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Post by shanghaiscouse on May 28, 2019 20:46:00 GMT
I believe the legal situation with FC is that they are just a broker and I, as the lender, am principal. I looked through a couple of bad loans and all had incredibly bad underwriting standards, but one stood out. A company FC had just lent £75k to in March wound itself up in July (due to its high debt!) but the single director/shareholder then set up a new company and continued the same business, even using same website. However, this seems to have escaped the eagle-eyed geniuses in FC's recoveries team who post a few updates like 'cannot find lender'... ' plan to petition for bankruptcy'... but never get round to doing anything. My question - can I cut out the midddle man and petition for bankruptcy of this lender directly?
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Stonk
Stonking
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Post by Stonk on May 29, 2019 10:50:32 GMT
I believe the legal situation with FC is that they are just a broker and I, as the lender, am principal. I looked through a couple of bad loans and all had incredibly bad underwriting standards, but one stood out. A company FC had just lent £75k to in March wound itself up in July (due to its high debt!) but the single director/shareholder then set up a new company and continued the same business, even using same website. However, this seems to have escaped the eagle-eyed geniuses in FC's recoveries team who post a few updates like 'cannot find lender'... ' plan to petition for bankruptcy'... but never get round to doing anything. My question - can I cut out the midddle man and petition for bankruptcy of this lender directly? It wouldn't by any chance be a gas/heating engineer, would it? I've had 2 of them do that to me: wind up a debt-ridden company, but carry on doing exactly the same business under a new company name, free from debt. In one case, FC are doing nothing about it; in the other, they are receiving a very-much-reduced monthly payment (but probably only because the guy also owed a load to HMRC, which would have helped to get things moving).
I told FC about these cases, and the information was passed to the appropriate team, of course.
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on May 30, 2019 10:51:01 GMT
A company FC had just lent £75k to in March wound itself up in July (due to its high debt!) but the single director/shareholder then set up a new company and continued the same business, even using same website. The borrower was A Ltd. The new company is B Ltd. They are not the same thing. They are completely different legal entities. The director may or may not be liable through a personal guarantee, but B Ltd is definitely not liable. No. BTW, you are the lender. They are the borrower.
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Post by shanghaiscouse on Jun 3, 2019 9:10:07 GMT
Hello, yes I realise I would be petitioning the director of company A for his bankruptcy.
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thedog
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Post by thedog on Jun 4, 2019 13:32:47 GMT
Hi first post ever so hope I don't mess this up......
This is a frequent problem with misuse of incorporation - especially in various asects of building. If the borrower took on £75k of debt and promptly would itself up the main legal avenue is to pursue the Director for Wrongful Trading. If a Ltd Co takes on debt when the D knew or should have known that there was no reasonable prospect of it being repaid the D is guilty of wrongful trading. Theoretically I THINK there is scope for personal liability but difficult -though might make you feel better and put off some others!
No direct scope to petition for D's bankruptcy outside this.
I think you can report the matter to the Insolvency Service. I know the Business Ministry, which controls the IS, and the IS genuinely hate this misuse. I'm not sure if creditors need to pursue, in which case the question of who is the creditor, as you originally asked, is relevant.
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thedog
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Post by thedog on Jun 4, 2019 14:20:34 GMT
And in a blatent attempt to boost my number of posted comments  here is the IS page (usual nice simple Govt web page addresses but I got it by googling "insolvency service wrongful trading") which sets out what complaints they can take and how to make them.
Basically this is smack-bang in what they want complaints about. So I reckon this is your route.
Quoting from it:
"1. Overview
The Insolvency Service has powers given to it by law to consider complaints about:
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the conduct of directors of companies that have entered into formal insolvency proceedings (administration, administrative receivership, creditors’ voluntary and compulsory liquidation)
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Anybody can report misconduct relating to the above to us."
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here is the IS page (usual nice simple Govt web page addresses but I got it by googling "insolvency service wrongful trading") which sets out what complaints they can take and how to make them.