Help with stopping the enforcement of a £800 CCJ

[Kelly1972]

Hi.

 

I am an Australian Citizen who married a UK national last year. I currently reside in the UK and have a CCJ out against me by an ex-friend who says I owe him £800 for an unpaid phone bill from 2008. He bullied me into signing the court form back in 2009 & I started making repayments as he told me that having a CCJ could effect my visa status (and I was naive enough to believe him). I returned to Australia for a while in 2010/2011, and now I am back in the UK as I returned to marry my partner. The creditor (my ex-friend) has now re-established contact and it threatening me with enforcing the CCJ. Due to the terms of my visa, I am NOT allowed to work or receive any government funds while I am here in the UK. I have no assets at all as all of my belongings (apart from clothes) are back home in Australia. My husband is supporting me while we make our plans to emigrate to Australia. He is self employed and is on working tax credits as his work has been in serious decline over the last 12 months. I have no way of paying the debt back and would like to know what I can do to stop the creditor enforcing the CCJ. Can I fill out a N244 form and explain my circumstances? Can the creditor come after my husband and try and get the money from him?

 

Please help

[Beamengine]

It is not clear what "court" form you signed, was it an agreement to repay and was there a County Court Claim?

You could apply to have the CCJ set aside if you were not aware of the claim which would give you the opportunity to dispute the debt. If you accept the debt you could apply for a variation but with no income you have nothing to offer. Both of these are covered by N244.

You could apply for a Debt Relief Order but I am not sure how your immigration status would be affected.

Your ex-friend will spend a lot of money attempting to enforce the judgement and most methods would fail:

You are not employed so an attachment of earnings order can't be made.

You have no money in a bank account to be claimed.

You have no possessions for a bailiff to seize.

When are you returning to Australia?

[brokebutnotbeatn]

No, he can't go after your husband. Perhaps ignore his blusterings? As Beam asks, when are you planning to return to Australia? It sounds as if you don't have a CCJ but an agreement to pay, failure of which would entitle him to get a CCJ. However you could defend this if needs be.

[Kelly1972]

Thanks a lot for your help thus far. I signed the agreement to pay form (I think it was an N9A?), without lodging a defence and started making small, regular payments (just under £200) until I returned back to Australia.

 

I have tried reasoning with him, but he won't accept the fact that I am in a difficult position at the moment and have absolutely no way of paying the debt. Not to mention, now that I am more savvy to my rights in the UK, I now know that having this dispute with this person cannot, in any way, affect my visa status.

 

Yesterday, I received a form from the Northampton County Court which was a 'Notice of Transfer of Proceedings' and simply said: 'This claim has been transfered to the Northampton County Court for enforcement'. This may sound naive; but what does that letter mean? If he does not have a CCJ against me (as I initially signed the N9A form, although gave no defence), what should my next step be? As I said, I have tried to reason with the person, however he does not want to know, and has sent me a few rather threatening emails in the process, so I would prefer to keep my contact with him to a minimum.

 

Thanks again in advance.

[Kelly1972]

And we are planning on returning to Australia later this year (hopefully around Aug/Sept) - as soon as my husband sells his house, we will be emigrating to Melbourne to settle back there permanently.

[Ganymede]

As you returned the Admission form you will now have a CCJ against you.

 

The file being transferred for enforcement means that he is going to apply to send the bailiffs etc round to enforce the CCJ.

[andydd]

As you returned the Admission form you will now have a CCJ against you.

 

The file being transferred for enforcement means that he is going to apply to send the bailiffs etc round to enforce the CCJ.

 

Not sure about that, if so..then what are the forthcoming proceedings about ? It is possible when you have a CCJ to ask the court to 'call in' the debtor to answer financial info. about themselves but dont think thats the case here.

 

We really need to see/know about the original forms and what excatly is going on, its not clear there is a CCJ or not or whether there was some sort of consent order/agreement to pay, but has since been broken... or even if it was as pointed out what excatly any enforcement would achieve if you have no job, no possessions and no property.

 

Perhaps apply to Equifax/Experian to get credit report and seem if any CCJ. ?

 

Andy

[Kelly1972]

OK, thanks for the reply. I guess I need to act pretty quickly to prevent baliffs appearing at the house, as this seems quite daunting and something I do not want to have to go through! As I mentioned previously, all I own in this country are some clothes & shoes in my wardrobe! I do not have any assets, jewellery etc. The house and all of the assets in it are owned by my husband and were all here before I moved in and we got married. As part of my visa limitations, I am unable to work and have no recourse to public funds, so I could not even be able to pay for the debt out of any possible benefits or gain employment to do so. It seems like a bit of a stalemate situation. Will I receive notification prior to any enforcement being carried out? ie: being sent a letter advising me that baliffs have been instructed?

 

What should I do next? Should I go ahead and fill out an N244 form? Someone has advised me that I must use an N245 form as he already has a judgement against me, so I am a little confused as to what to do. I will probably try and get an appointment at my local Advice Bureau to get help with filling out and filing the form correctly.

