Just Received a County Court Business Centre Letter - Help needed

backhouse21

Hi all,

Not sure where to turn so i'm hoping someone can help me.

Today i received a northampton county court business centre letter through the post about about a credit card debt from 2012.

Firstly, i need to admit that i maxed out this credit card back in 2012 (December it was so 6 years hasn't passed) when i lost my job and spiraled into depression.

I have been ignoring every single letter since in the hope that it would get to 6 years and i could not worry about it anymore.

It's a Halifax credit card, picked up by Lowell Solicitors who have filed this claim with the court - I owe £8978.26 in total, which includes the new court costs in this letter.

Now, i have absolutely no way of paying this back immediately as i only earn enough to live on realistically, so what should I do?

I guess there's no way of getting away from it now. I am not in a depressive state anymore, and i do acknowledge that this is my debt from 5 1/2 years ago, but i can't pay it, i can't afford to.

Should I offer a monthly payment or something?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

National_Debtline

Hi Blackhouse21,


If you have claim forms and a response pack, then I am afraid it sounds as though the claimant has started court action within 6 years of the debt falling due so the limitations act cannot apply. As they are from Northampton you will have 14 days to reply, plus 5 days for postage (so a total of 19 days from the issue date).


Unless you have another dispute against the debt, you would need to do the admission form, with a SOA and make an offer to repay (in box 11). You will need to send that recorded delivery to the 'address for sending documents and payments' and keep a copy.

It is very unlikely you will need to go to court, so don't worry. The next thing that I would expect you to get is notice of the terms of payment from the court and if you stick to that the creditor cannot use court enforcement against the debt. Unfortunately, this will result in a CCJ and this will be on your credit file for 6 years from the date of judgement.


This may help you -
Replying to a county court claim


Laura
@natdebtline

backhouse21

ok thanks a lot for your feedback, much appreciated.

Is there any way i can contact the claimants (Lowell) and offer a payment of 40% or 50% of it to wipe it off? (I might be able to get that amount together from relatives)

Or is it too late for that after ignoring it for so long?

sourcrates

backhouse21 wrote: »

ok thanks a lot for your feedback, much appreciated.

Is there any way i can contact the claimants (Lowell) and offer a payment of 40% or 50% of it to wipe it off? (I might be able to get that amount together from relatives)

Or is it too late for that after ignoring it for so long?

You must follow the court process now, as strict timescales apply.

The time to negotiate is past unfortunately.

backhouse21

Oh ok, so just to 100% clarify...

If i spoke to the creditors now and paid it off, would the court thing go away? Or is there absolute nothing i can do now apart from fill in this form?

The reason I ask is that I want to get a mortgage soon and a CCJ would affect not only that but future jobs potentially as i work in the gambling industry.

fatbelly

If you pay the whole amount now, or even no later than one month after the date of judgement, the ccj does not appear on your credit file.

If you want to have a go at avoiding it in the first place, I recommend

http://legalbeagles.info/forums/forum/legal-forums/court-claims-and-issues/received-a-court-claim?105-Received-a-Court-Claim=