My son is 24 years old and is living at home.

He is not working or claiming and has nothing of any value.

His old mobile company has a CCJ against him and he has received a court letter today to say they are sending bailiffs in 5 days time.

I am really worried that they will try to take our things and I dont know how to stop them.

He really has nothing but his clothing.

He has a diagnosis of ADHD and Dyslexia and clearly has social anxiety issues.

He has a degree and worked for 18 months after finishing it but was so badly treated by his employer that he resigned,

sold anything of value and ran away to Asia for a few months.

When he came home, he didnt sign on as he couldnt honestly say he was looking for work.

I know how dramatic this sounds but he is terrified of going back into the workplace as he ended up bad at the hands of his past employer.

We have tried and tried to allay his fears and he isnt work shy but has a genuine mental illness.

We have finally got him to agree to try a part time job but he hasnt got one yet.

He has absolutely nothing, we are supporting him entirely and trying to help him psychologically .

Its really hard work and now this!

Can the bailiffs even come into our house when the debt is not ours at all.

He is now saying that he sees no option but to go homeless.

Obviously as his parents and as he is in such a vunerable position,

we would never throw him out but i dont want the bailiffs in my house.

What do I do?

Hi dx,

yes i have claimed off Natwest before.

What has happened this time is that a friend said she had got a cheque for miscalculated ppi redress

so I decided to ring Natwest and chance my luck .

I was told the redress from a couple of years ago had been calculated properly but...

I hadnt claimed on all the policies we had had with them.

One of these dates back to 1993!!!

The charging order is still on the house but the court also ordered the repayments set at £70 a month.

I just read the old thread and saw what it said about notified arrears.

Well, the payments for this order are up to date so there are no arrears.

Would this suggest they cant offset against this debt then?

Also, the question re our entitlement to the interest?

Thanks for your help

Hi all,

I know you must get asked this a million times

but i cant seem to find an answer though I am sure I have seen this before.

we have just had an offer of around 2k for PPI redress from Natwest

but because the policies were so old, a good half of this is the 8% interest.

We do have a large CCJ (8K) with Natwest

which is subject to a court ordered payment of £70PCM through Dryden Fairfax solicitors. I have 2 questions

1) Can the bank offset the returned premiums against the 8k

2) I read somewhere that the y had to pay the statutory interest direct to us

and couldnt offset that.

Am I right in thinking that?

I have a leaky roof and could really do with the money to sort it out.

Thanks

Thank you for this WindySock. Just typed up and will send off today. I have sent a cheque for the pro rata payment to them so the court can see I am trying to pay them just not the £25 they want. Again, thanks

I completed the claim form and sent them a copy of the budget and the next I heard was the Judgement after determination. Has a base been missed?

Marks and Spencer originally, then Cabot, then Restons.

I was paying through a DMP and then everything went wrong within our family - illness etc so couldnt afford the DMP.

Admit I buried my head in the sand a bit as i was overfaced and then they went for a CCJ.

I responded to the claim forms with an offer of payment as i had decided to face things head on

and the offer was pro rata working off the budget created with Stepchange.

Just received judgement with offer refused

Have still sent them the £5 regardless but what particularly niggles me is that all other creditors have agreed affordable repayments and most other debts exceed this one.

I recently completed claim forms re a debt being administered by Restons Solicitors for £770.

I am in the process of setting up a new DMP with Stepchange and working off the budget figures and our other creditors, I made an offer of £5 per month.

I received a judgment for claimant today saying the claimants have objected to the rate of payment

and the court have awarded them £25 per month.

I dont understand how they cant understand this is not possible for us atm.

We did provide the budget sheet for Restons to show the £5 offer was all we could afford.

What can I do now?

Can I go direct to the courts to ask for a redetermination or is there another option.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thank you

None receipt is not a defence as per my previous posts...its part way for a successful set a side...its the second part only you can decide on ...do you have a defence..or let me re phrase it...if you had received the court claim what would have been your defence?

 

As for payment....

 

" If you prefer not to challenge the judgment...then you need to consider payment...I assume the judgment is forthwith and so first you need to make application to vary this to monthly.This is done using form N245 again the fee is £55."

Ok, think I have got it now thanks.

Btw, I have also been reading about cca's.

Before I sort out payment amounts for the other creditors or even for this one, is it worth doing that.

Am I right in thinking that they cant take any further action whilst I CCA them.

Also, if they dont have the correct paperwork,

even with a judgement in default,

can they enforce anything.

This is all so confusing.

hen I can get my head clear with my route forward,

I will stop bombarding you guys with questions.

Like I said previously,

I really appreciate your help.

