CCJ beacause of credit card fraud

samcolwill

Just looking for some adive

So, a few years ago (5 to be precise) my brother tried to get a credit card out under my name using my details. Thankfully i found out before he'd had time to sign any credit agreements or paperwork. I rang the credit card company (Edge/GE) up to explain the situation and they were fine about it... so i didn't think anymore of it.
Fast forward 5 years and i try to take a loan out only to discover I have had a CCJ against my name for the amount of £262. None the less my application was refused (understandably). I guess my question is what the hell should i do? Do i stand a good change of getting the CCJ set aside, given that no contracts were signed? Would I have to explain the whole case in court which might leave my brother in a load of expletive! He is my brother after all, so i don't really want that, but i do hope to have a mortgage at some point in the near future and I don't want a CCJ hanging over my head!

Thanks

Sam

bengalknights

If the card was was taken out how did you get a bill for £262, surely your brother must have had the card already or taken it out anyway.Also you would get loads of notice before a CCJ is issued what happened to all the notices etc did you move addresses?

jonesMUFCforever

You have a choice - report your brother for fraud and get the CCJ set aside or take the hit and forget about any credit until after 6 years from the date of the CCJ - Back to you??

izools

You will have had paperwork come through for the CCJ. You will have been sent bills for the credit cards. You'd have noticed!

Unless someone fraudulently changed the address and the credit card / CCJ are registered to another address that you've never lived at.

In this instance you can have the CCJ set aside but as others say you'd have to report your brother for fraud and subject him to both civil and criminal proceedings in order to get the judgement set aside.

Good luck! :beer:

savagej

You dont have to report your brother for fraud, a statutory credit reference agency report contains what are supposed to be material facts. When a CCJ was applied for and obtained in your name, this was done as a result of credit agreement you did not sign. You need to go back to the court and ask for the CCJ to be set aside on the basis that you did not receive any paperwork in relation to a CCJ being taken out in your name.

If you had received the paperwork you would have contested it; you can have the CCJ set aside on this alone there is no need to mention that you did not take out the credit agreement until such time as the original creditor applies for re-instatement of a CCJ which you should get the paperwork for and can contest. You then simply have to say it was not you who applied and let them try and prove it was you, which they wont be able to do as it was not. You did not apply for the credit which is what the otherside would have to prove (remember they were suing you, not the other way around),

If you are asked if you know who committed fraud to obtain the card and you are not under oath, which you wont be all you have to say is "no comment". There is no need whatsoever to report anyone for anything, what is and is not fact for the purposes of a credit report are not the same as a criminal court case. You have many rights in a court of law and I would exercise them in the same way the courts exercise them every day to their advantage.

samcolwill

Hi guys, thanks for the advice/help.

Yeah, sorry I forgot to mention that I was away at uni whilst all this happened and then moved up to Yorkshire straight after I graduated so I never received anything regarding the CCJ. I'd spoken to the creditors and they said there wasn't anything outstanding so I thought that was the end of it...obviously not!

savagej

This means you were not correctly served with the notice you were being taken to court and you can ask for the judgement to be set aside. After this is done, I think it then goes to the Registry Trust who advise the CRA's that it has been recalled and they need to remove it. Although, it might be the case that you have to pay for a certificate proving this and then show it to the CRA's.

It is then up to the creditor if they try and get another CCJ against you, they will be made aware at the same time as you that the CCJ has been cancelled.

I think it highly unlikely they will try and get another one after 5 years, and if there has been no contact with the creditor in 6 years they cannot as far as I know get another CCJ due to a time bar, but again I am not entirely sure about this.

What is the date of the CCJ as if it is approaching 6 years old and you can wait, it will simply fall off of your credit file and you wont need to go to all of this trouble.

chattychappy

savagej's advice is absolutely correct and well written.

Your only remedy is to return to court. As you did not respond to any of the documentation it will be very easy to set aside. You need to make an "application to set aside judgment" - you can google that for more information. Depending how good you are with these things you might need to get the CAB or someone else to help you draft it.

chattychappy

savagej wrote: »

I think it highly unlikely they will try and get another one after 5 years, and if there has been no contact with the creditor in 6 years they cannot as far as I know get another CCJ due to a time bar, but again I am not entirely sure about this.

If they want to go after the brother, s32 Limitation Act 1980 holds that where there is fraud/concealment etc., the period doesn't start until they discovered or could reasonably have discovered it.

savagej

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

The OP did say they were told about the brother, who knows what they would decide to do. It seems odd that he was never supposed to have got the account open yet a small debt was accumulated.

If it was me and the 6 year mark was approaching I would think it easier to wait than expend the time, energy and all of the stress it could potentially cause bringing the matter back up (within the family) and simply let the CCJ drop off of the CRA record and trust his brother will never do anything like this again.

chattychappy

Agreed.

The OP should be vigilant - as I understand it, some loan companies don't bother starting actions until shortly before the usual limitation period expires. So there could be more in the pipeline.

OP: can I suggest you get Experian/Equifax/Call Credit reports to check if "you" have any debts you are not aware of?