MoneyBoat claim

Davey30

Hi,
I am looking for some general advice, last year I took out a payday loan and defaulted against it, this escalated and a Money Claim was issued against me. This is the steps and I responded accordingly explaining the situation and offered a plan.

A claim was issued against you on 16/01/2020

Your acknowledgment of service was submitted on 28/01/2020 at 20:14:32

Your acknowledgment of service was received on 29/01/2020 at 08:05:33

Your part admission was submitted on 10/02/2020 at 10:07:56

Your part admission was received on 10/02/2020 at 12:05:20

DQ sent to you on 23/03/2020

DQ filed by claimant on 16/05/2020

You filed a DQ on 16/05/2020

Your claim was transferred to BIRMINGHAM on 17/06/2020.

I did have a mediation call and nothing was agreed and then in September I agreed a plan with them, made the payment and left at that. Today I have received an email saying Birmingham Court has ordered me to pay £1500 by the 26th November. Given we have been on lockdown I haven't had any correspondence about a hearing otherwise I would of responded, I searched online and couldn't locate a judgement? What can I do, I don't have that money.

Thanks

bradders1983

Well your first step is to ring the court and ask if this is accurate, and to take it from there.

Davey30

So if the court says yes will it simply be enforced or can I challenge, offer something affordable?

unholyangel

Have you actually received correspondence from the court? Or has the company simply sent you a copy of the claim form to try encourage you into paying up? 

Davey30

I just had an email from the claimant saying Birmingham Court had ordered me to pay £1500 by the 26th, I have questioned them but they stated I need to contact the courts for information.

Davey30

I have had no information from the court but surely they wouldn't blatantly lie?

Davey30

So I have just rang the number for the court and got through to Northampton - looks like they had the wrong address so would explain why I haven't heard anything. Its worth pointing out on the Money Claim response I advised that the address was incorrect, will this have any grounds?

unholyangel

Davey30 said:

I have had no information from the court but surely they wouldn't blatantly lie?

I believe this is a tactic commonly employed by certain companies. Obviously I can't say for definite that's the case for you but courts only serve via paper. So if the company have your up to date address then you should have received notification.

What exactly does the email say, minus personal details like name or amount? If it explicitly says they've obtained judgement and that turns out to be false, you should take it further. It's a breach of FCAs debt collection guidance as well as potentially a criminal matter under the consumer protection from unfair trading -specifically aggressive and misleading trading practices. 

Speak to the courts though, the company should be able to give you the reference number of they have made a claim, never mind obtained a judgement

Davey30

It just stated that Birmingham CC has ordered me to pay £1500 by 26th November and they provided the bank details. I also found out the claimant didn't attend court so they found in their favour because I said I owed the money. I googled and it looks like I have 2 options - a set aside or a variance.

bradders1983

To be fair, you set it aside if you believe you dont owe the money, I doubt this is the case here.

Mrsn

I think the like option is that you will need to apply for a variation of the order. If I recall correctly there will be a fee for doing so payable to the courts. There will be certain exemptions for the paying of/or discounting the fee so would be worth seeing that will apply also.