So just a quick update to this several months on. This CCJ was set aside today on mandatory grounds. Claimant couldn't evidence that they performed reasonable checks in accordance with CPR 6.9. So the time for acknowledging service did not expire. Just in case anyone comes across this from google and thinks it's not possible, it is. You have to show that the claimant had reason to believe you were no longer at the current address, and that you were there to be found. I.e on electoral roll, updated bank and credit file etc. The burden isn't solely on the debtor to ensure that every creditor from the past is updated if there is a reason to believe you have moved address. There is case law to support this as well, I'd advise you check

I honestly don't know. I contacted them in 2018 as they randomly registered a default on my file for Vodafone. They said they had information from Vodafone from the point of sale when they purchased the debt that I owed it. I disputed it and that is as far as it went. They were going to take me to court for the BT debt too in 2018, but I settled and paid it in 3 instalments. I don't know where they have pulled this new BT account from. When I query them about it they just said it is equipment charges that I verbally agreed to. I understand I should keep creditors up to date with my current address but unless I send prospective letters to every company who I ever had any kind of interaction with it just won't happen. I'm on the electoral roll at my current address and have been for previous addresses. My bank and other debts know where to send letters, as do Lowell in relation to another debt that I do not owe from British Gas for the same address in 2016. All these debts are coming up to being statute barred from a period of unemployment in 2016. I still don't know what the procedure for the defence is, whether the evidence is required at the set aside hearing or the hearing after the claim is re-brought. I also need to put to the court the fact that I work for a company that's regulated by the FCA and if a review were undertaken by my employer I would lose my job that I have had for the past 5 years. There is some guidance or precedent written somewhere in the annals of legal seagulls that if the judgement has an unintended disproportionate impact on the claimant then it can be removed on the credit file. I don't know how to prove this though short of asking my boss for a letter that says that I'm going to be sacked for informing them, or how to put it to the court. I'm not doing this to clean my credit file for a mortgage application, or for any other related reason on my credit file, just to keep my livelihood. I would happily pay the judgement and have it behind me, and would have if I had received the forms. Also it irks me that it is fine for companies to bundle up completely different issues into one claim. What is to stop them just bulk buying 50 debts for some poor bastard and serving them with a mammoth claim. Probably the character limit at Northern Bulk. I'm not feeling sorry for myself here, I've made poor decisions with my finances and owe some debt. This is a debt that I don't think I owe and is going to ruin my life if it is found by my employer. Hence why I am willing to pay the £255 even if the CAG'ers think its a shaky application. It has to be done seen as Lowell won't consent to it in return for a payment in full.

Ah well. I'm going to go for it anyway I think. I don't owe them this debt and they have admitted they had the correct address on file for me at the time the judgement was issued. So there is that. I'm also not a clairvoyant, so I don't see how I could have come to the CAG earlier for a debt that I don't owe. They didn't serve the address at the address that the credit agreement was at. They traced me to my current address, then sent it to the one before. But thanks anyway I guess.

I'd also appreciate a bit of advice on the process. Am I expected to provide the evidence for my draft defense at the set aside hearing? Or does that come afterwards? In order to collect the evidence that I need I will need time to gather the information that Lowell hold in relation to the debt. I have a lot of back and forth emails about a complaint with Lowell for the BT account, they allege that I took out a verbal contract with BT mid term through a previous agreement for "Broadband Equipment" and that I made payments to this account. This is false. I only had 1 account with BT, this was assigned to Lowell previously and I paid it in full.

