++MSE Community pls help me++ CCJ Advice needed, pls look :)

DaveP77

Hello everyone :rotfl:

I’m a long-time visitor to this excellent site and I have been eagerly reading Martin’s emails each week for a number of years now. I have never posted on this forum before, but I have often read it. Something has come up recently and I could really do with some feedback and advice from the community here. Please help xx.

Firstly, I hope you will forgive the length of this post. It pertains to a major event in my life (and my wife’s, though she does not know it yet.) I wanted to capture everything clearly for you all so that you may offer your most tip-top MSE advice…!

I was a bit of a tearaway in my youth and did some stupid things which I now regret a great deal. One of my brainless deeds was buying a car that I could barely afford in January 2000. It cost just over £5000 and I took out a 3-year finance agreement that required demanding monthly re-payments. I worked in sales at the time and my income was mostly commission based. However, I was young and thoughtless…

Despite this, I did take out the Payment Protection insurance on the car finance loan. I thought that if anything happened to me this would cover the payments. The new car was great and I sped happily around in it for the grand total of 7 days. Then I promptly broke my leg playing rugby and couldn’t go to work for nearly three months. I still received sick pay, but without my regular flow of commission I didn’t have enough income to satisfy the car payments. I contacted the Payment Protection insurance company and they told me (incredibly) that the payment protection insurance didn’t become valid until 28 days AFTER the purchase of the car. There followed a chain of letters between us and also my employers and my doctor. (This was before the days of widespread email use, and everything had to be in writing.) As you can imagine, this all took a fair bit of time. After all the wrangling and letters and complex forms and bickering had subsided, the outcome was beautifully simple: The Payment Protection company wouldn’t pay a penny. I was on my own. By this time the car finance company were hopping up and down as I had missed my first two monthly payments. I contacted them, explained the situation and told them that I wanted to give the car back, I had made a mistake etc. They said I couldn’t do that and I owed them £6000. (The cost of the car plus the interest on the loan.) A debt collection agency got involved, things turned ugly and they reclaimed the vehicle. I was angry at the way things had unfolded, but ultimately I was relieved that it was all over with.

Shortly after that, I moved to a new place. I didn’t give the car finance company my new address. In hindsight, this was foolish, but I felt aggrieved due to their bullish and unreasonable attitude. I dismissed the entire chapter from my mind and moved on with my life. Over the following years I occasionally thought back to that period and reflected on how daft I was to have bought that car in the first place. In my mind, I still owed the finance company approx £650 and probably £100-£250 in admin and car collection fees etc. I heard nothing more from them and assumed they had written the debt off.

I received a letter from the finance company in 2005. (Five years after the events I’ve outlined above) The letter demanded £10,000 and said they were initiating court proceedings to register a CCJ against me. I had no idea how they found me, but there was the letter in my hand. I went to the CAB and they explained that after 6 years of no contact a creditor cannot expect re-payment. They advised me to “lay low”. (Those exact words) The advisor assured me that this was merely the finance company making one last attempt to get some cash out of an old debt – A debt which was about to imminently expire. I followed the CAB’s advice and didn’t respond to the letter. I heard nothing more from the finance company and I moved into a new flat a few months later. (Incidentally, I have moved house two more times since then.)

Between 2005 and 2008 I’m pleased to say that I paid off all of my other debts. (Of which there were many.) It was hard work and I grew to loath the constant weight of the ball and chain I’d made for myself as a young man. It wasn’t much fun, but it was very satisfying to tick them off and make that blissful leap from “Debt Free Wannabe” to “Debt Free Actualee”. I’m sure that those of you that have been in serious debt will appreciate how liberating it felt to be finally free! I felt a huge amount of pride and relief. I also felt I could finally move FORWARD in my life, it was wonderful.

I should also point out that I changed my surname in 2006. I won’t bore you with the reasons why, which were personal and not at all related to my finances. (I didn’t hide my name-change from any of my creditors. I wrote to each one and told them beforehand. I also wrote to them all afterwards to ensure they amended their records. I was completely transparent, I wanted a clean slate. I wanted to ensure that when I had finished paying off my debts, nothing else would come out of the woodwork in the future.)

So that brings us to August 2008!

Last week a shifty looking man in an ill-fitting suit knocked on my door asking for me by my old name. I hadn’t heard that name in nearly 3 and a half years and I knew it wouldn’t be good news. I lied to him and said that I didn’t know who he was looking for and had never heard of this person. I told him my name (my new name) and I asked why he was looking for this person. He was evasive and only said that he worked for a firm of private investigators from Southampton. He said they were investigating an “unsettled and sizeable debt”. He also mentioned that this was classed as a CCJ. It can only be the car finance agreement I have described above, as I paid everything else off. It now appears the debt did become a CCJ, despite what the CAB told me. It must have been served against me under my old name and at my old address, as I have no problems getting credit in my new name. (I recently got a mortgage and also have two credit cards.)

