Personal loan €15k, serious illness, bank threatening commital order

My sister took out a personal loan a few years ago for around €15k.

She was subsequently diagnosed with MS and is out of work.

The Bank (one of the main Banks but not BOI or AIB) have got a judgment on her.

She wrote to the Bank and explained her situation but they handed it over to their solicitor.

She wrote to the solicitor and explained to them that she has no income and no assets and she supplied them with proof that she has MS and also gave them a budget which shows that she has a monthly deficit (which is funded by our parents) after payment of essentials but today she received a summons from them to attend court to be assessed for an installment order.

The letter threatened to seek a committal order if she doesn't pay.

I am worried about her as MS can be made worse by stress - is it possible in a case such as this for someone else eg a solicitor to represent her in court.

I'm afraid that this could cause her to relapse.

Re: RTE news tonight. Jail threat for debt.

Your sister should contact a citizen advice organisation and explain her situation to them and I think they should be able to help her.

Hope she get all the help she needs - has she still all the papers work that she sent to the bank, which would help her a lot.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories

hi plywood...you should also contact MABS..have a look here.

[broken link removed]

I would guess that once a judge is told she is suffering from such a serious illness they should be lenient.

Many people with MS wouldn't necessarily give up work immediately, so she will probably need medical reports to back her up her specific reasons for being out of work. Bear in mind that under the Equal Status Acts, she is entitled to any 'reasonable accommodation at nominal cost' from the service provider (the bank) to accomodate her disability. As to what exactly would constitute reasonable in this case, I don't know, and I haven't come across any relevant case precedents. Maybe they could be persuaded to freeze the debt and not add interest? You should search the Equality Tribunal's database of past cases (online) and the Equality Authority's website for more info. It might be worth making some calls to the Equality Authority also.

Re: personal loan €15k, serious illness, bank threatening commital order

Let's step back a bit here:

The Bank (one of the main Banks but not BOI or AIB) have got a judgment on her.

Click to expand...

The banks have already gone to court and got a judgement which I presume she has been ignoring? Did she make her case at the time, pleading inability to pay?

Did she go to court to defend that judgement? If the bank has a judgement, then they should be looking to get it paid.

Brendan

OT posts in which comments are made about other contributors and moderation policy on AAM have been deleted.

aj
moderator

Re: Personal loan €15k, serious illness, bank threatening commital order

The sister should engage a solicitor to represent her. The solicitor can compile the evidence showing inability to pay. The solicitor can forward this information to their opposite number. If the Bank will not agree to drop the application, then, on the date, the solicitor can appear ( preferably with an up to date medical report) confirming the evidence.

My understanding is that a debtor will not be imprisoned for being unable to pay the debt. I have always understood that committal follows only wilful failure and neglect - i.e the person has the means to pay but declines.

I think its important to step back from the emotional aspects of individual cases. Debtors have very often lied in the past about their true circumstances, regarding the whole thing as a huge game. Many debtors I have come across in the past had opportunities to do a "deal" on the debt by, e.g., borrowing from family or friends and offering a settlement figure to end the traumatic stress of being involved in a Court case. But chose not to. This is, of course, not necessarily the case in this instance.

I remember one particular case where a debtor strung the whole process out for months on end, there was clear evidence that she had the means but lacked the willingness to discharge her debt and she did not appear for any Court hearing but paid on the day the Gardai came to arrest her. It does happen.

mf

If they are seeking a committal the OP is entitled to free legal aid.

Re: Personal loan €15k, serious illness, bank threatening commital order

MS is a condition that varies depending on the person. There are people that have been diagnosed and shortly afterwards they are immobile and incapable, and there are others that are diagnosed twenty years earlier and are carrying on as normal.

So in fairness to the OP's sister nobody on a forum can assess his sister's condition.

What we do know is that she borroweed the money and now has to repay it.