Well B*gger me! I asked this question 5 years ago and was told to sit tight.

I'll do this again I think. Although, if things have changed I would still appreciate some advice.

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice in respect of a CCJ that came to light a little while back. First, if I may give a little potted history of this situation:

2010/11 Letters from DLC saying that a CC debt was owed. Asked for evidence as was surprised by this. Nothing was forth coming.

2012/12 Letter from DLC saying that there was a CCJ and that they must be contacted with in 14 days with an offer. Rang Northampton and was told that the CCJ was a week (might have been 2 weeks) from being 6 years old.

2018/08 Letter from Mortimore Clarke saying the MEIII had been assigned the debt and that they had "been told of the CCJ".

2018/09 Two letters 14 days apart saying that MCS should be contacted to arrange payment, otherwise options like charging orders would be considered.

So, my question is: how do should the problem be approached?

The CCJ is nearly 12 years old. There have only been a few letters (as listed above), so how does this stand? Are the letters attempted enforcement? What is the likelihood of MCS achieving anything?

EDIT: Additional info. We have moved 3 times since the events started - 2011 / 2013 / 2017. We have always been on the electoral register. We were renting until 2017, when we bought a house.

Thanks in advance

My understanding is anyone can go to the local library and consult the Register. The "edited" register is sold to all and sundry and you have to opt out of that one. From your letter it would appear that the council have provided the details to a company to follow up from the details that they held. So it may not necessarily have come from the Electoral Register.

I'm not jumping to any conclusions but regardless of whether this letter is for you or not if a council is pursuing something then it is extremely sensible to get onto to it and sort it out. Councils do very readily go down the court route and bailiff route if they are ignored. It would be terrible if bailiffs were involved for no reason.

Cheers!

Good luck with your choice of paths Brig. As with your good advice, I'm sure you have given it good and serious thought. Best Wishes - and thanks

Subbing because if interest....sorry I can't help

A Letter before Action (LBA) is the letter telling you that they are taking you to court. However, this must not be confused with any letter saying that "they may take you to court" or "may consider taking you to court" or "may think about taking you to court" or "suggest to their client that they take you to court".

Basically the Statue Barred "clock" started ticking when the next payment was due on the account but wasn't made. So if you paid in April 2007, but not in May 2007 then the clock starts from May 2007.

DCA's will try to confuse the issue, and mislead you - so take heed of the site team here. They will give you the straightest and most accurate advice.

Having written a strongly worded sod off letter to them they have written back telling me the account is closed (it was adapted from one of Brig's)

Whoop!

Ah, ok - thanks again Brigadier.

Hello folks,

262 days since their last letter I have received a new one from DLC, heralding the advent of silly season.

This letter is a fun one - "you owe us 10.5K, so pay us £5/month alternatively we will settle for 2.6K - if you don't, we might think about doing some stuff!"

Can any one provide an address for the Compliance Manager of DLC please? I need to tell them that I have not had any dealings with them or their client and have bank statements going back 7.5 years to prove it (he he) - so any alleged debt is completely and utterly SB. Just in case any one asks there is nothing on my credit report and nothing on Trust Online - I am, mostly, a good boy.

Cheers

My thanks to all involved in the discussion. Unfortunately I'm not sure if I'm any the wiser.

Should I respond to the letter from Hapless? Or should I sit tight and hope that a warrant will not be issued?

Thanks

Hi. The debt was a cc debt defaulted in around March 2006. It looks like it was sold to Hilly some time in 2006 and it appears that they obtained a judgment end of December 2006 against me. All of this was unknown to me due to the fact I had moved and the redirection did not have any of letters relating to this forwarded to me.

There have been a few (four) letters since about November 2010. Mostly "give us money""why? Who are you?" "You owe money because we say so" "Prove it please" And then nothing until December last year "contact us and pay" then this one. So not really much effort to get me to pay.

The court told me that the ccj expired at the end of December 2012 and that it was in favour of hilly. Trust shows nothing.

I suppose my question is what can they realistically do?

So is it a case of sit tight and see what happen?

I thought that there was a limitation.......

Section 24 of the Limitations Act 1980....

(1) An action shall not be brought upon any judgement after the expiration of six years from the date on which the judgement became enforceable.

(2) No arrears of interest in respect of any judgement debt shall be recovered after the expiration of six years from the date on which the interest became due.

I was wondering if the site felt that this no longer applies because things have changed?

Would that be a special kind of application or would it be covered by the "warrant of execution"?

Hi Folks,

I have received a letters from Hapless Solicitors in Banbury. about a Court Claim.

The last time I heard about this claim was just after Christmas with a letter from DLC dated 24-12-12.

The Claim according to the Court expired on January 3rd 2013.

