Debt still owed after CCJ expires after 6 years

dazzaofdagenham

Good morning
my friend next door has a CCJ that falls off his credit report in Feb 2021....he has been paying the amount off monthly and this will clear the balance in July 2021.  He’s getting the impression from correspondence from the solicitor...”Wright Hasall”  that the full amount needs to be paid before the CCJ expires otherwise another CCJ can be applied for and the extra fees applied..

can anyone advise 

CKhalvashi

If he's paying, they'll have 6 years from the date that the last payment was made to enforce the debt.

There is no point re-applying for CCJ for a debt that is being paid. If he stops paying, of course, it can go back to court.

dazzaofdagenham

It appears that’s what is being stated...the debt has 8 more payments of 40 to go..
the suggestion is that they will go to court in Feb 2021 ( when CCJ is 6 years old ) .and apply for another one for the then amount outstanding...obviously this will add extra fees and prolong the debt.

CKhalvashi

https://www.gov.uk/county-court-judgments-ccj-for-debt/if-you-do-owe-the-money-pay-the-judgment

There's nothing here to suggest that a CCJ would expire, and therefore one possible defence to the CCJ in this case would likely be that a CCJ has already been obtained and is in the process of being settled in line with what I assume are court instructions. A court would not look very happily on a DCA wasting their time in this way, especially with the current backlog which will take a long time to get down.

Someone else will have to advise further, but I can't see any point going back to court for a debt that already has a judgement on it, nor can I see why anyone would wish to do so as long as payments are up to date (CCJs never strictly expire) unless it's to maliciously attempt to screw a consumer over for 6 years further, which I'm sure the courts would also take a dim view of.

dazzaofdagenham

From the conversations I’ve heard on the phone. The solicitor is saying whatever the amount owing when the CCJ reaches its 6 year limit, that will be the amount they will apply for a CCJ for..now I’m assuming there will be extra fees etc..

are they allowed to do this ?

sourcrates

You cannot apply for another CCJ on the same debt, one debt, one judgement.

The process is this, after the expiry of 6 years, should your freind stop paying for whatever reason, the creditor would need to go back to court and apply to further enforce the original judgement, this is by no means guarenteed, the court may or may not approve such a request, it would depend on the circumstances.

To be fair, your mate should just pay it back as they are doing now, it dosen`t matter what the creditor says, only what was ordered by the original judgement.

[Deleted User]

No. And they have no need even if they could, as they have a perfectly good CCJ already.

Your friend just needs to keep paying.

CKhalvashi

Thanks for confirming that Sourcrates and ZX, I wasn't 100% sure, even if I was 99% sure of this.

dazzaofdagenham

Thanks for the info...again not sure why they would  or even need to go for another CCJ ( even if they could )....he’s been paying regular every month for past 2 years.

will update this thread if anything happens 

nyermen

I'll be very surprised if, come february, they go to court and say "client X has 5/6 payments left, he's paid regularly as agreed but we want a fast track enforcement for the last few payments anyway (after all the courts are backlogged!), the court doesn't say "get lost and dont waste our time"...  by the time of the hearing it'll likely be paid anyway.

cymruchris

It sounds like they are just trying to pressure him into paying more quickly. 

It is the case that if he stops paying - they can then take further action, but as above I can't see any judge entertaining a case where payments are being made on-time as per an agreed schedule.