DVLA CCJ - To challenge or not to challenge

[SAPFanSTFC]

Firstly I need to say a big thank you to anyone willing to assist on this post, as I really need to know whether it is worh me taking chance on the date of the CCJ being changed to a later date.

My base level choice is:

1) Pay the £100, get it marked as 'Settled' and watch the CCJ disappear from my credit file in June 2011

or

2) Pay £75, challenge the case as I was never able to defend it and hope I win on appeal....

....but my concern is that if I take the callenge option and lose, will this then affect the date of the CCJ on my credit file and thus delay it being cleared for another 6 years?....I can't afford for this to happen.

The facts of the case....

In August 2004 my old N reg Rover 820 blew up on the M4 and had to be put down. I sold it to a private trader for parts and the SORN was sent.

In December 2004 I got a brand new Jaguar X' Type company car as I couldn't afford/or even get another loan.

In January 2005 I was made bankrupt - relevant to later information

In May/June 1005 (after working away a lot), I received a snotty 'Sort it out & pay a fine' letter from the DVLA

In June......in response to this letter I sent back a response stating that I had sent the form, do not have any paperwork remaining on the vehicle and do not accept the fine.....also pointing out that I had a brand new company car and my property was fully available to inspection and that even neighbours could confirm the approximate date of the removal of the car - bit of an eyesore for about 4 weeks.

In July/August I received notice of an automatic judgement (never received any notification as I believe it was an automatic judgement as I hadn't responded to the case against me. When I phoned the court they gave me 2 choices........Now the hard part.....

......my wife then had severe difficulties with a pregancy, we lost the baby, and coming so soon after the bankruptcy we had marital problems and split for a short while, whilst trying to reconcile.

....whilst this may be hard to believe for some, as a result of this I totally forgot about the judgement, probably not helped by too much sadness induced alcohol participation during the temporary split.

Current Day:

I started a big credit file clean up recently as all the old bankruptcy related agreements were still showing as open balances, but also found this CCJ........sad to say, I didn't even remember I had it until prompted during an enquiry phone call to the court.

I really want to challenge this but also don't want to further extend any issues on my credit file.

....Can anyone help with any advice for me please? Please note that I am on the road for a couple of days and may not get any internet access until I'm home, so please don't think I'm rude if I don't acknowledge any responses immediately.

THANK YOU!!

[Ruprecht]

If you get the old judgment set aside but end up with a new judgment with a current date you can always pay the new judgment within 28 days and then it will never appear on your credit file.

 

CCJs only go on your file if you don't pay them in full within 28 days of the judgment date. Can you afford to pay if you lose?

 

If you challenge it you will have to pay an application fee to the court, unless you get benefits or have a low income. £75 I think it is currently.

 

I read your post quickly and cannot discern wether you deserved the fine or not (none of us do really) :-P If you did or you think they can prove you did I wouldn't challenge it.

 

The CCJ will still drop off your credit file after the 6 years if you pay it or not.

 

I presume you are building up some good credit history now, maybe mobile contract or a PAYG debit card that will report good credit history? You'll need at least 2 years good history these days if you want any finance company to have anything to do with you. If you don't have 2 years until June 2011 ish then there is no point trying to get it removed now, I'd wait.

 

Are you wanting to open business accounts or something and want a clean file now? Or are you wanting to build good credit history now but get turned down?

 

There is a more complicated way to get rid of it. You could try getting them sign a consent order to have the judgment set aside and you'd have to pay them to agree to it.

 

Once you contact them though they might just come for the money!

 

Place your bets!

Edited September 7, 2009 by Ruprecht
spelling...

[chauvesouris]

If I understand this correctly, you had a default judgment (Part 12 CPR) against you four years ago. You can apply to have such a judgment set aside (Part 13 CPR) but this is usually done within days or weeks of judgment. The court will take into account the promptness of your application - and I think four years is much too long to get a Part 12 judgment set aside - especially considering that you acknowledged the fact that the judgment was made straight away.

 

Even if you could get the judgment set aside, this doesn't mean you've won, it just means you get to file your defence and carry on the case from there. So you could still lose again.

 

I'm not entirely clear about what your case might be though. You have said you sold the car for scrap - in which case SORN would be the wrong thing anyway - you should have sent a normal transfer notification and then the breaker should have dealt with registering the scrapping themselves. You sent a SORN so the car was still registered to you and you were still liable for it.

 

So my advice is to leave things as they stand. Unless I've completely misunderstood what you've said, I don't think you've got a chance of even getting the judgment set aside, much less winning the case.

 

I hope that helps... even if it's not very positive.

[SAPFanSTFC]

Hi there, my terminology was wrong re: SORN but the basics are:

The car was notified as not owned by me, but is apparently still under my ownership, although they've never chased me for any following years.

The court case took place without my knowledge and despite the response I made to the DVLA - apparently it was an automatic case without any representation - I've also never been chased for the £100 fine.

The base level question was 'Could I get the case heard again?' and if I do get it heard again and lose, do I get another month in which to pay the fine and thus clear my CCJ?..there seems to be a big difference of opinon on this, with some agreeing with Ruprecht, and others not.

If I try to get it set-aside for a re-hearing, what possible penalties could I get...I had read that I could be found to be in contempt and may face a short custodial sentence!?...seems a bit harsh.

[Ruprecht]

I think I would not get involved in trying to remove it if it was me. June 2011 sounds like a long way away but it is only 21 months away.

 

If you have a bankruptcy on your file then that is going to take 6 years from it's date to drop off anyway so nobody will be rushing to give you any credit etc till that has gone.

 

Best not wake sleeping giants!

[SAPFanSTFC]

Thanks Ruprecht, we've been offered mainstream mortgages again, but only after the CCJ has gone i.e. some of the mainstream are fine about the bankruptcy since it's over 3 years since the discharge.

 

I've found this whole thing frustrating as no-one seems to know the answer to the questions around 'IF I get the case re-heard and lose again, do I get another month to settle & clear the CCJ off the records, and if not, will it sit on file for another 6 years as a new date but with the old status?).

 

I'll just have to keep hunting I guess as I'm willing to pay the extra £75 if it means I can either win or pay the £100 straight away and the £60 fee to wipe it off, as in both events I get it cleared from my records and I then have a fully settled and clean file....and only waiting until Jan 2011.

 

Many thanks for all your input though.

[Ruprecht]

I dont think you have a strong enough case to go before a Judge with this, he is going to want to know why you haven't done anything for 4 years since you first found out about the judgment.

 

I know stuff was going on in your life and we all forget stuff.

 

If it was me and I really wanted this removed I would try writing a nice letter to whoever is in charge of the DVLA explaining the situation, maybe even ask your MP for help and to write a letter for you. Say you thought they'd take into count your appeal at the time and you had so many other things going on in your life you had no time to deal with this.

 

If you do take this to court months could pass before anything happens anyway! It is not unknown for a claim to take over a year for the final hearing. The DVLA might just show up in the end and say "no record of SORN received" and you have no proof you sent it.

 

If you are certain you did send the SORN then wrote appealing the fine and are not worried about paying the fine if they ask for it or pass it to debt collectors, you could maybe do a subject access request under the data protection act and see if their data shows anything about it? Maybe proof of the SORN or your original appeal of the fine? Quote the reg number of the previous car when you do it and your driving license number.

 

Could put you on a better footing if you can get any proof in your favour off their systems.