Lowell - CCJ action question

pearsforlife

So a friend of mine has had a CCJ application pack hit the doormat for legacy talk talk bill from 4 or so years ago, having dealt successfully myself with DCAs threatening court action in the past I was wondering if she has been given the correct information;

Out of fear she rang Lowell straightaway and agreed a payment plan for pay off the £300 debt over 6 months - I was always under the impression you would have to pay in full. Lowell have told her that is enough to stop the court action and so long as she makes the payments they won’t take ask the court to issue a CCJ? Is this right? She rang the court and they said she does not need to fill out the acknowledgement form but can do if she wants for a paper trail? Lowell also said that if she misses a payment they will instruct the court to issue a CCJ immediately? 

I told her to get it in writing that they won’t pursue for a CCJ now she has agreed payment, and they have emailed saying they won’t take it further so long as the plan is agreed to, but also go on to say once the balance is cleared they will tell the courts who will then send out the information to update the credit file. This last bit makes me think that they will put a CCJ on her file and then write to them to tell the court it’s satisfied. 

She wants to avoid a CCJ desperately but can’t afford to fork out cash in full this close to Christmas.. 

lowell solicitors seem to be a different entity to Lowell group so maybe that is where we are getting confused? 

fatbelly

She's had a court claim ( I think that's what you're saying). If she does not respond , either to defend or to acknowledge service, within 14 days of service, that is 14 + 5 days from the issue date, then the claimant can ask for a 'judgement in default' and you must assume that that is what they will do.

She can of course admit the debt and ask for a judgement to pay by instalments. She can also do this online. While she keeps to the payments, Lowell cannot enforce the debt.

Normally if you want to agree a payment plan without a ccj at this stage you would agree a 'Tomlin Order', which Lowell solicitors are familiar with.

https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/debt-collection/tomlin-order.aspx

[Deleted User]

Defend the claim. Don't take what the Lowell phone bod says as gospel. They will get a default CCJ on you while you are paying the instalments. 

sourcrates

Never, ever trust what Lowell tell you over the phone, as fatbelly says, you must assume the worst here.

Is there any way she can drag this out, service acknowledged online gives a 28 day responce time, the whole thing may take a few months to be heard by the court, then if she pays within 30 days, the CCJ is removed from her file.

So you would be looking at maybe March/April possibly, can she have the money by then ?

pearsforlife

Hi all,

Thanks for the feedback, confirms my worst thoughts, it felt like they were sweet talking her into ‘you won’t get a CCJ now you have agreed repayment’ Whilst still slapping a CCJ and saying oh yeah sorry. 

What if I settle it for her now? Will that get rid of the issue? Trouble is can’t guarentee she will keep track of the dates will they notify when it’s ‘heard’ in court, how do you know when the 30 day window ticks. It would be great to just avoid that stressful angst of knowing whether the CCJ will be removed or not. 

The crazy thing is that it was a talk talk termination fee that she incurred when she cancelled because her data was lost in the data breach years ago, she had poor service from them and that was the icing on the cake! They were technically in breach of contract by compromising her privacy. The cheek!

sourcrates

pearsforlife said:

Hi all,

Thanks for the feedback, confirms my worst thoughts, it felt like they were sweet talking her into ‘you won’t get a CCJ now you have agreed repayment’ Whilst still slapping a CCJ and saying oh yeah sorry. 

What if I settle it for her now? Will that get rid of the issue?

Yes, you would still fill in the defence form, and return it though.

The defence would be no debt exists as it has been paid in full.

Even if you paid, technically Lowell could still obtain a judgement if you/she did not defend the claim, it would not benefit Lowell, but they will have spent the court fee anyway, and it would then cost her another £255 to get the judgement set aside.

These companies are very slippery, be very careful how you deal with them.

pearsforlife

Can she still defend in full having caved in to a repayment plan? In theory she has admitted the debt by agreeing to pay a payment plan when they refused her gesture of £100 in settlement. It is not a credit agreement I don’t think so can ask for CCA’s etc as it’s a telecom account! 

sourcrates

Verbal admission does not change anything, only written admission legally binding, she can still choose to do whatever she wishes.

CCA not applicable to telecom accounts no.

fatbelly

If you pay it in full (or are even planning to pay it in full over the next week or so) then she should complete the defence form (online if you like, within the 14+5 days), answering yes to the question 'are you defending this claim because the debt has been paid?'