CCJ after DRO

clarice_2

My partner and I had DRO's in October 2016. My partner's DRO included a debt with Sainsbury's credit card. Today he got a letter from a county court "Notice of Issue of Warrant of Control"... with the creditor named as Arrow Global. It looks like Arrow have got a CCJ for the Sainsbury's debt and if he doesn't pay bailiffs will come round. he is worried. I am guessing the next stage is to contact the court to tell them about the DRO and to contact the insolvency service. We were under the impression that debts included in a DRO could not be taken to court. Anyone else had this issue?

MalMonroe

As the Sainsbury's debt was included in your partner's DRO, it should have been written off after the first year of the DRO. 

Only if the debt was incurred after the DRO was granted can Sainsbury's pursue it with a CCJ.

I had a DRO in the past and all the debts contained within it were written off after the 12 month moratorium period. Your partner's DRO - and yours - will definitely be over and done with this year as it's been six years.

Yes, I think the best way forward is to contact the court and let them know that the original debt was part of your partner's DRO and, as such, was written off when the 12 month moratorium period ended five years ago. So he owes Sainsbury's nothing.

There's some information in this link - https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/dro-moratorium-period.aspx

under 'a creditor doesn't accept that my dro has ended what shall I do'. It says, 'on very rare occasions, a creditor may try to collect a debt that was included in your debt relief order. If this happens, you do not have to pay them and you can challenge any attempt to collect the debt.'

If your partner doesn't have any proof of the DRO, as you say, he can contact the Insolvency Service to obtain proof.

So really, you have the right idea - debt collectors cannot chase your partner since the debt was included in his DRO.

clarice_2

Thank you for your reply. We have run Step Change and are now contacting the solicitor that represents Arrow to tell them about the DRO. Hopefully that will sort it!

fatbelly

Presumably there is a phone number on there for the County Court Bailiff. You also need to tell him/her so that they can put it on the bottom of their pile and not waste everyone's time with a visit.

It sounds like what happened is that you & your intermediary put it down on the application as Sainsburys when the debt had actually been sold to Arrow.

Sainsburys would have got the notification of the DRO and binned it. Arrow never got the message.

clarice_2

Partner has rung the county court that issued the warrant. He has contacted Arrows solicitors and sent them evidence of the DRO. It could be possible the debt was sold at the time of the DRO. I filled in the paperwork and used the most recent statement from Sainsbury's for the debt information. I will double check if there is an actual number for the bailiff too.