URGENT HELP REQUIRED! Final Notice from HM Courts & Tribunals...?

Thump

Hey there,

This morning I received a final notice from HM Courts and & Tribunals Service, requesting that £438.38 is paid to Cabot Financial within 24 hours or the bailiffs are coming. As I have been living outside of Newcastle for approximately 2 and a half years, I am absolutely unaware of any notice or court order up until today.

Obviously I don't have that kind of money at all so I have no idea how to proceed with this. Is there any approach to this that doesn't involve my house being emptied?

I suppose the greatest irony is that I have been considering an IVA these past few weeks. Typical, huh?

phoenixx

Hi

Sorry to hear about your nasty shock. What did the original debt relate to? My advice would be to contact National Debtline for advice as this sounds like it has gone quite a long way in terms of action. There are lots of knowledgeable people on here who will be along to help I'm sure.

Thump

Hi phoenixx, thank you for the response!

Unfortunately I can't say off the top of my head what it relates to as I only have the numbers and debt companies to hand, though I would imagine it would either be Three or Vodafone.

I called PayPlan in the hopes of getting some advice with my existing debt, and the young lady was quite shocked at the thought of a Bailiff coming for what is ultimately an unsecured debt. She claimed that it was, in her experience, very rare for an enforcer to come out over something like a phone plan gone awry.

I will call the debtline and see what they have to say in regards to it.

Update: Just got off the phone to Mark from debtline. We talked about the CCJ and was very upset that I hadn't been notified, or that they'd been stupid enough to send it to the wrong address (given that I had been at the same place for over a year, and any CCJ would have been relatively recent), and then suggested that I play at their game.

For the bailiff: ensure all windows and doors are locked, and do not let them in. Opening the door may give them the opportunity to put their foot in, as it were, and is generally not recommended (as some Bailiff's have a bizarre understanding of 'professional standards', as Channel 4 recently showed us).

For the existing debt: Play them at their own game. As I was not fairly represented in court, and I am on low income with a reasonably low debt level (though high for my income), he suggested writing back to the court -- not the bailiff -- with a request for segmented payment, and alongside that, perhaps also request an administration order. He's told me all of the forms that I should fill in and sort it out.

That's taken a load off my mind. Does anybody have any experience with administration orders? From what Mark described an Administration Order sounds similar to an IVA or general debt consolidation, only it's to the courts, and if the courts agree to it, the debtors have no choice but to accept it.

If only somebody had told me of this earlier!

patman99

Thump, have you checked to see if you have a ccj for non-payment on your credit history ?. You can use Noddle as it is free.

Also, is the notice real ?. Phone the Court named on the notice to check. What makes me suspicious is that the letter is from 'HM Courts & Tribunal Service'. Having had a few dealings with Courts, everything I have ever recieved has come from 'HM Court Servives' with no mention of 'Tribunal' anywhere.

Also, 24 hours is to short a time limit in my opinion. I have heard of 7 days to pay from the receipt of the letter, but 24 hours is way too short. Unless the letter was sent recorded delivery, then they would not know when to start the 24 hour count-down from.

If it is genuine, then if you have £90 spare, you can apply to have the decision set aside due to no knowledge of the Court case.

Thump

Hi patman99,

I've just signed up to Noddle, and yes, there appears to be a CCJ which was applied on 5/8/14. I also had some suspicions about the court name too, but it would appear that the name has changed (I tried to include a link to the justice(dot)gov site, but as a new user I can't post links) quite recently, if the justice website is anything to go by.

I agree about the 24 hours issue, and it confused me to see that it was just that in order to pay what is not an insignificant amount of money. I'm sure a lot of people don't have that kind of money laying around -- least of all at this time of year -- so for them to expect that kind of payment on somebody who is on low income (just carer's allowance at the moment) would be funny if the consequences weren't so serious.

Another issue with the letter was that there is no date. It literally just says "24 hours" and doesn't mention a whole lot beyond that, which is quite baffling at best. I initially assumed that it's because it was (presumably) hand delivered, but even then surely there should be a date, or a note alongside it, saying that they have been? Of course, it's neither here nor there, but a bit baffling all the same.

Thump

So, we're a few days on and I still haven't had a return visit from the bailiff. I've sent off the forms so hopefully they'll be processed (and approved?) before the bailiff gets a chance to return.

sourcrates

It may be the case that the letter is something the bailiff has concocted, and then hand delivered, is it postmarked at all ?
24 hrs seems stupid to me, and raises suspicions its not an official court document, but just a good old "thretogram" from your friendly neighbourhood bailiff !!!!