Hi Andy,

I do have a defence in that I didnt receive the claim form

but I figured from what I have read (and maybe misunderstood) that I wouldnt get too far with it as my address has been the same for so long.

I am probably frustrating the site team but I just dont understand what to do next

and of course have very little money to deal with it all.

Any advice is really appreciated.

Thank you for the reply.

Tbh,

that appears to be a problem as I guess even I would question the claim form going astray

and it is probably the most common defence.

Ok, so bearing that in mind and the likelihood that I cant submit a defence that would result in a set aside,

what other options do I have.

I am so confused!

I have the judgement sheet with the forthright payment.

Do you mean the claim form?

Just taken a look at the SAR link,

please excuse my ignorance but why would I need that?

What do I need to do re CCJ?

No, I havent moved at all in 20 years!

BH were aware of our address as were Marlin.

I have had some correspondence from Marlin and

I was aware we needed to restart our payments to them

(if you recall, we had a dmp which due to my daughters illness became impossible to keep to).

We are in the process of setting up a new dmp and I have listed the debt to BH on the initial paperwork.

There is no good reason for the court claim forms to have gone astray

but I do find it strange that the 'good' paperwork that Natwest sent to us recently was returned to them

as not known at this address when it did have the correct details on it.

We have in the past received correspondence for a street with a very similar name in our town

and we have gone and given it to the correct people

so that could be something

but the new correspondence from Natwest arrived safe and sound yesterday

even though it was addressed exactly the same as the first time they sent it.

I just know that the court are going to think 'oh yeah, that old chestnut' but it is true.

With regards to the debt and its escalation in value,

I still have the old dmp details from the last payment to BH and that balance is 2.5k less so that in itself is strange.

Is it possible to have the CCJ cancelled somehow on the basis that we couldnt defend it

and even if that isnt possible, can we get the balance looked at?

I havent a clue what steps to take next and although Step Change are being helpful iro setting up a new dmp,

they dont seem to understand the law and their advice is always different

dependent on whoever answers the phone.

My experience of CAG has always been much more positive

and you guys always seem to know what to do next.

Thanks for the help:-)

right so sold to marlins and they got a CCJ through? restons was it?

 

 

dx

Well,

the judgement gives the claimant as Marlin Europe II Limited

but the name and address for payment as Mortimer Clarke Solicitors Ltd.

Both in Worthing though.

Also,

this debt was standing at 5k when we last paid it but the judgement is for 7.7k.

Dont know how that works out though!!

The court costs are listed as £540.

What do I do next.

Tried a few times to contact Step Change for advice but its so difficult to get them

especially when I only have small pockets of time to do so when they are open

and tbh their advice often tends to conflict depending on who you speak to.

Trust this forum much more

sure it was black horse and not a DCA

sending papers to an old address

on purpose?

 

 

have you the CCJ number?

Yes or at least the single piece of paper has the claim number on it.

It looks official and I have seen these before unfortunately.

It has a solicitors name on it.

Marlin were dealing before and that is who Stepchange would have been dealing with.

What can I do now?

Plus, the amount is massively inflated by about 2k plus from what we knew we still owed them.

Any advice?

Hi all,

I am in the process of restarting my DMP with Stepchange

after not being able to pay it for quite a while due to the financial impact of my daughters ill health.

However,

I have come home today to a judgement in default for £7000 which is one of the creditors (Black Horse)

that Stepchange were going to be dealing with.

I did not receive any court papers at all and now dont know what to do about it.

Obviously it is a huge CCJ and they have demanded repayment in full which we could not do.

Strangely enough,

I also received a phonecall today from Natwest who are going to capitalise our mortage arrears

to say that they have received the unsigned paperwork back saying not known at this address.

The lady checked our address and it was absolutely correct so it resending that paperwork

I could probably show a court that I am not trying to pull a fast one by saying I hadnt received the paperwork.

What is my next step?

Can anyone advise?

Thanks Ell-enn,

I would really appreciate your help putting a letter together if thats ok.

I will also take a look at the budget sheet but

what do I do once i have filled it in so that I can print it off. Sorry, dont know my way round some computer stuff.

Update from today

- Rang and spoke to litigation team at Natwest,

explained tbe situation and

said I wished to make a formal complaint.

When we first started paying this arrangement,

we were told that after 6 months payments we could look a capitalisation.

They are now saying the arrangement was in place as part of a future capitalisation

process.

Not once did anyone say this to us, just that we could look at capitalisation if we wanted.

They also told me this morning that the department that has been handling our mortgage account (credit management services)

can only take a maximum of 24 payments.

Again, not once were we told this.

I asked the women why anyone would pay 23 months at a higher rate if they had any idea it would be a problem

and that it was their fault for ommiting all this extra info in the first place.

