Pls Help...Unaware of CCJ what to do??

jewell32

Hi, any help appreciated...
I have been with Experian building my credit rating paying £14.99 per month for a while, got it to 'fair' applied for a loan they matched me with and got refused....when I recieved a letter from the company it said to check Equifax which I did...first £2 then £14.95 to read full report finding I had a CCJ scared and not sure what to do because I though I was doing well, Equifax said my rating was very poor, CCj was made in 2013 at an old address in my married name ( moved and changed to maiden almost 6 years ago) yes it's my fault I didn't inform the credit card company at the time, I was going through hell, divorce, moving and debts etc so put my head in the sand! The debt says £1200 Nottingham court but doesn't tell me who its with ? I really don't know where to start I'm trying so hard to pay off debts now and rebuild but I can't afford total payment....please help me:(

fermi

1st thing to do is contact the issuing court, who should be able to give you the details.

No need to panic or be scared, as CCJs can be dealt with as long as you go through the right procedures and don't ignore them.

jewell32

Thank you Fermi, do I just give them details of my previous address and married name? Also will it make it worse that I'm responding 2 years later? I'm scared there will be extra costs...

Will they ask me to pay the full amount do you think? I thought I was doing so well this has really upset me, although my own fault but I'm disappointed as I thought I was on the right track....never had anything like this...

Nasqueron

If you want to save money, cancel the nonsense £14.95 fee to Experian and Equifax, total waste of money - they have to provide all your information on request in the statutory report which is £2 - the fee they charge to help with your score (which they come up with - no lender will ever see that score) is designed to keep you hooked - you pay them, they increase the made up score, you keep paying as your score goes up - win for them, waste of money for you

jewell32

Thanks Nasqueron I did exactly that the next morning...cancelled, when asked why and I explained the lady was trying to find the CCJ as she couldn't understand how they (Experian) didn't have it and Equifax did.... I have now signed up to Noddle....

fermi

No, won't make much difference. Court won't do anything to enforce if you contact them. That only happens on an application from the claimant, who may have been updated with you new address by the credit reference agencies now.

So better to tal to the court and get details so you know what it is about and can head anything off if required.

LilPretty

Hi Jewel32,

I had similar issue too - with the help of Fermi and others, I contacted the court, found out who the debt was with - it had been sold to about 4 different companies.

I didnt argue much with the company as I owed the debt - but i just couldnt remember how much.

I owed about £600 according to them and I stated my situation, they asked me if i wanted to pay instalmentally or outright, I opted for an outright settlement fig - which was about half of the original debt.

I paid that off, and the company informed the court. A few weeks later - it appeared on my credit file as settled.

Now the ccj will remain on for 6yrs from date it was issued, but everyone here says it looks better when its is in the settled status, plus i did owe the debt anyways.

Hope it helps, but pls dont panic.

jewell32

Thank you Fermi....

Thanks LilPretty I'm guessing you contacted the most recent company that the debt was sold to?

enfield_freddy

Getting a CCJ set aside.

You may have received a letter from debt collection company out of the blue telling you you have a CCJ.


You have three options.
1) You can ignore it. This many lead to escalated costs against you as they try ad enforce the judgment, and so this is not recommended.
2) You can pay it. The CCJ will then be marked as satisfied, but will remain on your credit record for 6 years. You should therefore think very carefully before taking this option.
3) You can fight it. This will cost you £155, which will be refundable if you win (not guaranteed). However, this is your only chance of removing the CCJ so if this is important to you, this is the only way forward.


The way this works is you will have a set aside hearing where the judge will decide whether to set aside the CCJ. If he does then the claim starts afresh in that there will be a second hearing about the claim itself. If the claim then gets dismissed you get all your money back from the original company involved.


If in that second hearing the claim gets allowed then normally you wouldn't get your £155 back, unless the judge thinks the company behaved unreasonable by not verifying your address. But at least your CCJ will disappear from your credit report so this may be the best way forward.


You have to have a good reason for ignoring the court process - not having received the paperwork is usually a good reason, and you can use the companies own letter as proof. You also have to have reasonable prospects of getting the result overturned. You will therefore have a very good chance of at least getting a second hearing, which will remove the CCJ.


The Process


You need form N244 which you can find here: https://www.moneyclaimsuk.co.uk/PDFForms/N244.pdf


You need to complete this with the claim details (what court, what claim number etc). If you don't have this information then you will need to call the Moneyclaims centre at 0300 123 1057 or 01604 619 402 and ask for this information:
Claim number
Judgement date
Judgement amount


On the form N244:
1. - state the person's name who has received the CCJ
2. - tick Defendant
3. - "Set aside Default Judgement dated xx/xx/xxxx and dismiss the claim"
4. - tick No
5. - tick At a Hearing
6. - 8. - leave blank
9. - state "Claimant"
9.a - use the address from the original company
10. - tick The attached witness statement


then you need to sign the Statement of Truth


11. - again you need to sign and complete this.


You can also add more details about what address the issuing company used, when you moved address,


Once this all sorted then you need to sign the Witness Statement and attach a copy of the letter the company sent to you.You also need to sign the Form N244.


You then need to send two signed copies of each, plus a cheque for £155 to
County Court Business Centre (CCBC)
St. Katharine's House21-27
St. Katharine's Street
Northampton
Northamptonshire
NN1 2LH


Be mindful of the fact that you need to send this off as soon as possible so you'll need to spend some time on this quickly.As an alternative to either doing the set aside yourself or with a solicitor

jewell32

Thank you Enfield Freddy....
I didn't receive any letter or paperwork as I moved from that address in 2009

I have just called the court who gave me the details but also informed me that on the notes it states DISCONTINUED CLAIM which was put on in JAN 2014...
The court advised me to contact the company and ask why they have discontinued it ......but surely then they will ask me to pay up? Or reinforce it? If I make contact
Not sure what to do here to be honest I'm not in the best situation financially although I have been trying hard to clear my debts and improve my rating....
Will this still stay on my record for the 6 year period even though they have discontinued?
Thanks everyone you have all been so helpful ....

d70cw6

personally i'd ignore it until it drops off your credit reports in a few months time.