Help needed regarding a ccj claim for a defaulted debt in Jan 09

angel198081

I have a debt with Lloyds TSB which defaulted on 02.01.09 on my noddle credit report it then shows satisfied on 31.10.09
the amount is £6576. From what i remember it is an overdraft that spiralled out of control from bank fees that i stopped using and ignored.
Today I have received a letter for Lowell seeking £8730.94 via county court judgement.
Please advise how best to respond to this matter
Any advice appreciated

exoteric

angel198081 wrote: »

I have a debt with Lloyds TSB which defaulted on 02.01.09 on my noddle credit report it then shows satisfied on 31.10.09
the amount is £6576. From what i remember it is an overdraft that spiralled out of control from bank fees that i stopped using and ignored.
Today I have received a letter for Lowell seeking £8730.94 via county court judgement.
Please advise how best to respond to this matter
Any advice appreciated

First off, if the debt is showing as "satisfied", have you already paid it off? If you have, you just need to inform Lowell of that and give them proof. But I'm assuming from what you've said that you haven't paid it off.

If you deny you owe the debt, you'll need to defend the claim and potentially go to court over it. But if you admit that you owe the debt, as it sounds from your post, you are unlikely to have any sort of defence. Unfortunately, whilst there is a statute of limitations which prevents claims being brought after a certain period, that period is 6 years - so if you defaulted in January 2009 then it's only been 5.5 years.

Have Lowell actually obtained a County Court Judgment (CCJ) already? If so, you need to pay it in full within 30 days of the judgment in order to "satisfy" it and avoid it going onto your credit record and affecting your ability to get most financial products for a considerable while.

If they haven't obtained a CCJ yet, you will have 14 days from when they issue a Claim Form and serve it on you to respond either admitting or denying the claim. You can attempt to make some sort of offer to settle the debt, like paying £X per month etc, but they have no obligation to accept that and may just issue proceedings.

The higher amount is no doubt due to interest being accrued over time, plus any fees for the debt recovery which will have been added on.

angel198081

I think my original debt was an overdraft £1000 or £1500 and the rest is charges fees etc added over the 5 years.
Im thinking I may dispute the whole amount and see what agreements/proof Lowell have kept to hand.

exoteric

angel198081 wrote: »

I think my original debt was an overdraft £1000 or £1500 and the rest is charges fees etc added over the 5 years.
Im thinking I may dispute the whole amount and see what agreements/proof Lowell have kept to hand.

It might be worth disputing it, but if you did owe the initial debt and agreed to the charges and fees when you opened the account, it may be difficult to argue that you don't owe the amount now claimed. You are right that it will depend on what documents and evidence they have, as the burden of proof is on the claimant, but organisations tend to keep everything on file for quite some time.

If you want to dispute the claim, you'll have 14 days following service of the claim to put forward a Defence setting out why you believe you don't owe the debt. You will then receive notice from the court setting out the timetable for the case and letting you know when you will need to attend a hearing. Even if you go to court and lose, as long as you pay the full amount of the judgment within 30 days it won't appear on your credit record as an unsatisfied CCJ.

It is worth contacting Lowell (making sure that your letter is marked "WITHOUT PREJUDICE" which prevents them from using it against you in court as an admission) to make a settlement offer of whatever you are prepared to pay. They may be prepared to accept a lower amount rather than go through the hassle of taking you to court.

Good luck.

angel198081

If I deny now and head to court can I go for the declared bankrupt route if all else fails?
I have 3 children now and work part time I dont have extra cash about especially not an extra almost 9k.

exoteric

angel198081 wrote: »

If I deny now and head to court can I go for the declared bankrupt route if all else fails?
I have 3 children now and work part time I dont have extra cash about especially not an extra almost 9k.

I'm afraid I don't know much about bankruptcy and other options, so others on this board are better placed to help.

I would still suggest offering Lowell as much as you can afford in monthly payments or as a lump sum, whether you deny the claim or not, because that could potentially resolve the matter without damaging your credit record with an unsatisfied CCJ or bankruptcy.

Lensman_2

Can we rewind a bit here? I think this thread has got a bit carried away.

You say you have had a letter from Lowells. Have you also had a claim form from a court (most likely Northampton bulk centre)?

If you haven't had a claim form, was the Lowells letter full of "ifs" "buts" and "maybes"?

Ignore the fact that the balance was set to zero. That is standard practice when an original creditor sells a debt on. Lowells will probably pick up reporting on your account soon enough.

angel198081

Claim form from court arrived today.
Still no reporting from lowell on credit file.
Yes court address is Northampton

[Deleted User]

I think the best option is to admit the debt on the claim form. Make a nominal offer of repayment, something like £5-10 per month. The creditor is unlikely to accept this, but when it goes to the court to decide, your offer may be accepted, if you show that you are on a low income, which seems the case if you are a part-time worker and have three children. You can pad out the expenditure part of the form quite easily, especially with you having children. I think an offer of £5-10 would be accepted by the court, and lowells will have to live with it. they won't be happy but that's the risk they take when they buy debt. Good luck and keep smiling !

angel198081

having relooked at this matter
April 08 was the last time this debt was paid or Jan 09 was when default was recorded?
Which date is taken into account for statute barred?

TIA

exoteric

angel198081 wrote: »

having relooked at this matter
April 08 was the last time this debt was paid or Jan 09 was when default was recorded?
Which date is taken into account for statute barred?

TIA

This could change matters, but unfortunately it isn't entirely straightforward.

Generally speaking, if no payment has been made towards a debt and the debt has not been otherwise acknowledged for more than 6 years, it will be time-barred. So if you have made no payment or acknowledgement since April 2008, that could apply to your debt.

However, as I understand it the position is different when it comes to overdrafts as opposed to other debts, because overdrafts are only repayable on demand. There was a case last year which clarified this - see here for a very good summary: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=62859763&postcount=16. Ultimately, it will depend on the terms and conditions of your overdraft agreement - if you still have the documents, I suggest you look through them. It is possible that the debt will only be time-barred 6 years from the date on which the bank wrote to you and informed you that you had breached the terms of your overdraft and the debt was now repayable, which may explain why the default date was January 2009.

In any event, this seems a viable Defence - you can attempt to dispute the claim on the grounds that it is time-barred as you have not paid the debt or acknowledged it in over 6 years. There is a useful letter template which you can adapt into your Defence here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=34906201&postcount=2. As long as you send it back to the Court within 14 days, the claimant won't be able to obtain a default (i.e. automatic) judgment against you. The burden will then be upon them to provide documents and prove that the debt is not in-fact time-barred and you still owe it, which may mean having to go to court.