ccj for (underage) sons phone contract

mermaid70

Hi there
We've just had a CCJ through the post for our son who has recently joined the armed forces and is not at home at present. It is for an unpaid mobile phone contract with 02 but the debt has been bought by Lowells debt collection agency.
I'm going to write to them tomorrow (tried phoning them today but they wouldn't give us any info over the phone due to data protection although they WOULD accept payment funnily enough) to request information about the debt.
Firstly, I think it may be statute barred as they bought the debt in 2011 and it was obviously with O2 for a while before that, although I'm guessing the last payment was made just within the six years as this is why they have issued a CCJ now.
Secondly I want a copy of the credit agreement. Unfortunately 19 year old son has ignored recent correspondence from them but having spoken to him today it turns out he took a contract out with O2 via the internet when he was about 13/14 giving them an incorrect date of birth so that they thought he was 18 (little !!!!!!). I guess they didn't do any credit check on him and went ahead and sent him the phone which he paid for for a while then lost the phone and didn't pay the contract. (Teenagers - arghh).
It's only a couple of hundred quid which we will pay off rather than him get a CCJ but as he was too young to have been given the credit in the first place, does anyone know where we stand? Obviously the last thing I want is for him to be done for fraud however, so can anyone advise the best course of action?
Sorry its a bit long winded so many thanks if you've got to the end of this post!

Tixy

There won't be a consumer credit agreement (under the consumer credit act) for a mobile phone contract as it is classed as a service agreement. They should be able to provide your son with a copy of the original terms & conditions.
Were you thinking of writing as though you were your son?

Does son not recall when he last paid? does he have any paperwork to check (or old bank statements left at yours that you could check perhaps?).

In terms of his age, whilst this may be sufficient for him to defend against the CCJ it would likely result in a fraud marker on his credit file which could cause him significant issues with getting credit for a few years.

sourcrates

I'm with Tixy on this, may just be best to pay this and put it down to experiance.
If paid within 28 days of judgement the CCJ will not be registered.

fatbelly

If this is a claim form rather than the judgement then he needs to defend this within 14 days (28 if he acknowledges service).

There appear to be two possible defences: that the cause of action was before April 2009 and there has been no subsequent acknowledgement; and that the defendant was under 18 and therefore did not have the legal capacity to enter into the contract.

If however this is a default judgment ordering immediate payment, then paying it within 28 days of the judgement date will at least keep it off his credit file.

mermaid70

Thanks all for the advice. Much appreciated. Son has no recollection of last payment so I will just find out when this was (write to them as son) and not bring up the date of birth issue. If it's within the six years I will just pay up for him as we'd rather keep his credit score clear. Definitely don't want him to have a fraud marker as Tixy suggests.
Thanks again

Robin9

Why shouldn't your son pay - it's his debt not yours and he is earning.

mermaid70

Thank you for the advice Robin9. He is in the forces serving his country. We will pay and when he finally gets some leave he will give it back to us.

Tixy

mermaid70 wrote: »

Son has no recollection of last payment so I will just find out when this was (write to them as son) and not bring up the date of birth issue.

If this is court claim form they have sent then you also need to file an acknowledgement / defence (preferably online). If you just write to them to ask them for further information then he may end up with a judgement by default.

Also don't ask in a letter specifically when the last payment was - ask them to provide evidence of the alleged debt.