CCJs and charging orders

MrsRSH

Hi,

To cut a very long and sorry story short my partner and I are experiencing difficulties due to a car that was HP in joint names with his ex wife. Upon their separation they agreed she would keep the car and continue the repayments while he forked out for another one (essential for work and for collecting and dropping back their son.) However she did not keep up the repayments and the car was repossessed.

Despite having updated the finance company with his new address, the finance company sent all communications to him at his old one and these included them going for a charging order on their jointly owned (repossessed - she refused to wither pay OR sell up) house. This charging order was granted. He found this out when pro actively contacting the finance company to check the status of the account.

Does this mean a CCJ was granted or is a charging order a stand alone thing? (I know what a charging order is, but unsure if it can be done without a CCJ first)

The charging order was granted in September. No CCJ shows on my partner's record at either of the addresses - does this mean there isn't one, or might it just not have been added to his record?

How do we find out definitively if he has a CCJ? He cannot have one on his record in his line of work and we understand we can apply to have it set aside as they sent the papers to the wrong address despite having the correct one (and they have admitted this)

Thanks for reading!

National_Debtline

Hi

The claimant needs to obtain a CCJ before they can apply to court for a charging order. A CCJ would normally show on credit reference files but it’s possible that it may not.

If your partner does have a CCJ made within the last 6 years it should be recorded on the Register of Judgements, Orders and Fines, which he can search at www.trustonline.org.uk

Your partner can apply to set aside the CCJ if the claim didn’t follow the court rules i.e. they didn’t send the claim form to your partner’s last known address.

James
@natdebtline

MrsRSH

Thank you.
We've paid to check the trustonline site for him under his current address plus the one they sent the paperwork to, and there is nothing registered at either address.

Clearly there is a CCJ though, from what you say - how do we find the details of it so he can apply to have it set aside?

National_Debtline

If a CCJ was made within the last 6 years it should definitely be on the Trust Online website. It’s possible the creditor only made a claim against his ex-partner, and your partner may not have a CCJ against his name.

All I can suggest is asking the finance company that told him about the charging order which court they used, and then asking the court directly whether they have records of a CCJ being made against your partner.

James
@natdebtline