CCJ (in default) Bryan Carter (Shop Direct)

[n2o666]

My partner has just received a judgement in default from Northampton County Court. This is the first thing we have received and never received a claim form. This may be due to the fact that we moved house last year and it went to the old address but we were never aware of the fact.

 

The CCJ seems to have been granted but it is only for a partial amount of the debt £160 + £87 (Costs). The letter from Bryan Carter states the outstanding baance is £891.60 (owing to Shop Direct Financial Services).

 

My partner believes this was from a catalogue from two to three years ago. However she tells me that she always kept fairly on top of the repayments and doesn't believe the balance would of ever been over £300 as she was on benefits at the time time.

 

Is it to late to defend this as we want to see if this debt is enforceable (CCA) and also to see what the original debt was and also what charges have been added to this debt and if they are lawful.

 

What is the best way to proceed?

[Nick W]

Hi

 

You have 2 options:

 

1) Pay the debt amount provided by the Court and the CCJ will be cancelled if paid within 1 month and will be removed from your credit file

 

2) You can apply to have it 'set aside'. The cost of the application is £75 (unless you are exempt) and you would need to show:

 

a) You have a realistic prospect of successfully defending the claim or

b) There is is some other good reason why the Court should set it aside

 

You cant just say, didnt get the claim form, UNLESS you can show that service of the claim form wasnt valid. If the Claimant had (to their knowledge) your last known address that will be sufficient to show good service.

 

However, if you advised them of a change and they didnt correct their records then this will NOT be good service and grounds to set aside.

 

Courts generally look at 'reslistic prospect of successfully defending the claim'. Only you know if you have this.

 

Bearing in mind that it may be that it will cost you £75 to set aside, you may take the view for such a small CCJ amount it may be worth paying.

 

However, the claiamnt can ONLY ask for the amount deicded by the Court.....

 

Hope this helps.

 

NIck

[n2o666]

Thanks. Can anyone tell me if this CCJ will effect my credit rating as we live at the same address but are not married? No joint accounts either.

[Nick W]

Thanks. Can anyone tell me if this CCJ will effect my credit rating as we live at the same address but are not married? No joint accounts either.

 

Any CCJ will adversely affect your credit rating. Which in my view, you either need to apply to set aside asap or pay it within 30 days......

 

Nick

[n2o666]

Even if the CCJ is in my partners name and we are not married but reside at the same address?

[ODC]

Bryan Carter Solicitors have probably only applied for their costs in the CCJ which is breaking the rules. Have a read of some of the other Bryan Carter threads here for more information

[powelll]

Even if the CCJ is in my partners name and we are not married but reside at the same address?

 

If you don't have any financial association ie any joint accounts / joint credit etc then you don't show on each others CRFs so won't be an issue. There isn't any such thing as a particular address being affected; it goes on the individual.

 

I'll throw in a 3rd option for your CCJ:

 

If you don't want to go the set aside route and can't pay in full under the terms of the CCJ you can apply free of charge within 14 days of the judgement for something called a redetermination. This is applied for to ask the court to look at your circumstances and eg allow you to pay in instalments.

 

It's done on form N244 which is a general application form available online. You can alos do it via letter ( it's worth checking with the court which they prefer as some courts get confused if they get an N244 with no fee ). You can do a budget sheet to show what you can afford. The court will then 'redetermine' the original CCJ.

 

May not be in your favour but it's a free application so worth a go.

[tomterm8]

BCW keep on doing this.

 

It's an abuse of process, explicitly unlawful, and it should be fairly easy to overturn the CCJ on those grounds. You can't claim the right to go for multiple bites of the cherry.

 

Send BCW a CCA request and a CPR request.