Bank pursuing company loan of 65k — what to do?

S

Sapling

Guest
My first post, but I think the responses are helpful and I could really use advice...

Briefly, a company loan of 65k is owed to a bank who have initiated proceedings even though they were approached way in advance to try and explain.(job lost/company folded etc) Have offered a sum..was rejected.
Meanwhile an investment property had to be sold to try and clear debts.. it sold for less than paid for it.

Dont know what to do next.
 
Re: Bank pursuing company loan of 65k — what to do?

Welcome to AAM, woodfromtree — sorry your first post has to be in such circumstances! I can't give any advice, but I've edited your title to make it , in the hope that you'll get more/better responses. If you can furnish more specific detail, that will help too — but I suggest that you don't name the litigant, for obvious reasons...
 
Re: Bank pursuing company loan of 65k — what to do?

woodfromtree said:
Briefly, a company loan of 65k is owed to a bank who have initiated proceedings even though they were approached way in advance to try and explain.(job lost/company folded etc) Have offered a sum..was rejected.
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I take it that it was either not a limited company or that the loan was personally guaranteed or something?
Meanwhile an investment property had to be sold to try and clear debts.. it sold for less than paid for it.
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Including this one or just others?
 
Re: Bank pursuing company loan of 65k — what to do?

This is really hard to write:

The first was as (joint) guarantor but had left co. almost two years ago. Was assured verbally that would be released as part of severance/agreement. Naive- I believed them.

Second is unrelated kind of...couldnt afford mortgage because of loss of job. Market factors meant property had devalued. (abroad) Had bought at top as long term investment. Bank repossessed on my initiation as they werent interested in restructuring loan. Its now sold but I havent heard anything but this too brings me sleepless nights.

Every time banks were approached in good faith to reach deal- werent interested. Always had excellent relationship with banks creditors etc. Dont know what to do next...am taking legal advice. think courts will find in banks favour..but I cant pay. Will I be bankrupted?
 
Re: Bank pursuing company loan of 65k — what to do?

Bankruptcy is very rare in Ireland as the banks must pay themseleves to make you bankrupt, all the high court fees etc and often they will get nothing/very little back so they won't go down that road.

They make take you to court to force payment but as you can't pay them they may look for an installment order based on your income. The courts are sympatheic to debtors in this situation and the court will not make you pay more than you can afford even if this is way less that what the bank is looking for. You can't get blood from a stone.

Good luck with it.
 
Re: Bank pursuing company loan of 65k — what to do?

woodfromtree said:
This is really hard to write:

The first was as (joint) guarantor but had left co. almost two years ago. Was assured verbally that would be released as part of severance/agreement. Naive- I believed them.
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did you have this release from the guarantee in writing?

did the directors trade recklessly ???

Second is unrelated kind of...couldnt afford mortgage because of loss of job. Market factors meant property had devalued. (abroad) Had bought at top as long term investment. Bank repossessed on my initiation as they werent interested in restructuring loan. Its now sold but I havent heard anything but this too brings me sleepless nights.
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hmm, did you sell it or did the bank dump it 'for you' . A person in your situation should sell themselves.

Every time banks were approached in good faith to reach deal- werent interested. Always had excellent relationship with banks creditors etc. Dont know what to do next...am taking legal advice. think courts will find in banks favour..but I cant pay.
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again , whats in writing.

The courts are not always impressed by they antics of the bank and can take a VERY dim view of any crap advice the banks give you that may have 'gotten' you into this mess. They can sometimes order the bank to forfeit the money if the bank would not play ball with you at all. I would not consider the courts to be anywhere near as hostile as a salesman in a bank.

You may also be sure that the banks solicitor will be badly briefed by the branch people and will not have all the facts to hand so the banks case in court often looks really crap to the judge.

Will I be bankrupted?
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Unlikely. the courts can be dead reasonable, blood out of stones and all that, and can order a workout of some debt and writeoff of the some as unrecoverable .

Your PPR is usually ringfenced , can you arrange , not do the contract contract but 'arrange' to sell PPR, ringfence it, buy a smaller one and put the 'profit' into the settlement kitty ????

Above all else, you should contact MABS who will advise you for free. You have a complex set of issues there which need to be presented as 'I did what I could now give me a break' to the banks. Mabs could offer the PPR downsize and profit as a carrot in the overall stew.

Remember the banks nowadays are full of sub 40 year old salesmen who have never seen a recession. There are very few proper bankers in the branches any more, only sales people. They cannot manage relationships, they can only sell. They only exist to sell.

