CCJ - Despite sending the claim back to Drydens

chrisdem

Hi, I am in big trouble, I would appreciate some advice, please.

I used to have a debt management plan with StepChange, which I stopped as I had huge financial difficulties due to some personal circumstances.

I got a letter from Drydens in September saying I will be taken to court for a debt of ~£5000.

I was abroad, came back on the 5th of September. I replied to the claim by email, on the 12th of September.

On the 15th, the I got the letter from the court with a CCJ against me. Same day, Drydens sent a letter stating they accept my offer of paying £25 monthly, offer which was made in the claim form I've sent on the 12th of September.

I have called Drydens, they say the court proceedings were already started and there's nothing she can do, she did advise to email and explain.

Is the above a valid reason to ask for the judgement to be put aside? I have replied to the claim in time, 3 days before the CCJ, but Drydens ignored it. Furthermore, having a CCJ will cause issues as I will lose my job and won't be able to provide for my children.

chrisdem

The fee for a N244 application is £275.00. I can't afford to lose this money if there is no chance of success, basically, hence I am asking for advice first.

fatbelly

I don't want to be negative but for setaside you need

• a defence with a prospect of success
• a reason why you did not respond to the claim
• to act promptly

It's not clear that you have a defence.

The time limit for response to a claim form is 14 days from service with service calculated as 5 days after issue. So it's not clear that you responded in time, and you would normally respond on the moneyclaim website not by email

As this is a recent ccj you can stop it appearing by paying in full within one month of the judgement. I'm not sure that helps.

chrisdem

I've called Drydens and they said there's nothing they can do.

But they've also replied to an earlier email in which I stated that I will lose my job if I get a CCJ (quarterly background checks as I work for a FSA regulated org), and they've asked for proof of those checks so they can review the case.

Does this mean they would be able to help with stopping the CCJ otherwise why would they ask for that?!

fatbelly

No but they could agree not to oppose a setaside application. I suspect they would still want payment in full though

artyboy

Something sounds very wrong about this timeline - you are suggesting that less than 2 weeks after Drydens wrote to you to say they were taking you to court (which would presumably have been their Letter Before Action), you have already lost a court case - presumably by not showing up to defend it.

If so, that's the fastest CCJ I've ever heard of, and is contrary to the time you are allowed to respond to the claimant and file a defence.

Even if that has actually happened though, you have a month from the court judgement to pay the amount stated and the CCJ will not appear on your credit files...

mcpitman

I think the only way you could stop a CCJ being recorded now is either via set aside (but I don't think you have a strong enough case for that) or paying the debt in full within 28 days of judgement.

If it is so serious you will lose your job, why on earth didn't you take this debt seriously in the first place?

fatbelly

It's a quirk of the system that if you issue a claim, the other party has 2 weeks to do something, otherwise they get a ccj in default.

So if that person has just started 2 weeks' holiday...

What's not been mentioned here is that rules were introduced a few years ago to say that an organisation starting a claim against an individual must first send a specific pre-action letter and give 30 days for respond.

That letter shouldn't be ignored and there is guidance on it here

https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/

artyboy

fatbelly said:

It's a quirk of the system that if you issue a claim, the other party has 2 weeks to do something, otherwise they get a ccj in default.

So if that person has just started 2 weeks' holiday...

What's not been mentioned here is that rules were introduced a few years ago to say that an organisation starting a claim against an individual must first send a specific pre-action letter and give 30 days for respond.

That letter shouldn't be ignored and there is guidance on it here

https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/

Completely agree - but the OP mentioned that the letter they received in September was from Drydens, which I would have thought was that pre-action letter?

Unless I'm mistaken, the court claim itself (which starts the 14 day response clock ticking) would be issued by the county courts administrative centre in Northampton?

in any event, if there really is a judgement and it puts the OPs job at risk, they just need to get it paid off before it becomes a long standing part of their credit file, that's the critical point here. Especially as I don't think they are disputing that the debt exists...

fatbelly

I guess the problem is finding 5k at short notice.

I assumed there was something wrong with the timescale in the first post - you are right, it didn't make sense. The claim issue date should have been late August and  the pre-action letter should have been much earlier, 

chrisdem

fatbelly said:

It's a quirk of the system that if you issue a claim, the other party has 2 weeks to do something, otherwise they get a ccj in default.

So if that person has just started 2 weeks' holiday...

What's not been mentioned here is that rules were introduced a few years ago to say that an organisation starting a claim against an individual must first send a specific pre-action letter and give 30 days for respond.

That letter shouldn't be ignored and there is guidance on it here

https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/

13 Aug - 05 Sep - I was on holiday

08 Sep - I've received the claim form (dated 18 Aug) on a Thursday. It said to complete admission and send to claimant’s address, if I admit the claim in full. I called all my friends to borrow money, I didn't get any.

09 Sep - Called Drydens at 15:45 and spent 14.57 minutes on the phone, been told to complete and send the claim as soon as possible.

12 Sep - Completed Claim Form, sent to Drydens by email, to two email addresses - the claim form and the proposed payment plan. This was a Monday.

13 Sep - Got a letter from Arrow Global, a default sum notice. £285 more, not sure what for.

14 Sep - Got a letter from Drydens saying an application to enter a CCJ has been made against me.

21 Sep - Drydens finally replies they accept the proposed payment plan. But it seems they ignored the claim form.

22 Sep - Have received CCJ from County Court (dated 15 Sep).

Today is the last day to pay, and I don't have the money. My only solution is the N244 application.