Court Claim Advice

Kw6123

I have been passed some post sent to my dad's address and opened it to find a Court Claim letter. It is for a Shop Direct account dated December 2009 and assigned to the claimant in January 2011. I do recall having a catalogue account in 2009 which my partner at the time maxed out and never paid off like he promised and I could not pay due to being a student at university and then being unemployed for some time after graduating. I think after moving back to my dads house temporarily I agreed a payment plan of around £2 per month but around 3 or 4 years a go I changed bank accounts and the payments would have stopped. I had since completely forgotten about the debt and not heard anything until this letter. My main concern is the claim form is dated 18th April and says I have 14 days to respond but as it went to an incorrect address (I have moved 3 times since living with my dad) I only received it today. What can I do? Am I now too late or do I ring the court? I am trying to sort my credit file out to get my first mortgage in the next few years so really want to avoid a CCJ. I'm assuming the 6 year rule wont count as I made the small payments until a few years a go? Is there a way I can check the last payment or contact made without it being classed as accepting the debt or contacting them? Thanks

[Deleted User]

The debt won't be statute barred.

If you pay the CCJ within 30 days, it will be removed. It may be easier and quicker to contact them and settle before the CCJ is granted, if it's not too late.

IAmWales

Contact the claimant first, see if you can negotiate a payment arrangement, in which case they may withdraw the court action. This will need to be a reasonable amount, more than £2.

If not you should call the court, who I expect will ask you to write to the judge explaining the reason for the delay in response.

fatbelly

Kw6123 wrote: »

I have been passed some post sent to my dad's address and opened it to find a Court Claim letter. It is for a Shop Direct account dated December 2009 and assigned to the claimant in January 2011. I do recall having a catalogue account in 2009 which my partner at the time maxed out and never paid off like he promised and I could not pay due to being a student at university and then being unemployed for some time after graduating. I think after moving back to my dads house temporarily I agreed a payment plan of around £2 per month but around 3 or 4 years a go I changed bank accounts and the payments would have stopped. I had since completely forgotten about the debt and not heard anything until this letter. My main concern is the claim form is dated 18th April and says I have 14 days to respond but as it went to an incorrect address (I have moved 3 times since living with my dad) I only received it today. What can I do? Am I now too late or do I ring the court? I am trying to sort my credit file out to get my first mortgage in the next few years so really want to avoid a CCJ. I'm assuming the 6 year rule wont count as I made the small payments until a few years a go? Is there a way I can check the last payment or contact made without it being classed as accepting the debt or contacting them? Thanks

You are 2 days past the date for responding.

It is unlikely that you had any defence - the small payments a few years ago probably mean that there was never a period of 6 years without payment or acknowledgement in writing and so the claim is not statute barred.

SDFS did get their act together on getting signed agreements by 2009 - and 'no agreement' is a stronger defence if it's pre-april 2007.

The claimant will now be asking for summary judgement and you will receive a judgement in default asking you to pay 'forthwith' i.e. immediately.

If you pay in full within a month, the ccj is not recorded on your credit file and, as you are looking at mortgages, this seems the best course of action.

No-one is going to agree to withdraw the claim at this stage.

Kw6123

Thanks for the replies. I'm assuming the court claim being in my maiden name and me now being married wont make a difference? I'm not 100% sure if this is the account I paid the small monthly fee as I had around 6 (the ex boyfriend kindly used my details to open several catalogues online , spent money on them all adding to over £4k then never paid a single payment). But I guess there is no way of telling if this is one I was paying off. The claimant on the form is Capquest and their solicitor is Restons. Am I ok to find a contact number for Capquest and call directly? Thanks

[Deleted User]

Kw6123 wrote: »

I'm assuming the court claim being in my maiden name and me now being married wont make a difference?

No. You still remain the same person after marriage.

You just gain a new surname, a ring and perhaps a few pounds.