Urgent advice needed******

[Windywoo]

I have just received a General Form of Judgement or Order dated 21st December 2010.

 

It is adjudged that

the Claimant recover against the Defendant the sum of £5xxx,xx for debt and interest to date or judgement and £3xx for costs amounting together to the sum of £5xxx.xx

 

The Defendant having paid the sum of £00.00

 

It is ordered the Defendant to pay the Claimant the sum of £5xxx.xx on or before 4 Jan 2011.

 

Now I was perfectly aware of this, I owe the money, I expect to pay it back!

 

The problem is, I have already been paying the Claimant religiously, an agreed amount by standing order since August - and I have paperwork to prove they would accept that sum! This was all put on the NI claim form, with my previously accepted offer of payment.

 

For what ever reason the Claimants wanted to " secure" their interests, so I presume that by going this route and taking me to court, knowing that I haven't got these sort of funds to pay this in one go, I suppose the next step is for them to apply for a charging order! Why would they otherwise accept installments and then want the money straight away?

 

As I can't pay this money in the allocated time (4th Jan, what a laugh!!) should I fill up a form N245?

 

TY

[Windywoo]

Aha, just opened the rest of my mail - a letter from their solicitors, they do intend to apply for a charging order!

 

They have also enclosed I&E sheets in order to "assess my financial position and will give me the opportunity to make an improved offer of repayment for our clients consideration"!!

 

If the debt is solely in my name, then am I to assume that they can only put a restriction on my property?

[sequenci]

Get your n245 variation application in pronto.

 

who is the creditor?

[Windywoo]

It's a long drawn out tale - but it's my ex employer!

[sequenci]

Here's a good fact-sheet on variations.

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=08_reducing_payments_or_suspending_a_bailiffs_warrant_on_a_county_court_judgment

[Windywoo]

I've read the fact sheet and it's been of great help - thank you.

 

I've filled up the N245 and I've tripled my offer (I can afford it) and it's ready to go along with the fee - I've calculated it'll take 36 months to pay.

One quickie, as the judgement is fractionally over £5k, can the claimant ask for interest?

[sequenci]

Yes, they can. But if you obtain instalments they can only charge is on any missed payments. So if you keep up-to-date with the instalment order then interest can not be claimed for.

[Windywoo]

One last question - should I hang fire with their I&E, I had to declare all that on N245 which they will get a copy of anyway, they want theirs back by 15th Jan. I'm not obliged to fill up their form, am I?

[Windywoo]

An update to this thread, and yes, a bit more advice needed!

 

OK, the ex- employer got their charging order for £5xxx.xx. I began paying them my improved offer beginning in Feb of this year, my OH (with my consent) wanted to remortage our property, this meant the charging order had to be removed!

 

In early September the deal was finalised, my OH paid the charging order off in full, but we were astounded at the settlement figure the ex-employer requested. It was well excess of £200.00 of the original judgement order, however since the date of that order, I had paid them a four figure sum over the period of 7 months.

 

Now, we thought it very odd, and asked our solicitor to investigate this, as clearly my money I'd paid them had disappeared into thin air. We asked him to try to obtain a breakdown of costs and how they justified in demanding the sum they had, this was done via the ex-employers solicitor. Their solicitor admitted there had been a mistake, and that they would refund £400, no explanation of how the figure was obtained, no statement of account, it added up to me paying them £115.58 since the date of the judgement, not the four figures I had really paid! I understand there would be costs involved, but they're taking the mick!

 

I have written to their solicitors twice myself, both times I requested a breakdown of costs and statement of account - no response! Where do I go next???

[AndyOrch]

CPR 18 ?

 

Andy

[Windywoo]

Thank you Andy, I never thought of that!

 

Will it matter that this was not a credit arrangement - no agreement?

[AndyOrch]

Obtaining further information

 

18.1

 

(1) The court may at any time order a party to –

(a) clarify any matter which is in dispute in the proceedings; or

 

(b) give additional information in relation to any such matter,

 

whether or not the matter is contained or referred to in a statement of case.

 

(2) Paragraph (1) is subject to any rule of law to the contrary.

 

(3) Where the court makes an order under paragraph (1), the party against whom it is made must –

(a) file his response; and

 

(b) serve it on the other parties,

 

within the time specified by the court.

 

(Part 22 requires a response to be verified by a statement of truth)

(Part 53 (defamation) restricts requirements for providing further information about sources of information in defamation claims)

[Windywoo]

Any ideas on how to word a letter please?-