County court claim Help

slwj89

Hi.

just a bit of advise.
my husband has recently been sent a county court claim for a overdraft he had years ago with his ex, we have emailed the claimant and said we are able to pay monthly and have filled in (not yet sent forms) my question is, is even we send the forms and set up a payment will my husband still be given a ccj? 

We are about to apply for a mortgage so this is obviously not idea situation 🤦‍♀️

Any help or advice would be appreciated massively. 

sourcrates

Whoa, hold your horses, how many years ago did he have this debt ?

Was it more than 6 years ? if so it may be statute barred, the idea of going to court is twofold, they have to prove the debt is collectable, and is actually his, they may not have one shred of evidence to back up their claim.

90 odd % of these things are made in the hope the claim won`t be defended, if you give in now, its likely a judgement will be granted anyway, either in default, or the claimant will go ahead just to secure their position.

Debt Camel cover`s what you should do here -

What to do if you get a Claim from the county court about a debt (debtcamel.co.uk)

slwj89

It is from about 5-6 years ago I think, it’s with Lloyd’s bank, and only about 1800.

So if we defend it will it be unlikely they will slap him with a ccj or which way should we go? 

And even if we did defend or agree either way he would get one? 

sourcrates

Are you sure its an actual claim form, and not a letter before action like they are supposed to send you first ?

If you defend and win, no CCJ.
If you defend and lose, CCJ applied.
If you agree payment terms without proceeding to judgement you may avoid a CCJ, however the creditor may still continue, and you would have no recourse then but to accept the judgement, so your choice.

Best chance is to defend the claim ask for proof, now was it 5 years or was it 6, because its important, does the debt still show on a credit file ? if it does, its likely not yet 6 years.

slwj89

So I have double checked his experian report, the default start date was November 2016.

I have no idea what the best thing to do is, we have had our mortgage offer and due to exchange in the next couple of weeks, do I just defend and simply hold them off for another month or so? Or just ask them for a payment plan and hope they don’t go ahead anyway? 

This is such a nightmare 

slwj89

sourcrates said:

Are you sure its an actual claim form, and not a letter before action like they are supposed to send you first ?

If you defend and win, no CCJ.
If you defend and lose, CCJ applied.
If you agree payment terms without proceeding to judgement you may avoid a CCJ, however the creditor may still continue, and you would have no recourse then but to accept the judgement, so your choice.

Best chance is to defend the claim ask for proof, now was it 5 years or was it 6, because its important, does the debt still show on a credit file ? if it does, its likely not yet 6 years.

So I have double checked his experian report, the default start date was November 2016.

I have no idea what the best thing to do is, we have had our mortgage offer and due to exchange in the next couple of weeks, do I just defend and simply hold them off for another month or so? Or just ask them for a payment plan and hope they don’t go ahead anyway? 

sourcrates

If you have only just received the court papers, then acknowledging service online allows you 28 days to respond.

After that it could be another month, maybe 2 months before the case is heard, so your mortgage should be finalised/completed long before this will become an issue.

BadDebtor

sourcrates said:

If you defend and lose, CCJ applied.

Are CCJ's different for consumer debt sour?

My understanding is that if you pay off a CCJ within 28 days of Judgement it is never registered?

A solution might be to take a loan now or tart a zero balance with enough of a cushion to service the old debt which you pay off with either never goes to Court

Also do not forget the Ex, tell her if it goes to Court he will have her added as a defendant, or if she raises 40% from her family he will take the other 60%, then he pays that with a new source of finance.

sourcrates

It gets registered, but if paid within the 28 days, its then removed, that is the theory anyway.

nic_c

slwj89 said:

Hi.

just a bit of advise.
my husband has recently been sent a county court claim for a overdraft he had years ago with his ex, we have emailed the claimant and said we are able to pay monthly and have filled in (not yet sent forms) my question is, is even we send the forms and set up a payment will my husband still be given a ccj? 

We are about to apply for a mortgage so this is obviously not idea situation 🤦‍♀️

Any help or advice would be appreciated massively. 

Short answer is yes, most likely. If you fill in the form, it's an admission and the creditor will send it to the court saying they accept your offer and a judgment is entered. The main difference is in your admission you set the payment offer (though the creditor can say they reject the amount and ask the court to consider another).

You can dispute it and then they will need to see if they have the relevant information, request a copy of the CCA agreement. Do a bit of research and you'll find lots of info out there.

At the least it will delay everything (can be 6 months plus to go to court), so the mortgage will go through. As you are willing to pay, then look into mediation (courts like parties to settle before the hearing), if you agree to mediation you can then agree a settlement sum and a monthly amount, this is not a CCJ so not on your credit file, but ensure you maintain payments as it gives the option of applying for a CCJ without further hearing if you default on the agreement.

Or you could see if they are willing now to do an informal arrangement (so never goes to court, might not as a CCJ gives them more options to reclaim the debt), but be careful not to admit it. Best thing you can do now is seek independent legal advice.