Thread: Help needed ... Im in a mess

I know I've posted before but cant find it .. anyway ..

In three months I will be heading back to the UK from the US. It's 6 years today that I left the UK.

In 2002 I was served with a county court judgment, I accepted this and paid the 100 pounds a month. I sold my house, moved in with my parents and stayed with them for 18 months before leaving the UK. I continued to pay the 100 pounds up until the end of December 2003.

There were other debts that were also left behind - but I can't even remember know the amounts or to who I even owed.

Last year, via the Trust Registry, I could see that I have two County Court Judgements. One for 7,000 and one for 2,700.

The 7,000 judgement I'm pretty sure was originally for around 5,000 - so I'm assuming they've added interest to the oringal judgment?

As for the other one, well like I said, I left behind a few debts so at this moment I don;'t know what it is for.

There's no way Im going to be able to come up with the money to pay these off. What's the worse thing that could happen when I get back? I wont have property, assets, job - I'll have nothing. I'll be living with family

I want to check my credit report but can I do that if I'm not in the country? My last address shown on there should be the one I had in 2002. And if I can check it, wouldn't that alert everyone to my whereabouts?

I just don't know where to start with all of this mess!! On top of all of this, child benefit is still being paid into my account back there, a basic Nationwide account. I've written to them telling them not to pay it in any more but to no avail. I'm arranging now for them to have full repayment and will then close this account. (At least they wont be able to pay anymore in). I haven't been too worried about this because I know it's still all there for them to have it back.

My main concerns are about the county court judgments ... I just can't pay those!! Does anyone have any advice??

CCJs do not become statute barred after 6 years unlike other debts. If you check your credit report then yes more than likely a DCA will probably start sending you demands for repayment.

I do believe though that as the CCJs are so old I think that the original creditor would need to take you back to court first to obtain an enforcement order.

I do believe though that as the CCJs are so old I think that the original creditor would need to take you back to court first to obtain an enforcement order.[/quote]


Thanks for your reply - The thing is though, that even though I ended up with the CCJ in 2002 - when I checked the Trust Registry last year it showed a date of 2007. Does anyone know why this is? Surely I can't be issued two CCJ's for the same thing, with different dates?

I dont have any of the paperwork anymore .. I think the original creditor was Abbey ...

Originally Posted by wino

CCJs do not become statute barred after 6 years unlike other debts. If you check your credit report then yes more than likely a DCA will probably start sending you demands for repayment.

I do believe though that as the CCJs are so old I think that the original creditor would need to take you back to court first to obtain an enforcement order.

Well dont think I'll check my credit report - I'm dying to see what's on there but wont bother for now.

What about CCJ's being still on a credit report though? Do they fall off after 6 years (even though they're not statute barred?). Thing is, the original date was 2002 - would that now appear as 2007 in my credit report?

I'm getting very anxious about the whole mess now - we'll be back in the UK in just over 7 weeks. Can anyone offer any advice? thoughts?

I'm not sure about CCJ's (never had one), but I have had defaults in the past. I believe defaults drop off 6 years after they are last updated. Mine dropped off 6 years after being issued as nobody updated them. I believe CCJ's can drop off your file in the same way, but are still searchable via the courts (I think, I'm no expert).

As for receiving two CCJ's for the same thing - could it be that you had a bank account with Abbey and a loan/credit card with Abbey? I had a bank account and loan with the same bank, and my overdraft was clear. Despite ringing and writing to the bank to say I couldn't keep up the full repayments, they still continued to debit my bank account running up an overdraft. They eventually issued two defaults - one for the loan, and one for the overdraft they'd ran up themselves. I eventually (after numerous letters to about 4 different managers) got a sympathetic response from the bank and they agreed to remove the default for the overdraft.

If you had numerous other debts in the past which aren't on your file, I'd be wary of scavengers. What you might find is that clowns like Global Debt Recovery Ltd and Capquest might have bought some of the debt that is no longer on your credit file (they buy this debt for peanuts as the banks have long given up on getting paid) and will attempt to collect by sending all sorts of nonsense letters, pressurising phone calls etc. If it's over 6 years since you acknowledged any of these other debts, they'll be statute barred and they can't legally collect - not unless you acknowledge the debt in anyway - so be on your toes if anyone rings and don't acknowledge any of your other debts.

I wouldn't be so worried if you ever have to go back to court though (assuming you didn't attend the first time). From experience of sitting in on a relatives bankrupty, they're not like you'd expect. They're not like the criminal courts (which some creditors would make you believe so as to scare the crap out of you). It's basically a nice comfy room with a big mahogany desk, and some 'The Matrix' style leather chairs. The judge is polite and is usually very much on the side of the debtor and their struggle.

CCJ's will affect your credit sure, but if you can live in the black with cash it's not as bad as it used to be. I remember having to leave a watch as security at a garage when they wouldn't accept my Solo card some years ago (a Solo debit card being the only one I could get with defaults). These days you can get pre-paid Mastercards so you're not carrying cash around with you everywhere.

Seriously I wouldn't worry too much, just take it step by step and read as much of the stuff on here that you can.

