CCJ and debt default help. 13 February at 1:43PM in Debt-free wannabe 9 replies 292 views

enigma1978

Firstly, apologies as I've posted this on the CCJ forum and now realised that It should be on this forum instead. Can I delete that post?

A few years back I got myself in a mess mentally and financially. I did what at the time was I felt my only option and buried my head in the sand. Fast forward to this year and I've started to try and fix my finances. I've signed up to Experian, Credit Karma etc and started to sift through what I need to get fixed.

I have the following on my reports and am now wondering what the best course of action is ;

Default with Hoist - date 24.2.17 - £6482
Default with Lowell - date 14.9.17 - £4185

These were brought out by Hoist and Lowell and are the original default dates with Barclaycard and I think the other was a loan. The hoist/Barclaycard debt was also issued with a CCJ, dated 29.3.19.

Someone I know has advised me to ignore them as they are due to expire, however I do want to start sorting myself out. Granted I can't afford to pay them off immediately but may be able to start paying them off slowly. Should I wait and see if Lowell will issue a court warning before I get too far ahead of myself?

I'm not looking to cheat the system, I took out the credit card and loan with a previous partner, and unfortunately my life at the time was a mess and I was in no position to take either the card or loan but thought I was doing the best thing to help her out. That wasn't to be! 

I also have another CCJ, for a speeding fine, received 9.3.17 for £197. Again, as mentioned this was a very dark time in my life but I'm here holding my hands up and trying to sort things. The bad thing is, due to the mess at the time, I have only just started to uncover just how bad I let things get as I had moved home at the end of 2015 and not had any mail redirected as an oversight. Now I'm all registered and got access to my credit reports i'm finally seeing the mess i'm in.

Any advice is gratefully received and I thank anybody in advance for any ideas and thoughts they have. Should I look for a DMP, as my now wife and I are looking to hopefully get on the property ladder asap and I'm exploring the best way to get my finances in order?

sourcrates

Was not aware we had a CCJ forum lol, but your in the right place now, although you may want to post in the motoring forum for the speeding related debt.

Are any of these debts been chased currently ?

The default entries will disappear on the 6th anniversary, as will the CCJ`s, that does not mean they no longer exist, but you may have a defence if you have not paid them in that time frame.

CCJ`s don`t go statute barred, but 6 years is recognised as being sufficient time for enforcement, and to proceed further, court approval would be required.

What is it you are looking to do here, set up payment plans ? 

enigma1978

Thanks for the reply sourcrates. And yes, I meant the credit report forum, but my mind had gone blank

Honestly I'm not sure what I should be looking to do. My approach of burying my head in the sand has clearly not worked. All of the debts are from a previous relationship/time in my life. If I'm honest, I'd buried my head in the sand that much that I was completely unaware of either of the CCJ's. My fault for not updating my address sooner, especially as I've been there for 7+ years now. But now, my wife and I are looking at getting on the property ladder in the next 2 year, so I started looking at my credit score etc, and realised that the mess I knew I was in was actually far bigger than I expected. 

I'm not expressly concerned over the speeding fine CCJ, as that should no longer show on my credit report next month, or should I still look to clear it?

The Barclays credit card is a worry though, as even though it defaulted in Feb 2017, I then received a CCJ against this in March 2019. From reading on here it seems that I should look to pay this off. 

Pretty much the same with the Hitachi Loan, which defaulted back in Sep 2017. This hasn't yet had a CCJ, although i have been receiving letter and texts from them. Again, I've ignored them stupidly hoping they would disappear. Can they still apply a CCJ 6 years after the default? Or is there a set time. 

Realistically I'm up to 10k of debt, and although some are due to come off of my report soon, I'm wondering what my next best step would be. I can't afford to pay them off, so I'm now wondering If i should try and pay some off using a DMP, or pay all of them, or what? 

I really have buried my head that much that I'm terrified to try and make steps to sort them for fear of worsening my credit report, or extending the time I have left until things come off. Fortunately I have come clean to my wife on these now, so that is 1 worry off of my head, but I still don't know what to do for the best.

enigma1978

Sorry, should have mentioned that Lowells have been texting me and trying to contact after I signed up to their website to try and make sense of where I'm at. Did that a few weeks ago.

sourcrates

Six years is the limitation period, if you have not paid or acknowledged the Hitachi debt in writing in over six years, you would have a statute barred defence to any claim.

The speeding fine won`t be chased, that is pretty much certain.

The rest, however you may want to make arrangements for, but it is quite rare for a creditor to further enforce a CCJ once obtained, although its not unheard of.

Options would be a payment plan of some kind, or would you currently qualify for a DRO ?

It`s really down to what you can afford to pay, or if you want to chance riding out the storm or not.

enigma1978

Thanks again for your help sourcrates. I think this is erring on the side of riding the storm and seeing what happens I guess? With the Lowell debt it looks like I may have to wait until September of this year for the 6 years to be up and hope they don't apply for a CCJ in that time? Would they go straight to attempting that or would they try and offer me a way out before they did that? A final warning or something of the sorts? The CCJ on the hoist debt will still show for 2 more years on my record, but again if they chose to enforce it now would they look for an arrangement or go full kung fu on me? May be easier to show this as a breakdown of debt and default date to get a clearer picture.

Hoist/Barclaycard debt £6482 - Default 24.2.17
Lowell/Hitachi loan £4185 - Default 14.9.17
Hoist CCJ for above debt - Date 29.3.19

On to the DRO, which I had to google. How would this affect my credit report moving forward bearing in mind the dates above? As mentioned before, it was a bad time in my life mentally and financially, but I've turned the corner and apart from these my finances are in a manageable state now. Our plan is to get a mortgage in around 2 years time so I really need to do what is best to get to a stage where I can try and do that. 

Sorry for so many questions, but I must thank you again as the relief of finally facing all of this is huge, even if I'm not sure of my next actions, it massively helps to get my head out of the sand and see some hope further down the line hopefully.

RAS

Personally, I'd sit tight and prepare for legal action. You may well get lucky.

Meantime, I'd save like fury so that if the Hitachi loan went legal, I could pay it off. Preferably a full and final at reduced rate before it went to court but the full whack if I needed to remove a CCJ (within a month).

Otherwise you risk a recent CCJ damaging your mortgage chances.

enigma1978

Thanks Ras, I think that's the way I'm going to go. I've already said to the wife that we should look to get some saved to cover the Lowell one just in case. Counting down the 7 months left now!

azfell

I apologise in advance if simply adding to a similar situation is poor form on the forum. I am happy to repost if necessary.

I am in a similar situation to the OP.  Two defaults, one credit card, one utilities (though I think I am going to challenge that one).  

With the credit card I'm close to having it wiped, but also got a letter threatening legal action. If I could pay it off now, should I?  Even with it being so close?

I understand that might be a silly question, but I want to understand whether it will be more damaging to pay off a default now, than simply letting it fall off my credit report.

sourcrates

azfell said:

I apologise in advance if simply adding to a similar situation is poor form on the forum. I am happy to repost if necessary.

I am in a similar situation to the OP.  Two defaults, one credit card, one utilities (though I think I am going to challenge that one).  

With the credit card I'm close to having it wiped, but also got a letter threatening legal action. If I could pay it off now, should I?  Even with it being so close?

I understand that might be a silly question, but I want to understand whether it will be more damaging to pay off a default now, than simply letting it fall off my credit report.

Start your own thread azfell, and include as much detail as possible.