22nd March 2017, at the end of a 3 day multi track trial, when dismissing PRA’s claim against our client.


Stale debts sued for on the back of 2 ‘reconstituted’ MBNA credit card agreements (May 1999 and October 2000) were held irredeemably unenforceable under CCA 1974. The evidence of an honest witness was preferred to that of so called “reconstituted agreements”.


After 3 days of close forensic examination of, and legal argument about, evidence and documents from both PRA and MBNA stating that our client’s specific debt had been assigned, the court held that no assignment had been proved.


Efforts, over many months, in earlier cases to force PRA into disclosure of un-redacted deeds and deep and sustained forensic challenge to the provenance of documents needed to prove regulatory compliance, finally drew back the veil. The reality behind bulk debt purchasing was revealed.


This decision shows that just saying an agreement is enforceable and producing a “reconstituted” copy does not prove that it is enforceable. Just saying an agreement has been assigned and producing a notice saying it has been assigned does not prove legal assignment.


Debt purchasers need to provide proof. If that means the pitifully few pence in the pound they pay for stale debts will increase because banks will now have to start keeping original evidence complying with regulatory consumer protection measures, it is hard to imagine many tears being shed, outside the City of London.

Di

[Flowingone]

Many thanks

Of course I still have to make the decision to continue and buy a property in just my name or not. If we pay rent for much longer will will probably never have enough money to buy a house ever again, and a house has come up which has been the first in the area I could afford for a year.

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

still have to make the decision to continue and buy a property in just my name or not. If we pay rent for much longer will will probably never have enough money to buy a house ever again, and a house has come up which has been the first in the area I could afford for a year.

I sensed there was a reason for you feeling the need to get on with the decision.

I'm also aware that being bankrupt can have a negative effect on renting property since most tenancy agreements have a clause which refers to bankrupts. Whether that's fair or not is another matter.

What you are trying to establish is whether the proceeds from the sale of your former property would be at risk if your husband were to declare himself bankrupt, regardless of whether those proceeds were in a bank account or in bricks and mortar (in your sole name).

Di

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

We will post these ASAP (perhaps someone could send me a link or two of how to lay them out), most of them have been assigned .. .

This is the format used by forum members to give the basic background of a debt >

• Type of account (credit card/loan/overdraft)
• Date commenced (ideally before April 2007)
• Approx balance
• Date last paid (approximate date you last made a FULL contractual payment)
• Are you on arrangement or not paying
• Status (default/in arrears/up-to-date)
• Account owner (who is writing to you, a DCA or the lender or a debt purchaser)

Di

[Flowingone]

I sensed there was a reason for you feeling the need to get on with the decision.
I'm also aware that being bankrupt can have a negative effect on renting property since most tenancy agreements have a clause which refers to bankrupts. Whether that's fair or not is another matter.
What you are trying to establish is whether the proceeds from the sale of your former property would be at risk if your husband were to declare himself bankrupt, regardless of whether those proceeds were in a bank account or in bricks and mortar (in your sole name).
Di

Di,
Yes if you see back to my first post on this thread you will see what I mean.

[Flowingone]

This is the format used by forum members to give the basic background of a debt >

• Type of account (credit card/loan/overdraft)
• Date commenced (ideally before April 2007)
• Approx balance
• Date last paid (approximate date you last made a FULL contractual payment)
• Are you on arrangement or not paying
• Status (default/in arrears/up-to-date)
• Account owner (who is writing to you, a DCA or the lender or a debt purchaser)

Di

Thanks will get onto it this evening

[Flowingone]

In the meantime could somebody please tell me the importance of having an actual default notice in writing? We have one for some of my husbands cards but not others, some seem to say defaulted/ended on his credit file and others just up to date!

[cymruambyth]

There is a legal format for a default notice. An account is defaulted then terminated before certain actions can be taken http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/...efault-notices