Wrongly advised to send N245 - by CC & helpline - too late to submit N244?

[stardeed]

The situation in brief:

 

card was stolen and used fraudulently [in 2003]

card was reported stolen to bank and police at time

bank said dont worry - you won't have to pay

regardless of this bank continued to say you owe us money

bank statement dated june 2007 balance showing £0.00 and balance showed CR alongside previous balance eg: £300.00CR

bank then sold debt [made up of fraudulent transactions] 2007

DCA's started pursuing my OH for the debt

OH explained in phone calls this debt was disputed [fraudulent]

Bryan Carter started court action may 2009

OH didn't realise this related to said debt

CCJ by default received Nov 2009

 

Wrongly advised by court and national helpline to send N245 to court 2 weeks ago

Now plan to send correct for N244 to get this set aside/stayed

 

And in more detail:

 

My husband has a CCJ on a debt which came about through fraudulent use of his stolen credit card [stolen 2003] The bank were told at the time [as were the police] the bank told him not to worry as he wouldn't be liable for these transactions.

 

Despite this the bank continued to send him reminders to pay up, he'd respond by phoning to tell them [AGAIN] about the card having been stolen etc, but the reminders continued.

 

Eventually in 2007 he received a statement from the bank showing the balance as £0.00 and in the statement details the words 'MANUAL FINAL CHARGEOFF' then the balance showing with CR after it like: £300.00CR

 

We thought that at last they had sorted it....but no

 

a few months after that, the outstanding debt was sold by the bank [the total balance was made up of the fraudluent transactions]

 

Can they legally sell on a debt in dispute?

 

Things have moved on a bit since then and to cut a long story short, he has a CCJ [Nov 2009] against him as he didn't respond to the blue court papers when they came [mistakenly thinking they were related to an earlier claim for a totally different matter - yeh, I know - silly for not checking thoroughly !]

 

Anyway, in an effort to overturn the CCJ he was advised by the court to send an N245, a few weeks later he was told no, it's an N244 you need to send - then [to add to the mix] another source [a helpline] told him to send the N245 - he did this [2-3 weeks ago] only to be told a last week that it WAS the N244 which he should've used, but we wonder if we submit the RIGHT form at this point would that over-ride the earlier N245?

 

We've filled an N244 in and explained in the covering letter that he only submitted the 45 acting on advice from the court themselves. We've also included the reasons for asking the court to set aside/stay the case such as:

 

"I ask the court to set aside & stay this case for the following reasons:

I do not acknowledge this debt. The debt is in dispute. My card was used fraudulently. I did not make the transactions that this debt consists of. I was confused by paperwork received from court and believed it to be related to a previous case. I recently submitted an N245 to get the case set aside as I was given conflicting advice from the court - see copies attached - 1 advised I submit an N245, the other advised an N244. National Debtline also misadvised to send N245. This I did in good faith, believing it to be the correct form to have the case set aside. I have now been told by a solicitor that I should have sent this N244.

Should the court be gracious enough to accept these reasons to set aside/stay this case, please find attached my witness statement that briefly outlines my proposed defence that I wish to use to defend the claim. Thank you."

 

What are the chances of them allowing this through? As you can understand he isn't going to be happy paying off a debt that he didn't even incur himself, but he knows the court isn't likely to be sympathetic bearing in mind he didn't respond to the initial claim at that stage - despite his mistaking it to be related to his other earlier case.

 

Any advice would be grately appreciated - thanks

Edited March 31, 2010 by stardeed
added brief details to post

[harrassed senior]

Did you ever ask for the original CCJ (2003) to be marked as satisfied, following the settlement?

 

I think it would be easier if you perhaps started seperate threads for this matter and the latter Summons.

[stardeed]

the CCJ is from Nov 2009 - the fraudulent card use [that the CCJ resulted from was 2003.

 

If I separate the 2 things [which are obviously linked as they relate to the same fraudulent card use] I don't think ppl will get the full picture.

 

Let me simplify for everyone:

 

• card was stolen and used fraudulently [in 2003]
  
• card was reported stolen to bank and police at time
  
• bank said dont worry - you won't have to pay
  
• regardless of this bank continued to say you owe us money
  
• bank statement dated june 2007 balance showing £0.00 and balance showed CR alongside previous balance eg: £300.00CR
  
• bank then sold debt [made up of fraudulent transactions] 2007
  
• DCA's started pursuing my OH for the debt
  
• OH explained in phone calls this debt was disputed [fraudulent]
  
• Bryan Carter started court action may 2009
  
• OH didn't realise this related to said debt
  
• CCJ by default received Nov 2009
  
• Wrongly advised by court and national helpline to send N245 to court 2 weeks ago
  
• Now plan to send correct for N244 to get this set aside/stayed
  

Hopefully that's simplified this complicated situation for you and everyone else

 

Did you ever ask for the original CCJ (2003) to be marked as satisfied, following the settlement?

 

I think it would be easier if you perhaps started seperate threads for this matter and the latter Summons.

[harrassed senior]

So there was no CCJ previously, so what happened between 2003 and 2007? did your Statement continue to show the 'stolen' money as 'owing'?. What happened with the Police, you will have been given a Crime Reference Number, do you still have the Police Report/Crime Number?

 

It sounds as though the bank Closed the account (hence nil balance). and sold the outstanding amount that they considered owing.

 

You say the DCA are now chasing your OH.

 

Bryan Carter commenced Court Action and obtain judgement 2009 - did you not put in a defence at that time?

 

You will actually need to try and get the original Judgement in 2009 set aside as you state.

 

You will need to gather as much information as you possibly can to enter an application to set aside this Judgement.

 

What did the 2009 Judgement say, were you ordered to pay?

 

Sorry about the original confusion, I thought you had had a CCJ in 2003 as well.

[harrassed senior]

N 245 is to put in a defence

 

N 244 is to apply to set aside

[stardeed]

Unfortunately we found out the difference after wrongly sending the N245. My main question is can we over-ride the contents of the N245 by sending an N244?

 

Why the courts can't name forms after the process that form is for I don't know - why can't they simplify something that is made far more complicated than is necessary? Let's have 1 form for each process, like a 'set aside' form and a 'county court defence' form etc...

 

But then, maybe the self-funded county courts would make less money? Not that I'm cynical or anything

 

N 245 is to put in a defence

 

N 244 is to apply to set aside

[stardeed]

Just a quick update on this. Good news, we've had a letter from Northampton CC and they have transfered the case to our nearest CC for a hearing to have the CCJ set aside!!!

 

Not a result as such just yet, but a step in the right direction I'll start a new thread soon to get some advice on what to expect and how to deal with what lies ahead. Thanks for all the advice so far that's got us to this point