I am about to file an N244 and was looking for some advice. Lowell filed a back door CCJ on me at my previous address whilst chasing me at my correct address for a different debt. They are also claiming for two unrelated agreements with two separate companies on the same CCJ. They obtained a judgement by default in November 2020 which came to my attention on 26/07/21 when I checked my credit record. Particulars of claim: 1)THE CLAIM COMPRISES THE FOLLOWING AGREEMENTS THE DEFENDANT ENTERED INTO: A. BT PLC WITH REFERENCE ********* AND CURRENT BALANCE OF £299.51 B. VODAFONE FINANCE UK LIMITED WITH REFERENCE ******** AND CURRENT BALANCE OF £135.92 2.THE AGREEMENTS WERE TERMINATED AS PAYMENTS WERE NOT MAINTAINED AND SUBSEQUENTLY ASSIGNED TO THE CLAIMANT. 3.AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS: A) THE TOTAL OF THE SAID SUMS BEING £435.43 B) INTEREST PURSUANT TO S69 COUNTY COURTS ACT1984 AT THE RATE OF 8% PER ANNUM FROM THE DATE OF ASSIGNMENT TO THE DATE OF ISSUE, BUT LIMITED TO ONE YEAR, BEING £34.83 C) COSTS So I need to break down this into a usable witness statement: I did have letters from Lowell at my current address prior to the CCJ but no longer have them. I have emails from January 2021 and subsequent emails in April 2021 and June 2021 where Lowell include my current and correct address. Realising that I no longer had the letters from pre the date of the judgement, but they had written to me, I called Lowell on a recorded line in relation to a 3rd debt not mentioned in the judgement: Lowell confirmed that they previously had my current address on file, but it had since reverted to my previous address as there was no contact at my current address. I pointed out that I had emails from as recent as June this year where they included my current and correct address. The agent confirmed that they had reverted to using my previous address as of 26/07/2021. The same day I found out about the judgement and spoke to their representatives Overdales. I believe this is grounds for a mandatory set aside as the claimant had my correct address and acted negligibly by sending it to my previous address. In any event, we had a long history of communicating about the disputed debts over email, I had specifically requested that they contact me regarding these debts only by email. I wrote to the claimant to request consent for the set aside on these grounds, they refused and declined to give any reason for their decisions when asked. In case the judge doesn't see the evidence the same way I do, I want to also submit a draft defence. If you could help me to word the below better I would be grateful: I admit that I have had an account with BT but do not recognise the account they are claiming for. I settled an account in full with Lowell for a debt with BT in 2018 and deny that I owe them any further money. I do not recognise any debt to Vodafone. The two agreements mentioned in the particulars of claim are from two unrelated agreements that relate to two separate companies for unrelated products or services. In order to defend each case on its own merits there should two separate claims issued by the claimant, each with their own supporting evidence. What do you think my chances of succeeding are?

Thanks for the advice. I will write to them as suggested. Cheers

No, I've had no correspondence from any of them for the last 2 years. I moved twice quite quickly though. Although its all recorded on credit file. I just don't want them realising its coming up to 6 years and firing a load of CCJ's off.

Cheers Bazooka, I don't have any reference numbers or any of that lark, I am just going of my credit report to get the defaults. Maybe just list my previous addresses and DOB instead?

I want to write to the 4 or 5 creditors that I defaulted with in early 2017 to update their records with my current address. I don't want to acknowledge the debt and reset the 6 year timer for them to become statute barred. I am and have been on the electoral role at my current address for the last 18 months and have had no letters from these companies. But I also don't want a slew of back door CCJ's in 2022 as they become statute barred between January and April 2023. The biggest one is for £3k with Nationwide. There are others all for between £300 and £1200. The alternative is offering a reduced full and final settlement, I had read some people have had some success with Nationwide with one. But again I don't want to acknowledge the debt unless they refuse. Would be grateful for your advice.

Yeah £10K minus what I paid. If they agreed to let me sell the car to action the settlement offer I would have owed £600. They refused so now I owe £7k.

I checked and it is still Moneybarn. It was definitely a Voluntary Termination too. The total payable under the agreement over 4 years was £19906. Whats making me angry is that if they would have let me sell the car than the total amount outstanding from their early settlement figure would be about £600 after what I offered to pay on top. But now they get to keep the car and still chase me for the £7k. So they are getting the whole agreements worth of money anyway. This is what I mean, I've been an idiot. I've basically given them £7k and still owe half the agreement.

