ccj

[AB7113]

I have been paying my debts off through a debt management company as I got into a bit of financial difficulty during uni. I recently cancelled this management programme as I felt my debts were more manageable, and received a letter from one of my creditors (a store card) saying that I had a CCJ against me and had failed to keep up with the repayments as instructed by the court. This was the 1st I had heard of it and the debt management company also denied knowledge of it, although all of my correspondence goes through them. I can only assume that when I moved house a while ago they never received the letter with the new details and the letters have been going to my old house. Obviously I am angry and upset about this, as had I have known I could have sorted something out before it got this far. I am also slightly bemused as the creditors have been accepting a regular monthly payment. Does anybody have any advice about this?

[AB7113]

....Any chance i could contest this? I have left it in the hands of the debt management company but am now wondering if thats the best decision. What would people recommend?Thanks!

[themas]

There's something a bit odd here. If a CCJ had been obtained without any financial information from you being provided to the Court then it would almost certainly be an order to pay the whole debt forthwith. But you say the creditor has told you that you have not been keeping up with the payments instructed by the Court, which implies the Court did have your financial details.

Get a copy of the CCJ - from the creditor or the central registry of CCJs (look at Court Service site). If you genuinely cannot afford the monthly payment it states you can apply back to the Court for a variation.

Despite their denial its possible the debt management company was involved. If you need a DMC again, use a free one - Payplan or CCCS, or a CAB.

[themas]

Have only just seen your supplementary. You could ask the Court to set aside the judgement but I think it unlikely this would succeed because you would have to show that the outcome would very likely have been different had you known about the proceedings. As the creditor was entitled to take you to Court and you do owe the money this is almost certainly not the case.

If I were you I would not leave this with the DMC. At present you are open to the creditor going for enforcement action - which could mean bailiffs. You need urgently to find out the exact obligation the CCJ imposes on you and meet it (including paying any arrears) and go on meeting it. If you can't, you need to apply for a variation. Once you have the CCJ details you also must tell the creditor (or his solicitor if one is named on the papers) and the Court your present address and ask for all future correspondence to come to you.

[AB7113]

Thanks for your help. I think I will cancel my program with the DMC and sort it out myself, with whats already happened I think thats the safest option. I think if I had known about it I could have scraped the money together to have paid it within 30 days which I think means the CCJ doesnt appear on the credit score? Do you think there would be any chance of leniency if I explained the situation?

[themas]

I don't think there is anything you can do to stop it appearing on the Credit Ref. Agency records. But if you do pay it off in full the records should then be noted by the creditor that the debt is satisfied. You would need to get all three records about 2 months after you pay in full to make sure this has been done.

I suggest you should do your best to find out how this has happened. If the DMC is repsonsible you should make a formal complaint.

[noxlumos]

If you can afford to pay however much you owe them off in one go, then apply to the county court for a set aside of judgement. Explain the situation to the court and that you are ( and were at the time) able to pay off the whole amount and they will delete your CCJ so that it does not show up on a search.You might then have to contact Experian etc to get them to amend your details, but it's well worth doing as it gives you a clean bill of health next time you are searched.

[themas]

As well as the debt, you have to pay off the Court costs & fees the creditor incurred. From what you say the DMC told you they had an agreement with this creditor for you to pay �x per month and you were paying that. The creditor should not have gone to Court if the agreement was being kept to. This implies that the DMC either mislead you and did not have an agreement, or they delayed sending your payments through to the creditor. If this is the case you could make a claim against the DMC for the Court costs etc., and possibly for some compensation.

[AB7113]

Just wanted some more advice! As I said I have ditched the debt management company and have been in touch with the solicitors to arrange to pay off the debt in full. The woman at the solicitors told me that often when peoples debts are managed by DMCs the repayment scheme is not accepted but they don't tell you cos they want to make more money out of you. Does this mean I've been really naieve or have I got cause to complain to the DMC? Thanks for all your advice!

[themas]

No you haven't been naive - just accepted what you were told, as you ought to be able to. Look at the contract or whatever document you signed with the DMC to see what it says about their obligations.

Go to Office of Fair Trading site - www.oft.gov.uk/Business/licence/publications.htm There is a booklet "Debt Management Guidance". Download and read it. See whether the DMC actually did what it says they should have done (particularly in keeping you informed of what was happening).

Ring the Financial Services Authority Advice line 0845 606 1234 and ask whether they (or anyone else) can accept complaints about DMCs. (If they can, you can tell the DMC you will refer them unless they deal with your complaint satisfactorily.)

When you've done all this, if you consider DMC to be at fault, write a complaint letter to them, including asking for the Court costs you have had to pay.

If they don't respond and you can't go to FSA, the only way of proceeding is to issue a Court claim against them. Your chances of succeeding with this depend on the assessment by the Court of all the evidence.