default judgement - I am losing sleep! Please help.....

[fedupatfortyfour]

Hello everyone. Could someone give any advice on what to do? Basically I used to have a high paid, high pressure job. Good salary so lots of credit cards. Three years ago I had a brain tumour and was unable to return to work for some time, but even after the op and recovery could only work in a much lower paid role. I contacted all my creditors and to date most are being so kind in accepting low monthly payments which are regularly reviewed.

However, last year, my partner was made redundant and I could not maintain the payments to MBNA, who had insisted on relatively larger payments than to my other creditors anyway, I wrote and advised I would lower payments and have maintained these for many, many months. However they recently got nasty (they have never responded to any of my mail) and Restons solicitors represent them and issued a court summons. At that stage I tried as hard as I could to arrange acceptable offers to them, they were having none of it and I returned the court papers saying I wished to defend the claim and for it to be heard in my local court. Last week I recieved a default judgement telling me to pay the total amount issued by my local court. I called the court who said it was because I had ticked the box admitting I owed the money.

I have written to the court to ask them to set aside the judgement as I hadnt had the opportunity to defend myself.

It all sounds a bit silly as I know I owe the money but I feel so bullied and dont see why, as all my other creditors have been so gracious.

Any help would be appreciated..........sorry I am so ignorant of all this and really worried now.

Thanks so much.

[cerberusalert]

Moved to Legal Forum.

[ploddertom]

As you admit you owe the money the chances are that Set Aside will not be in your interests, maybe instead you should file Form N245 where an amount of payment can be determined. don't forget there is a fee to pay or if you entitled you may apply for Fee Remission on Form EX160. All forms available on HMCS website.

 

Ploddertom

[harrassed senior]

Have you thought of tackling these debts along the CCA route? This may well help alleviate some of the stress you are under.

 

Make sure that you include all these amounts in the N245 form, it may well be a good idea when you work out your I & E, that you spread you disposible income evenly amonst these debtors.

[fedupatfortyfour]

thanks for your help. will look at the form, just seems wrong that the big boys get their own way despite my best efforts. I appreciate your help.

[DonkeyB]

Might seem a silly question - did you send the court papers recorded delivery, and did you send them to the court rather than Restons?

[Mydogsawestie]

thanks for your help. will look at the form, just seems wrong that the big boys get their own way despite my best efforts. I appreciate your help.

 

Sorry to hear of the predicament you are in, I wanted to say how marvelous you seemed to have done so far in coping with payments to each of your creditors alone, I can see you have tried to do your best despite the trying times you must have been up against.

 

Did the Judgment come in for the full amount outstanding right away? If so do you own your own property as the next thing they usually go for would be an interim charging order as ultimately they want to secure the debt and will apply to the Land Registry too. You will see a lot of threads regarding them on the forum so do read around to gain some knowledge in fighting this every step of the way & fill out the N245 if you can, this may determine payments back to them at an amount you can afford, and help in your favour with the judge.

 

I am in a DMP with Payplan & like you MBNA/Restons were the only creditor who was also unaccepting of our payments, but just wanted to go for the juggler instead

 

I hope you get it sorted MDAW

[fedupatfortyfour]

Hi again

Thanks for all the replies.

I sent the court papers back to the court, but strangely enough the first blue summons from the court had the 'court tel number' - which I called and it was restons. Doesnt seem right. All the rest is as I would expect. Can you tell me, if I get N245 do I stillhave a ccj recorded against me? I dont want them to put a charging order on our house, does the N245 stop this from happening?

Thank you so much everyone, you are so amazing. It helps so much just to talk about this.

[Bookworm]

Ok, sorry if it sounds daft, but are you absolutely certain that what you got was in fact a court summons and judgment? Was the first form an N1, with the court stamp and case no?

 

Secondly, When you say "you owe the money", are you sure you owe it all? Haven't they added late payment or overlimit charges to the total? Unwanted PPI? All this would give you grounds to dispute the sums.

 

We need more info, hun.

[fedupatfortyfour]

Hi there again

Bookworm the papers had a court stamp on them, guess they are kosher and I had since chatted to the court about the situation. I will check on the actual amounts, but is it all too late now I have the default judgement in hand? Also it is a really old debt..........anyone have any experience etc on unenforceable agreements? The limit just went up and up without me asking for it, in those days I could afford the monthly payments but I think that is an unscrupulous way of lending. Surely in an ideal world lenders should share the risk if they just allow borrowing without asking!

[Bookworm]

What do you mean by "really old"? When did you take it out?

 

These are all questions that can be addressed, but either way, you'll need to get it set aside first. You need to check on the amounts ASAP, as if they added default charges etc, then that would give you a good reason to argue that you unknowingly agreed you owed all the monies when in fact you don't. If the amounts tally (which I doubt) then you need to argue that the case should be set aside because you made a mistake when you agreed you owed the money, and you would like an opportunity to defend the case in court.

 

How much is it for? Be careful that if it is over £5k, it won't be small claims and you are exposed to costs if you lose.

 

As for the unscrupulous way of lending... whilst that may be the case, no-one put a gun to your head and made you spend the money, and I doubt that argument would gain you much sympathy from the judge, so I'd steer well clear from that. ;-)

[fedupatfortyfour]

Hi again Bookworm, thanks for responding. It is probably about 10 years old, a credit card, current advised (?) debt of £14.k. Included already is £375 court costs. Will dig out info......... thanks again.

[Bookworm]

£14 000? Ouch.

 

Tread VERY carefully on this one, get your figures sorted first. I;m not talking of court costs, I'm talking of barristers' fees etc if it goes that far, it could run into thousands.

 

No point in guessing for now, sort out those figures then we'll talk. ;-)

[fedupatfortyfour]

Hi again

I am looking over the paperwork and figures seem to be ok. I dont have the statements but recall they stopped charging interest when I agreed an arrangement plan. The weird thing is that I found a letter from mbna dated 3 july 09 saying that my arrangement would continue, but then Restons got involved Nov (I never missed payment) to commence proceedings.

I had asked Restons for info (as per letter templates on this site) fo info (CPR). They didnt furnish much, and sent me a 're-created version' of the default notice - is re-created acceptable?

As for agreement, they said MBNA would send under seperate cover but I cant find it..............

I guess I am clutching at straws as am getting really worried now. The court are sending me a form (N245?) so that I can look at payments, I think this may be the best course for me.

At the end of the day I owe the money and will pay, despite it may take years to do! Once a plan is in place, can anyone advise if at any time this can be paid off - perhaps a reduced settlement?

Thanks everyone, your support is much appreciated.