court action against me :¬(

spacemates_2

Hi please could I ask where I stand with an outstanding debt that has now gone to court? I purchased some items totalling £429.51 in august they invoiced me and I was to pay by return, due to various reasons all my fault in ways I could not pay for them and burried my head in the sand, in december I received a letter from their solicitor saying pay in 14 days or we are off to court, I wrote to the saying I could not pay it all off straight away and I would send cheques for £50 each week until it is paid and sorry for the mess I had got in, that is what I have done, each cheque was sent with a letter explaining what it was for and again sorry for the mess, all cheques and letters were sent recorded delivery and have been received but none have been cashed! so last week a court claim form landed on my door step from them, I do not want a ccj on my record but I do owe the money but I feel they have been underhand and ignored my attempts to pay it off, any ideas what I should do in response to the claim please.
thanks.

spacey2012

What have you done with the £50 from each week ?

spacemates_2

To be honest it is my overdraft I was hoping they would take it out each week and I could top it back up due to me having very little to start with, the original purchase was something I needed bagly and could not wait, please do not think it was a luxury item, its comical actually when I think about it it was for a caravan that I am now living in at a friends workplace.

neilmcl

spacemates wrote: »

I do not want a ccj on my record but I do owe the money but I feel they have been underhand and ignored my attempts to pay it off, any ideas what I should do in response to the claim please.
thanks.

Why have they been "underhand". Maybe they don't want a set of postdated cheques (of which there's no guarantee that they'll be honoured) and would rather have the full payment as owed

spacey2012

How did you get items without paying ?
Is this a catalogue.
Who did you buy from and do they have a credit licence ?

spacemates_2

ok I see maybe underhand was the wrong wording,

ScarlettUK

How many cheques have you sent so far? Were they postdated? Is the money available in the bank to cover the cheques that have been written? Were they guaranteed with a card?

Sorry for so many questions! My view (and it is only my opinion) is that you have attempted to make payments toward the debt and have evidence to prove that. I believe that a judge will see that in your favour.

Practically speaking, you need to respond the claim. I believe that you should defend it, using the fact that you have attempted to make payments as your defence. If you do nothing (which I'm sure you won't) then a judgment can be entered against you in default. Once a judgment is entered, you have a period of time, I think 28 days, to settle in full before it goes onto your credit record.

I'm sure someone less vague than I will be better able to advise Good luck.

spacemates_2

spacey2012 wrote: »

How did you get items without paying ?
Is this a catalogue.
Who did you buy from and do they have a credit licence ?

I have purchased from them before, they delivered the van and the other bits because they were collecting another near to me so it would be easier to do a round trip they then invoiced me a couple of days later, they are a caravan company in Bury not a huge company or catalogue.

halibut2209

If you don't have the money, then you can't pay them.

You owe the money and will have to pay it, but I can't see a court looking too favourably on them refusing to accept your payments. The court may well instruct a smaller amount.

Something doesn't add up here though. If you are paying £50 a week (no mention was made of post-dated cheques so I don't know where that came from), then the debt would be settled in less than 3 months - way before it would go to court.

spacey2012

Were you a business or a company purchaser or just a private transaction.

spacemates_2

ScarlettUK wrote: »

How many cheques have you sent so far? Were they postdated? Is the money available in the bank to cover the cheques that have been written? Were they guaranteed with a card?

Sorry for so many questions! My view (and it is only my opinion) is that you have attempted to make payments toward the debt and have evidence to prove that. I believe that a judge will see that in your favour.

Practically speaking, you need to respond the claim. I believe that you should defend it, using the fact that you have attempted to make payments as your defence. If you do nothing (which I'm sure you won't) then a judgment can be entered against you in default. Once a judgment is entered, you have a period of time, I think 28 days, to settle in full before it goes onto your credit record.

I'm sure someone less vague than I will be better able to advise Good luck.

Hi each cheque was sent the actual date of the day so it could be presented straight away, I do not have a cheque card no unfortunatly but the over draft will cover each one I try to never go into it, but this needed paying each week I have money going into the account so depending on the day each cheque was to go in / out my own money should cover it anyway.