CCJ Set Aside application

GM1880 · 3 October 2017 at 10:01PM

Good evening all,

I was keen to pick your brains on this matter as i’m A little out of my depth and there don’t seem to be many comparable cases I can see online.

Many years ago I opened a current account and a credit card with the same Bank. I still use their current account to date. I started to be really stretched financially in 2008ish and missed a few payments here and there then got to the point where I was struggling to stay out of debt and buried my head in the sand. Quite honestly I was hoping it’d go away. Utterly foolish I appreciate. In 2011 I moved house and went into the bank to update my details, on viewing the screen with my accounts the credit card was listed as ‘closed’, again, perhaps naively I thought the debt may have been statute barred.

I had moved house 3 times since and religiously updated addresses with the Bank. Financially I have been infinitely more responsible since.

In late 2016 I received a letter forwarded from my previous address about this credit card debt. About £4.5k. I immediately ran every credit report I could to see what was going on. In short it appears the credit card account was defaulted in 2011 and soon after the debt was passed onto a debt collector, then a CCJ issued against me in 2015 by this debt collector.

The day after receiving this letter I called the debt collectors and paid a lump off and agreed a schedule to pay off the debt in the coming 18 months. The default was due to drop off my credit file in September 2017 which it now has, but the CCJ will be on there now until 2021.

Naturally I’m keen to find any way I can remove this so I can think about buying a house etc. I’ve currently debt free bar £1600 remaining of this debt and I’ve been paying £200 a month religiously to clear this down.

I’ve discovered though that this CCJ was issued to an old address and I can prove it. As mentioned I religiously updated my Bank (which according to their Ts&Cs automatically updated other accounts held with them too) with address changes. I’ve a letter now from the Bank confirming dates I updated them with address changes. They sold the debt after I updated them of an address change. Yet the CCJ from the debt collectors and any other correspondence went to the previous address.

I’ve spoken/written many times to the debt collectors and in light of my willingness and actions to pay this off in full to the last penny I’ve asked them to set aside the CCJ by consent. The crucial fact is that they had sent the chasers and the CCJ to an old address despite the original debtor having been notified of address changes including up until the point they sold the debt. This I believe is a just reason for a set aside given I can prove they ought to have had my correct address.

I’m not disputing the debt, in fact I’ve said to them if they are willing to set it aside by consent then I’ll immediately pay the final £1600. But they are not willing to do so and maintain the CCJ should stand based on them sending so many letters (even though they were never to my up to date address). My point being that by it going to an incorrect address I was not aware of the CCJ and so had no chance to defend myself or avoid a black mark on by credit filed or a further 6 years (a total of 10 years after the default) by paying the debt within 30 days of the court ruling.

I’m now going to apply directly to the court without the debt collector’s consent, but would welcome any advice or views on it being successful.

fatbelly · 3 October 2017 at 10:47PM

In order to set aside you need

a reason why you did not defend the claim
a defence with a real prospect of success
to act promptly

I think you'll struggle without claimant consent

National_Debtline · 4 October 2017 at 10:10AM

Hi GM1880

Welcome to the forum. I agree with fatbelly, unfortunately your chances of a set aside may be slim. If you can prove that the debt collection agency (DCA) sent the court papers to the wrong address that would go in your favour. On the other hand you have known about the CCJ for quite some time and it may be difficult to argue you have dealt with this promptly.

You'd certainly need to have solid proof that you had updated the bank of your new address before they sold it to the DCA. You could make a subject access request to get this information from the bank but you may be charged a £10 fee for doing so. The set aside application is also expensive (£255) and you could be at risk of incurring costs if you are unsuccessful.

If you could persuade the DCA to agree to the set aside that would improve your chances but they may continue to refuse to do so.

Susie
@natdebtline

GM1880 · 4 October 2017 at 10:39AM

Thank you for your input, appreciate the comments, though hoping for better news.

There's no doubt I can prove that the original creditor had my correct address prior to the point they sold the debt to the DCA.

I was also hoping that now the original default has dropped off my Credit File I may be in a stronger position to negotiate with the DCA? There's still £1600 owing (which I'm more than happy to pay, it's already scheduled with them, but now the default has dropped off if I offered to pay it off in a lump right away in exchange for them agreeing to set aside the CCJ I hope they will reconsider. It's a win win I'd have thought for both parties. They get the settlement in full and earlier than scheduled and I get something like a normal credit file again.

The main point being given an error from the original creditor/DCA I didn't have an opportunity to avoid the CCJ when the initial judgment was made.

StopIt · 4 October 2017 at 11:49AM

GM1880 wrote: »

Thank you for your input, appreciate the comments, though hoping for better news.

There's no doubt I can prove that the original creditor had my correct address prior to the point they sold the debt to the DCA.

