Tracing an old CCJ
StartingAt50
Forumite 7 Posts
Hi, long time lurker looking for some advice for my brother.
Long story short, about 10 years ago, he ended up in a total mess financially (about £30k outstanding debts) and personally (depression/addiction) and disappeared overseas leaving us with no idea where he was (he had limited contact with my sister just to let her know he was still alive, but never mentioned where he was). At the time he was living with our parents and while he was away, they have been returning all of the letters addressed to him as "gone away no forwarding address".
He has recently returned to the UK after sorting himself out, has got himself a job and is renting his own flat. He is now collecting all his letters from our parents and writing to any debt collectors with the hybrid prove it/statute barred letter.
The issue that we have though is that my father remembers that about 8 years ago they received notification of a CCJ against him, which was also returned as "gone away". The CCJ has now obviously disappeared from my brother's credit file, and he is unsure what to do about it. He has no idea which debt it was for or how much it was for and while he will obviously need to come to an agreement about repaying it if it is enforced, he doesn't want the shock of bailiffs suddenly appearing or an attachment of earnings being placed on his salary and possibly affecting his new job.
So, we're looking for advice on firstly how he can trace details of it if he has no idea of exactly when it was issued, or what debt it relates to. And then, assuming he traces it, what his best course of action is to deal with it.
Long story short, about 10 years ago, he ended up in a total mess financially (about £30k outstanding debts) and personally (depression/addiction) and disappeared overseas leaving us with no idea where he was (he had limited contact with my sister just to let her know he was still alive, but never mentioned where he was). At the time he was living with our parents and while he was away, they have been returning all of the letters addressed to him as "gone away no forwarding address".
He has recently returned to the UK after sorting himself out, has got himself a job and is renting his own flat. He is now collecting all his letters from our parents and writing to any debt collectors with the hybrid prove it/statute barred letter.
The issue that we have though is that my father remembers that about 8 years ago they received notification of a CCJ against him, which was also returned as "gone away". The CCJ has now obviously disappeared from my brother's credit file, and he is unsure what to do about it. He has no idea which debt it was for or how much it was for and while he will obviously need to come to an agreement about repaying it if it is enforced, he doesn't want the shock of bailiffs suddenly appearing or an attachment of earnings being placed on his salary and possibly affecting his new job.
So, we're looking for advice on firstly how he can trace details of it if he has no idea of exactly when it was issued, or what debt it relates to. And then, assuming he traces it, what his best course of action is to deal with it.
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Why is your brother stirring up all sorts of hornet's nests? Much better to wait for the creditors to get in touch and then send the SB letter.
He's effectively got a clean sheet, so get a bank account, get a card with a small limit, set up a DD to pay it off in full every month.
He definitely doesn't want to stir up a hornets nest if he can avoid it. We just weren't sure how likely it would be for the creditors to get permission to enforce it and if they did manage it, how/when he would hear about it.
His main concern was that they get wind that he is back in the UK and are able to get permission to enforce it and the first he would know is when a demand turns up for X amount to be repaid. Hence wanting to try and get in front of it and at least get an idea of how much it was for. But if it is unlikely they will be able to get the permission then as you say, he's probably best of just leaving it be and dealing with it if it happens.
And as for opening bank accounts etc., he's already on that. He was able to open a bank account with Santander with no problem and got himself a mobile phone contract. He is avoiding credit cards at the moment as he has no need for one and would prefer not to have one just to improve his credit rating. He is 57 and has no intention of taking out a mortgage or loans, so his creditworthiness is not really an issue for him.