She was actually quite nice,

said she was refering it higher as a serious complaint and hopefully they would get back to us with an agreeable resolution.

She also said the account was on hold for a month whilst they looked at where things had gone wrong

and that if we werent happy with the resolution,

we could go to the FOS and the account would stay on hold whilst that was going through.

I said I wouldnt be happy until I had written confirmation that all further action had been cancelled.

At least we have a little more time to deal!

Ell-enn, do you think we have any real worries that we will get repossessed?

We were asked to use natwest paybycard which is actually through worldpay. It has worked payment wise just fine. I dont know what a banks interweb portal is. Going to ring them today and write aswell. I hae been given a lot of useful things to throw at them. Will let you guys know:wink:

I for one think you did the right and reasonable thing and so I THINK WILL A JUDGE!

Thank you for your support.

I am going to have to ring them tomorrow and have a word because I think they are completely out of order.

I have managed to mislay the 15 day letter somewhere in the house so need to get a copy as it had some income & expenditure paperwork with it.

Cant believe i have lost it.

Just flipped when it came through on Saturday and have obviously put it somewhere but where?

The house isnt even that untidy so i wouldnt find it.

Btw, although she is 22, my daughter who still lives at home has severe and enduring mental health problems

and we are fighting a PIP claim atm.

She is under the care of the hospital and acute mental health teams locally and is vulnerable.

Would I get anywhere with things if I told them there was a vunerable person in the house?

Thank you for the reply, I feel a little better now.

Things are exactly as I have put them.

I have been trying all morning to access my worldpay account to check exactly how long it has been since we started the agreement

but because I set it up so long ago, I cant remember the login details.

What I do know from my bank statements is that it has been at least from Jan 2013 without missing once.

There are 16 years to go and the arrears are 3.5k.

The term wasnt extended due to the capitalisation offer and was for a lower amount than we were paying by arrangement.

Not a great deal, in the region of £30 per month but my thought is that every little bit helps to make the arrears reduce.

One thing the guy on the other end said to me was that the present arrangement was made over the telephone

but I said that didnt matter as it was a verbal contract which we could prove we had adheared to.

I thought I was doing the right thing not going for the capitalisation.

I have just found a piece of paper where I was writing down the worldpay transaction numbers each month

as proof of payment and that suggests this arrangement started in September 2012

so by my reckoning we have paid 23 payments under this arrangement.

I dont know if they have applied a default and I wasnt told of any consequences of not agreeing to the capitalisation of arrears.

They just offered it as an option due to good account standing but I had no idea it would be a problem if I didnt do it.

Quite the opposite in my mind.

there is a chance they would get repossession then, dont think I can handle this!

My heart was actually having palpitations with the stress.

I dont really know.

It just seemed obvious to me that it would be preferential for us both the way it was as the arrears would be paid back quicker.

I hadnt thought about them getting more profit if it carried on longer. Maybe they were looking for this!

Do you think a judge would go in their favour in this situation.

I am scared stupid now.

I havent been able to sleep since the letter for worrying but then I tell myself that a judge surely

wouldnt as it is quite clear we havent defaulted on this arrangement.

What do you think?

It is Natwest and I am not sure about the terms of capitilisation deal as I didnt keep the paperwork.

I saw that we would be paying less and naively thought it better to keep plugging away at the higher amount.

I didnt say we would capitalise, just got the figures when it was offered.

If they want us to to this we would.

I just cant believe we are in this position having not missed a single payment in at least 18 mnths.

( My online banking with RBS only lets me go that far back).

Why would they do this?

A number of years ago due to stupid budgeting decisions, we got into arrears on our mortgage.

These arrears stand at 3.5k.

However, we made an arrangement to pay the contractual mortgage payment plus a little off the arrears each month.

I admit that since this time, we had a 1 month hiccup where i paid accidently 1 pound less than they wanted

and they saw it as breaching the arrangement.

However, they put a new arrangement in place and it has been paid religiously for at least 18 months.

At the end of last year they sent us a letter to say that due to the good order of the arrangement, we could capitalise the arrears.

I requested the paperwork but

when it came, the payment was going to be 30 pound less than we were paying on the arrangement

i thought we would be better sticking to the arrangement, thinking this would be better for us and them.

I didnt realise until 2 days ago that not going ahead with the captilisation was a problem.

The arrangement is paid through worldpay and never missed.

Fast forward to this Saturday and

we receive out of the blue a letter - 15 day notice of posession proceedings!!

I immediately rang them and got a guy who said it was due to not going ahead with the capitalisation.

