CCJ address issues

nemmiz89

Hi There,

In my irresponsible student days I took out an account with Very, that was registered to my parents house, finished uni, moved in with a boyfriend and never finished paying the debt (£500ish). My intention was never to leave it unpaid, I had that many store cards etc, I didn't keep track of everything. Anyway, I moved out of my boyfriend's house and back home for a little while and then into a new place. Fast forward to March this year and I had a bailffs letter stating I owe £920 for a CCJ from 2017, anyway I immediately set up a payment plan.
I never changed my address on the account and all correspondence still went to my parents until they moved but the CCJ had gone to my boyfriend's old address and was issued by a debt recovery company. This address was never given to the catalogue so I have no idea why they issued the CCJ to this address. 
I want to contest the CCJ as I never had chance to the first time round but was wondering what 'last known address' means and whether using his address would give me a reasonable defence for not knowing about it. 

Also just as a side note, I opened a newer pay as you buy account prior to the CCJ being issued with my new address on so they should have had that address on file. Is it reasonable to expect them to search there databases before issuing a CCJ? 

Thanks  

MinuteNoodles

It is up to you to update anyone you owe with your address. I'm guessing that you were on the electoral roll at the ex's address so the bailiffs will have gone hunting for you there. Unlike lenders who will just issue actions to the address they have on their account for you, bailiffs will go and hunt for you because often they've bought the debt and want a return.

You can file a defence but be aware it will cost you to do so.

Unless the pay as you buy account was with the same company you owed money to it's irrelevant. They only have to search their own records, not that of every other lender in the country.

MovingForwards

Last known address is the last address they could prove you were at. It's legal to do that too and doesn't give you a reasonable defence.

It's not reasonable for them to have to chase around databases to find you. You should have been aware of all your credit commitments and notified them of your addresses when you moved.

sourcrates

Firstly, bailiffs do not buy debts, they operate directly at the discretion of the courts and the claiments.

Its pure fantasy these days that claiments must send claim forms to the "last known address", although lots still do, as its a way of obtaining judgement by default, without giving the defendant the chance of a defence.

Claiments must take reasonable steps to ensure court papers are delivered to the correct address for the defendant.

In other words, due dilligence must be observed.

From the civil procedure rules -

"Where the claimant has reason to believe that the address of the defendant is an address at which the defendant no longer resides or carries on business, the claimant must take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of the defendant’s current residence or place of business. The claimant should approach the reasonable steps test with caution, if the court considers that reasonable steps were not taken then they may decide that your service was invalid"

Sending a court claim to the last known address of someone that is not even the debtor would render service of the claim invalid, i would certainly question the due dilligence of the DCA involved.

However, you may still need a defence with a reasonable chance of success, not recieving court papers does not count as a defence to the claim, just a reason why you did not respond to it, in order for a successful set aside, you usually need to meet both criteria, as the cost is £255.00 and is not refundable should you lose.

Suggest legal advice be sought from the Legal Beagles website on this.

nemmiz89

I've checked and the CCJ was issued in June 2017 by a debt collection agency but the creditor (Very) had upto date information with my current address from December 2016. Had they asked the creditor, they could have advised they current details. I've sent SAR request to the creditor as I have a feeling they have purposely used an old address to force through additional costs on the original account. I'm not looking for the moral high ground here, and it was wreckless to lose sight of this but my intention was never to avoid paying. The first letter I ever actually received was a notice of repossession at my current address (I've lived here for over 4 years). 

MinuteNoodles

sourcrates said:

Firstly, bailiffs do not buy debts, they operate directly at the discretion of the courts and the claiments.

Companies do buy debt and send their own "collection agents" which people commonly refer to as bailiffs to collect the debt. Yes they're not bailiffs in the true sense that they're sent by a court but calling them bailiffs is common language use the same as people call vacuum cleaners a hoover despite it not being made by hoover.