Need help with CCJ

gigglebuns

Hello

I have today received a letter from Northampton County Court stating that Arrow Global Guernsey have made a claim against me for an outstanding debt of £797.

This was sent to an address that I lived at 12 months ago and its only because my partner is a postie that he noticed this letter and brought it home for me.

It states on the form that I have made payment arrangements and have not kept to them. I cannot even recall what this is never mind arranging any monthly payments. I dont know who Arrow Global Guernsey are, but it appears they have instructed a Solicitor to deal with this in the court.

Im very worried now as I cannot recall this debt however my ex partner from 2 years ago got me into a lot of debt and I am wondering if this is something that he had taken out in my name. If this is the case then I understand that I wont be able to prove this and will have to admit to the debt but should I defend this claim against me?

Also should I request further documents or is this now too late seeing as this is gone to court? I presume they have been writing to me at this old address and therefore not getting a reply!

I have just got myself into a good position with my credit and now this has arrived.

Any advice would be much appreciated

terryw

The summons will have been sent to your last known address. Hubbie has been a trifle naughty in not delivering to that address but at least you now have time to enter a defence or offer within the time limits. You really should do something otherwise judgement will be entered by default.

Can you contact your ex to see if any light can be thrown on this, or contact the creditor asking for further details to see if this jogs your memory?

gigglebuns

Thanks for the reply

I cant contact the ex, we have no contact now and I dont even know where he is.
I shall call Arrow Global on Monday for more info. I am just about to start maternity leave this week and will be on SMP. I have hardly any spare cash and Im worried now that I am going to be made to pay what I cant afford.

terryw

Arrow Global are debt collectors and buyer of debts. Use the search facility on MSE for other threads.

terryw

If you find that this is a debt that you are responsible for,then make make an offer to pay by installments on the court form. Do not offer more than you can realistically pay and make sure that you return this within the time.

Tixy

Worth getting copies of your credit files - at least then you might be able to see if there is a record of this debt on there and try to work out what it relates to.

If your ex did take out credit in your name that is no reason to accept you need to pay it without first questioning it and looking to see if it was after you moved out, reporting it as fraud etc.

gigglebuns

I regularly check experian and equifax but have not seen anything remotely close this amount on there. Its baffling to me.

He did this to me a lot when we lived together. He logged on to my bank once and changed my overdraft to a ridiculous amount then went spending. When I discovered this I stopped all my overdraft but had to pay just under £5000 back. I did discuss this with the bank but they were less than helpful and I had no way of proving it wasnt me that did it! Hence him being an ex!

If I find this is over 6 years old can I defend the claim or would the court already have dismissed this?

terryw

gigglebuns wrote: »

I regularly check experian and equifax but have not seen anything remotely close this amount on there. Its baffling to me.

He did this to me a lot when we lived together. He logged on to my bank once and changed my overdraft to a ridiculous amount then went spending. When I discovered this I stopped all my overdraft but had to pay just under £5000 back. I did discuss this with the bank but they were less than helpful and I had no way of proving it wasnt me that did it! Hence him being an ex!

If I find this is over 6 years old can I defend the claim or would the court already have dismissed this?

Yes of course you can defend for this reason but it is unlikely that it is otherwise they would not have wasted money on the summons.

First things first. Try to find out if it is a genuine debt of yours or fraud, then come back with details.

bw

Tixy

Ah well the bank overdraft situation is a bit different- as the bank's stance would be that he should not have had access to your log-in details or card to go spending.

If you don't defend the claim then the court will automatically grant the CCJ - they wouldn't check to see whether it could be statute barred. Though if that did happen and you later found could prove it was statute barred then you could apply to the court to get it setaside (for a fee).

If its not on your credit files there are a few options, including

1) it used to be on there but has fallen off because its more than 6 years old (though presumably you'd have seen it on an earlier check).

2) its a debt that would never have appeared on your credit file (something like an old utility account from when they didn't used to appear), or a claim from something else entirely (eg a landlord owed rent or a nursery owed fees - something not to do with consumer finance).

3) Its a debt for a totally different person with the same name as you - who has somehow tracked down that someone with the same name lived at your old address.

4) that particular address is not linked to your credit file currently (again you'd probably know if that was the case).