My husband was self employed and lost all the work at the start of the covid lockdowns so I could no longer afford repayments on my car. I was 1 year into a 4 year agreement with Moneybarn. I purchased the car for £7800 and put hardly any miles on it in the year that I owned it. I made all the payments for the correct amount and got a valuation of the vehicle to see if I could sell the car to pay off the finance. The car was worth £6900 from we buy any car. I asked Moneybarn for an early settlement figure got a settlement figure of £9307 after a year of payments. I queried this as the payments were broken down as interest + principle each month so I didnt understand how I could owe more than I paid for the car since I had already paid around £4k over the year that I owned the car. They just said thats the figure and wouldn't get into it. I asked them for permission to sell the car and use it towards the balance for half the agreement and come to a payment arrangement for the rest. They refused. I voluntary terminated the vehicle even though I wasnt half way through the agreement. I didn't want the hassle of debt collectors turning up and going to court etc (which I am now dealing with anyway) and it was announced a couple of weeks after I handed my car back that no action could be taken during the pandemic. Now I have letters from Moorcroft demanding that I pay £7500 for this car. How is this legal? I paid £4K off a car that cost £8k. They have the car, now worth £7k now they want another £7k off me. I honestly thought that I was going to be able to pay off the car in year one. If my husband hadn't have lost his job I would have been able to. I hate that I have been so stupid. If I get a CCJ it will cost me my job. There is no way I can pay another £7k. Have I any right to any sort of recourse here? Could I fight it in court or would the judge just side with them as I signed the agreement.

They were stalling. They wouldn't respond to the complaint and said it would take 8 weeks. But I was very uncomfortable leaving it past the 6th without an agreement in place. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get it set aside due to my only defence being that it was part of an ongoing complaint. I wish there was other action I could take now it isn't on my record there is no rush. They have basically extorted the money out of me

OK so the complaint to TM Legal was going to take 8 weeks to resolve. Chased them for updates but they just kept delaying. If it went past the 06/12 I would have had to try and get it removed from my credit file and I couldn't take that risk. I have begged and borrowed the amount and paid it in full today. Needless to say I am absolutely skint! They said they would still continue the complaint process. What now though? Can a consent order be granted even if the debt has been paid? Does this mean that I cant defend the CCJ and apply for it to be set aside because it has been paid? And slightly off topic but will this affect my affordability complaint with the original lender? The original loan amount was around £800 so my payment today is well over the 200% mark that the Ombudsman takes into consideration at £1780. They also tried to say that there was a further court fee of £40 above and beyond what was on the claim form. Wanted £1820 but said they would write it off after I told them the amount on the claim form.

@Andyorch just seen your post thanks a lot!

I still intend to continue with my irresponsible lending complaint though. I don't know how much the final debt will end up being.

Would be grateful if you guys would look over this letter and see if there is anything you would add, amend or take out? Date: 10th November 2018 Your Reference: Claim Number: Dear Sir/Madam, I write in response to a claim form I received in the post yesterday dated 10/10/2018 to advise that I will be submitting an N244 Form to the court to set the judgement aside. I attach a copy of this overleaf for your records. During our telephone call on 09/11/2018 your adviser stated that your company had received this claim form back as undelivered when you originally issued it and this is the reason that there was a delay in sending it to the correct address. As you are aware a judgement has been entered in default on 06/11/2018. The envelope franked by your company on 07/11/2018 was sent to my current and correct address. This is a procedural error in contravention of Rules & Practice Directions for Service of Documents. CPR 6.9 Paragraph 3 states: (3) Where a claimant has reason to believe that the address of the defendant referred to in entries 1, 2 or 3 in the table in paragraph (2) is an address at which the defendant no longer resides or carries on business, the claimant must take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of the defendant’s current residence or place of business (‘current address’). Before the claim was started, you should have taken reasonable steps to identify my current address. The fact that you had my current address within 24 hours of the judgement by default indicates that this was not difficult for you to do. Furthermore, when you received the claim form back as undelivered, this notified you that I was no longer residing at that property. CPR 6.18 Paragraph 2 states: (2) The claim form will be deemed to be served unless the address for the defendant on the claim form is not the relevant address for the purpose of rules 6.7 to 6.10. I refer you back to rule 6.9 above. This claim form was not served in accordance with the rules of service. Also, CPR 6.24 states: Where the address for service of a party changes, that party must give notice in writing of the change as soon as it has taken place to the court and every other party. You should have notified Money Claims Online of a change of address for service once made aware that I was no longer residing at the property and applied for an Extension of time for serving a claim for as laid out in CPR 7.6. Due to the above stated breaches in the rules of service I believe the judgement will be set aside and I will have an opportunity to file my defense. I note that had I been served correctly, the time limit for doing this would have been 12/11/2018, the date you receive this letter. To save the courts the unnecessary administration that this N244 would create, and to avail yourself of the fee I would be paying to the court I propose that you draft and submit a Consent Order to set aside this judgement. I am willing to agree to the following should you agree to do this. 1. Payment of £255 to your company immediately once the consent order has been submitted to the court. 2. Payment of £255 on the first of each calendar month starting 1st December 2018 until such time as the debt the settled. Please respond at your earliest convenience. I will be forced to submit the N244 Form 1 week from today's date to ensure that the judge is satisfied I made every effort to resolve this in a timely manner. Regards, CCJHELL

