Paying off a CCJ over 6 years old

Oni0nMan

Hello and good morning!

I'm currently looking for advise on clearing an old debt my partner has. The situation is a little long winded but here's a rough timeline:

2009 - partner default on credit card for around £5k - no contact made with creditor after this point and moved address
2015 Dec - CCJ issued again her, again we moved address again at this point, she didn't update creditors and CCJ notice went to old address (they mustve tracer her through electoral roll)
2017 - She noticed CCJ on credit report record but we didn't have means to pay
2021 - We finally have means to pay but sat on the CCJ falling off in December as we were looking to apply for a mortgage after it falls off

Now -  CCJ has fallen off and we have means to pay and would like to find whoever owns the debt and pay it off ASAP.

Unfortunately in the past my partner buried her head a bit regarding this and didn't update the creditor with any address changes and as a consequence we have no idea who now owns the debt.

Originally the debt was with MBNA but I'm assuming it's now been sold on and we don't know where to start in tracing down whoever owns the debt now.

Would anyone have advise on what our next steps would be? We're also thinking about having a relative pay for us so the payment isn't visible on our bank statements and we would pay them back in full once our mortgage is complete (we have around £100k in savings so we're more than happy to pay this back)

Obviously it's not been managed well in the past but she's now happy to pay up and settle so we can move forward debt free with no worries about being chased up at an inconvenient time.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated! Thanks all 

sourcrates

Well she`s a little bit late to the party Unfortunatly, there is no way of finding out who owns this debt now, if it`s been longer than 6 years, all trace of the CCJ and who it was granted too, will now be gone.

When and who debts are sold too is closely guarded and commercially sensitive information, the kind no call handler will have access to, so there is little point asking the original creditor now either.

The only thing she can do is make sure her credit file has her updated current address, and if this lender/collector tries to trace her, which is very unlikely now, but they will be able to do so from that information.

Brie

is this an effort to make things right out of guilt, duty, whatever?  Personally if that is the case then I'd suggest you put the money into a savings account somewhere and not touch it.  Update the address details as sourcrates has suggested and sit tight.  

If after a few years no one has shown up asking for the money and if you/she is still feeling guilty you could always give the money to a debt management charity or similar.

Oni0nMan

Thank you @sourcrates for your quick reply.

That's a bit disheartening, I've been wondering if contacting Northampton county court who issued the CCJ might still have details on record, we have a case number for the CCJ, would this just be a dead end? As you mentioned sale information is closely guarded so even if we found out who requested the CCJ it's unlikely they would hand over details if the debt has been sold.

Do you know what sort of action could be bought against her? I'm aware the creditor or DCA can reapply for action on a CCJ after 6 years, I was worried they might be able to apply for bankruptcy as the debt is over £5k.

My partner has been on the public electoral roll since the debt started so I would assume/hope she would be contacted at our current address if they do decide to take further action.

Part of the issue here is we're thinking of buying a new build property with completion expected November. They want exchange of contracts and 10% deposit done and dusted in around 4-6 weeks. It means our mortgage offer needs to stand for 7 months, the concern being if anything crops up from this old debt in that time it could jeopardise the buying process ultimately our deposit could be lost.

Again, many thanks for all/any help

Oni0nMan

Brie said:

is this an effort to make things right out of guilt, duty, whatever?  Personally if that is the case then I'd suggest you put the money into a savings account somewhere and not touch it.  Update the address details as sourcrates has suggested and sit tight.  

If after a few years no one has shown up asking for the money and if you/she is still feeling guilty you could always give the money to a debt management charity or similar.

I won't lie, there's a practical reason here in that we are buying a house and a lot of money is at stake.

Over the last year we both were very fortunate to get huge bonuses/payouts from work and suddenly it was financially viable for us to buy a house but also clear the debts.

She's paid off a lot of debts over the years out of necessity but also conscience plays a part, this debt being the largest one was the last to go.

I really like the suggestion you made, it's a difficult subject for her so supporting others in a similar situation feels like a nice way to pay it forward.

sammyjammy

Its a shame she ignored it because it was likely statute barred when they applied for the CCJ but whats done is done.  Personally I would just get on with your lives and make your plans ignoring the debt.  

sourcrates

Nothing new can crop up for this debt now, its long since fallen off her credit file, and the CCJ attached to it has also gone, neither entry can ever come back again, ever.

CCJ`s do not become statute barred, as they are not subject to the limitation act, however, a creditor is expected to enforce their rights within a reasonable time scale, that time scale is 6 years, if, whoever now has this account, wanted to up the ante, they would have to go back to court with an exceptionally good excuse as to why they had not enforced this judgement in the timescale the law allows, and persuade a judge to let them continue.

We are now entering the realms of fantasy, as this kind of thing rarely happens, because unless she was living on the moon, she would have been contactable at some point in the last six years, creditors know this, they have millions of debts on their books, chasing every single one of them is nigh on impossible, lots have legal action taken, which is then never enforced, just in the hope you will pay up, I think this one is long since dead and buried, but if you are contacted, and your willing to pay, then that is your choice, but I would not hold my breath.

Oni0nMan

Thank you all.

I've been in contact with national debt line who've advised me it's still possible a "debt collection search" could be carried out on my account.

I suppose to change the subject a little, if this happened how would it impact a mortgage application with a high street lender?

Many thanks again

sammyjammy

There is no such thing, as has been said before its gone from your credit record and  cannot arise again.  Nobody can see it whether they search or not as it no longer exists.

It will not impact your mortgage application.

Oni0nMan

@sammyjammy as I understand it an unpaid debt can be chased indefinitely and if the DCA holding this debt wanted to run a "debt collection search" on her they could. This would be a "hard" search, available for lenders to see for 2 years. Clearscore now has a specific section for these types of searches on their dashboard.

Looking around the forum I'm getting the impression a debt collection search on a credit report is still seen as relatively low risk to a lender but I was hoping someone could chime in with better knowledge than me!

sammyjammy

Oni0nMan said:

@sammyjammy as I understand it an unpaid debt can be chased indefinitely and if the DCA holding this debt wanted to run a "debt collection search" on her they could. This would be a "hard" search, available for lenders to see for 2 years. Clearscore now has a specific section for these types of searches on their dashboard.

Looking around the forum I'm getting the impression a debt collection search on a credit report is still seen as relatively low risk to a lender but I was hoping someone could chime in with better knowledge than me!

Ahh I see, apologies I misunderstood, all I can say is debt collection people will do searches across many people with a specific surname in an area etc, they will send fishing letters to people about a debt - I had one myself from Robinson Way once so I don't doubt that a prospective lender will ignore this search even if they saw it.