Is it really so bad? Why me?

How about is it out there? Well, pretty bad actually. Banks are reducing facilities and increasing margins at the expense to their clients. Businesses are falling like flies. Orders are getting cancelled. 
 
Bad isn't it? 
All the banks fault, isn't it? 
Why us? 
 
Well, 
yes, 
probably, and 
why us? 
 
For many of us, we do have essentially profitable businesses. 
 
But do all of us? 
Have we made any real money? 
Or even during the good times, when markets were good, were we just getting by? 
Were we (and are we still) always moaning about how bad it is? 
How many of us talk ourselves into a hopeless state? 
 
My experience, and this is experience forged out of 2 recessions, is that if you have essentially a good business (do you?), you can and will get through this, providing you do enough of the right things. 
 
What are enough of the right things? 
 
There are many, but let's take 5 to stir your emotions. 
 
1. Is your and your business cloth cut accordingly? Really? 
2. Do your clients know you are still here? Are you sure? 
3. When your competitors go down, where are their clients going? To you? 
4. How do you value and make the most of the one real commodity you have- time? 
5. Are you confusing motion with action? 
 
Answer those questions, honestly, really honestly, and you might be on the way to getting through this and, just as many businesses I work with, actually buck the trend and make some good money.

For more information visit www.personal-guarantee.co.uk

You couldn't make it up -- unless you are a bank

Lenders routinely mislay the card and loan agreements their customers originally sign; however more astonishingly, if there has been a dispute later on, the lenders have used computer software to "recreate" the original documents, sometimes with less than accurate results. Being able to recreate agreements in this way helps banks pursue borrowers over debts, but there is growing evidence that when lenders "recreate" contracts they often do not stick to the original terms. The result is that borrowers who are often already in financial trouble are left in worse difficulties. Document "recreation" is in the spotlight after a court case last month involving a number of borrowers with credit cards issued by HBOS, Barclaycard, MBNA and HSBC. Part of the case, was to assess the circumstances in which banks could "reconstitute" lost agreements. Judge David Waksman concluded that in future, lenders would have to explain why they did not have the original agreements. He said they would have to prove that the recreated document was a true copy of the original contract.

At the end of this month the Office of Fair Trading will circulate this guidance among banks and other lenders, driving home the message that "any reconstituted copy must be a true copy, containing any terms and conditions contained in the original, and giving the terms and conditions applicable at the time the contract was signed."

The result of this is that the banks have yet more hoops to jump through, making it more likely that they will make mistakes, only benefiting the case of the personal guarantee holder.

 

 

For more information visit www.personal-guarantees.co.uk

 

Source: Investing.businessweek.com

Validity of electronic documents

For most companies, it is among the worst things that could happen: a lawyer's letter lands on the managing director's desk informing them that a personal guarantee case is now being taken to court. The pressure is now on to assemble evidence - and quickly. But in many cases, that evidence is not held in paper files, but in a myriad of electronic formats: emails, human resources or customer management systems, scanned-in faxes and application forms.

Many banks are confused as to what extent electronic documents will be accepted by a court of law as irrefutable evidence that the company was in the right all along. Rejection of a company's electronic documents by a court can be disastrous for a company's legal case.

The court will give most credence to the best evidence available, such as original documents or oral testimony. Evidence that is not original - for example, a printout of an electronic document or a scanned-in version of a paper original - is considered more remote and needs to have demonstrations of authenticity and reliability because electronic evidence can be easily manipulated.

For an electronic document to be valid the document should include: the author's name; the date the document/record was stored; the names of anyone who has accessed or made changes to the document; details of the changes made to the document and version control; details of movement of the document from medium to medium and from format to format... and the list goes on.

This is a complex task for the banks to manage, and helps personal guarantee claims to no end as the likelihood of the banks complying with these rules is very small indeed, thus weakening their case substantially.

 

 

For more information see personal-guarantee.co.uk

Source: information-age.com/articles

Receipt of court summons or statutory demand.

If you receive these documents, get them dealt with right up front. Burying your head in the sand will not make them go away, and fees increase exponentially if judgements have to be unwound.
Furthermore, burden of proof switches away from them and more on to you
It is also best to use good legal advice. It might appear cheaper to do it yourself, but you eouldn’t have a gynaecologist do brain surgery, would you?
So don’t put yourself financially at risk by trying to do it yourself if it is not your area of expertise.
However, I would emphasise the word GOOD in good legal advice- that can be hard to find, ask around, go on personal recommendations based on similar situations if you can.
If you receive these documents, get them dealt with right up front. Burying your head in the sand will not make them go away, and fees increase exponentially if judgements have to be unwound.
Furthermore, burden of proof switches away from them and more on to you.
It is also best to use good legal advice. It might appear cheaper to do it yourself, but you wouldn’t have a gynaecologist do brain surgery, would you?
So don’t put yourself financially at risk by trying to do it yourself if it is not your area of expertise.
However, I would emphasise the word GOOD in good legal advice- that can be hard to find, ask around and go on personal recommendations based on similar situations if you can.
For more information, take a look at our website personal-guarantee.co.uk, or give us a call on 0845 055 8457

Personal Guarantee debt is part of a large unaffordable accumulation of debt that you owe.

If this is the case, you really need to consider whether it is best to use some form of debt management or insolvency process to wipe the slate clean and to get on with your life.
Easier said done as old prejudices are hard to ignore, but the insolvency rules were radically changed in 2003 to make it easier for good, honest people to dust themselves and start again- much more akin to the US system and attitudes on the matter.
It is important to get good advice if this is a route you need to consider- a personal referral from someone you know can go a long way to getting the right advice.
This is a rewrite of the post on the 1st of February, apologies for the previous post which came up as gobbldeygook, sorry about that the computer has a mind of it's own somtimes!

For more information personal-guarantee.co.uk

Don’t expect an early resolution to a PG claim against you.

The only route to an early resolution is to repay it in full.

So if you want to minimise the amount paid, you have to be prepared to sweat it out.

The best way to illustrate this is by way of example- two people owed the same organisation, one £25k, one £60k. The organisation went into administration, the banker to the organisation appointed their own solicitors to collect. The solicitors went heavy handed, issuing statutory demands and winding up orders.

The judge kicked both winding up orders out. Due to the time elapsed, the bank and solicitors decided only to go for the larger debts. The guy who owed £25k got away without paying anything, the £60k guy got it settled for £25k payable over a period of time.

So elapsed time can be a great healer, best to use it to your advantage.

For more information, take a look at our website personal-guarantee.co.uk, or give us a call on 0845 055 8457 0845 055

 

Banks solicitors and how they work.

Solicitors are often on very much reduced hourly rates when contracted by banks. This has a number of implications if you are on the receiving end of a personal guarantee claim.

Firstly, the solicitors try and ensure most of the work is executed by the lowest paid staff possible. Secondly, by taking court action they can get a quick return by getting judgement and pursuing that.

However, if you are getting sound legal advice, this can stop these types of actions in their tracks. With a good solicitor acting on your behalf, they have to be careful how they tread and not be too pre-emptive in their court action, as wasting the courts time could result in costs against them.

However, if you represent yourself, they have nothing to loose in taking you through the court process- they rarely get costs against them in these cases and they normally win, so why wouldn’t they?

For more information, take a look at our website personal-guarantee.co.uk, or give us a call on 0845 055 8457 0845 055