1. If you have a credit card account and a bank account at the same bank then the bank may take money from the bank account to apply to the credit card account. So, step 1 : open a new account with a bank/building society with which you have no previous connection and keep any significant amounts of money in that account. 2. The OR is normally non-judgmental about your debts - providing you are honest and up-front about them. You might have made purchases which you now regret, but that is not a crime. Stupid maybe but not criminal. It's only if you try to hide things that the OR gets upset.

I'm speculating here, not knowing which country you're in. Perhaps they're trying to establish a legal liability before going for the jugular.

Sorry to hear of your difficulties. Our sympathies for the unpleasant time you are having. The CSA are nasty. The only thing that matters to them is money so they won't go away easily. If sold would your house have any equity after the mortgage is satisfied? You might lose your house - but if you do then the local authority has an obligation to house you. Hence you won't be homeless but you might end up in a council flat, some of which are quite good and some of which are pretty rough.

Stop considering - do it quickly, otherwise it will be sold before you can secure the debt. A charging order prevents ownership of the property being transferred until a certificate of satisfaction (may not be called exactly that) is provided to say the debt has been satisfied. I've not applied for a charging order myself but a quick phone call to your nearest County Court should clarify things.

Once you have all that sorted out you should (must?) make a formal complaint to the council for the irresponsible/incompetent way they have handled the matter. This should be headed as a formal complaint and should be addressed to the Chief Executive. You should it recorded delivery. In the complaint you should say that if the matter is not resolved you will be referring the matter to the Local Authority Ombudsman.

Did the gentleman actually enter your house? One foot across the threshold counts as entering I'm afraid.

Yes they can. Bear in mind that a charging order prevents ownership of the property being transferred until a certificate satisfying the charge is provided to the Land Registry. If no-one does anything then the charging order will sit there until you come to sell the property. Unfortunately some creditors get impatient (especially if you appear to be there forever) and try to force a sale of the property. On the other hand some debtors are able to pay off the original debt which led to the charging order in the first place, and are therefore able to have the charging order lifted.

Whatever happened to the N349?? It sounds like there's a story to be told... In answer to your last question : no.

I think you are making more of this than there is to be made. A debt is an asset belonging to a creditor. Any creditor can sell an asset in the same way that you can. Here's a made-up example : you bought your young child a small bicycle, then when they grew up a bit you sold that bicycle. You don't need anyone's 'permission' or 'consent' to sell it. You just go ahead and do it. The Property Act governs how you sell it, not whether you can sell it. In the case of certain assets such as debts a third party (the debtor) is involved. The Property Act specifies that the third party must be advised by a Notice of Assignment.

Here's another angle - Credit card clampdown: what does it mean for me? - Telegraph

My view as well. Let it lie, and let Mr Acacia Avenue be declared bankrupt. It might be difficult to pin him down though as I understand he can be found in quite a few towns around the country. I wonder which 'local' County Court he would use?

Love it! Maybe I'll change my CAG nickname ...

Scottish Power sells electricity, and allows payments in arrears. It doesn't provide credit for you to go and purchase goods and services elsewhere. It is not a debt collection agency, it is a utility company.

Coincidentally this was in the newspaper this morning - Record numbers contact debt charity - Telegraph

The letter is rubbish as it has no day on it. I would write back saying so, and enclosing a copy of their own letter. If they do serve a Statutory Demand then, as mandyjane says, we can explore the details at that point. Do you have any thoughts about who it might be and what the purprted debt is for? Do you own your own home or any other property/cash/assets? Because a Statutory Demand is the necessary legal precursor to a bankruptcy petition this must be taken into account if/when a Statutory Demand is received. If (for instance) you have no significant assets then a bankruptcy petition is pointless because (a) it costs the petitioner (in this case the creditor) a significant sum to lodge the petition, and (b) and assets you do have will be distributed amongst all creditors on a pro rata basis. One last point : a Statutory Demand is served directly on the debtor by the creditor. There are no courts involved at this point. This is why the issue of service is important - in this case a process server is being used who will make a Statutory Declaration that the Statutory Demand has been properly served on you.

I assume you have not replied to the claim as yet. You should do so stating that you are contesting all of it. You should also be requesting copies of all the documents that the claimant is relying on. You need to make a CPR 31.14 request for these, and an excellent draft letter is floating about here on CAG for you to so. I can't put my finger on it but I'm sure there will be a flood of volunteers to do this for you. Others will be along at some point to help out with other points of action. Keep us all posted - I'm personally interested in how this progresses.

Bump again ...

mogwopit : your solicitor should already have dealt with this - the 'husband' does not have any entitlement at all and you solicitor should have said so. If the 'husband' wants to contest this then he will have to do so in a UK court at his own expense. So, at this point you should discuss this with your solicitor and find out what he/she has done or plans to do. other posters : you are quite right in saying that all posts should be in public forum, however the additional points that were raised are simply that the poster feels they are sensitive at a a very difficult time - see post #6. mogwopit is a new member on CAG and the circumstances described deserve some sympathy. Now is not the time for standing on ceremony or for any chastisement or criticism.

Just to clarify matters regarding the Statutory Demand. A Statutory Demand is a necessary legal precursor to a bankruptcy petition. It is served (sent/delivered) by a creditor directly to a debtor. There is no court involved at this point. A creditor doesn't 'get' a Statutory Demand. It is simply issued by the creditor - and that's it. If it is not set aside then the creditor can (but doesn't have to) petition for the debtor's bankruptcy. When a debtor applies to a County Court to have the SD set aside then this will be the first that the court will know about it. If you don't apply [to have it set aside] then the court will never know about. There is no provision for Statutory Demands to be be recorded on, for example, the databases of credit reference agencies. The original debt (which has led to the SD) can and probably will be. In my view you should, if you take the moral high ground, advise the creditor of the mistakes. Unfortunately I have very little sympathy with creditors in general because of the abysmal way they behave - and moral considerations become irrelevant in these circumstances. Hence I would just ignore any mail. It is not addressed to you and legally you should not even open it. There is no legal requirement that you should send it back to the sender.

If she has made a will then the issue of being married is irrelevant. I suspect you mean if she dies intestate, in which case I don't think so. That's equivalent of a religious ceremony which isn't recognised as a legal contract in the UK (probably not in Pakistan either). [This isn't discriminating against Pakistan : it applies to all countries eg. Buddhist wedding in Thailand. You need to go through a civil marriage ceremony for it to be recognised.]

This is for an overdraft so there will be no credit agreement as such. There should be an overdraft agreement (which you can request a copy of) but, given that Smile is an internet bank, you probably didn't sign anything. Perhaps you could clarify this.

What do you mean when you say this?

You'll need to keep checking the credit reference agencies. If anything does show up then you can go for the jugular. In my view, since they have given up so quickly they have probably given up on this case and moved on to other people hence your credit record is most unlikely to be affected. But keep checking! Claim for them as you have indicated. I suspect this will be difficult indeed. How do you prove it? How do you measure, in monetary terms, the cost of it? Perhaps you should just include something in your claim for costs.

Very useful indeed. Answers all my queries. Many thanks!

Well, you can request a copy of your credit agreement but it's a bit pointless now unless you plan to apply for a set aside.