Has anyone defended part of a CCJ claim?

mojo-jojo_2

Hi, I am getting myself in a tizzy.

My hubby received CCJ claim forms re Restons on behalf of HFC bank.

The original debt was £8849 -ish, which we do not dispute we owe.

However, Restons have added so far another £1700 to that on the CCJ claim form.

We are in financial distress, we have 19 creditors, have been on a DMP through CCCS for 20 months and in that time our financial situation has become increasingly worse (instead of imrpoving).
We pay £5 per cerditor per month.
I know a DMP isn't a long term solution, but we are paying what we can afford at the moment. Consequently adding almost £2 grand onto our original debt is just going to make matters hugely worse, and my hubby wants to admit the original amount, but defend against the collection charges and interest.

How do I word this on the CCJ claim form? I asked CCCS for advice and they suggested talking to the CAB (no answer on phone lines, and my local one isn't open until tomorrow), or taking legal advice from a solicitor. Do I need to do this or can we just write our defence ourselves in 'normal' speak??

Is it true you can get 1 hour free advice from a solicitor? and if so, how do I go about this?
Has anyone defended part of a claim and been successful?

Do I respond to the claim online asking for extra time to prepare our defence? My hubb works long hours and so it's left to me to try and sort this out (although he will take time off for a court hearing).

I would have just swallowed the extra collection charges, but my hubb says its unfair as Reston's/HFC are fully aware of our circumstances and that we have been regularly paying what we can afford, so why should they be able to plunge us deeper in debt when we are trying to find a way out

Can anyone advise me?

thanks

mjjj xx

penguin83

You can file a part admission to the claim (as in you accept part of the claim but not the whole amount) the court would then forward your part admission on to the claimant, if they accept the rest of the claim is desregarded and judgment allowed for the amount that you have admitted. If they object then the matter will continue as a defended claim ie you would be able to put your case across at a hearing.

To do this complete form N9a (admission) and in the box above part 1 enter the amount that you admit. You also need to submit defence form N9b (defence) to defend the part of the claim you are not accepting.

Below are links to the forms as well as guidance notes in case you need them x

N9a (admission)

N9b (defence)

Notes for defendants

mojo-jojo_2

Thanks for your reply,

do you know if we would need to get a solicitor to word the defence? or can I write it myself?

After reading posts about the mighty HFC/Reston's tagteam I am really worried about where this is headed......I have 18 other creditors who may all follow suit and I feel sick just thinking about it.

mjjj xx

penguin83

You would probably be best off speaking to the CAB regarding the wording of your defence and they will also be able to help you with your other creditors too. x x

mojo-jojo_2

thanks Penguin,

I will try speaking to a CAB advisor again tomorrow, but I'm a bit worried about the timescale. Am I right in thinking I can send back the 'acknowledgement of service' and it will give me an extra 14 days?

I have so much going on in my head I can't think straight!

mjjj xx

penguin83

Yes the acknowledgment of service must be filed within 14 days of the date of service - you can phone the court to check if you are unsure of the date of service. This then will give you a total of 28 days from the date of service to file the part admission and defence. x x

THE_LONE_RANGER_4

i disputed half of a cj and went to court nothing was heard from the other side i put my case across to a very decent chap etc and he awarded it to me whether he agreed with me in full i do not no but as the other side were not there to argue the point i won . it is not scary at all they see loads every day at least you are trying to sort it out but with my dealings with restons they took me to court foer a marbles cc debt i paid it off over 24 months with what i could afford trust me you can get out of this it just takes time i did it all on my own the odd advise from cab and a solicitor and forums and managed to get it sorted 17k worth of debt i paid what i could afford went to court if i had to 3 of them some wrote it off some did a deal further down the line ie gave me a discount and some i paid off in full just do it slowly and at your pace ignore the phone calls etc they are just there to put presure on you and worry you, remember its them that is owed the money let them worry about it and do all the foot work if its unsecured do not worry about it just make sure you pay essentials .good luck

mojo-jojo_2

Hi LR,

did you get legal advice about hw to word your defence? I have gone from pillar to post today trying to get advice on this. CCCS said they couldn't advise me one way or the other and suggested talking to CAB. I spent 2 hours waiting at CAB to be told that basically CCCS should be advising me about this as I have DMP with them!

I just want to know the best way to word this - that I think £1475 as a collection charge and £169 interest plus 409pence per day til the date of judgement is excessive when Reston's/HFC are fully aware of my financial circumstances, and it is glaringly obvious that I cannot afford to offer anythng other than my DMP payment amount of £5, and that in 20 months I have not missed a DMP payment and have kept to my arrangement with them, and by addiing a total of almost £2000 to the debt they would be unnecessarily adding years to my DMP!

...or words to that effect! I have been given conflicting advice by various staff at CCCS and CAB about whether it is even worth disputing the collection charge. This charge incidentally has only been added on since Dec 28th.

Today I had a bad day, was really upset trying to sort this out. I know don't know whether to just admit the whole amount, in which case I need to send it off to Reston's pretty sharpish, or send the acknowledgment of service and apply for extra 14 days and dispute the amount!

what happens if I dispute the amount, but the county court allows it? Will I have to pay extra court costs?

my head is in a muddle

mjjj xx

fatbelly

Just going through almost exactly the same scenario with HFC/Restons. Have acknowledged service, admitted the amount they last quoted (6.1k) and intend to argue that we are not liable for the rest of the add-ons (nearly 3k).

Will let you know how we get on

mojo-jojo_2

Thanks FB, it will be interesting to see how we both get on. I spoke to a really helpful woman at the county court yesterday and feel reassured that we are doing the right thing.
The acknowledgement of service has been filed online, so we have until 18th feb to word our defence.

How did you word your defence FB? Did you get legal help or did you just write it youself? I have been assured by the woman I spoke to yesterday that it's perfectly acceptable to word it yourself and she told me most people do. I just have to try and work out how to word it, putting enough info in to support what I am saying without any unecessary details.

Please let me know how you get on FB, Reston's/HFC have been one of our worst creditors to deal with (Halifax takes first place here!!).

mjjj xx

THE_LONE_RANGER_4

just say what amount you dispute and why, then attend court and repeat the reason why you dispute the debt or part there off