CCJ at 6 Years

susej

Looking for some help on CCJ's, specifically at the 6 year point where the statute of limitations applies. What I'm confused by is this: A CCJ is granted and the defendant ignores it for 6 years - at this point it cannot be court enforced and is removed from the credit register. However, it seems that if the defendant agrees to pay the debt at any point and commences making payments then the CCJ applies for life or until the debt is settled. Does anyone know if this is the case?

The reason I ask is that 5 yrs ago I was ripped off by a car dealer while going through cancer treatment. I changed cars to save money and after I bought my car which was supposed to be within my disability payment of £160 per month I got my first month's finance bill which was over 3 times this and not what I had agreed to. Unfortunately I was too ill at the time to deal with things and gave the car back after 6 months (which they have since claimed was a repossession) - I did try getting them to cancel the contract but I didn't have sufficient proof that the dealer didn't mis-sell the finance. So now, there is 1 yr left until the statute kicks in. I now have a job and the ability to pay but the finance company has turned down every offer of payment and now want over double the price of the car AND the finance payments they would have received over the 5yrs contract - in total 10 times what it would have cost to settle the account on the date the car was handed over. Even paying a substantial monthly payment I will be left paying this debt for life - would I simply be better waiting for the 6 yr limit and not making an offer at all?

I know people will say I should go to the ombudsman and appeal on the grounds that their charges are "unreasonable" but this will inevitably lead to the company getting details of my new employer and making things awkward with them - they have already tried previously with another employer and cost me my job.

Angry_Bear

A CCJ never becomes statute barred. However, if it hasn't been enforced for 6 years, the creditor would have to apply to the court for permission to enforce it and justify why they hadn't already done so.

What isn't clear from your post is whether a CCJ has been granted against you or not.

susej

Yes, a CCJ is registered against me. In the early days I tried to get it set aside so that I could put in a defence (they deliberately served it at the wrong address). The company simply cancelled the CCJ and applied for another one - again using an address that they knew I no longer lived at. It took almost 18 months before I realised what they had done and when I contact them by phone they said they would do it again if I attempted to get the new CCJ set aside. They have also refused to accept anything other than payment in full.

Angry_Bear

I don't suppose they were stupid enough to put that in writing?

I'd probably apply for a set-aside again, and make sure the judge knows what they have done. You'll also be able to make it clear that the amount they are claiming for is unreasonable. If it is set aside, you might find that status barring will come into effect and they will have effectively shot themself in the foot (I'm not sure about this).

If you don't want to go for a set-aside again, then you will have to pay the amount on the CCJ (you can ignore any subsequent charges they've added on), but you can apply to the court for a redetermination to determine a monthly payment that you can afford. The company then won't be able to try to force you to pay more.

I know people will say I should go to the ombudsman and appeal on the grounds that their charges are "unreasonable" but this will inevitably lead to the company getting details of my new employer and making things awkward with them - they have already tried previously with another employer and cost me my job.

This irritates me a lot - they are not allowed to do this (contact you at work). I wish I knew the relevant piece of legislation so you could quote it, but if you do go to the ombudsman, go about this. The ombudsman can't do anything about the amount on the CCJ - that has to be done by the court so "appealing" to them on those grounds would be pointless.