Met a friend on Friday night who was in shock at having received a letter from the City of Dublin Sheriff's Office to say that he must pay 1800 in debts he owes to Bank of Ireland within 7 days or they will be out to seize property to that value. He had understood he had reached a verbal agreement with BoI on 7000 he owed whereby he was paying 500 euro a month. It transpired he actually had two debts with BoI - one of 7000 for a term loan and one of 1800 for a credit card. He thought it was basically all the one and agreed to pay 500 not realising that he had two seperate debts. Anyhow, they are happy with the 500 they are getting every month but have come after him for the 1800 which he owed on the credit card.
My questions
(a) the letter from the Sheriffs Office said something along the lines of "on foot of a court order" - he never got any summons or otherwise to court. Would it not be normal for the defendant to get some summons / notice or otherwise?
(b) Is there anything that can be done to stop the Sheriff at this stage? Considering he thought he had reached an agreement with BoI but actually hadn't. Of course, he should had put everything in writing and ensured both he and BoI knew what had been agreed but he didn't unfortunately.
Any advice much appreciated.