Erudio and Dryden Fairfax - CCJ and Court Hearing

janice_doe

Hello
I was issued a CCJ to an old address in my maiden name for a £5200.00 Student Loan debt from the 90s.  This happened during the pandemic.
I contacted Dryden with new name and address, but they still left the ccj on file for another six months after that.
I have defended myself by saying that the loan is statute barred, they say it is not due to a default notice that I did not receive.
I believe there is six year gap from them taking court action.  They have not shown any written agreement between myself and Erudio.
Can anybody recommend a solicitor that is experienced dealing with these issues? 
Any recommendations are welcome as they are taking me to court on Thursday.
Thanks in advance

sourcrates

Hi,

Your post is quite contradictory, first you start by saying you have a CCJ, and end by saying they are taking you to court on Thursday, with the mention of a defence in the middle.

Basically, it doesn't make any sense.

What do you mean by "you have defended yourself" ? have you had the judgement set aside, or not ? as that`s the only way a CCJ can be overturned.

For example, if you did not receive the original court papers, then you should apply to have the judgement set aside, there is a £275 fee for this, and you would use the fact you think the debt may have been statute barred when judgement was obtained, as a defence to the claim.

And what is happening Thursday ?

If you can clearly list the events in the order they have happened, it`s much easier to understand what`s going on.

macman

Papers served at an old address does not in itself constitute grounds for a set-aside. The plaintiff merely has to use the last known address. If you move (or change your name), it's up to you to notify your creditors. They don't have to trace you.

janice_doe

Hi 
List of events
- Found I had a CCJ, contacted Dryden with new name/add, it was still left on file for another 6 months, they ignored the correspondence
- The CCJ was set aside via a phone hearing in May 22
- This Thursday is a hearing for a small claims
I used the statute barred as a defence but they state they sent a default notice to old address within the 6 yr time frame.
Thanks

sourcrates

Doesn't really matter what Dryden's tell you, it`s what they tell the court that matters.

If you believe it to be statute barred, then they will have to provide evidence that it isn`t, you don`t have to prove anything, so my advice would be to wait and see what they do.

Do you know when the default date was, and the date they started action through the courts ?

janice_doe

In their witness statement they stated that
- My deferment date ended Sep 14 (I think this is last time I deferred with SLC)
- They state that a notice of assignment was sent March 14
- The default notice was sent in October 2016
They started action through the courts end Dec 2020

kaMelo

Erudio do seem to wait until the last possible moment before taking court action, no doubt because there is less chance of a defence being submitted 

Are you absolutely sure you did not make contact with Erudio after their notice of assignment to update your contact details, send a payment or send a deferral notice after September 2014?  The default notice they sent in October 2016 would mean you missed sending three deferrals (2014, 2015,2016)  before they issued it which is a lot.

Double check your dates to be sure but if the dates mentioned are correct then the student loan is most definitely statute barred. 

janice_doe

I did make contact via phone at the start, which I believe is around 2014.
I asked for deferral on the telephone and was refused, something did not seem right about it. 
I did not send payment to Erudio.
I had no contact after that and had changed addresses numerous times.
Unfortunately I did not know what Martin Lewis had said about them, or that there were many questions asked in parliament re the sale of these loans.  
I asked Dryden for my last deferment forms with SLC, and for any written confirmation of the loans with Erudio and did not get a response.

kaMelo

janice_doe said:

I did make contact via phone at the start, which I believe is around 2014.
I asked for deferral on the telephone and was refused, something did not seem right about it. 
I did not send payment to Erudio.
I had no contact after that and had changed addresses numerous times.
Unfortunately I did not know what Martin Lewis had said about them, or that there were many questions asked in parliament re the sale of these loans.  
I asked Dryden for my last deferment forms with SLC, and for any written confirmation of the loans with Erudio and did not get a response.

Still unclear on the dates here and it matters as it's tight. Did your hearing go ahead and if so how did it go?

fatbelly

My take on this is that the default date would not constitute the cause of action for a student loan debt of this vintage (pre-September 1998 old-style student loan) so if the last deferral was Sept 2014 then they were out of time when they started court action in Dec 2020.

There's an outline of that argument here

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/fact-sheet-library/statute-barred-debts-ew/

Subscribed now so pls let us know how it went

HenriDune

Hello Janice, 
I think I maybe in a similar situ to you, in that I had not any chance to defend the initial hearing and now have a CCJ issued against me. I have applied for a set aside hearing, via a competent and reasonable solicitor (info@lawyers4u.org). Been dealing with John who has been very supportive and consistent in strategy and evaluation of my position. Most likely my best bet is to set aside the CCJ and then negotiate, which there are grounds to do so in my case. 
Curious how your hearing went and so on..