Black Horse - Took CCJ out against me when they owed me money?

smileysmile67

I had a motor finance agreement with Black Horse. In Feb 2014 they gained a CCJ against me for approx £700 owing against the car (I had paid over £20k during the agreement but had lost my job). I was still paying this back to them when in Sept 2016, I received a cheque for £950 from them which the letter said was due to payments made that they were unable to keep due to "an omission made from the annual statement(s) we sent to you". I presume this was the omission regarding my rights to settle early etc though their letter didn't state this. I also received a letter from them stating that my account was paid in full as of 16/9/16 (the date of the first letter) and that production of the letter "at the County Court would enable me to apply for a certificate of satisfaction on payment of a small fee."

Surely this means that they should not have taken me to court and should not have been able to get the CCJ against me? Would I be entitled to any compensation for this?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Dobbibill

I would be more concerned about the CCJ.


It amazes me how everything these days comes down to money/compensation.

Look at the problem first, if there is an error I'm sure they will offer compensation but don't presume or guess at what each letter may/may not have meant.

-taff

No, they just didn't issue an annual staement properly [something to do with interest applicable probably, nothing to do with your right to settle early] hence the refund. they were still within their rights to issue a CCJ agasint you. You just got a windfall back from them.

MEM62

Is there any reason that you did not contest the case when it went to court? Trying to resolve the issue now rather than responding to the summons and defending your case at the time it likely to put you at a disadvantage and will certainly add to your costs.

Was the loan paid in full? What documentation do you have relating to the loan and your payment history?

sourcrates

Hi,

So there was a two year gap between them taking you to court, and the mistakes made with your annual statements, yes ?

Any errors made in annual statements, or even if the creditor forgets to send you one, results in the account been unenforceable for the period you were not supplied with a statement.

They cant keep any payments made, or any interest or charges applied over the same period.

I would assume the statement issues arose after the CCJ was granted, otherwise court action would not of been possible, can i ask did you defend the claim at all ?

Anyway, in answer to your question, the money you received back from the creditor is all the compensation you are entitled to under the terms of the consumer credit act 1978, and assuming the statement errors didnt occur before the claim was instigated, then the creditor has done nothing wrong in pursuing legal action against you for non payment.

smileysmile67

Dobbibill wrote: »

I would be more concerned about the CCJ.


It amazes me how everything these days comes down to money/compensation.

Look at the problem first, if there is an error I'm sure they will offer compensation but don't presume or guess at what each letter may/may not have meant.

Sorry I haven't responded sooner but I've had some family crises to deal with!

Not sure I understand your reply?

What would you do if a bank had a CCJ wrongly issued against you? What other redress do I have if they have had this CCJ issued in error?

And no - they are hardly going to contact me out of the blue and offer compensation are they? I'm trying to establish what I should now do, if anything.The CCJ is satisfied but that's hardly the point!!!!

What they wrote off in terms of the remaining debt and the cheque they sent me was more than double what the CCJ was for, so the issue surely must have been something that occured before took me to court?

smileysmile67

MEM62 wrote: »

Is there any reason that you did not contest the case when it went to court? Trying to resolve the issue now rather than responding to the summons and defending your case at the time it likely to put you at a disadvantage and will certainly add to your costs.

Was the loan paid in full? What documentation do you have relating to the loan and your payment history?

Of course I responded to the summons!
But responding doesn't stop the CCJ being issued. if you are behind with the payments. What other defence could i have offered (at the time) other than the fact that I couldn't keep up the payments because I had lost my job? Their mistake (which affected other borrowers too) didn't come to light till nearly two years after the CCJ.)

The loan is now settled but the fact remains that that it is a black mark against me. I am trying to establish if the mistake they made (

smileysmile67

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,

So there was a two year gap between them taking you to court, and the mistakes made with your annual statements, yes ?

Any errors made in annual statements, or even if the creditor forgets to send you one, results in the account been unenforceable for the period you were not supplied with a statement.

They cant keep any payments made, or any interest or charges applied over the same period.

I would assume the statement issues arose after the CCJ was granted, otherwise court action would not of been possible, can i ask did you defend the claim at all ?

Anyway, in answer to your question, the money you received back from the creditor is all the compensation you are entitled to under the terms of the consumer credit act 1978, and assuming the statement errors didnt occur before the claim was instigated, then the creditor has done nothing wrong in pursuing legal action against you for non payment.

Thanks for your response. There was a two year gap between the CCJ and Lloyds NOTIFYIN me of their mistake but I think the problem with the statements must have gone back before the CCJ as the amount they gave me back and wrote off (approx £1500) was roughly double what the CCJ was for!! They have not clarified when the mistake was made. As mentioned above, I did defend the claim and had agreed to make the payments they ended up getting via the CCJ BEFORE I went to court - that didn't stop them getting the CCJ, however. Bottom line is how do I find out more etc?

Dobbibill

smileysmile67 wrote: »

Sorry I haven't responded sooner but I've had some family crises to deal with!

Sorry to hear about your family problems, I hope everything is OK now.

Not sure I understand your reply?

What would you do if a bank had a CCJ wrongly issued against you? What other redress do I have if they have had this CCJ issued in error?

My reply is simply, address the CCJ problem. Redress should be the last thought once the problem is sorted rather than the first question.

I would contact them to look at resolving the CCJ, if it's incorrectly issued I would be looking to get it removed.

And no - they are hardly going to contact me out of the blue and offer compensation are they? I'm trying to establish what I should now do, if anything.The CCJ is satisfied but that's hardly the point!!!!

No, they aren't going to contact you. You need to follow this up.
- ring them and ask for an explanation
- if unhappy with the explanation, log a complaint
- if not happy with the complaint outcome, escalate it higher
- if still not happy with their final response, go to FOS

When it's finally resolved, IF they are at fault and have issued it incorrectly they will offer you compensation.

What they wrote off in terms of the remaining debt and the cheque they sent me was more than double what the CCJ was for, so the issue surely must have been something that occured before took me to court?

What did the letter say that arrived with the cheque? Don't guess about the order of things, unless you have or read the letter (word for word, all paragraphs....even the boring bits) that came with the cheque then 'surely' you aren't sure.