Removing CCJ

Zarozinia

Hello Everyone
A few years ago i had a Vanquis credit card. I used it regularly and always paid the full amount each month. I am autistic and have suffered from mental health issues all my life. I am now 56 years old. Anyway one day i received a bill for £4,000 which i knew was ridiculous as my usual monthly spend was around £700. I told them this was wrong and left them to sort it out. Next time i tried to use the card it was rejected and i contacted Vanquis to ask them to hurry up and get it sorted as i need a reliable credit card. They said they were making enquiries and would contact me when they had some information. I don't like carrying much money so i opened a Santander 123 account and used the credit card i got from them instead of Vanquis. I heard nothing from Vanquis for several months but i wasn't really bothered as i now had a new card. Then one day i received a very rude letter from them threatening to take legal action if i didn't pay. I told them i owed them nothing and had no intention of giving them any money. I received a few more letters which i binned unopened. About a year later i received a letter from a court saying Vanquis had somehow managed to get a CCJ against me and ordering me to pay £25 a month. The letter included a solicitors details who i was apparently supposed to pay. I wrote to the court and the solicitor telling them i owed nothing and i would not be giving them any money. The solicitor phoned me, i have no idea how he got my number because i don't give it out to anyone i don't know. But he was very polite and i listened. He got me thinking and i realised that a friend of mine had used the card without my permission and must have run up the debt. Vanquis either can't or won't tell me how this money was spent. They actually had the nerve to ask me for £20 to send me a statement. This was one of the reasons i refused to have anything to do with them and threw letters from them in the bin. This friend is now dead and i don't want his family to think bad of him so i agreed to pay £15 a month on the understanding that it would not be held against me. My offer was accepted and i have been paying regularly. Six months ago i received a letter saying the solicitor i had been paying was no longer involved although my payments would still be collected by direct debit with the same details. I recently applied for a loan and was refused. I checked my credit file and this CCJ is on there. I wrote to Vanquis today telling them to remove it immediately or my payments will stop. I don't know what they will say, i realise they have lost money through no fault of their own but it is not my fault either and i think i am being more than reasonable paying a debt that is not mine and i am fully justified in asking for it to be removed as it should never have been put there, this was the condition i made when i agreed to pay them. Any thoughts or opinions appreciated.

DCFC79

Zarozinia wrote: »

Hello Everyone
A few years ago i had a Vanquis credit card. I used it regularly and always paid the full amount each month. I am autistic and have suffered from mental health issues all my life. I am now 56 years old. Anyway one day i received a bill for £4,000 which i knew was ridiculous as my usual monthly spend was around £700. I told them this was wrong and left them to sort it out. Next time i tried to use the card it was rejected and i contacted Vanquis to ask them to hurry up and get it sorted as i need a reliable credit card. They said they were making enquiries and would contact me when they had some information. I don't like carrying much money so i opened a Santander 123 account and used the credit card i got from them instead of Vanquis. I heard nothing from Vanquis for several months but i wasn't really bothered as i now had a new card. Then one day i received a very rude letter from them threatening to take legal action if i didn't pay. I told them i owed them nothing and had no intention of giving them any money. I received a few more letters which i binned unopened. About a year later i received a letter from a court saying Vanquis had somehow managed to get a CCJ against me and ordering me to pay £25 a month. The letter included a solicitors details who i was apparently supposed to pay. I wrote to the court and the solicitor telling them i owed nothing and i would not be giving them any money. The solicitor phoned me, i have no idea how he got my number because i don't give it out to anyone i don't know. But he was very polite and i listened. He got me thinking and i realised that a friend of mine had used the card without my permission and must have run up the debt. Vanquis either can't or won't tell me how this money was spent. They actually had the nerve to ask me for £20 to send me a statement. This was one of the reasons i refused to have anything to do with them and threw letters from them in the bin. This friend is now dead and i don't want his family to think bad of him so i agreed to pay £15 a month on the understanding that it would not be held against me. My offer was accepted and i have been paying regularly. Six months ago i received a letter saying the solicitor i had been paying was no longer involved although my payments would still be collected by direct debit with the same details. I recently applied for a loan and was refused. I checked my credit file and this CCJ is on there. I wrote to Vanquis today telling them to remove it immediately or my payments will stop. I don't know what they will say, i realise they have lost money through no fault of their own but it is not my fault either and i think i am being more than reasonable paying a debt that is not mine and i am fully justified in asking for it to be removed as it should never have been put there, this was the condition i made when i agreed to pay them. Any thoughts or opinions appreciated.

You say its not your fault yet your friend somehow managed to get the card and use it, you could have checked the statements to find out what or where it had been used.

cjmillsnun

Why would Vanquis remove the CCJ? A debt was run up in your name. You didn't pay. As you said, it was not their fault that your card was used. Your friend obviously had your PIN so effectively they have you over a barrel as you won't go to the police over it and your friend is dead so there is no proof either way.

As far as they were concerned it was a slam dunk. They got the CCJ. Then you agreed to pay. They can't remove the CCJ. Only you could do that by asking the courts for it to be set aside. They're not holding anything against you now. That's with the court.

TBagpuss

Although it is not your fault, it is your responsibility.

It was your card.

Unfortunately ignoring the correspondence etc was a bad mistake.

At the time the fraud was discovered, you could have reported it as theft (which, if your 'friend' used the card without your permission, it was).

Vanquis didn't have to tell you how the money was spent because they had already told you - the transactions would all have been on your credit card statements. It's perfectly normal, and standard, for them to charge a fee to send duplicate statements.

