Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away!

[adolf hamster]

I watched that episode. The kid offered for them to go through his room if they wanted, however they didn't take him up on that offer. The HCEOs never at any point said they would only take stuff they could prove was his.

They were even trying to take the car outside the house. When shown insurance documents in someone else's name, they tried to take the angle the debtor is a named driver (neither of which means squat in reality).

They were saying that proof of ownership would have to be shown for everything. Never made a distinction between his room and the rest of the stuff in the house.

His younger brother and family were under the impression that the HCEOs would start taking stuff from the house, again with no distinction being made about who owned things. At no point did the HCEOs correct or remind them the writ says only stuff owned by the debtor could be taken.

The debtor obviously had nothing to pay the debt with, but the family under considerable distress managed to put together money to pay the debt even though they were liable for none of it and legally had no reason to pay it. It didn't help that being immigrants with not a strong grasp of the law and powers given to HCEOs they just ended up being furious (admittedly way over the top) someone could come into your house and start doing this.

It's akin to paying off your neighbour's debts because you have been led to believe your property will be taken to pay for the debt. In this case it just happens to be within a household.

Tricky really, if they just started lifting stuff i wonder what the legal standpoint would be to defend your property from them, after all castle doctrine is only defeated by a warrant to seize your stuff and if the warrant isnt for you then its not worth jack.

The thing is, due to them having little real power, they need to rely on deception to make people pay up rather than just start grabbing things willy nilly

 

[The_Abyss]

Also in many of these cases the HCEO asks if they couldn't borrow money to pay the judgement or get someone else to pay it. That seems like a silly thing to be asking given that's simply passing on the debt.

lol

 

[spoffle]

you've just cherry picked the cheapest 50 inch TVs you could find in order to make a rather irrelevant point

it isn't like they were the only electronic goods in the house either

Your point was the irrelevant one. 50 inch TVs are no longer a mega luxury in the UK. Your point was to draw attention to them having mega luxuries whilst not paying their rent.

Your point has been proven invalid, and if they really are broke, then they're obviously going to be buying the low end cheap 50" TVs aren't they?

 

[spoffle]

Put the keyboard down, I'm pretty sure they're used to dealing with people kicking off and are generally quite calm and good at managing them. They're also quite likely able to look after themselves + there will tend to be two of them! Not sure you'd do time per say but you could find yourself restrained, the police called and them entering your property regardless just with even more embarrassment in front of the neighbours.

If one of these people put their foot in my door way like that, the door would be closing with their foot still in it, or I'd be jumping on their foot with my whole weight, and I certainly wouldn't be getting restrained either.

 

[dowie]

Your point was the irrelevant one. 50 inch TVs are no longer a mega luxury in the UK. Your point was to draw attention to them having mega luxuries whilst not paying their rent.

Your point has been proven invalid, and if they really are broke, then they're obviously going to be buying the low end cheap 50" TVs aren't they?

You've got a dubious standard of proof and your argument doesn't necessarily follow - you're assuming that they're not simply reckless with money... there were more than just a couple of rather large TVs in there too.

If they were that hard up and worried about budgeting then why buy two of the things?

 

[dowie]

If one of these people put their foot in my door way like that, the door would be closing with their foot still in it, or I'd be jumping on their foot with my whole weight, and I certainly wouldn't be getting restrained either.

if you attacked them you quite likely would be getting restrained... even with your keyboard in hand

 

[Sankari]

If I was in that situation no way would be asking to borrow money from family to pay a bailiff. I'd also do time if they tried the foot in the door trick on me, I'd go mental.

Or you could just pay your ******* bills in the first place, like a decent person.

 

[Uther]

Who has receipts for everything in their house? Once stuff is out of warranty the receipt goes in the shredder...

 

[Kenai]

Who has receipts for everything in their house? Once stuff is out of warranty the receipt goes in the shredder...

Hopefully people who share houses with debt dodging knobs

 

[MooMoo444]

It's good to remind people that being a guarantor isn't just a signature. The debtor always seems to say 'it's not my debt mate' but if you signed, then your fault.