This letter from Hapless ways that they are "about to issue a Warrant of Execution against you",

"this will incur additional fees and costs blah blah", "

unless you pay the amount of the Warrant the Court Bailiff will call at your address with a view to taking an inventory

and levying goods belonging to you" blah blah blah "if you wish to avoid this you must contact DLC etc etc".

To me this looks just like a frightener,

I am aware of the Limitations on CCJs but would like some reassurance, advice and perhaps a slap-in-the-face-with-a-wet-fish letter (a Brig special?)

The scanner is out of action at the moment so any need for the full letter will mean I will have to type it.....

Thanks in advance.

Another thing to consider:

What email service was he using? From the sounds of it he was using something like Outlook to download the emails from a server somewhere. They might still be on the server. For example if he was using BT then he could log into the btyahoo site and check his emails (they might be in the deleted folder - depending on his email client settings).

A quick read of the proposal suggests that such a charging order would only be ordered after a CCJ had been issued for the repayment and had not been able to be enforced. It appears that this is a last straw sort of action.

The surprisingly low level of £1000 appears to have been proposed to avoid the situation where a charging order could only be gained for amounts over £25,000 would have forced bankruptcy proceedings for amounts less than that.

As worrying as it seems it looks like the proposal is there to protect people in trouble.

That is if I have read it properly.

They shouldn't but they might. It has been known. If it does happen come back here and the Site Team will advise on the best way of stopping it.

Ok. I type too slowly. Sorry guys for the late message.

Expect letters every few weeks threatening all sorts.

"We might examine your credit file to determine your ability to pay....."

"We might pass this on to our solicitors who might decide to possibly think about the chance of doing something"

"Special offer! 50% off!! Only available for 10 days!!!"

The rule of thumb wisdom is that if they make you an offer in writing of x% off, then it is highly likely that they don't think that they have the documentation to prove their case in court.

Possibly the best approach would be to:

Wait for their next letter to see what tack they going to take.

Request a CCA (cost £1)(this is a copy of the Consumer Credit Agreement). They have 14 working days to respond. This will probably make they reply that they are going back to their client (!) to obtain the documentation and that it might take up to 40 days to obtain. If they don't provide anything then the account goes into "dispute" (you must tell them this in writing) and you needn't pay them anything until the matter is resolved.

If the CCA seems odd in anyway, request a SAR (costs £10) from the original creditor. This will show all information that they hold on the account. This will be very useful in deciding how to proceed.

It will be useful, so that the site team can properly advise

How old the debt is &

When the last payment was made.

You have already intimated that you know nothing about this debt, so wait until the next letter then send the CCA request, BUT it will be best to wait for the site team to advise.

Keep us posted, there is a lot of good advice here.

Chin up!

This does sound like a cock up. I would suggest that you try again on Monday with contacting Colchester Borough Council. They are likely to be able to resolve this quite quickly as you will be able to provide your past addresses.

Don't panic but treat this as urgent, Councils tend to move fast to get their money. Perhaps you should email them ([email protected]) to ensure that they are aware first thing Monday morning?

Once you have explained/proved to them that you have not lived there then all should be ok - the "dogs" will be called off. The main thing is to start talking to them before they go to Court without you knowing. If you are present then at least you will be able to prove your innocence.

Good luck.

Let us know how it goes. Its always good to hear that things are sorted out.

Thank you Mr Imp. I've not had to deal with anyone at the door, I have always fired off the letter telling them in writing only etc when one of theirs has suggested that they may, might, possibly, perhaps send someone round.

I imagine that it is a very uncomfortable situation to have some one at the door, but as everyone says they have no right to be there (and even if for some strange reason a credit agreement has a clause in it specifically allowing a door step collector to visit - that does not mean you have to let them in or even talk to them).

Coleman72 - if the man returns then don't engage him in discussion about the "debt". Tell him "this matter is to be dealt with in writing only - you are trespassing - I will summon the Police if you do not leave. Do not come back or I will call the Police without even answering the door", and close the door. Its your house - he has no right to be there.

I would suggest that you write to Scotcall telling them that you will only deal with them on this matter in writing and that if they do send any one uninvited or without an agreed appointment you will consider it trespass and will summon the police. Send it record delivery - that way they cannot pretend that they have not received the letter.

They, of course, can try to ignore your letter but if someone else does turn up you can show them a copy and tell them they must leave immediately or you will call the police. Of course as your unwanted visitor has shown you an ID card it might be worth while writing his details down and then telling him that. That way you have an name to give to the Police

RenegadeImp has the right attitude. These "Collectors" are paid by commission. If they get nowhere with you they will give up - its a waste of their time.

Chin up and keep us posted - there is a lot of good advice here.

Just an update.....after a strenuous period of ignoring them (81 days)......nothing has happened. How boring. I was looking forward to hitting them figuratively with a section 24. Oh well we will probably have to wait until Christmas before they write again.