They won't remove the CCJ because it was properly obtained, to recover a debt which you are legally liable for. You say that they 'somehow managed' to get a CCJ but there is a standard procedure for this. You would have been sent letters first, and then a court application.It sounds as though you didn't open / didn't read the claim form. Unfortunatly that was your opportunity to contest the debt. It sounds as though you chose not to do so so of course the order was made.

You say that your conversation with the solicitor was *after* the CCJ was made - at that point, the only issue was the rate at which you would clear the debt. You may have said you would pay on the basis that it 'wasn't held against you' but that is meaningless legally - there was already a CCJ against you and the only way that that would not remain on your credit record would be if you had cleared the debt in full within a month of the order being made.

If you stop paying, they will be able to take action to enforce the order, which might mean applying for an attachment of earnings order (if you are employed) to have money paid directly by your employer, from your pay packet, or directly from your benefits, if you are claiming.

Your best bet at this stage is to clear the debt. Once it is clear you can request that they mark the CCJ as 'satisfied' which shows anyone checking your credit records that you have paid it off.

For future reference, throwing away post unopened or ignoring it is always a bad idea, particularly where debt is concerned.

it's important to check your credit card statements when you get them, and to immediately report to your card issuer if there are any transactions which you don't recognise or which are not yours.

Unfortunately, after such a long time, and given that the person who you think used your card is dead, you don't really have the option of trying to recover the money from them, either.

PixelPound

Hi Zarozinia, as others have said - vanquis will have followed normal procedure and because you ignored all letters you will have missed that you were been taken to court and any opportunity to stop it. Since getting the CCJ you have agreed to pay it at a reduced rate, which means accepting liability for the debt, so the CCJ stands unfortunately. Vanquis won't remove it, you would have had to do this at your own expense, and as you have admitted the debt by paying I don't think this is no longer valid.

Going forward the CCJ is there for six years, once paid off it is marked as satisfied, which looks better, bit it will still be there. Simply refusing to pay isn't an option as the CCJ gives them enforcement options such a bailiff warrants to levy on goods or attachment of earnings to take it directly out of your wage/benefits. Threatening to refuse to pay won't achieve what you want.

You don't mention your ability to pay - was acceptance of £15 per month instead of the £25 because you couldn't afford to pay it or didn't want to pay the full amount. You may ant to mention your mental health status to them as they have a duty to take it into consideration. Not for the CCJ, that's too late and there, but for how they communicate with you etc.

Samsung_Note2

I heard nothing from Vanquis for several months but i wasn't really bothered as i now had a new card. Then one day i received a very rude letter from them threatening to take legal action if i didn't pay. I told them i owed them nothing and had no intention of giving them any money. I received a few more letters which i binned unopened. About a year later i received a letter from a court saying Vanquis had somehow managed to get a CCJ against me.

That just about sums it up...you ignored them for several months and them a further year...and your surprised at the out come.

National_Debtline

Hi Zarozinia

I’m sorry to hear what’s happened. At this stage the only way you could get the CCJ removed would be if you applied for a set aside. If the court agrees to this it has the effect of starting the court action again, giving you the chance to respond to the court papers. However I’m afraid it’s unlikely you will be able to do this for a number of reasons.

The court expects you to apply promptly on finding out about the CCJ but it sounds like you have known about this for a while. They also usually expect you to have a realistic chance of defending the claim when the action starts again. As you never reported the debt as fraudulent and you have been making payments (very likely to be seen as accepting liability for the debt), it would be very hard for you to now argue you don’t think you owe it. The application costs £255 and you could incur court costs if you are not successful.

The advice above from other posters is right, if you just stop paying you will run the risk of enforcement action being taken to collect the debt. However the CCJ will drop off your credit file 6 years after it was made, and if you are able to pay off the full balance the debt will be shown to be satisfied.

Susie
@natdebtline

Zarozinia

Thank you for all the replies. To answer a few points. My friend never had my PIN. He ordered on the internet which is how I know it was him. He bought things for his child. People say you should not buy what you can't afford, but when you have a child some things are not optional. He simply had to have them. I wish he had asked me to help instead of using my card but I know he would have been desperate.
I rarely open unexpected letters. It is difficult to explain but my autism causes me a lot of anxiety and I find things like letters, phone calls and people knocking on my door very stressful.
I don't mean this to sound arrogant but when I tell someone I don't owe them money it is not an invitation to discuss it. It is a statement of fact.
I would never report a friend to the police for anything. He has family living nearby and they would be very upset to hear about this so I have never told them.
I could probably afford to pay more but I didn't want to commit to it and then have to let them down so I offered less.
I agreed to pay on the condition that it would not be held against me. This was a deal breaker. I would not have paid otherwise.
I didn't know about this six year rule. So is it true that after six years the CCJ will be removed even if Vanquis object?

waamo

After six years the ccj is removed from your credit files. This doesn't necessarily mean the debt isn't still owed just that lenders can no longer see that you had a ccj.

If the full amount hasn't been paid they may well still chase you for it.

If you don't cope well with strangers at your door then you need to enter into an arrangement to pay this debt back. It is possible that bailiffs will attend your property to seize goods to the value of the debt. You will also be liable for any charges they make to visit. This can be a very stressful experience for anyone.

Geoff1963

I find things like letters, phone calls and people knocking on my door very stressful.

1. Don't answer phone numbers you don't recognise. See if they leave a voicemail, then look them up on Google to see if it's a scam.
2. Before opening letters, check the return address on the back, so you know who it's from. If you open the envelope with a knife, put the knife away before you tale out the contents. Before reading the contents, get yourself in "a good place", physically and emotionally.
3. Don't answer the door. Anyone legitimate will leave a message. Collect parcels from a delivery office. Get friends to phone when they are at the door.

Works for me.