 

[Uther]

It's good to remind people that being a guarantor isn't just a signature. The debtor always seems to say 'it's not my debt mate' but if you signed, then your fault.

Yeah I heard an advert on the radio for one of those payday loan companies yesterday, guarantor required, interest 49.9% or something equally insane.
**** that!

 

[chaparral]

Because its great to know that i work 5-7 days a week to pay the bills and all the dodgers (actual word if it wasnt for sware filter would be much stronger) who live the life of riley whilst not paying their bills get caught eventually. Or at least some of them do

I had this happen and I work about 60 hours a week..

I had a boating accident many years ago and the insurance company I was insured with went bust a few weeks after my accident and about 6 years later they sent the sheriff to me for the money
(They took both my car and motorbike but I got them both back over a year later )

 

[Brizzles]

Or you could just pay your ******* bills in the first place, like a decent person.

Yeh, nothing worse than someone who gets injured/through illness can't work and keep up repayments.

should have got a crystal ball, like decent people

 

[RaohNS]

This programme winds me up. Especially when it's the family/parents home with a son/daughter debt and they try and bluff them into thinking their possessions are at risk when they don't belong to the debtor. Also hounding debtors to beg and borrow money from friends and relatives. If I was in that situation no way would be asking to borrow money from family to pay a bailiff. I'd also do time if they tried the foot in the door trick on me, I'd go mental.

And so you should. In fact I'm sure I read somewhere that if a bailiff enters this way there can sometimes be a justification to have the debt made void.

There was also a case of a man smashing an empty milk bottle over a bailiffs head (he was arrested but then Court found him not guilty because the bailiff stuck his foot in and tried to force his way in) and another where a bailiff "got a good slap" (official Court statement) because again a bailiff forced entry.

There are always measures you can take and not everyone ends up in these situations because of stupidity.

Prime example is going into overdraft by a few pounds can cost you hundreds of pounds. I potentially lost out on a job because the BACS system went down the day my mortgage was due to go out, thus I had to declare to LloydsTSB itiw that I had been late paying my mortgage.

 

[=XDC=FluphyBunny]

Yeh, nothing worse than someone who gets injured/through illness can't work and keep up repayments.

should have got a crystal ball, like decent people

Except the vast majority of debt will be down to people miss-managing their money then doing nothing to try and sort it out as obviously it's not their fault. There are plenty of ways and help for sorting out debt before it gets to this stage.

 

[diamount]

Yeh, nothing worse than someone who gets injured/through illness can't work and keep up repayments.

should have got a crystal ball, like decent people

Never buy something if you cannot afford it with cash.

 

[spoffle]

Yeh, nothing worse than someone who gets injured/through illness can't work and keep up repayments.

should have got a crystal ball, like decent people

should have?

 

[Rincewindle]

The simple answer is you just dont open the door to them.

They cant break down your door.

Climb through window etc.

Even if you do make a mistake and open the door to them just close it again they cant force there way past you to get inside.

That program makes me laugh how much it is edited in favour of them.

It never shows the times they turn up at properties and are told to go do one by someone that knows not to answer the door to them.

 

[Johno please?]

I like how they don't have the money, "nope definitely can't pay it, we don't have it".... then they start taking stuff, "ok ok I might be able to get some"

Scum. Bags, pay your bloody bills and invoices.

 

[Hades]

Back in the 90s my father had a small debt for a couple of hundred pounds. He refused to pay it because he disputed it (he could easily have afforded to). He was out when a bailiff knocked on the door. I pretended to be interested in what the guy was saying and then without warning I slamed the door closed mid sentence so not giving him a chance to get a foot in the door.

I was about 20 at the time and he tried to scare me by shouting through the letterbox that I was refusing him legal entry and would personally be in a lot of trouble. I told him I would allow entry if he called the police and they said I was obliged to do so. He disappeared and never came back. We never heard any more about it.