Should I pursue removing a CCJ

Learninghowtoadult

Hi, 

I’ve currently got a CCJ on my credit file dated December 2018 for £509 to TM Legal Services. The Date Issued is stated 22/10/2018, and I satisfied the CCJ on 10/12/2018.

The original debt is from Lending Stream, when I applied for a payday loan in January 2017 for £400. At the time I was in a bad cycle of payday loans, using them to pay for bills and appreciate this was entirely my fault for allowing myself get into this position. 

However, I’ve noticed on lending stream website that I paid £240 of this debt before being sold off to TM Legal, who sent me an email saying I had an outstanding balance of £400. 

What I’m querying is whether I can contest the CCJ on the grounds that they may have chased me for the wrong amount which I paid? Or if I can contest due to the fact I was in severe financial difficulty at the time, but was still granted the loan after a credit check. If I do contest, will this affect the length of time the CCJ is on my credit file for? Any advice would be much appreciated before I go down this route. 

Best

MEM62

You would have been in the best position to defend it when it went to court.  Now that judgement has been granted your options are limited.  It is always more difficult to do things after the fact.    

sourcrates

You cannot just contest a county court judgement.

You have to apply to have it set aside, but there are fairly strict criteria that must be met in order to do this.

First, you must have a good reason why you did not respond to the original court claim.
Second, you must have a defence to the claim, that has a reasonable chance of success.

You must also apply "promptly".

How soon "promptly" refers to is not made clear, but certainly within weeks, not months or years.
There is also a court fee of £275 to pay (remission is available on the fee if you are on a low income or benefits).

Cases where the court may set aside or vary judgment entered under Part 12

13.3

(1) In any other case, the court may set aside or vary a judgment entered under Part 12 if –

(a) the defendant has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim; or

(b) it appears to the court that there is some other good reason why –

(i) the judgment should be set aside or varied; or

(ii) the defendant should be allowed to defend the claim.

(2) In considering whether to set aside or vary a judgment entered under Part 12, the matters to which the court must have regard include whether the person seeking to set aside the judgment made an application to do so promptly.