How to appeal CCJ?

MSant

Hi, hoping someone a bit more wizened than myself can provide some insight here.

I've had a look online, and while I could find a number of informative articles about the circumstances you can appeal under and so on I wasn't actually able to find the process through which to appeal.

A lender I had lost contact with sent the form to an old address. When I got things sorted at a new home (this admittedly did take around 6 months) and tried to contact them, they then informed me of the CCJ which I needed to be paying monthly installments for.

So I am just wondering how to best go about this now.

forgotmyname

You need to apply to the court (form N244)? and pay £255? to get the CCJ set aside.

Arleen

Generally speaking, you cannot appeal a ccj, but if you think it was issued wrongfully, then you can apply to have it set aside. This process will cost 255 when you submit your application. But before you do, I would suggest thinking whether you have an actual reason to do so. Otherwise you will be throwing 255 quid down the drain.

Answering those questions will help greatly.

How have you lost contact with the lender? Generally you update your address either online, or over the phone, or via post when you move. What did you do?
For how long?
Do you dispute that you owe the money, or the amount of money you owe?

rtho782

If you moved, without telling the lender of your new address, and without a mail redirection, and took more than 28 days to contact them (or you could have cleared it and it would have been removed), then this will be considered your own fault and you will be wasting £255 here.

PixelPound

So you decided to move away and not inform the creditor of the change of address, which is part of your obligations on the contract? Donate the £255 to charity, you'll get the same effect on your CCJ but at least you may feel a bit better for doing so.

MSant

Many thanks for the responses so far, to provide a bit more information, the situation had become untenable where I was living previously and I left quickly with no fixed address for a while - my main focus at that point was just keeping myself in my job and trying to get everything else sorted and this was 1 account that slipped through the cracks.

It was only when I checked my credit record through Noddle later on that I realised there was an account I had failed to update.

I got in touch with the lender in late September, getting in touch to try and put it right and get repayments going, but they had already stated that the proceedings had begun and that I had to fill out the paper work and deal with it from there. I stressed that I had no access to that address and the paper work attached but despite communication back and forth I got nowhere. It was only once my credit record was updated in November and there was a CCJ in place they were willing to discuss payments.

I only found out when looking into it further in the last month if I'd paid it all off in one go that would have been fine as well, but I wasn't aware that was an option which is another reason I feel slightly put out by this.

The main reason to appeal though is its going to be a nasty mark on my record for quite a while, and I'm concerned about the potential for problems it may cause further down the line when I'm in a position to apply for a mortgage. The CCJ in total is only for £577 I don't know if it makes a difference depending on the amount the CCJ is for but it is mostly just frustration with myself for making the mistake missing it in the first place, but also tied up with some frustration that even though I did get in touch with them they weren't willing to discuss it.

Arleen

MSant wrote: »

I got in touch with the lender in late September, getting in touch to try and put it right and get repayments going, but they had already stated that the proceedings had begun and that I had to fill out the paper work and deal with it from there. I stressed that I had no access to that address and the paper work attached but despite communication back and forth I got nowhere.

This is crucial, so please make sure to answer correctly. When you've contacted them in September, did you provide them with an updated address? And when they've said that proceedings had begun, what exactly did they say? And on what date exactly was the CCJ issued (you can call the court to find that out and get a copy of the judgement)?

Nebulous2

In addition to the above. Collect and keep as much evidence of these contacts as you can. Phone records, emails etc. Send the company a subject access request (SAR) State that you want transcripts of any phonecalls. That could cost you £10, but would help to show you were trying to resolve it before they got a CCJ.

rtho782

I can see how it sucks for you, but "I didn't know I could get it removed if I paid it all off" won't be reason enough for the court to set it aside.

If you'd moved, but kept up repayments you would not have had a problem.

It will impact you getting a mortgage for 6 years. Not to say it will be impossible, but it will be at a higher rate, tapering off over the 6 years. It will look better if you pay it off.

vvvishalll

Hi
If you get a judgment, this means that the court has formally decided that you owe the money.

The judgment will come in the post and will explain:

how much you owe
how to pay (in full or in instalments)
the deadline for paying
who to pay
Records of judgments are kept for 6 years unless you pay the full amount within a month - this can make it hard to get credit.

If you don’t owe the money, you can ask the court to cancel, or ‘set aside’, the judgment.

If you do owe the money, you should arrange to pay what you can afford.

MSant

The repayment side isn't much of an issue, it's not too far off being repaid now (although they still keep the account marked as 'defaulted' on my credit report even though the amount has been updated as going down - no idea if this is the proper conduct for that or not) but to address some of the other concerns.

-> I didn't immediately provide them with a new address, my opening was briefly explaining my circumstances and that I wanted to make repayments.

-> The proceedings began on September 21st, I contacted them on September 27th.

-> The response I got was merely that I had to respond to the proceedings.

-> I stressed I had no way of doing so, but I was more than happy to begin making payments now and asked how to resolve this.

-> Got another response telling me I needed to respond to proceedings.

- - - -

My new address was provided when the CCJ was issued since once I saw it on the credit record I then e-mailed asking if they'd be willing to actually take my money at that point and they were then willing to accept payment from me.