CCJ Advice Please

beach-holiday

A friend of mine has been contacted regarding a debt, it's a bit confused so I'll try to keep it succinct.

Arrow contacted my friend by letter in 2015 at an address where he no longer lives (his parents still live there). The letter has only recently been passed on to him.

The letter claims that he owes a debt of approx £700 for an overdraft with HSBC, with an orginal agreement date of September 2008. He tells me that he's never had a bank account with HSBC, although he did have a credit card as a student, which was never paid.

Roll forward to this week, when his parents pass on an Attachment of Earnings Order from the local CC, presumably relating to the same 'debt' although the amount is more (presumably fees been added).

There's a further problem in that the Notice of Application is dated 3rd April 2017, so he's already well past the deadline for replying. However, he's not received the original notice (presumably wrong address issues), which if he had we would have been disputing the debt and/or stating it as statute barred.

We've just obtained his Experian report and there is mention of a CCJ from 8 months ago, but again he knows nothing of this.

Can someone offer up some advice on where to go from here? Thank you.

sourcrates

Most likely scenario is that the creditor went to court, your friend had judgement awarded against them, as they didn't receive/respond to the court papers, again, most likely because they were sent to the old address.

They now have an attachment of earnings order because of this.

Your friend can challenge the CCJ, its called "applying for a setaside" it does involve a court fee of £255.00, although if they are on a low wage, they may qualify for remission.

Have a look on National Debtlines website search "set aside CCJ" the process is explained on there.

Another source of information is the "debt camel" website, also "Legal beagles" may be helpful.

beach-holiday

Thanks for the advice Sourcrates, my friend is checking out the website you suggested.

I was wondering, assuming the debt is legitimate, would it be statute barred by now? Is that a defence?

Also, will he get the £255 returned at any point if he applies for the set aside?

Thanks again

sourcrates

beach-holiday wrote: »

Thanks for the advice Sourcrates, my friend is checking out the website you suggested.

I was wondering, assuming the debt is legitimate, would it be statute barred by now? Is that a defence?

Also, will he get the £255 returned at any point if he applies for the set aside?

Thanks again

Statute barred is a defence, yes, well, it's a reason to grant set aside.

You need to check the dates carefully.

The £255.00 isn't recoverable I'm afraid.