CCJ Status Discharged

kay159

I had an old CCJ that I was paying at £100 monthly. Last autumn, out of the blue I received a cheque from the court for the last 2 months payments even though there was still a balance outstanding. I had a letter enclosed with the cheque stating the CCJ had been discharged and heard nothing more until a month ago when a similar amount appeared on my credit file under Lowell and I received a letter from them requesting payment.

I sent them a letter outlining the CCJ had been discharged and requesting further information but have since heard nothing back and was asked to stop making further payments against the CCJ by the court
Can someone explain what 'discharged' means against the CCJ and if this has somehow been allocated to another debt management company what that means in terms of the original CCJ and no one at Lowell seems to want to explain anything and the court are still to respond with regard to the reason for the discharge.

Could it just mean the original debtor has sold on the debt, but in that case would they not just reallocate funds rather than instructing me to cancel payments
I have a similar situation with a very old CCJ which is nearly paid off via AofE. It was 2 old Frizzel accounts amalgamated into a single CCJ. I have received numerous letters stating the entire debt is outstanding and chasing payment.

Information supplied from the debt management company are the original Frizzel credit agreements but state the debts are Liverpool Victoria on the same account numbers as I understand Frizzel was taken over by Liverpool Victoria. None of the AofE payments have been allocated to the LV accounts and the debt management company insist there is no CCJ in place despite the default dates being so long ago that the accounts would be statute barred if it was the case that there was no CCJ or payments made.

It appears that the CCJ was made to Frizzel and not marked when converted over to LV but my worry is where have the payments gone as have been making them for years. I have asked my employer to confirm where they are sending payment and against which reference and am chasing with the court but still to hear back.

Am I right in saying that if a CCJ exists the debt management company have to stop chasing the same debt and that if a CCJ was incorrectly registered against only 1 of the 2 accounts then the 2nd account would now be statute barred
Sorry for the lengthy post but the whole situation is very confusing

sourcrates

Hi,

Ok, Lowell are not a "debt management company".

They are a specialist debt buyer, and it seems like they have bought out the rights to your debt.

They wont have gone specifically to buy this particular account, debts get sold in bulk, so it could be that yours has been included in a bulk sale, they may not even be aware of the CCJ.

Normally they write to you informing you of the sale.

It probably says discharged as Lowell have paid it off when they bought it, and you now owe them.
You are correct that situations such as this can be very confusing, as very little in the way of information comes your way.

kay159

In that case what happens in terms of the CCJ as currently not paying and do not want any issue with regard to enforcement action. The company are not very forthcoming with information.
I am assuming the same may be true of the other debt where it has been sold on and they are unaware of the CCJ - in that case my assumption is that the wrong company is now receiving payment
Just to clarify 'discharged' means I have been discharged from owing the original debtor not the new one who bought the account - does this differ because they are CCJs as on defaults this would simply show as sold
Many thanks

sourcrates

kay159 wrote: »

In that case what happens in terms of the CCJ as currently not paying and do not want any issue with regard to enforcement action. The company are not very forthcoming with information.
I am assuming the same may be true of the other debt where it has been sold on and they are unaware of the CCJ - in that case my assumption is that the wrong company is now receiving payment
Just to clarify 'discharged' means I have been discharged from owing the original debtor not the new one who bought the account - does this differ because they are CCJs as on defaults this would simply show as sold
Many thanks

Normally you can only be discharged from a CCJ, if you pay it in full within one calendar month of it been granted.

However, there is also the dark world of bad debt sales, some of which are subject to CCJ`s.

Now i am no legal expert, i am just attempting to deduce what has happened from your description of events, and it appears from what you say, that your assumption may be correct, the debt has been sold, the CCJ satisfied, but you now owe Lowell the remainder of the debt.

Maybe Fatbelly can comment on this for you, he`s a CAB advisory and may of come across this before.

National_Debtline

Hi kay159


When you say "(very) old CCJs", exactly how old are we talking? If they were registered more than six years ago they will drop off your credit file altogether, settled or otherwise. Moreover, any attempts to enforce them using enforcement agents etc. after this time would require the court's permission, and possibly with it a justification for the time taken to seek such action by the claimant.


You don't specify how these CCJs are currently displaying - if at all - on your credit file. I'd recommend that you check your credit report for clarity - the fact of a CCJ changing hands won't normally have any direct impact on how it is recorded.


Dennis
@natdebtline


EDIT - cross posted with sourcrates.