Cabot Financial CCJ for Unknown Debt

TooClumsy

Hi all,

I'm just looking for any help or advice for anyone who has been in a similar position.

My husband has been receiving letters from DCAs for just over a year for debt on credit cards that he never had. He has called them and explained that it is not his debt and to send him proof. They have not sent anything to this date.

He received a letter this morning from the DCAs solicitors with regards to a judgement that was filed on the 12/03/2015 and want to apply for an attachment of earnings against him.

We have received nothing from the court and have called the solicitors to explain that. They were surprised that nothing has been received from the court, my husband asked what he needs to do to prevent a CCJ and the said to pay the debt off. The original debt is approx £1100, they are willing to accept £700 and that offer is only valid for 24 hours.

Background info, my husband changed his surname in 2013 (to his original family name) after we got married. Prior to this, he had not received any communication from debt collection agencies about mystery debt.

Now we are in between a rock and a hard place, we don't want the CCJ as this stays on his file for 6 years and we are hoping to apply for a mortgage next year. I also dont want to pay the £700, acknowledge the debt, even though it's not his, how do we go about getting it refunded if we did that?

Any advice from everyone would be great!

TooClumsy

rizla_king

Last thing you do is pay something not yours. :eek:

Might need to get it set aside?

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/ and http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?170-Legal-Issues forums can help on the legal stuff.

fatbelly

Absolutely.

Get it set aside and find out how they managed to get a court claim through without sending the forms to the address they knew he lived at, then informed him at that address that they had a ccj!

It sounds like an abuse of the legal process and legal beagles are best placed to help you.

There is an overview of the setaside process here

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/12%20EW%20County%20court%20-%20how%20to%20set%20aside%20a%20judgment/Default.aspx

sourcrates

Certainly don't pay this, go for the set aside as advised, it will cost £155.00, and once it's done, and you have it sorted out, I would pursue a claim for damages against the DCA, as this is just abuse of power.

TooClumsy

hi everyone,

thank you for your replies.

so we spoke to the court and they said it does exist and they sent the documents through to our current address (we didnt receive them). My husband explained the situation and he said that we can start the process to 'set aside', but this only happens in very few cases and that even if it was set aside, Cabot Financial could come after him again with another CCJ.

Credit Expert are going to run a search on my husbands old name (with the middle name) and see if that gets any hits for fraud and we can see any credit lines that are open under this alias. They said that this will take up to 2 working days to do this.

We are really worried about them coming after him again so will pay the £700 for now and then file a complaint with the financial ombudsman (who we rung and they said that they can't overturn a court ruling, but we can make a complaint against Cabot Financial) and will also file a claim online via Money Claim Online site and pay the £60 fee.

Really am feeling bullied by them and am so shocked that they can file a CCJ without proof that it is my husbands debt. Surely anyone has access to addresses and names and they are holding my husbands credit file as hostage essentially. I can see why that would happen it was legitimate of course, but this is simply not the case here.

Distressed,

TooClumsy

MEM62

If you settle this it may prejudice your case for a set aside.

IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU DO NOT OWE THIS MONEY DO NOT PAY IT.

Use the proper legal processes to have the judgement set aside and when the case it re heard make your argument that you do not believe that the debt is yours and that the claimant has failed to prove that it is.

rizla_king

If you pay the £700 you will lose it and let these crooks win.

TooClumsy

We know for a fact its not his debt, but as we are within the 28 day period of the CCJ (it does exist, husband has called the court), if we pay now, the CCJ will be removed and wont go on the credit file.

I know that they win this way, but we want to keep his credit file pristine. We will still try and claim the money back using MCOL and hubbie is going to mention that we know its not our debt, they havent showed us any proof, but I dont understand, if they dont have proof, how can they slap people with a CCJ??

Marktheshark

Are you sure he is telling you the truth here ?
Wanting to pay someone else's debt, no knowledge of the cards, court papers never arrived, judgement papers from the court never arrived.
A lot of things that do not add up.

Sit him down and have a chat time I think.

MEM62

TooClumsy wrote: »

We know for a fact its not his debt, but as we are within the 28 day period of the CCJ (it does exist, husband has called the court), if we pay now, the CCJ will be removed and wont go on the credit file.

I know that they win this way, but we want to keep his credit file pristine. We will still try and claim the money back using MCOL and hubbie is going to mention that we know its not our debt, they havent showed us any proof, but I dont understand, if they dont have proof, how can they slap people with a CCJ??

You will not succeed and will be throwing good money after bad. The claimant will state that the fact that you paid is an admission that the debt is yours. Using the argument that you only paid to protect your husband's credit history is very weak. Use the proper process to fight your case and if you win his credit history will be unblemished.

If you are not prepared to fight it without paying up front then you might as well give up on the money, pay it and forget it.

fatbelly

TooClumsy wrote: »

so we spoke to the court and they said it does exist and they sent the documents through to our current address (we didnt receive them). My husband explained the situation and he said that we can start the process to 'set aside', but this only happens in very few cases and that even if it was set aside, Cabot Financial could come after him again with another CCJ.

This is a very negative view. If you did not receive the papers (they are not sent by a recorded method) and you have a defence with a real prospect of success then the court will set this aside. There will then be a hearing. If your defence is found to be defective, only then will Cabot get their judgement.

TooClumsy wrote: »

We are really worried about them coming after him again so will pay the £700 for now and then file a complaint with the financial ombudsman (who we rung and they said that they can't overturn a court ruling, but we can make a complaint against Cabot Financial) and will also file a claim online via Money Claim Online site and pay the £60 fee.

I can't see this working.

TooClumsy wrote: »

Really am feeling bullied by them and am so shocked that they can file a CCJ without proof that it is my husbands debt. Surely anyone has access to addresses and names and they are holding my husbands credit file as hostage essentially. I can see why that would happen it was legitimate of course, but this is simply not the case here.

Then get it set aside and force them to prove their case. You have had good advice on this thread.