 

Thanks again in advance.

[Kelly1972]

Thanks Andy. I believe the form that I signed was an agreement to pay the debtor, rather than having the courts decide and enforce me to pay. The last forms I received (back in 2008, although I have obviously been in and out of the country since then and changed addresses), were blue forms from the Northampton courts, giving me 3 options; a) agree to the full amount and arrange to make payment in installments, or b) dispute the amount and agree to pay what you believe to be the amount owed, or c) refute the claim all together.

 

I signed the N9a form, an agreement was made to pay in installments and I proceeded to make direct payments to the debtor's bank account.

[andydd]

Well..yes you should be informed that firstly you have a CCJ against you and that you must pay Mr X £x amount.

 

N244 is just generic court application form and can be used for anything, not sure of its relevance now..you could of for example request that a judgement be overturned becuase you didnt receive paperwork at the time, but not sure if thats the case here.

 

N245 is to list your finicial situation, which it apperars you could almost put at zero, this is to be used after judgement and I assume a CCJ has been granted, but we are not 100% sure on this and even if at this late stage it can be used, have you a local court ?..whilst they cant give legal advice they are ogften very helpful on court procedures, etc..Im visiting my local one on Monday with a barrage of questions

 

Andy

[Kelly1972]

What I found confusing is that, when I called to speak to a debt advice company about the matter, they told me that my only option was to use the N245 form and request for an adjustment to the amount I can pay (in installments), and would still have to agree to make repayments, even if it was a £1 a month. How can I possibly be expected to make repayments with no forms of income available to me? I can, of course, borrow £1 a month of my husband to make such a repayment, however wouldn't this just seem farcical to a County Court judge who would probably think I am just wasting his/her's time?! I certainly don't want to turn this whole thing into a circus!

 

ugh, I am so confused and just want to get some sort of resolution to this matter

[andydd]

Thanks Andy. I believe the form that I signed was an agreement to pay the debtor, rather than having the courts decide and enforce me to pay. The last forms I received (back in 2008, although I have obviously been in and out of the country since then and changed addresses), were blue forms from the Northampton courts, giving me 3 options; a) agree to the full amount and arrange to make payment in installments, or b) dispute the amount and agree to pay what you believe to be the amount owed, or c) refute the claim all together.

 

I signed the N9a form, an agreement was made to pay in installments and I proceeded to make direct payments to the debtor's bank account.

 

HHmm..Then I'd guess a CCJ was not granted, but the claimant could apply for one, or apply for judgement/and/or enforcement should the agreement be broken, maybe we are at that stage now. I'd guess a N244 is too late unless you have a valid reason why the agreement should be re-visited...

 

Andy

[Ganymede]

Thanks Andy. I believe the form that I signed was an agreement to pay the debtor, rather than having the courts decide and enforce me to pay. The last forms I received (back in 2008, although I have obviously been in and out of the country since then and changed addresses), were blue forms from the Northampton courts, giving me 3 options; a) agree to the full amount and arrange to make payment in installments, or b) dispute the amount and agree to pay what you believe to be the amount owed, or c) refute the claim all together.

 

I signed the N9a form, an agreement was made to pay in installments and I proceeded to make direct payments to the debtor's bank account.

 

 

By returning the N9A you are admitting to the debt and making an offer to pay.

 

There is a CCJ as you can't transfer a file for enforcement if there is no CCJ to enforce!

[Kelly1972]

Thanks Andy, perhaps I should see if I make a visit to the local court.

[andydd]

What I found confusing is that, when I called to speak to a debt advice company about the matter, they told me that my only option was to use the N245 form and request for an adjustment to the amount I can pay (in installments), and would still have to agree to make repayments, even if it was a £1 a month. How can I possibly be expected to make repayments with no forms of income available to me? I can, of course, borrow £1 a month of my husband to make such a repayment, however wouldn't this just seem farcical to a County Court judge who would probably think I am just wasting his/her's time?! I certainly don't want to turn this whole thing into a circus!

 

ugh, I am so confused and just want to get some sort of resolution to this matter

 

Well..you have admitted the civil claim so in reality you cant escape from it..many years back we'd lock people up for debts..or ship 'em to Australia .

 

I'd guess N245 would be best option, if you put £1 a month you'll soon be buggering off anyway. I'm paying various credit cards at only £1 a month so some accept it.

 

Andy

[Kelly1972]

OK, thanks again everyone. I will get on with a N245 form. Does the person HAVE TO accept my offer of payment (once all of my circumstances are explained) or is it decided by a judge?

[Ganymede]

OK, thanks again everyone. I will get on with a N245 form. Does the person HAVE TO accept my offer of payment (once all of my circumstances are explained) or is it decided by a judge?

 

 

Payments are set by the Court.

[Kelly1972]

OK, thanks.

[Ganymede]

You need to check if payments are already set following the completion of your Admission.