CCJ Nightmare

AustinK

Hi all
I am new to posting on here but over the last 2 month have read many of the post and gathered some real helpful advise on a subject that I knew nothing about. So thanks to all who post and have unknowingly helped a worried man.

I'll cut what has been a very long story short but may well post the full details when this is all over. But to summarise, I discovered that I had a CCJ awarded against me for a debt I never knew existed. The creditor, a loans compàny has made some fundamental errors leaving me in a position where I was blissfully unaware of proceedings and unable to defend myself.

I have made a set aside application and believe I have a good chance. I accept now that there is a debt but not the amont being claimed. In honesty though, while I don't want to pay more then I have to, I would be prepared to settle in full if it removed the CCJ from my file. I don't want to simply have it satsified, it should never have been there. Because of the errors mentioned though, I didn't know about it in time to pay within the given time so setting it aside is my only hope.

On hearing that I have appleid for a set aside, the loans company has written to me offering a settlement for a much reduced fee. My question is this though. If I accept and pay their offer, would myhearing still be heard? If I accept the offer but request that they support my set aside claim, would the Judge automatically grant it? If I refuse the offer, would the judge take a dim view of me for not accepting a reasonable offer?

As I said, my driver in this is not the amount I have to pay, its the CCJ that I want removing. If I can get rid of it for as little cost as possible, all the better but I must have this off my file.

Thanks for reading and for any advise you may have.

AK

AustinK

I should have mentioned in the post above that the Judge has set a date for a hearing. The offer from the creditor was made after the court set the date but obviously want me to accept before the hearing or will withdraw their offer.

freshstart11

Sorry if I could just confirm something, was this a debt you thought had been cleared or was it something you never knew about?

FS x

AustinK

A bit of both really. I had two loans with the company and in negotiations with them, I agreed a settlement figure for them both. I paid that in full but they now claim only one is settled. I have correspondance that I sent to them requesting they give me a settlement figure for both. They appear to have misunderstood the request.

So I will accept that I owe them money and there has been a misunderstanding on their side but they have perued me knowingly sending correspondance to my former address. Also all of the court papers went there which is why I knew nothing of it and couldn't defend.

As I said above I think I have a strong claim and am confident of winning my appeal to have the CCJ set aside, but the debt would remain. So their offer to reduce the debt would be great if it also meant my CCJ would disappear without having the hearing. If it wouldn't, I would take my chances at the hearing even if that meant I had to pay the full debt.

nottoolate

i would say insist they agree to not oppose and have the ccj set aside in exchange for any settlement

as you say. if they wont offer you that then take it to the hearing.

DVardysShadow

nottoolate wrote: »

i would say insist they agree to not oppose and have the ccj set aside in exchange for any settlement

as you say. if they wont offer you that then take it to the hearing.

I agree. . I think I would also be looking to all costs and a degree of compensation. I am assuming that the offer to settle was made by post and contained the correct correspondence address - so the plaintiff in the case does not have clean hands in obtaining a CCJ.

AustinK

Yes that's right, they made the offer in a letter sent by post to my home address.

Just one thing I'm not clear on though. If they agree to support my set aside, or agree not to apose it (not sure if there is a difference) would the judge automatically grant it or does he still have it within his powers to reject it?

Thanks again

AK

DVardysShadow

I think if it is either supported or not opposed, the matter may be dealt with in correspondence and the court may quash the CCJ as an administrative action, which would mean that they regard it as a matter where no great discretion is required.

AustinK

That's great. Thankyou.