As for receiving two CCJ's for the same thing - could it be that you had a bank account with Abbey and a loan/credit card with Abbey? I had a bank account and loan with the same bank, and my overdraft was clear. Despite ringing and writing to the bank to say I couldn't keep up the full repayments, they still continued to debit my bank account running up an overdraft. They eventually issued two defaults - one for the loan, and one for the overdraft they'd ran up themselves. I eventually (after numerous letters to about 4 different managers) got a sympathetic response from the bank and they agreed to remove the default for the overdraft.

Thanks for reply Alan. Im just so confused though ... I know I had a CCJ in 2002. I remember receiving the papers from the Court and to be honest with you, at that time I was fightened to death of anything to do with bad debt and being taken to Court so just signed whatever I signed (cant even remember what it was now). Stupid thing is, Id been paying 100 per month anyway and then I was ordered under the CCJ to pay the same amount of 100!! When I checked the Trust Registry the date of judgment was 2007. The question that's driving me nuts is 'Once a judgment has been entered - can the date be changed to further down the line?'

As far as the other judgment is concerned - that must have been done in my absence.

If you had numerous other debts in the past which aren't on your file, I'd be wary of scavengers. What you might find is that clowns like Global Debt Recovery Ltd and Capquest might have bought some of the debt that is no longer on your credit file (they buy this debt for peanuts as the banks have long given up on getting paid) and will attempt to collect by sending all sorts of nonsense letters, pressurising phone calls etc. If it's over 6 years since you acknowledged any of these other debts, they'll be statute barred and they can't legally collect - not unless you acknowledge the debt in anyway - so be on your toes if anyone rings and don't acknowledge any of your other debts.

I wouldn't be so worried if you ever have to go back to court though (assuming you didn't attend the first time).

Ive never been to Court for debts. What happens though if with unpaid CCJ's??

From experience of sitting in on a relatives bankrupty, they're not like you'd expect. They're not like the criminal courts (which some creditors would make you believe so as to scare the crap out of you). It's basically a nice comfy room with a big mahogany desk, and some 'The Matrix' style leather chairs. The judge is polite and is usually very much on the side of the debtor and their struggle.

CCJ's will affect your credit sure, but if you can live in the black with cash it's not as bad as it used to be. I remember having to leave a watch as security at a garage when they wouldn't accept my Solo card some years ago (a Solo debit card being the only one I could get with defaults). These days you can get pre-paid Mastercards so you're not carrying cash around with you everywhere.

Another difficulty is that having been away for over 6 years - I don[t even know if Id get a bank account. From my understanding its hard enough anyway after been away so long - and thats without having left behind bad credit. My name has changed but surely Id have to give prevous names ...

Seriously I wouldn't worry too much, just take it step by step and read as much of the stuff on here that you can.[/quote]

Originally Posted by wino

CCJs do not become statute barred after 6 years unlike other debts. If you check your credit report then yes more than likely a DCA will probably start sending you demands for repayment.

I do believe though that as the CCJs are so old I think that the original creditor would need to take you back to court first to obtain an enforcement order.

It sounds to me like the CCJs were issued by default i.e. you were out of the country and they sent the notice to your old address, thereby winning by default. This happened to me.

Once I realised, I had the CCJ set aside and the creditor lost interest and disappeared.

Perhaps you could do this before you come back to the UK

Otherwise with an outstanding CCJ or two, they may trace you and start to try and take money from you.

Also, once you dispute the account, it is is in dispute and they should not send it to a DCA either.

Well things have moved on a bit since I last posted. I'm now back in the UK and living with family. My intention was, or at least I'd hoped, to work for the next year, save as much as I could to pay off the CCJ's .. however having been back in the country now for just over a month I've come up against a problem:

When I left the UK in 2004 I kept open a Nationwide account (under my previous name). So, after temping last week, I tried to get the agency to pay in my wage direct to that account. They tried to pay it electronically but had my new name on the paperwork. The nationwide wouldn't accept the payment as the name is different. The agency have told me that I'll have to change the name on the account to my present name. I dont really want to do that as Im nervous about debt collectors tracing me. Does anyone have any advice??

Is here any bank etc that I could open in my new name without them doing a credit check?? I checked the nationwide online system and apparently from what I could see if I change my name they MAY do a credit check on me ...

I dont know what's on my credit report - too nervous of opening a can of worms still.

I dont know where to start, what to do ... and am beginning to wonder now whether we should have just stayed in the US.

The Halifax have an account called easy cash. Lots of people who have really bad credit rating have got this account. There is a visa electron card (debit card) and you can set up direct debits and standing orders from it as well. You can only spend what availiable funds you have in the account. There is no overdraft facility.

I don't think they do a credit check on you but they will do an identity check.

Have You Tried Taking Out One Of The Pre-paid Credit Cards

They Will Accept Payment Of Your Wages Into It But Watch Out For The Fees To Use The Card

Some Are Right Sharks

I Believe The o2 Debit Card Is Not Bad But Do Your Home Work

Thankyou both for your replies. I actually went online earlier to try and open a Halifax account. I think it may have been the easy cash one that Wino mentioned - the online application didnt ask for previous addresses or names - just asked for my present address. I have to take in forms of id - so Im thinking of my passport - I dont have much else to take apart from my USA drivers licence. Anyway we'll see what happens when I call in to see them.