Just discovered I got a CCJ last June!

MarleyHB

Hi all. A bit of a weird story.

My family took out a loan a couple of years ago. We couldn't afford to keep up the repayments and threatened CCJs (I do remember the paperwork). However, my father was the guarantor and spoke with them on the phone and said that he would take the court action and pay the debt in full. They agreed and said that he was the only one to be taken to court. He was then issued a CCJ and managed to pay in full a couple of months later.

It was a really unpleasant shock to realise that I too was given a CCJ, when I never heard anything about a court date, and had no idea I was still being taken to court when they told my father that I wasn't. I'm still a student at uni with no other debts, and this has completely smashed my credit rating. I'm 23 and was hoping to buy in two years

Is there anything at all I can do about this?

sammyjammy

You say your family took out the loan. Was it in your name?

MarleyHB

Yes it was in my name, my mother’s name and my father’s name. It was for 14k and we were waiting to sell a couple of flats, hence why it was late. After they said that they were just going after my father, as the guarantor, and as the one with assets, and he put his name forward to accept the court action, I never gave it another thought

worried_jim

A loan in three names across two generations?

MarleyHB

That’s right yes

sourcrates

MarleyHB wrote: »

That’s right yes

Then you are all equally liable and would of each had a county court judgement issued against you.

They cannot just take one named liable debtor to court, it has to be all or none,

National_Debtline

Hi MarleyHB


Welcome to the forum. You've said your father was guarantor so it sounds like the loan was either in your sole name (with your mother and father as guarantor) or in yours and your mother's name (with your father as guarantor).


It is up to the creditor who to take action against when there is more than one liable person. It is feasible that court action is only taken against one person but you also say you remember receiving paperwork, which suggests a court claim was issued against you as well. If you did not respond to that paperwork a CCJ could have been made, although I understand the creditor said they would not do that.


Did you get anything in writing from the creditor to say they would only pursue your father? And have you contacted them to challenge CCJ made against you?


You could ask the creditor to make an application to the court to try and have your CCJ removed but they may not agree. You could also try and apply for a set aside yourself, that's where you ask the court to remove the CCJ so the court process can begin again. However given that the debt has been paid your chances of success could be very slim, especially if you have no evidence the creditor said they would withdraw the claim against you. You will need to seek legal advice before applying.


Best wishes


Susie
@natdebtline