BW legal (via Lowell) filed a CCJ against me - they were posting to my old address

Glasseye

Hello,
Thank you so much for any advice on this:

1. I try to hire a car. Most places I have no problem, but this one place they say their insurer couldn't approve me and I eventually find out it's because I have a CCJ against me!

2. Very confused and surprised (I didn't think I had any serious debts or CCJs against me) I contact the national government body who handles CCJ applications (sorry I forget their name!) and they say yes, there is one held by Lowell

3. I contact Lowell, they also have pretty much no info about the case other than my name, the amount of money and I think maybe a date. I think they had an old address. They couldn't tell me what the debt was for! They said they sold my debt to BW legal

4. I contact BW legal and they also have no additional info. It's so surreal and ridiculous! Like many young(ish) renters, I've moved house several times over the years, so I guess they have ocntinued writing to an old address..

5. I am on Universal Credit because all of my freelance work vapourised over Covid. So I go to the government legal website for getting financial support with setting aside a CCJ because I don't have hundreds of pounds to stop a CCJ against me which no-one even has any information about and is about 6 years old.

6. It takes THREE WEEKS for this generic financial support application to arrive by post (not sure why I couldn't just do it online?) and during this time, BW legal have managed to dig up more info about my debt. It's something to do with money I owed on a mobile phone contract about 7 or 8 years ago. Now they want me to pay around £600. I do not physically have enough money to my name to pay this, even if I used every penny of my overdraft. I also have about £4,000 other informal debts which I have been slowly but reliably paying off in recent years.

Now we have a court hearing 27th July. 
BW legal just called me today because I didn't reply within 7 days to their letter.

I said I needed a bit of time to get some legal advice..
I tried calling Citizens Advice Bureau today but after 11 mins on hold, the automated message said "we're too busy, try again another time" and hung up.

Thank you for any suggestions on how best I can move forwards.

sourcrates

Well what are your intentions here ?

Are you going ahead and paying the debt ?

You do not have to pay the full balance in one go, you pay via monthly instalments, I would assume it was a "forthwith" judgement originally, so you apply to the court for an instalment order.

Or are you intending to apply for a set aside based on the fact it was probably statute barred when judgement was granted ?

You don`t really need legal advice, its a pretty straightforward matter, you either pay it, or you challenge it, your choice.

To apply for set aside, and for remission on the fee, you need to fill in court form N-244 and EX-160, both available here -

Form N244: Make an application to a court ('application notice') - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Form EX160: Apply for help with court and tribunal fees - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Glasseye

Thanks Sourcrates,
Sorry for not being clearer - what I'm unsure about is how best to go forward, eg

1. Try to set it aside completely (is that more likely to fail and just end up costing me even more money?)
2. Pay it

a) in one or two installments (that would be very hard, I would have to sell belongings)
b) get it reduced and pay that

c) pay very small installments over a long period (how small can I make the payments?)

Hope that's clearer -and maybe there's other good questions I should be asking about this!

sourcrates

Glasseye said:

Thanks Sourcrates,
Sorry for not being clearer - what I'm unsure about is how best to go forward, eg

1. Try to set it aside completely (is that more likely to fail and just end up costing me even more money?)
2. Pay it

a) in one or two installments (that would be very hard, I would have to sell belongings)
b) get it reduced and pay that

c) pay very small installments over a long period (how small can I make the payments?)

Hope that's clearer -and maybe there's other good questions I should be asking about this!

Answers -

1. To obtain a successful set aside, you must meet two criteria, a reason why you did not respond to original court papers, and you must have a defence with a reasonable chance of success.

If the debt was statute barred, (was it ?) then along with the court papers going to an old address, you would meet this criteria.

If you are on benefits this won`t cost you anything, as full remission will be available.


2. No you pay over time, and at a rate that your budget says you can afford, the debt will not reduce as a court has found you liable for it, you then ask the court to make an order to that effect, again, apply for remission on the fee.

Glasseye

Thank you, sorry I should say I'm not a lawyer (nor have any legal experise) so I don't know legal language like "statute barred" but can hopefully answer that question if you can speak in commoners language [Edit: Just had a Google and if you mean is the debt over 6 years old, yes it is, as mentioned]

And yes, only the very recent court hearing paper arrived at my current address (which I've been at for 1 year) because I gave it to all parties recently when trying to work out why I had this CCJ.

Given all this ^ you are advising I'm elligible to have the CCJ set aside + debt written off? or just the CCJ set aside?..
Thanks again

sourcrates

Glasseye said:

Thank you, sorry I should say I'm not a lawyer (nor have any legal experise) so I don't know legal language like "statute barred" but can hopefully answer that question if you can speak in commoners language [Edit: Just had a Google and if you mean is the debt over 6 years old, yes it is, as mentioned]

And yes, only the very recent court hearing paper arrived at my current address (which I've been at for 1 year) because I gave it to all parties recently when trying to work out why I had this CCJ.

Given all this ^ you are advising I'm eligible to have the CCJ set aside + debt written off? or just the CCJ set aside?..
Thanks again

As long as you made no payments, or acknowledged the debt in writing, during those 6 years, and the court action wasn`t started within the same time period, then yes, it was likely to have been time barred.

Not receiving the court papers is a good enough reason for a set aside, and your defence would be that the debt was statute barred.

Note : You must be certain of your dates, that the debt actually was statute barred before legal action commenced otherwise you will be wasting your time and money.

If then, that turns out to be the case, you apply for set aside, and if you win, the case goes back to the pre-judgement stage, you would then inform the claimant that under sec 5, Limitation act 1980, time has run out to collect this debt, and is therefore statute barred.

That would normally be the end of the matter, and the CCJ would be removed.

Karonher

There are some confusing issues in what you write. At one point you say you have a CCJ against you and talk about set aside, and then say you don't have the money to stop a CCJ.

Have you since found out the date the CCJ was granted? As mentioned the dates are the important factors.

Glasseye

Hi Karonher,
I'll try and unconfuse:
- yes I have CCJ against me
- yes I would ideally get it set aside (and think I have a good case for that, but unsure, hence asking here)
- no I wasn't saying I don't have money to stop the CCJ (you applying to get it set aside?) I was saying I don't have the £508 they're demanding. However, as mentioned - I'm on Universal Credit so believe I can get my "set aside CCJ" application fee waived.

My court hearing is tomorrow now. There wasn't enough time to set aside judgement, partly because it tooks such a long time to get my paperwork for getting financial support with my application cost.

The claimant sent me this, which I'm a bit confused by. What does it mean?
At first I thought they were cancelling their claim against me, but I'm guessing they're just showing how me they would set aside the CCJ *if* I agree to their previous demand to pay the £508?

https://i.imgur.com/lQ5GJt5.jpg

sourcrates

Doesn't mention paying anything, that is a draft consent order to a set aside.

Have you discussed this with them ?

Glasseye

sourcrates said:

Doesn't mention paying anything, that is a draft consent order to a set aside.

Have you discussed this with them ?

Oh ok! So they're offering to completely drop the whole claim?
I find legal language really difficult to understand. I wasn't able to reach Citizens Advice Bureau when I rang. They cut me off after a 20 min wait.

No, I've not spoken with them since that recent letter.

What would you do in my situation?
I could phone BW legal in the morning and say yes (and/ or email them) I (obviously) consent to your proposal to close the entire claim against me

Is that the ideal? Because then they get out of having to spend money (or at least time) in court hearing which they don't feel confident about winning?

sourcrates

Certainly I would want to clarify there intentions, yes.