Using the small claims court process

Fabdreamer

Can You Help Please?

I would like some advice on how to use the small claims court to recoup if possible a debt.
The sum of money is £346.86 which was used on a credit card to purchase an airplane ticket. I have kept the original c/c statement showing the purchase and wanted to calculate how much interest to add? As these figures are needed to fill in online a form for the small claims court process to get underway.

So original sum was £346.86
The APR is 17.9% on a First Direct c/c & bought in 22/07/2015.
The ''Application fee'' for admin to process is £35.00 i believe for the online fast track processing instead of mailing a claim form in the post.

In what circumstances are any other expenses entitled to be added? As i was wondering how there seems to be credit cards & payday loans in the past charging enormously high charges?

To clarify i have never received any money although it has been asked for. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

From what i was told by the debtor he is married although this may not be the case. So if a husband & wife are married (although a ticket was NOT bought for her) does this make them joint & separately liable if a small claims court application is shown in favour?
Although they may be in living in rented accomodation, would this tact be effective, and how may it affect them in the future?

If I adapt now for this debt to be contested can I plan better? i.e. to show he is able to pay? Where does an attachment of earnings mean? And how does it come into being applied & when? What does an attachment of earnings show regarding an individual's current business activity, their employment, earnings, how is this information collated, and importantly is this provided volountary or by another party?

Reason i ask these questions is that i have checked C/House and no business name is listed for a company trading with this person's name although advertising products of a nominal value online. So if he is selling items then possibly an income is being made. What can be done or said by me?

Pixie5740

Just because people are married that doesn't make them liable for their spouse's debts. It's only joint debts with their spouses that they are both liable for.

First you need to go to court and win your judgement. Once you've won that you can think about how to enforce the judgement. You might end up with an offer to pay £1 a week if the debtor can demonstrate that's all he can afford to pay so don't get too excited about attachments of earnings. You can't get blood out of a stone.

What evidence do you have that the debtor owes you for the cost of the plane ticket? A CC statement showing that you purchased a plane ticket is not enough. You will need to demonstrate, on the balance of probabilities, that it was a loan and not a gift.

Edit:
How much interest you have accrued by having this transaction on your CC will depend on whether you have cleared the £346.86 from your account either partially or in full. As well as the exact date the transaction started to accrue interest, not the date of the transaction because CC transactions don't start attracting interest straight away.

Did the debtor ever agree to pay interest on the £346.86?

MrsTinks

So the sky high fees can be applied because there was an explicit credit agreement in place. That said many are now being challenged and I think you need to accept that they are neither morally legit, nor applicable to your situation.

Do you have any evidence that this was not a gift to the person in question? Any texts, emails or letters?

No any spouse of this has nothing to do with any alleged debt - so drop that too.

If you manage to register a CCJ against them (and you are going to need evidence) they they might simply pay it and there will be no effect against them on their credit files. They may offer a monthly payment of £1 until settled - if that is what they can prove to the judge they can afford then that is all they have to pay.

Attachment of earnings can be googled - it will not simply be granted and the defendant would need to have a salary from an employer. It sounds more like they are self enmployed - you cannot get an attachment of earnings against someone self employed.

A CCJ could affect the debtor negatively for some time to come (6 years) - they would find it harder to obtain more credit - however if you don't have sufficient evidence to prove this wasn't a gift then you stand a relatively low chance of winning.

On a personal note then I'd say this sounds a little like a relationship gone sour and now you're bitter. I'm only saying that because you may find that is how a judge will see it too... and in that case unless your evidence is solid you will not win.

Fabdreamer

Thanks for both of your responses they are taken on board. I'm delighted that as my first post on the forum i've had 2 very solid answers.

I feel that however i will put it in the system and see what comes up. Obviously anybody which is owing another person money will feel a bit sour, although in that context the bigger a company or organisation the less space there is for feelings. As most of the debts seem to be collected these days appear to be credit defaults. If the money is owed things are stacked in their favour to win.

No I don't have a written agreement in place but it wasn't a gift, although that may be the challenge to prove otherwise. Either way it will be a lesson learned not to loan money, or make purchases for other people because there will be the permanent reminder of what happens. But it's not what happens that makes the difference but how i'm going to tackle it head on.

Arleen

I would seriously reconsider how do you plan to prove that this wasn't a gitft before you will file in the case. There is no reason to throw good money after bad if, in the end, you won't win.