I said but thats mad as we continued paying the higher amount as it would pay the arrears quicker.

I also reminded him that we had not broken the arrangement to pay which he could clearly see.

How can they penalise us like this?

I could understand if we werent paying but we are and above the contractual amount.

He says i have to send in income and expenditure details and they will take a look.

I admit, I got a bit frustrated and said if they took it to court, I dont see how a judge would rule against us

as we have kept to the arrangement.

Can they do this and what can we do to stop them.

I am so worried, surely a judge would not let them repossess.

Any thoughts!

In slightly more detail I completely agree!

 

Oh dear this sounds awful, and as with all such problems, what are you (or your daughter) prepared to do? You don't say how long she has been working there, but:-

 

1. Your daughter is entitled to be paid at least the NMW for her age for every hour that she is required to be on the premises, so for the hours between 10 and 5 (less any break time) she must be paid.

2. A zero hours contract means very little and certainly does not get around Point 1. All a ZHC means is that there is no obligation on either side either to offer work, or where it is offered, for it to be accepted. These sorts of practices are precisely why the issue of ZHCs needs legislation to protect workers

3. A ZHC contract DOES mean that she is employed so long as the relationship is not on a self-employed basis, so if the employer provides payslips and makes deductions (although at those rates she will not be meeting tax thresholds) then she will be 'employed' (and certain other tell tale factors which are easily established). Your daughter will also be entitled to accrued holiday for all hours worked

4. Your daughter must not claim Jobseekers or any other benefit on the basis that she is not employed - she should discuss the nature of her employment, earnings and leave it to the JC as to whether she is entitled to any particular benefit. It will be your daughter and not the employer who gets clobbered for fraud!

5. the fact that no NI or tax details have been taken suggests that your daughter is working 'off the books' and once again SHE will be liable as and when HMRC find out - which they will if there is a significant gap in employment for example.

 

As to how to fix it - the hard part and where the question of how ruthless you want to be.

 

Firstly, get another job lined up - easy to say I know, but this WILL end in tears! Then:-

 

1. Tell the JC what the employer said about still signing on.

2. Tell HMRC that the employer seems to be employing your daughter off the books, she feels uncomfortable and is worried that she has not been asked for her tax details etc and you want to clarify the situation and pay any tax that may be due

3. Contact the Pay & Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368 - you will be able to reclaim what should have been paid if it is established that the employer has broken the law - there is more guidance here https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage/what-is-the-minimum-wage

 

The employer could be looking at a criminal investigation - and almost certainly a significant cost to put things right

 

As for sick pay, there is no automatic entitlement - I doubt whether the employer has contractual sick pay, so it would be down to SSP. There are qualifying periods and eligibility criteria and it may be that the (falsely calculated) earnings would bar your daughter from being paid this, however it will almost certainly also be the case that this employer would be worried that the issue of SSP could uncover the apparent lack of proper payroll and tax records for the staff working there, hence the outburst.

 

Without wishing to appear rude, it would also be useful for your daughter to ask for advice herself if possible (notwithstanding the dyslexia) rather than relaying it all through mum. On that point, although there were clearly good reasons which the employer should have considered as to why mum was contacting them over reporting sick, I would agree that at 22 it would be unusual to be dealing with a parent on that matter.

Hi and thanks for the advice. Just to clarify, I do try to encourage my daughter to deal with things herself but (probably due to her dyslexia) she does find it very difficult to deal with official paperwork and legal stuff. I only rang through because she was unable to do so but the owners reaction appeared to me one of panic because she realised I had sussed out what she is up to. My daughter worked 70 hours over a fortnight and was paid just short of £150 for 'treatment hours'. She doesnt get a payslip or anything. Just an envelope with no of treatment hours on the front and the money. She is actually one of the very few trained beauty therapist in there. The staff turnover is a joke because as soon as anyone queries anything they are 'let go'. I have a colleague who works for young persons connexions and she was aware my daughter was unhappy in her old job and that this salon owner was persuading her to move but advised her against it. However, my daughter thought things couldnt be as bad as working for someone who took every opportunity to put her down for her dyslexia. My daughter actually has the equivalent of 6 grade A A levels as she got triple distinctions in both her BTEC courses. She worked incredibly hard to achieve those grades but this 'supermedicine' boss just kept saying how the hell did you manage that and if she made an error, would say to customers 'bless her, she is dyslexic', I will deal with you.

I agree that we need to help her find something else and I am going to encourage her to contact the relevant bodies to sort this 'lady' out.

The other girls are doing similar hours, doing treatments they arent qualified to do and told to sign on aswell as the owner says they arent employed because they are on a zero hours contracts. They are often very young and gullible and the owner is very convincing.