I can’t believe it. This debt was accrued in 2000, since that point I have had only one communication from them, in 2005. Granted, I have moved several times since, but I was on the electoral roll at every address and this was BEFORE I changed my name - They could easily have found me. Yet here I am in 2008, in a new house, in a new town, with a new name (and blissfully “debt-free”), being interrogated by this shady man on the doorstep of my own house. I have no idea what his intentions are. Is he acting on behalf of the police to enforce the CCJ? (As he implied.) Or has he been employed by the car finance company to find me?

From my point of view I find it incredible that I am being asked to repay £10k for a car that cost only £5k to begin with. Plus, I gave the car back to them and I only missed three monthly payments. I do not owe more than £1k surely?

If we set aside the uncertainty of the actual amount of the debt for now, I’d like to pose the all-important question, “what the bloody hell should I do?”

Should I contact the finance company and come to an arrangement with them to repay the money I owe? Should I challenge the amount owed with them or the Courts? Can I “lay low” until this ‘expires’? Indeed, does a CCJ expire? (I know it leaves your credit file after 6 years, but does it still need paying?) If I don’t pay a CCJ can I be criminally liable? Should I take this to a solicitor? Is there anyone else I can approach?

May I add one final point in preparation of any response - I know the obvious first step here would normally be to contact the car finance company. If this were a smaller debt, I would happily contact the company concerned and clarify the points of uncertainty. However, my fear is that as soon as I put my head above the parapet and “declare myself”, it will be open season and they will haunt me with letters, doorstop visits and threats of bailiffs etc. At the moment, they do not officially know where I live. (Though I fear it is only a matter or time before they connect the dots.)

My final potential trump card is that I am emigrating to Australia in Autumn 2009. Should I continue to lay low until I leave the UK?

Having recently finished paying my other debts and considering myself debt-free, this feels like an almighty kick in the teeth and a huge set back. It’s fantastic to have somewhere I can discuss this though. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post, I hope you can help and welcome any comments that anyone may have.

Thanks,
Dave P

+++ Could you please flag this post to any further members of the MSE community who you think may be able to help? Thankyou +++

RAS

Hi

Was this an HP agreement or a loan?

DaveP77

Hi, I'm not sure that I know the difference between those two things, sorry. I think the car was technically bought by a firm called AFS. I then had to repay them the money. So I guess that would be classed as a loan...?

What is the difference between HP and a loan in this situation? How would that impact me?

LilacPixie

Firstly do you know for a fact that a CCJ was issued?? Have you checked your credit files or are you relying on what this shady character implied??

He most certainly isn't acting on behalf of the police.

BTW I think the company/collector concerned has broken multiple rules surrounding debt collection by even discussing the account with you because as far as he is concerned you are Mr davep77 and not the debtor.

In the first instance i would get copies of my credit file from all 3 companies and look to see if a ccj has been granted. As ccj's stay on your credit file for 6 years from the date they are granted it should show if it exists. A ccj is still payable even after 6 years but it is a civil matter not criminal.

When you know for sure the status of the alleged CCJ then you can plan your next move.

DaveP77

Thanks LilacPixie

I received my credit files back from Experian and Equifax this morning. There is no "bad credit" in them at all. In fact, they are impeccable. There are my credit cards, bank accounts and mortgage payments all listed on there, all with no missed payments and in good health.

However, this CCJ was registered against my OLD name. So it boils down to this: If I write to experian/equifax and point this out they will no doubt make a 'financial association' between my old name and my new one. If I do that then I will definitiely pop up on the radar of the debt collectors/private investigator.

I'm inclined to keep denying any knowledge of my previous self and just lay low until I emigrate next Autumn. What are your thoughts guys?

DaveP77

Hmm... Guys? can any one offer any advice please? I was kind of hoping for a better response than this

**Amy**

I would contact National Debtline and see what they suggest.

www.nationaldebtline.co.uk

I agree with LilacPixie in that you need your files to work out if a CCJ has been set against you, but as you say its in your old name, then you dont want to, im not sure there is anything we can offer you.

But as I say National Debtline might be able to offer some help.

x

LilacPixie

There is always the register of county court judgments. Think it costs around £8 per search.

Registry Trust

Another thing to consider is if you changed your name and notified your creditors then they will of created that alias already. I know my bank did when i got married. Did you not have to declare your previous name to your mortgage company???