Surprise CCJ thanks to ex-wife

HeavensDevil

Firstly, apologies if this is in the wrong forum. I've also had a quick look to see if there are any other posts about a situation like ours, but didn't see any.


My partner and I were planning to rent a house, but were told we couldn't due to a CCJ on his file. This came as a complete surprise to us both, as he's very sensible with his money. After a bit of investigating, we found out that it was put on his file last September by Northampton County Court. It's for £151 from a vacation rentals company. He still lived with his ex-wife at the time (before we met) and it is something she set up, without his knowledge or consent, using his name and payment details - obviously hiding any post that came to him pertaining to the debt and consequent CCJ.


The court told him that he would need to speak to the vacation rentals company, explaining the situation, to see if they would wipe the debt and clear his record. Is this correct? The company said that this would have to be in writing and gave us an address. (It's at Hoseasons Financial Department, if anyone has had any experience with these folks.) If we do need to write to them, are there any key words or phrases we ought to include in the letter? We don't know if she made the booking over the phone or online.


Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

DandelionPatrol

The court told him wrong. Ex wife committed fraud. This should be reported to the police as a crime. He should also consider a set-aside request to the court and to Hoseasons. You will need fuller advice on all of this, but one thing NOT to do is pay it off, because that will be seen as an admission of the debt and make it much harder to get the CCJ cleared up.

Thrugelmir

HeavensDevil wrote: »

obviously hiding any post that came to him pertaining to the debt and consequent CCJ.

Can you prove this?

HeavensDevil

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Can you prove this?

He was not aware of this debt in any way, shape or form until Friday - surely letters were written to him to warn him of the debt and then when it wasn't paid, to tell him that he'd be taken to court and that a non-payment would be put on his record? If they were sent, the only feasible outcome I can see (other than multiple letters getting lost in the post) is that she hid them - from what I've heard about her, this is well within her nature.

HeavensDevil

DandelionPatrol wrote: »

The court told him wrong. Ex wife committed fraud. This should be reported to the police as a crime. He should also consider a set-aside request to the court and to Hoseasons. You will need fuller advice on all of this, but one thing NOT to do is pay it off, because that will be seen as an admission of the debt and make it much harder to get the CCJ cleared up.

Thank you. I spoke to a very helpful (and horrified) woman at the CAB on Friday afternoon who has sent me details of the police's Action Fraud report line. I will be getting OH to speak to them tomorrow as this isn't the only thing she's done, just that this is the most detrimental. Do you think the CAB might be able to help us complete a set-aside request? As neither of us have ever been through anything like this and are not exactly experts in legalese!

ampersand

You will find Court staff helpful and up-to-date for this.
CAB will not act for your OH: he must do this himself.
10 months ago{Sept 14], they were still together, unless you mean they were still together at the time she booked with Hoseasons, which will have preceded the time of the CCJ by some months.

This is not nit-picking. It's the level of accuracy you need for any Court procedure.

Was there no redirection of mail set up if he moved out?
If it was she who moved, how has she received your new partner's post?
This is what you assert.

Be very careful with this sort of slant: 'from what I've heard about her, this is well within her nature.' and ' it is something she set up, without his knowledge or consent, using his name and payment details - obviously hiding any post that came to him pertaining to the debt and consequent CCJ.

Thrugelmir has already made the point.

This: ' I spoke to a very helpful (and horrified) woman at the CAB'
It is partner's issue to sort out. Again, be very careful in any help you give him with Court p/w. You must avoid subjective, irrelevant, emotive language.

A public forum can be cathartic, for sounding off, but a Court Hearing is not.
Good luck.

Thrugelmir

HeavensDevil wrote: »

He was not aware of this debt in any way, shape or form until Friday - surely letters were written to him to warn him of the debt and then when it wasn't paid, to tell him that he'd be taken to court and that a non-payment would be put on his record? If they were sent, the only feasible outcome I can see (other than multiple letters getting lost in the post) is that she hid them - from what I've heard about her, this is well within her nature.

I'm merely playing devils advocate. As the issue of a CCJ is only granted after all reasonable attempts have been taken to resolve payment of the debt. Something that the plantiff has to substantiate. Accusations against another party need to well founded and not merely speculative without facts.

HeavensDevil

Thought I should update this post in case anyone else has found themselves in a similar situation.

Firstly thanks to Ampersand and Thrugelmir - I took your responses into account when writing letters/sending emails to ensure that the case was stated as factual yet neutral as possible i.e. "It appears as though someone may have used my credit card..." rather than "ex-wife [definitely] did...".

After reporting everything to Action Fraud, we wrote to Hoseasons explaining the situation, including the crime reference number we'd obtained. They called my partner quite promptly and after clarifying/confirming a few points, sent a set-aside application to the county court, covering the cost themselves. This has since been actioned and removed from his credit report. So big kudos and thanks to them

They have, in effect, also been victims themselves because of this, so have also been in touch with Action Fraud to add further information to my partner's crime victim file. So to anyone else planning to use someone else's credit card or open accounts in their name without their permission... Don't do it. It might take a while, but you will get caught sooner or later and it won't end too well for you