CCJ Set aside - tuition fees

Sdw1985 · 19 January 2020 at 4:38PM

Hi All,

I have had a good read over the forum for advice but I just want to make sure I am clear. Bit of a long story so I will keep brief or as brief as I can.

I applied for a distant learning course through a university in March 2016. Due to my job I started at the same time I could not complete this course. Anyway they recently took out a ccj on me in Dec 2019 which I only realised about because I am desperately trying to sort my credit rating out to get a mortgage. I moved from the address they had on file in Nov 2018 and have since been on the electoral roll.

So I have paid the £255 fee to see if I can set this aside and I am currently filling out the paper work. How much information do I need to put in the paper work? Do I need to send things like my tenancy agreement with this?

Secondly to this, when I applied for this course which was a school business managers course I was told I would need to have a placement in a school. I had a telephone interview and I told them I had a placement lined up. I also told them that I had an interview to work in an academy trust as a business development manager which they thought would be fine. So I got accepted on this course which was to start in the April a few weeks later, I was self funding. the school I had a placement with then got taken over so I couldn't do this and I tried to do the course in my job at the trust. It became apparent early on that I could not do a course like this if I wasn't working at least part time in a school as you need access to financial information. The university started chasing me for the money a few weeks later, I had messaged on one of the forums in the may about a piece of work but I never submitted anything as I couldn't complete the course work. the first piece of work was due in the June. I spoke to the uni about my situation and asked to defer. When I was being chased for payment this was through email, they said they had no record of a call. I told them I was in financial difficulty and had a relationship breakdown and she said in email she would pass on to their debt recovery team. This was nov 2016 and I haven't heard anything since until now.

So my question is do I mention that I don't think it was right I was accepted on the course without the right tools available. and my communication with them or do I just go with the set aside due to the address.

If I have to pay for the course then so be it, but it doesn't seem right I have to pay the full about when I never submitted any work. The course was just under £1500 and they now want £2200. In an ideal world if I could just get rid of the ccj and pay instalments I would just to not have it on my credit rating.

Any help would be much appreciated on both parts! Thank you in advance.

sourcrates · 19 January 2020 at 4:44PM

Hi,

What is your defense to this claim ?

For a set aside to be successful, you must satisfy both these two criteria.

(1) You must have good reason why you did not respond to the original court claim.

(2) You must have a defense with a reasonable chance of success.

Seems to me you have no defense !!

Sdw1985 · 19 January 2020 at 4:54PM

I didn't receive any paper work regarding the ccj as I no longer lived at the address. I hadn't not heard from the university for 2 years by the time I moved. and then a year later they took a ccj out on me. I was told the paper work was sent out at the end of October. is that not my defense?

Voyager2002 · 19 January 2020 at 5:14PM

Sdw1985 wrote: »

I didn't receive any paper work regarding the ccj as I no longer lived at the address. I hadn't not heard from the university for 2 years by the time I moved. and then a year later they took a ccj out on me. I was told the paper work was sent out at the end of October. is that not my defense?

While that MIGHT be considered a good reason why you did not respond at the time, that is not a defence. A defence is a good reason why you do not owe the money: for example arguing that they did not fulfill their side of the contract by providing the course, or that what they provided was so unsatisfactory that it was not fit for the purpose intended.

sourcrates · 19 January 2020 at 6:17PM

Sdw1985 wrote: »

I didn't receive any paper work regarding the ccj as I no longer lived at the address. is that not my defense?

Voyager2002 wrote: »

While that MIGHT be considered a good reason why you did not respond at the time, that is not a defense. A defense is a good reason why you do not owe the money: for example arguing that they did not fulfill their side of the contract by providing the course, or that what they provided was so unsatisfactory that it was not fit for the purpose intended.

Exactly, you must fulfill both criteria, in order for a set-aside to be successful, if you admit you owe the money, then you have no defense to the claim, and you will have wasted £255.00.

Now you`ve paid the money, in order to stop this becoming a complete disaster, you need to formulate a reason why you don`t owe this money, and quickly.

