Where Do I Stand?

djdaveellis

Just over a year ago, I left my previous address. Last week I received an alert from Equifax to say that there had been a change to my credit report. When I checked, I saw that I had received a CCJ from Civil Enforcement Ltd for £349. Conscious that I need my credit score to remain high as we are applying for a mortgage in January, I immediately paid Civil Enforcement via their website. I then tried to call them so that they can inform the credit reference agencies that I had paid the judgement in full and as I am within the 30 days allowed it could be removed, however, it is impossible to speak to anyone but I continue to try. NOW, this Monday I have had another alert and have received yet another CCJ, this time for £346 and again from Civil Enforcement Ltd. I realise i will need to pay it, even though I have no idea what these parking fines are related to but my question is; how do I get Civil Enforcement to contact the credit agencies, will they contact them and are they obliged in any way to do so? I am scared that these Judgements will remain on my report for 6 years and seriously jeopardize our chances of getting a mortgage at a decent rate. The whole thing seems so wrong, if i have parked illegally or overstayed, I don't know for definite and I would say not but surely these people should be obliged to at least pick up the phone? The whole thing is stressing me out, not to mention the £700 I have lost. Thank you for any help and advice. Dave

Herzlos

You should be contacting the courts to find out what's going on and apply for a set-aside, then you should be able to get these invoices and CCJs wiped.

I'm not sure what you can do about the ones you've paid, but you should be contacting the court again to notify them that they've been satisfied in time.

Civil Enforcement will have no interest in you once you've paid I'm afraid, all they want is money.

Umkomaas

Please read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2 to learn about set-asides of CCJs.

If more than 30 days have elapsed since the default judgment (i.e. You didn't defend the charge) and your credit rating has been affected, paying CEL unconditionally will not change your credit rating for the better. Do not send them money if that is the case.

Have you moved address within the past couple of years? If that is the case and court papers were sent to a former address, you have some grounds on which to apply to have the judgment(s) set aside.

Please come back for more advice once you've read and understood the sticky post #2 (above) and the following links.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=CCJ+set+aside&cad=h

http://www.aboutsmallclaims.co.uk/

http://www.aboutsmallclaims.co.uk/county-court-judgement-against-you.html

http://www.aboutsmallclaims.co.uk/set-aside-default-court-judgment.html

djdaveellis

Hi, thank you.
I have paid the fines within a week of the judgement date, does this mean the CCJ will be removed, I was under the impression that they would?

System

You've had two default CCJ's which you are paying without fighting. Since there may be more you might want to spend a bit of time in finding out which address CEL are sending the court papers to ... and then defending or applying for set asides.

At present you are just being milked quite effectively.

djdaveellis

I am being milked. I have discovered that some correspondence has been sent to a previous address, and though the current occupant assures me that he has only received 1 piece of mail in my name, which he gave me and is one of the judgements, I'm not sure I believe him. That said, any mail regarding this fine has not been sent to my current address where I have lived for a year. If I were to apply for the judgements to be set aside, they would still appear and impact on my credit report so paying them off seems to be the only way to get them removed completely, I think...

[Deleted User]

Your best chance of securing the set aside will be if you can establish that not only has your address changed, but that you promptly notified the DVLA of the change of address.

Proceedings should not be issued without having checked for the appropriate address for service. If the court proceedings were issued some time after the DVLA released the keeper's address details, then they should have undertaken further enquiries to look for you and/or to ensure you still lived there (eg. directory enquiries search, LinkedIn etc). If they failed to do so, the grounds for set aside should be reasonable. Clearly if you were late in notifying the DVLA of the change in address, the Court may be less sympathetic.

If the current occupant will do you a witness statement saying he only ever had one letter and he forwarded it, then that is helpful/sufficient for your purposes also. It is not for you to make a determination on issues of fact, but for the Court.

Paying a CCJ (outside of the 1 month period) will not remove it from your credit record. You can get a Certificate of Satisfaction to show that it is paid, but it will remain there. Setting aside a CCJ (i.e. a Court order to declare that it never should have been made) will clear it - but you will need to contact the credit agencies to ensure that it is removed together with the notice of set aside.

Coupon-mad

djdaveellis wrote: »

If I were to apply for the judgements to be set aside, they would still appear and impact on my credit report.

Wrong, they would be set aside (wiped).

djdaveellis

I've already paid these fines, £695 as I really can't afford to have them on my file. What I need to know is: Civil Enforcement Ltd have no way for me to contact them, other than by post. I have sent a letter, (signed for) asking them to contact the court immediately to confirm that these CCJ's are settled, however, if CEL do not confirm this, what can I do? Are they bound by law to inform the courts that I have paid? Thank you

Quentin

AS you have been advised above, if the CCJs you have now paid off are more than a month old then they cannot be removed by the claimant simply confirming you have now paid.


The only way to get them removed from the register would be to win set asides.


You could send the claimant proforma receipts for them to sign and return to you (with a SAE), then deal with the court yourself - though if they are over a month "old", then all you can do is get the judgements marked as being satisfied (paid)

waamo

Having paid them I rate your chances of getting a set aside as slim to none. If you paid within 28 days of getting a judgement then they won't appear oa a ccj. After that they get marked as satisfied.