Need Help With A County Court Claim

jjb653

Hi everyone,
i need a bit of help to understand how to defend a ccj claim when i believe the debt is older than 6 years.
the default date is 16/08/2011,
but what i don't get is the start date is 01/02/2011 i never paid once or contacted them. i was a student at uni and took out a contract phone i lost it shortly after but never reported it lost or stolen (stupid i know) then i started getting letters to my home address asking for £1,409 which i ignored cause i could never pay it and i never ran up the bill, now they are trying to take me to court im getting worried. any help would be appreciated

sourcrates

It will most likely already be statute barred, the default date is not nessessarily the "cause of action date".

That would be the date you last paid it, but, as you say you didn't make any payments, a defence would be that time has run out to collect on this debt therefore the claimants claim is denied.

You need to respond promptly to the court papers as strict time limits apply.

Info how to respond here :

http://legalbeagles.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?105-Received-a-Court-Claim

National_Debtline

Hi jjb653 and welcome to MSE,


Under the limitations act, the 6 year clock starts from when the first payment was due and missed, or from when the last payment was made or from when the last written acknowledgement was made - whichever is the later. For a debt to be statute barred there needs to have been a 6 year block of time, since the debt fell due, with no further written acknowledgement, payment or court claim started. If you think that applies here you could file a defence on the grounds of limitations.


You will have 14 days to reply to your court papers, plus 5 days for postage (from the issue date) if they are from Northampton County Court. If you want to file a defence but think you will need longer to gather the information for your defence you can file the Acknowledgement of Service form from the response pack, within the first 14days to get a bonus 14days to file your defence. It is also advisable to try and get some legal advice.


Don't ignore the court forms. Make sure you send your reply to the correct address, recorded delivery and keep a copy. Attend any hearings scheduled. We have a factsheet that may help - https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/replyingtoacountycourtclaim/replyingtoaccj.aspx


Laura
@natdebtline

jjb653

thanks for the reply guys, i replied to the claim online, it says the court claim was issued 06/04/2017 and i only responded today 02/05/17 which is over 14 days i thought i had 28? i've received another letter off Lowell solicitors 24/04/17 and its says if i don't respond to the claim they will ask the court to enter a ccj against me after 04/05/17

National_Debtline

Hello again,


The key issue there is - did you do your Acknowledgement of Service form within 19days of the issue date (by the 25th April)? If you did then you would have until the 9th May to file your defence. However, if you didn't do that, then I am afraid your defence will have been out of time and it is not required to be taken into consideration.

If this is the case then you are likely to end up with a judgement by default. You can challenge this, but that is done with a set aside application, and unfortunately, that can cost up to £255 to submit. We can offer more advice on the set aside process and risks if that is a road you need to go down.


Laura
@natdebtline

jjb653

my defence was in time YAY, but now Lowell Solicitors have sent me a letter saying they feel that the debt isn't statute barred as the default date was around 16th august. But ive never made a payment and someone stated earlier that the default date isn't necessarily the cause of action date so what should i say in response to the letter? is it ok for me to call lowell or will that reset the clock?

sourcrates

jjb653 wrote: »

my defence was in time YAY, but now Lowell Solicitors have sent me a letter saying they feel that the debt isn't statute barred as the default date was around 16th august. But ive never made a payment and someone stated earlier that the default date isn't necessarily the cause of action date so what should i say in response to the letter? is it ok for me to call lowell or will that reset the clock?

It's common for Lowell to quote the default date in these cases, as the cause of action date.

This is not usually the case, as said before, it's the date of the last payment or written acknowledgment by you, that's the date the clock runs from.

Don't ring them, keep everything in writing, stick to your guns, write back quoting the above, they must prove you are wrong.

jjb653

Alright thanks will send a letter back and wont call them. will post again on here once they get back in touch

jjb653

ive just been sent a letter saying that ccj has been issued against me, even though i said it was statute barred my defense got thrown out, what are my options now and i didn't receive any correspondence letting me know my defense was thrown out

sourcrates

Was it because you did not respond to the claim in time ?

If so your only course of action now is to apply for a set aside.

There is a fee of £255,00 for this (unless you qualify for fee remission).

If successful, then you can put forward your statute barred defence.

jjb653

thanks the reply i did reply in time but they sent me a dq after i entered my defense. i googled what a dq is and apparently its a questionnaire which i never received, so because i didnt send that back this is all happening. i work full time and have a son its hard to keep up with all this especially when i'm not getting any correspondence. ill happily pay the 255, im not giving lowell a penny i dont owe that money