Brilliant thanks so much guys. I have been googling a consent order to try and find out what wording I would use to propose this to them but it is mostly coming back with results applicable to family law not creditors. Is there any guidance on the CAG or elsewhere that you could point me to that shows how they work. I don't want to sound stupid/amateur when it comes to asking them to agree to it. I will be sure to offer them an initial payment of £250 if they agree to it, the money that would have been used to file the form anyway. I'll then offer a further £250 on 1st of each month starting December and hope for the best. Untill I get my answer from the financial ombudsman office anyway.

Thanks so much for your reply Andyorch, this is great information. I have been scouring through the guidance notes in the links you provided and also am looking at 6.9 Service of the claim form where the defendant does not give an address at which the defendant may be served. It states in the table in paragraph 2 that for an individual that the place of service is the usual or last known address. Then in paragraph 3 it states "(3) Where a claimant has reason to believe that the address of the defendant referred to in entries 1, 2 or 3 in the table in paragraph (2) is an address at which the defendant no longer resides or carries on business, the claimant must take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of the defendant’s current residence or place of business (‘current address’)." Which also suggests that upon receiving the claim form back they should have initiated a search on my address. Which by the looks of things they did, but sat on it and failed to take the action mentioned in 7.6. I think with what you have mentioned above I have a slim chance. I need to put together my N244 and get it sent off as soon as possible. I don't want the court to think I am intentionally delaying the proceedings by waiting on the outcome of my complaint with the original creditor. This gives me hope that my £255 won't be flushed down the toilet and I can defend the original claim.

Of course! I will also add. Lowell sent a claim form from the same court to my current address two months ago for an old BT account. I had not given BT an up to date address for over 3 years yet they managed to issue the claim form if not the pre court action forms to the correct address. I paid in full so there was no CCJ but that was only £400. I cannot tell you how screwed I am if I have to find 2k by the end of the month! I'm trying to get my affairs in order but it's a bit relentless atm.