Sdw1985 · 19 January 2020 at 7:50PM

Ok so I have just had a look at the email I received from Northampton courts with the set a side information. This is all I have with regards to the ccj.
THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS £1445.00 IN RESPECT OF 1. UNIVERSITY TUITION PROVIDED BY THE CLAIMANT AT THE DEFENDANT'S REQUEST, FULL PARTICULARS WHEREOF HAVING BEEN SUPPLIED BY WAY OF CLAIMANT'S INVOICE DATED 29 APRIL 2016 TO 19 APRIL 2017 2. THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS THE FURTHER SUM OF £374.77 PURSUANT TO S.69 OF THE COUNTY COURTS ACT 1984 AT THE RATE OF 8.00% FROM THE DATE ON WHICH THE INVOICE(S) WERE DUE TO DATE. 3. THE CLAIMANT ALSO CLAIMS STATUTORY INTEREST AT THE ABOVE DAILY RATE OF £0.30 FROM THE DATE HEREOF TO PAYMENT OR JUDGMENT, WHICHEVER IS THE SOONER. 4. COSTS.

And when I look back at the emails I have from the university the cost for the course was £1370. So could I use this as my defence? That they are stating it is £1445?

Sorry if I seem stupid with this, when I was told I could set it aside because I never received the information I just went with that.

chanz4 · 19 January 2020 at 9:00PM

will include court and poss sols fee

Jonathan_Kelvin · 19 January 2020 at 9:02PM

Sdw1985 wrote: »

Ok so I have just had a look at the email I received from Northampton courts with the set a side information. This is all I have with regards to the ccj.
THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS £1445.00 IN RESPECT OF 1. UNIVERSITY TUITION PROVIDED BY THE CLAIMANT AT THE DEFENDANT'S REQUEST, FULL PARTICULARS WHEREOF HAVING BEEN SUPPLIED BY WAY OF CLAIMANT'S INVOICE DATED 29 APRIL 2016 TO 19 APRIL 2017 2. THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS THE FURTHER SUM OF £374.77 PURSUANT TO S.69 OF THE COUNTY COURTS ACT 1984 AT THE RATE OF 8.00% FROM THE DATE ON WHICH THE INVOICE(S) WERE DUE TO DATE. 3. THE CLAIMANT ALSO CLAIMS STATUTORY INTEREST AT THE ABOVE DAILY RATE OF £0.30 FROM THE DATE HEREOF TO PAYMENT OR JUDGMENT, WHICHEVER IS THE SOONER. 4. COSTS.

And when I look back at the emails I have from the university the cost for the course was £1370. So could I use this as my defence? That they are stating it is £1445?

Sorry if I seem stupid with this, when I was told I could set it aside because I never received the information I just went with that.

I’m not sure what you mean here. Your defence would be why you do not owe them money, you don’t seem yet to have said why you don’t owe it, so where are you going with this?

A small mistake such as this, or mis-spelling a name does not magically wipe a debt.

What will you say to the court as to why you did not owe money for the course that you signed up for?

Sdw1985 · 19 January 2020 at 9:02PM

The text I have pasted states that it is just for the course. It goes on to explain the other costs and I think the total amount is £2200. The invoice from April 2016 states £1370.

THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS £1445.00 IN RESPECT OF 1. UNIVERSITY TUITION PROVIDED BY THE CLAIMANT AT THE DEFENDANT'S REQUEST, FULL PARTICULARS WHEREOF HAVING BEEN SUPPLIED BY WAY OF CLAIMANT'S INVOICE DATED 29 APRIL 2016 TO 19 APRIL 2017

boo_star · 19 January 2020 at 10:13PM

Sdw1985 wrote: »

The text I have pasted states that it is just for the course. It goes on to explain the other costs and I think the total amount is £2200. The invoice from April 2016 states £1370.

THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS £1445.00 IN RESPECT OF 1. UNIVERSITY TUITION PROVIDED BY THE CLAIMANT AT THE DEFENDANT'S REQUEST, FULL PARTICULARS WHEREOF HAVING BEEN SUPPLIED BY WAY OF CLAIMANT'S INVOICE DATED 29 APRIL 2016 TO 19 APRIL 2017

It also says they're claiming statutory interest.

I think it's just poorly written to be honest, but even if they were claiming £1445 just for the tuition, that's not going to get the CCJ set aside, it'll just be amended.

ciderboy2009 · 19 January 2020 at 10:14PM

So you admit that you owe the £1370?

As everybody else is saying - nothing you've said is a valid defence.

When you moved did you let them know your new address? If not then they've done noting wrong by issuing the claim to your last known address.

The fact that you didn't have a placement isn't a defence because you told them that you had one lined up.

CCJ Set aside - tuition fees

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free