CCJ judgement in default from unpaid phone bill - what are my options?

MovedHouseDidntReceive

So basically, my partner had an unpaid mobile phone contract which she stopped paying about 5-6 years ago, which when we met around 4 years ago I said she should notify them that she's unable to pay rather than just leaving it hanging. She was told on the phone that they were going to organise a payment plan and send paperwork to her - but she didn't receive anything as far as I'm aware.

Anyway, it got to the stage recently that after a few more letters to her parents' house, the courts sent out a CCJ judgement in default (also to her parents' house - she doesn't live there anymore, but that's where her mobile contract was registered), and she hadn't seen it until now. The court letter is dated February and states that she should pay £100 a month for a year to pay off the debt starting March, which has obviously come and gone.

So, it's a bit of a horrendous situation and clearly she's/we've missed quite a few points where we could have made it better - but question is, what should we do now? My advice to her was to contact the debt collector company and get a payment plan worked out (the £100 from the court would be a struggle so I would hope that it could be reduced - but since it's on the CCJ judgement in default I don't know if that's possible). Is there anything else we should do before we contact the debt collectors or is that our only option now?

sourcrates

You apply to the court to vary the judgement, using court form N-245, available here -

Form N245: Apply to suspend a warrant or vary payments made by a court order - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

There may be a fee of £50 to pay, the court will let you know, fill the form in as accurately as possible, as you are asking the court to take these circumstances into consideration.

MovedHouseDidntReceive

Thanks for the reply - that's really helpful!

I guess at this point there's no point contacting the mobile provider to get the final figure reduced since it's already passed from them to the debt collectors - and no point contacting the debt collectors because it's passed from them to the courts via the CCJ. Is that correct? 

Is there any value at all in phoning the debt collectors first/do we need to notify them or should we just fill out the court form? I think you've pretty much already answered that but just wanted to make sure before we commit to any course of action!

Again, thanks for your response

sourcrates

Well its always worth a phone call, but, should they choose to be pedantic, the most likely response will be "we have a CCJ in the amount of £100 per month".

However, they may see that its beneficial for them to get something, rather than nothing, as they would need to further enforce this judgement otherwise, which would cost them more money, money they may not re-coup, so yes, by all means contact the debts owner, and see what they say, after all, if you don`t ask, you don`t get.

MovedHouseDidntReceive

Yeah - we might try a call to them in that case! It's a bit of a weird situation anyway, since she is still with the same phone company - just with a different contract. So they've still got her as a customer and she's still paying them!

Might be getting ahead of myself here but imagine she calls the phone company and they offer to reduce the total amount and/or installments - would we then inform the courts of that? And would that get the CCJ cancelled or would it still stand (my understanding is there's not really a way to remove it at this point)?

sammyjammy

The CCJ would still stand unless she tried to get it set aside which would cost (I think) £245.  There are no grounds for this from what you've said.  I find it strange that if the CCJ wasn't defended or any paperwork completed that the judge didn't just deem the full amount due, this is what would normally happen

MovedHouseDidntReceive

Cool - that's what I thought would be the case! 

I wonder if it's because of the amount - it comes to £1,000 debt (plus interesting - the original amount was (as far as my partner remembers) originally around £90 - certainly not more than a few hundred!) plus £200 for costs incurred.

Well, I guess let's see if the phone company will reduce anything but if not she can apply via the court form to have the instalment amount varied. Thanks for the input guys!

sourcrates

Who actually obtained the CCJ ?

As its unusual for a mobile network to take court action, they usually just sell the debt on, and the new owner would attempt collection.

Are you sure the debt has not been sold ?

MovedHouseDidntReceive

The CCJ is actually claimed by Lowell Portfolio (I'd not heard of them but it seems they're fairly (in)famous on this forum!) but the "original company name" on their most recent letter shows as the phone company. So I guess Lowell are acting as their lawyers on the phone company's behalf if that's what you mean?

fatbelly

No. Lowell have bought the debt and the phone company are no longer involved.

sourcrates

MovedHouseDidntReceive said:

The CCJ is actually claimed by Lowell Portfolio (I'd not heard of them but it seems they're fairly (in)famous on this forum!) but the "original company name" on their most recent letter shows as the phone company. So I guess Lowell are acting as their lawyers on the phone company's behalf if that's what you mean?

No, Lowell are a debt purchasing company known for there litigious nature.
The mobile company has washed their hands of the debt, and sold it to Lowell, who now have judgement against you/her.

A court has now deemed this debt is lawfully due and payable, so all bets are off now with the original creditor, however Lowell are also known for offering favourable discounts on the debts they acquire, even ones with CCJ`s attached, so it may be worth speaking to them.

Lowell are one of the major players in the debt purchasing industry, they have various affiliated companies such as Lowell Portfolio one/two etc, they also have there own in-house solicitors.