OK. 01/10 was my letter. I'm of the opinion that the affordability claim is what triggered the claim form to my old address. However it does seem others have had the claim set aside due to incorrect address. Over on MSE someone submitted the defense: "At the time of the County Court Judgement, I was on the electoral roll at my new address, and was registered at the new address for council tax, banking, bills, my driving license and with the HMRC. As Civil Enforcement Ltd had received no correspondence from me at any point and I had not responded to the court summons, I believe they had reasonable cause to question whether they were using an accurate address and that simple searches could have provided them with the correct address. Indeed, …….. Solicitors have evidently been able to find my new address in order to attempt to collect the alleged arrears. I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they held the Defendant’s current and correct contact details. According to publicly available information my circumstances are far from being unique. The industry’s persistent failure to use correct and current addresses results is an unnecessary burden for individuals and the justice system across the country. This is a topical issue: I note that the Justice Minister The Rt Hon Sir Oliver Heald QC MP announced on the 23rd December 2016 a consultation and information campaign to help protect consumers from debt claims. The consultation will look at ways to; “better protect consumers who are sent mail to inaccurate addresses and verify addresses again before a claim is sent.” He added: "It cannot be right that people who are unaware of debts can see their lives and finances ruined by county court judgments. In the digital age, we must ensure companies pursuing unpaid debts make every reasonable effort to contact individuals, rather than simply relying on a letter to an old address."" And was successful. Clearly the fact they had my correct address within 24 hours of the judgement being obtained indicates that it was not difficult for them to obtain the correct address. Also the advisor on the phone admitted that the claim form had been returned to them, so they knew they had the wrong address and waited, on purpose, untill the judgement had been obtained before contacting me. I have recieved the original claim form in the post. I have not even received a judgment in writing as of yet. Unless this was sent to my previous address as well. I am not going to find 2k by the end of the month. Its impossible. There is a strong possibility that the debt will be reduced to the original capital provided minus the payments I made towards the debt once the complaint is heard by the Financial ombudsman's office. I need the judgement set aside until my complaint is resolved and then I will pay what I owe.

If this is the case it wont be set aside. I don't know the date the debt was sold. The only update of address I gave was in my complaint dated 01/10/18. The original loan was taken out in April 2017. The default date was November 17. Sounds like unless I can magic £2k by the end of the month I am screwed.

Yes. I am counting interest added as part of the original loan agreement though. The default balance was £1580. Edit: Just saw the second section of your reply. The only evidence I have is the letter I sent them on the 1st October. Since this wasn't recorded I don't have any evidence I suppose. The claiment did a trace and managed to find my address 1 day after the judgement. I have been at my current address for over a year. This in my obviously bias opinion means they chose to send it to my previous address.

Today in the post I received a claim form from TM Legal Services for a debt that I owed to payday loan company Lending Stream. The original address on the claim form had been crossed out in red pen and my current address was hand written in the box to the right of this. The date on the claim form is 10/10/2018, the date that is marked on the franking stamp on the envelope is 07/11/2018. I called the court and they advised I have received a judgement by default on 06/11/2018. I had started an affordability complaint with the original lender Lending Stream via letter on 01/10/2018. In this letter I gave them my current address. They are the only lender I had to send a letter to as the rest I have done via email. Unfortunately, I sent this by first class post and not recorded delivery. I have not had an acknowledgement from the lender to this letter. I called the company TM Legal Services who initially advised it was the court that sends out claim forms. When I pointed out that the envelope that the claim form came in had a return address of their company and was posted the day after the judgement was obtained they put me on hold. They came back and said that they received the original claim form back as undelivered and had done a trace on me to find my current address to send out the claim form. I called the court back and explained this and they said I can apply to get the judgement set aside at a cost of £255. I have sent a further letter of complaint to the original lender and advised the financial ombudsmans office of the situation, however they say that when the complaint comes to them if referred (29/11/2018 is 8 weeks) they are unable to instigate the removal of the CCJ even if my complaint is upheld. I now don't know what to do. Should I apply for the judgement to be set aside now or wait for the reply from the lender/complaint to the financial ombudsman's service? At the time of the loan I had 6 defaults for various utilities and loans in my recent credit history as well as an outstanding balance of over £3500 with other short term lenders. The original debt was for £850 but now with court costs and interest stands at £1780. If I apply for the judgement to be set aside, is that there is an ongoing affordability complaint a valid reason, along with the fact that it was sent to a previous address? Is the fact that it was sent to what the company alleges is my last known address and not my current one enough of a reason to get it set aside or will I have to show that there is a chance I will win the hearing? Will the 30 day period after the CCJ to pay reset if the judgement is set aside? I work in an industry regulated by the FSA so a CCJ will likely cost me my job. Apologies for the long post. Thanks a lot for reading if you got this far.