Once the downturn happens most of them will be out on their ears and good riddance . Let them sell taytos at the roadside :D
 
Re: Bank pursuing company loan of 65k — what to do?

woodfromtree said:
This is really hard to write:

The first was as (joint) guarantor but had left co. almost two years ago. Was assured verbally that would be released as part of severance/agreement. Naive- I believed them.

Second is unrelated kind of...couldnt afford mortgage because of loss of job. Market factors meant property had devalued. (abroad) Had bought at top as long term investment. Bank repossessed on my initiation as they werent interested in restructuring loan. Its now sold but I havent heard anything but this too brings me sleepless nights.

Every time banks were approached in good faith to reach deal- werent interested. Always had excellent relationship with banks creditors etc. Dont know what to do next...am taking legal advice. think courts will find in banks favour..but I cant pay. Will I be bankrupted?
Click to expand...

This sounds really tough, sorry to hear of your predicament.

Would say from experience that even the best banking relationship sours rapidly once time get tough. I found when I had trouble that not only were they totally unwilling to negotiate anything, they couldn't make a single reasonable suggestion otherwise.

They may not bankrupt you if you have no assets as the best they'll get is an order to pay probably a paltry sum over several decades. What they may do is still take to court in the hope of retreiving something. Definitely something you need to take legal advice on right now. What happened to other guarantors? Why is the loan coming to you and nobody else? You also should consider action of your own against former company directors who are responsible for the company you left.
 
Re: Bank pursuing company loan of 65k — what to do?

Thanks for your opinions. I will try and clarify further and will deal mostly with loan. Sorry its a bit long.

I only have an 'oops I forgot to send that letter of release' e-mail from the other guarantor/director.

I strongly suspect reckless dealings. When I left it was in great shape-all repayments were on track and we were in profit. Two years later the co. doesnt operate although it hasnt officially wound down. Isnt there an ombudsman for directors? I read about that recently but in the midst of my chaos threw it away-
My best friend and I invested more than the sum above to set up and invest in the co. Its seemingly unrecoverable and I learned from that. To have to be bankrupted on top of this is too much.

The loan causing all the trouble was arranged by the co. accountant with his 'very good friend' the bank manager. The loan was peculiar in that we had to sign separate dates on it-(detail is foggy now) and I didnt take huge notice as I trusted him.

When I left (under unpleasant circumstances) I approached the bank (I felt they were cooking the books) but they didnt react. There were serious anomalies and I watched employees (close friends) get let go...until eventually there was/is nothing left.

So following 2 years of plundering this bank manager turns up on my door- on the other side of the country on a dark wet night. (He was just passing). Handed me a summons- never experienced this before...scared the living s*** out of the family. I went to my brief who acknowledged it in court.
Some time later he phones in a blue rage for doing that!? He made various nasty threats. When he heard about the negative equity in my property he paled. I only acted according to my legal advice. As I stated this has never happened me before. I value my reputation and going to the courts is not something I sought but I have no money and no choice. He kept trying to say I didnt need to go legal- but with a summons how could I not?
I will be speaking to my solicitor today. Her view is that I signed for the loan so I am liable and thats how the judge will view it. I have since managed to get a new job. Am an employee again... entreprenurial spirit dimmed...and am trying to get back on my feet. The last thing I want or deserve is a repayment plan for the next 10/20 years.
The whole thing is hopeless...and carrying 2 elephants around while trying to act 'normal' and stay focused io the new job is very hard indeed. My brother says the tide always turns but will i go under in the process?
 
Re: Bank pursuing company loan of 65k — what to do?

It sounds like you've been the victim of some kind of cosy scam. However this may be tricky to prove and would require a Garda investigation. It certainly would be in your interest to make a complaint to the Gardai as it sounds as if the assets were sucked out of the company - money doesn't just disappear - it goes somewhere. This is something that will need to be discussed with your solicitor. If the Gardai do investigate then your solicitor will be able to apply lengthy delays to court proceedings regarding the loan and at least give you time. Sounds like you've been defrauded here, mate, so definitely talk to the police about this.
 
If you are going to pursue this matter with the authorities then you should probably be a bit more circumspect about what details you divulge in public including on internet discussion forums in case doing so weakens any case that you might have.
 
Re: Bank pursuing company loan of 65k — what to do?

Thanks for all the advice. Noted and helpful.
 
Re: Bank pursuing company loan of 65k — what to do?

reckless trading is the office of corporate enforcement and you must name names

http://www.odce.ie/

you have an 'oops we must release you letter' you said, thats a start

they TRADED on YOUR GUARANTEE which they understood to not apply, hence reckless but take legal advice too.
 
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