# Credit Union Judgment



## nodough (23 Oct 2012)

My Credit Union is proceeding to take up Judgement against me and is seeking to obtain an Instalment Order against me and my husband both jointly and severally on a €47,000 loan. They are saying this can be done on consent, so we submitted a letter to them stating we could afford to pay €200pm. 

Previous to this, we have been paying what we can afford every month whilst making sure we have food on the table for our young children and other essential bills like light and heat, car expenses are paid. Some months they get more, some months they get less. At the end of the week, I count the coppers to get some kind of dinner on the table.

We feel bullied by the credit union and are clueless as to what we have just agreed to. We sent in the letter because thats what they asked us to do. 

Are they being reasonable bringing us to court? 

We have always engaged with them and informed them we were struggling to repay the loan. We have every intention in repaying the loan but find ourselves doing it more slower than the credit union would prefer. 

We mentioned personal insolvency bill to the manager. I dont think that went down well.

Do you think we need a solicitor to look after our interests as I feel like the credit union are advising us about what's happening but may not be giving us all the options.


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## wbbs (23 Oct 2012)

Contact MABS, ring their helpline while you are waiting for an appointment.

You could also try your local Citizens Information office for a FLAC appointment with a solicitor, probably be a wait for this too.

Today if I was you I would ring the MABS helpline for advice.


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## nodough (23 Oct 2012)

Thanks wbbs, have been a client of MABS with few years, we left them this summer when new fella took over our case and we couldnt work with him, he was very agro towards us and didnt listen to our views.. we had no problem with our previous case worker...so we began speaking to all our creditors ourselves... we were doing fine til the letter from the credit Union and the phone calls from the manager!

Will look into the FLAC, do you think we need it? things seem to be happening so quickly... how long before the judgement is brought to court? Will the credit Union inform us when it is??  have read that some judgements are taken when people arent even notified...dont want any judge judging me before i even present my case...

Im here typing and cant believe that I am in this predicament.. I dread the post every morn because of bills or reminders from debt companys!There doesnt seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel and every year just seems to get worse for us....will we ever be debt free I keep asking myself...


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## Slim (23 Oct 2012)

Hi Nodough and welcome to AAM. I am sorry to read of your situation. If you have a search here you will find many similar threads, some of which may provide useful information.

You don't outline your personal circumstances, as is your right, so it's hard to know what you should do. If you can afford the €200 pm to the CU, then you should make this offer in writing to the court. The judge may decide to issue an installment order rather than a judgement, if he can do that. Otherwise, you could allow the judgement to be made and let the CU register this against your house, assumimg you are an owner occupier. This will sit on your house for 12 years. In the interim, you will not be obliged to make any repayments if you cannot do so. Interest will be frozen so the debt will not increase. After 12 years the judgement will expire and you will be free of it. Of course, your credit rating will be shot in the meantime.

I am not advocating not paying your debt, but if the debt is this large it is hard to see how you might pay it off. Best of luck.


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## Mr. C.J.H. (4 Nov 2012)

If you owe the money then the Credit Union, if it wishes, is entitled to institute Court proceedings and take up a Court judgment against you. MABS, FLAC or whoever cannot change that fact. There is probably little point in engaging a solicitor because you do not seem to dispute that the money was borrowed and is owed and therefore you do not seem to have a defence at law.

You owe an awful lot of money and only paying back €200 per month is unlikely to cut it, as this doesn't even cover the interest. The credit union probably cannot afford to take a hit of €47k and its members wouldn't accept it. You may need to look at cutting back on other areas to increase your payments, otherwise it is likely that the credit union will obtain a judgment and proceed to enforcement of that judgment.


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## SarahMc (5 Nov 2012)

On one hand you say you are fine, on the other you dread post from debt companies every morning. I really think you need to re engage with MABS. Some of their Advisors have a more forthright approach than others, but at the end of the day no case worker works in isolation, so advice is run by the manager all the time.


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## RichInSpirit (5 Nov 2012)

*Hi Nodough*

I don't think there's anything personal in the credit unions action's against you. 
They are probably acting under Pressure from the Financial Regulator and the manager etc. is trying his best to keep his job.
Just keep a record of your letters to them. You seem to be very reasonable with your interaction with them so far.
As someone else here said about freezing interest, I wouldn't even wait for the court to freeze the interest, ask the Credit Union directly would they freeze the interest to enable you to pay them back quicker. Put it in writing preferably. €47000/€200 = 235 months.  Which is probably less than Half the time you'd be paying them back otherwise. 
Keep all letters etc. in case you still end up in court. 
And don't be worried too much by any of this stuff


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