I was also hoping that now the original default has dropped off my Credit File I may be in a stronger position to negotiate with the DCA? There's still £1600 owing (which I'm more than happy to pay, it's already scheduled with them, but now the default has dropped off if I offered to pay it off in a lump right away in exchange for them agreeing to set aside the CCJ I hope they will reconsider. It's a win win I'd have thought for both parties. They get the settlement in full and earlier than scheduled and I get something like a normal credit file again.

The main point being given an error from the original creditor/DCA I didn't have an opportunity to avoid the CCJ when the initial judgment was made.

As stated above, you also need a defence against the CCJ for a set aside application.

It's frustrating that you didn't get to sort this out before, but the DCA doesn't need to agree to a set aside to ask for the money, that's the point of the CCJ.

If you have no defence, other than not being informed of the court claim, they wont be agreeing to set aside in exchange for payment. If the DCA was given this address, then they can say they acted in good faith also. If the Original Creditor sold the debt on before you gave them the new address, they were no longer responsible for it, so would have not passed the address on.

The default being off your credit file has no bearing on any enforceability, a common misconception based on the Statute Bar under the limitations act being 6 years, along with the same 6 years between any accounts closing and leaving your credit files.

GM1880 · 4 October 2017 at 12:15PM

StopIt wrote: »

If the Original Creditor sold the debt on before you gave them the new address, they were no longer responsible for it, so would have not passed the address on.

According to the reports from the three CRA the original default date to the bank was 30/11/2011.

I updated my address with the bank for all my accounts with them when I moved house on 6th October 2014. The bank have confirmed this to me over the phone and now in writing.

This appears satisfied on my credit report with the bank and the debt assigned to the CRA on 1st November 2014 (please note, after notifying the bank of my change of address.)

Oddly the notification of a CCJ was sent to an even older address which I moved out of and the bank have confirmed I notified them of having moved out of this address in September 2013!

I'm sure they didn't do anything untoward, but surely as they ought to have had the correct address the papers were not served correctly?

I'm not even considering not paying the outstanding amount, but offering to pay it in one lump now rather than the £200 a month that's been agreed.

StopIt · 4 October 2017 at 12:58PM

They likely sold it before that date. Before the September 2013 date also.

These debts get sold in batches, so a DCA would have only registered the debt as theirs once they got round to looking at your file.

In that case, neither the OC or DCA have done anything wrong and you wont get a set aside on this basis.

GM1880 · 4 October 2017 at 1:07PM

StopIt wrote: »

They likely sold it before that date. Before the September 2013 date also.

These debts get sold in batches, so a DCA would have only registered the debt as theirs once they got round to looking at your file.

In that case, neither the OC or DCA have done anything wrong and you wont get a set aside on this basis.

I see, that's interesting. Though If I hadn't had any correspondence from the DCA to let me know they had taken on the debt how can I update them of my change in address? Though that does mean unless I can prove they had the correct address when it was sold to them (which may be a struggle) then I cannot prove they didn't have the up to date address.

Certainly very murky and understandable it would be difficult to have it set aside without consent as some of you have suggested. I think the most likely solution is to try to negotiate/plead with the DCA. Though presumably they wouldn't want to set it aside because it may reflect badly on them even if they wanted to.

Hmmm

StopIt · 4 October 2017 at 2:25PM

Yeah, not an easy one this.

It's always worth asking them just what wiggle room you can get out of this, considering you do want to settle this.

GM1880 · 4 October 2017 at 2:33PM

StopIt wrote: »

Yeah, not an easy one this.

It's always worth asking them just what wiggle room you can get out of this, considering you do want to settle this.

That's the thing, though it's late in the day I'm not hiding from my responsibilities, I actively want to pay every last penny I owe, not once have I suggested a part settlement. I genuinely had no idea I was being CCJed and though a default is understandable for 6 years, to have a CCJ on file for over 10 years from the original default date it pretty tough given absolute willingness to pay up and without knowing I was being served a CCJ (whether I can prove that is tough too thought).

GM1880 · 13 November 2017 at 3:06PM

Just a little update on this, I'm perhaps less in need of getting the CCJ removed, I've got a decent credit card now which I needed for hire car/travel etc, not because I need the funds and it appears that if I want to get mortgage, with a 3 year old+ CCJ and one 4 year old default it's not too much of an issue with a decent deposit. Albeit I'll be paying a slightly higher interest rate.

So, going at this issue with a slightly different approach and focusing on having it set aside by consent. There are a number of discrepancies with the DCA's correspondence to me since the original post. They said they checked the electoral role which confirmed just before the CCJ was issued that I was at a given address and so sent the CCJ there. This is simply untrue and I've sent back confirmation from all the CRA that my name was on the electoral role at my new address almost 6 months before they issued the CCJ. This alongside the letter from the bank confirming dates I told them of my house moves I'm hoping will mean they are more amenable to a set aside by consent.

CCJ Set Aside application

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