CCJ problem

Trentenders

I've been living with an unsettled CCJ on my cridit file for 2 years, but I want to buy a house in the near future, so it's the first time I've had to get off my bum to do something about it! I'm pretty lost about what to do, but from looking at the site, I'm sure you guys will know! So far, I've tried hoping itwill go away, but that hasn't seemed to work!!

My story is as follows...

About three years ago, I moved to a different town. At the same time (at the last minute), I had to scrap an old car I had, which was done at the local scrapyard. I arrived at the scrapyard near to closing time and as the manager was about to go home, he told me he would take it off my hands and deal with the log book and any other paperwork.

It appears that the guy didn't send the form off, and the date to declare the car SORN came and went, landing me with a £100 fine. As this fine and all subsequent mailings went to my old address, a CCJ resulted from it, and I only found out when I was refused a mobile phone contract (I credit-checked myself with Credit Expert).

The date of the CCJ was about two years ago and I found out about it around 12 months ago. I've always paid bills on time, etc. so I hated the idea of having a CCJ just because I didn't get the letters. I did try writing to people at the time, to try and fix things, but I got stone-walled and gave up after the first attempt.

I wrote to the DVLA - Saying I would've paid the money if I had ever received notice of a fine, regardless of whetehr I was liable or not. I ALSO POINTED OUT THAT THE CCJ WAS TO A PERSON WITH A MIS-SPELLED SURNAME (It is obviously for me, but they missed a letter out of my name - Is there a loophole I can use to remove it from my file because of this? Is it invalid as a result?). The DVLA basically said 'tough luck'! Apparently I should've received a letter to confirm that the car had been scrapped if it had been (I moved house though, so it would've gone to the old address too???!!!!), and that they would not set aside the judgement. If I wanted to, I could pay £65 to take the matter back to court, but that I could end up paying even more, as they had followed procedure. They also said that the spelling of the name was taken from their records and that I should've told them if it they had it wrong - I certainly would've noticed if my car was in the wrong name as I had had it for about 4 years (and the post office would've too when I was getting tax for it), so I'm sure it was 'operator error' instead.

I also phoned the scrapyard, but the manager said they deal with 1000's of cars there and that there probably wouldn't be a record of it (something to do with them not having computer records at the time, it being a long time ago, and him being a very busy person so he couldn't be arsed with looking). If he had found anything, he probably would have been been liable to pay the fine, which is probably the real reason. He said he would come back to me if he found anything, but that was the last I heard of him.

What do I do?? Can I ask the credit reference firms to move it, because it isn't in my exact name? If so, which companies do I need to go to? Is there another way to pay the original fine, rather than settling the CCJ (because it would still be on my record)? Should I just accept that my disorganisation has finally caught up with me and pay the CCJ (it's not a huge amount of money, but I would hate to do that, and I'd be worried about how it would impair my credit rating)?

Does anyone know how I will be affected going forwards? I know I need to do something sooner rather than later, so any advice would be greatly appreciated (other than telling me not to leave things to other people, to have Royal Mail forward my post, and to take control/responsibilty for my own affairs!!) LOL

You guys are great by the way! (Please help me, I'm rubbish!)

rog2

You need to contact the Office of the Court that issued the CCJ. Explain the situation to them, especially the fact that you had moved and were unaware of any Court Summons, otherwise you would have entered a defence.
They will advise you on the procedure for applying to have the judgement 'set aside'.

Trentenders

Does getting it 'set aside' mean it will disappear from my record? Do I have a good chance, and will I have to go to court for a day?

rog2

laffers wrote: »

Does getting it 'set aside' mean it will disappear from my record? Do I have a good chance, and will I have to go to court for a day?

It means, basically, that you will have a chance to put in a defence, even at this stage, and/or make an offer of payment.
The only 'problem' that I see, is that, in law, it was YOUR responsibility to inform DVLA of the scrapping of the vehicle, and you would, probably, end up having to pay anyway. If this is the case, then the CCJ will remain on your file, but you can apply to have it marked a satisfied.
I think that you need Professional Advice on this one, laffers, which you should get from the Court Office or CAB.

Trentenders

Thanks for the info. I think I will go to CAB.

Do you think I will have any luck contacting Experian about getting it removed from my file, due to the name on the CCJ being different from my name?

rog2

laffers wrote: »

Do you think I will have any luck contacting Experian about getting it removed from my file, due to the name on the CCJ being different from my name?

I don't, unfortunately, think that they will remove the record due to a spelling mistake.
CAB is a good bet - I think, again this is my personal thought, that provided you can prove that you were unaware, due to move, of the original County Court Summons, that the 'proceedings' will, effectively, start again - you will be given the opportunity of either admitting and paying the amount claimed, or disputing it. If you admit, and pay, then no new judgement should be entered on your crf and the original judgement should (again in my opinion) be removed.
In all honesty, whilst definitely worth mentioning as 'mitigating circumstance', I don't think that trying to pass the 'blame' to the scrap dealer would be an acceptable defence.