CCJ incorrectly served - what options do I have?

littlejools

Hi everyone, I have around 13k worth of debt in the UK. I moved to another EU country one year ago. None of the companies have been given my new address and they have been told by people at both my last addresses in the UK that I have moved but they are not aware of where to. I have every intention to avoid any contact with the companies for the next 5 years and allow the statute of limitations to kick in. Unfortunately one company, even though they have been told I am no longer living at my old address, have successfully had a CCJ issued against me. Is there anything I can do to have this voided or removed without me contacting them directly? I don't want to lose the one year of no contact but I'd like to stick two fingers up at them and show them they can't force me to pay by underhand tactics. As far as I am aware they need confirmation that I live at the address they serve the summons to they can't possibly have this, also they don't even have my DOB on the judgement. I really don't want to contact them personally so is there anything I can do or get someone else to do for me?
Thanks in advance. Jools

jacques_chirac

Is there any reason why you are unwilling to pay your debts?

matttye

What 'underhand tactics' have they used? If anything, you are the one using underhand tactics by avoiding them and waiting for the statute of limitations to kick in.

CCJ's don't expire, but they will have to explain to a court why they haven't enforced the debt if they try to enforce it many years later. The fact that they couldn't find you might be a valid reason.

Debt doesn't just disappear, so I'd suggest finding another way to deal with it.

antonic

To get a CCJ granted against you all they need to do is serve an N1 Claim Form at the last KNOWN address they have for you.

As you failed to file a defence, they applied to the County Court for Judgment in Default against you and this has been granted.

They would have also asked for payment Forthwith, so the whole debt became payable when Judgment was granted.

So by not taking part in the process you have ended up with a trashed credit record for the next 6 years and a debt that needs to be paid immediately.

rizla_king

littlejools wrote: »

As far as I am aware they need confirmation that I live at the address they serve the summons to they can't possibly have this, also they don't even have my DOB on the judgement.

You are wrong. They only need to have the claim forms sent by post to your last known address. They don't need your DOB either.

You are not going to have any grounds to get anything overturned.

littlejools

The reason I have not paid any of my debt is I can't afford to, I tried negotiating with them for over a year showing them how little money I had and none of them were interested. I even offered to try to find a settlement figure according to the formula given by the CCCS but they all insisted on asking for repayment figures which would mean I couldn't afford to feed myself. So I left the country and I am now earning a bit but still not enough to be able to pay what they all want. When you say last known address, they have been told I am no longer at that address, so how come they didn't go back one address further? Also by serving it at an address where they have been told I'm not living there and haven't been for a year they didn't give me the chance to defend myself. So of course the court found in their favour. If I had known I could have attended and shown the court all the correspondence. I am conducting my financial affairs within the law, I have no legal responsibility to provide them or people at old addresses with new contact details and I have tried to find an amicable solution but to no avail so I decided to stop contact. I know CCJs don't expire I am asking if there is a way of proving it was illegally served and have it set aside or voided without me having to contact them directly. I also know exactly what I have done to my credit file, I ended up with an overdraft of one thousand just trying to continue payments , at that point I looked at all my options and the effect they would have on my file.

matttye

littlejools wrote: »

The reason I have not paid any of my debt is I can't afford to, I tried negotiating with them for over a year showing them how little money I had and none of them were interested. I even offered to try to find a settlement figure according to the formula given by the CCCS but they all insisted on asking for repayment figures which would mean I couldn't afford to feed myself. So I left the country and I am now earning a bit but still not enough to be able to pay what they all want. When you say last known address, they have been told I am no longer at that address, so how come they didn't go back one address further? Also by serving it at an address where they have been told I'm not living there and haven't been for a year they didn't give me the chance to defend myself. So of course the court found in their favour. If I had known I could have attended and shown the court all the correspondence. I am conducting my financial affairs within the law, I have no legal responsibility to provide them or people at old addresses with new contact details and I have tried to find an amicable solution but to no avail so I decided to stop contact. I know CCJs don't expire I am asking if there is a way of proving it was illegally served and have it set aside or voided without me having to contact them directly. I also know exactly what I have done to my credit file, I ended up with an overdraft of one thousand just trying to continue payments , at that point I looked at all my options and the effect they would have on my file.

You could probably have the CCJ set aside on the basis that you didn't receive the summons and were not given the chance to defend the case.

HOWEVER, that wouldn't stop them applying for another CCJ, and you don't have a defence because you do owe the money.

What you can (and should) do is ask the court to review the order made based on your finances and set up affordable repayments.

With your other creditors, if they won't accept any repayment plans then you should invite them all to take you to court as well. A judge will not order you to pay more than you can afford - even if that is only token payments.

If you have any assets (house, car) in England though, they could be at risk if you fail to keep up repayments.

jacques_chirac

You have not given yourself a chance to defend yourself by not passing on your details.

Make arrangements to pay your debts - either directly with the lender, through the courts or through a debt charity that will act as an intermediary.

pauletruth

ok you can get the ccj set aside as your not resident in the uk. its important not to allow the ccj to stand they then can chase you in the eu.
set up a po box a tell your creditors that your living in such a country and you can be contacted at this address.

they can't then go for a ccj if they know your away.

the morals of non payment are for the op to work out.

John1993_2

You seem to be trying to play the system, and losing.

I, for one, am pleased to see that you don't get to borrow money, spend it, then walk away. I hope that this is the first of many judgements.

terryw

pauletruth wrote: »

ok you can get the ccj set aside as your not resident in the uk. its important not to allow the ccj to stand they then can chase you in the eu.
set up a po box a tell your creditors that your living in such a country and you can be contacted at this address.

they can't then go for a ccj if they know your away.

the morals of non payment are for the op to work out.

Yep might just work. But the Op must then, as you say apply for the CCJ to be set aside. The OP should then attend the "set aside hearing" - if he does not attend the hearing the judge is likely to refuse the application. But perhaps not - I don't know. Depends upon the judge. My own opinion of the judgement being set-aside with no attendance and a P. O Box outside the UK as an address for service is about 5 chances in a hundred.

Other advice on this thread is possibly worth looking at.

Agree with you about the moral aspect.