CL Finance March 2006 CCj, paying Lewis, Cohen want to up payments?

[dontletthemgrindyoudown]

Hi, thanks for reading this.

 

I have a number of credit card debts and three CCJ's.

 

Im keeping to all the monthly payments set by the court but

 

one of the DCA's has written to me saying they want me to complete a further "evidence of means" declaration

with a view to making increased installmants, failing which they will apply to the Court for a formal amendment.

 

I cant afford to pay any more and Ive been keeping to the terms of the order.

 

..does anyone have any ideas?

can they do this?

Is it worth my while asking for a copy of the credit agreement at this late stage?

 

Surely a court application will bring costs which will wipe out the payments ive made under the original order thus far!

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks

[Brassed off]

DLGYD

 

Am no expert !!

 

However, you might be better ringing the court re this.

 

Have had a similar problem but this was because of a Charging Order.

 

I was advised to pay £150 a month which I couldn't afford. I rang the court and was advised to fill in a form N245 (this is an form which is an application for suspension of a warrant and/or variation of an order).

 

I filled it in and ended up only having to pay £10 per month by order of the court.

 

This is only in my experience but obviously this was regarding a Charging Order. CCJs might be different.

 

Personally, I think you should ring the court re this.

 

Hope this is of assistance

 

On the form N245 you basically have to fill in your incomings and outgoings. You will have to pay £35 to the court for this.

Be totally honest when you fill it in, I did and I ended up (by order of the court) only paying £10 per month.

 

Do not take this as gospel - am fairly new to this. More experienced CAGers may be able to give you more advice than I can

 

By the way, who is the DCA?

[Brassed off]

Sorry, just read your thread again, it's CL Finance.

 

Presumably they have a CCJ against you?

[dontletthemgrindyoudown]

Thanks,

the DCA is C L Finance Ltd although I make payments on a bank giro credit to the lewis Group

 

..its the Solicitors Howard Chowen who have written to me.

 

Its my understanding that if you are keeping to the terms of the original judgment then they cannot take any enforcement action

but if this is correct does it hold true for seeking to making an application to increase the size of the payments?

 

The order is about a year old, im making payments of £5 per month.

 

An application in terms of costs will take away all the payments ive made......

 

Should I stir the DCA up by asking for a copy of the credit agreement at this stage,

i bet they would be unable to provide it. Any help etc etc

Thanks

[PriorityOne]

There is no point asking for the Credit Agreement after a CCJ has been made. Judgement has already been granted on the debt.

 

It sounds as if they might be trying it on with you in the hope that you will increase payment to them. Submit an income/expenditure form and make sure that you have no more to give than what you are currently paying, after you have deducted for essential living costs. There will then be no point in them applying to the court for anything.

[dontletthemgrindyoudown]

Thanks, but am I obliged to provide this information?

 

I dont want them contacting my employer or my landlord...

 

.I would provide this information to the Court if necessary but not a DCA.

 

I recall, when discussing my problems with the CCCS sometime ago,

 

they told me that my debts were all unsecured and that creditors were not entitled to this info.

 

So, im planning to write back and say that im not prepared to provide this information to anyone other than the Court and see what happens..

 

..any thoughts?

[dencha]

Hi grindthemdownintothedust

 

My feeling here is that the same as anything else set by a judge, only a judge can change it.

 

Contact the court that made the judgement as already indicated and they may tell you how to handle this. The DCA have already taken you to court and a judgement was made, they cannot force you to make additional payment, wether through a solicitor or not. They have to abide by the ruling as well.

 

dencha

[bluetack]

Do you know when the CCJ was made?

I have read somewhere here that a CCJ can be challenged at a later date if the debt included unfair charges and that you were, at the time unaware that these could be claimed back. I think the court can remove the CCJ on these grounds and then the proccess starts again. CL Finance would have to re-apply for the CCJ and at this point you ask for CCA.

I am pretty sure they wouldn't be able to produce it because I am in court next week with CL Flidiots, they sent me the usual copy of credit card application.

[dontletthemgrindyoudown]

The ccj was granted in March 2006. Thanks

[PriorityOne]

I think a lot depends on whether you want to go to court or not. I (usually) work on the assumption that most folk don't... which is why I suggested the income/expenditure breakdown. If you are happy to go to court though, then that's fine... in which case, you don't need to provide them with anything. Just make sure that you maintain the existing arrangement.

 

[dencha]

Hi All

 

I doubt if a Judge would be too happy with a DCA going back to court after just over a year questioning their judgement, which I suspect the solicitors are aware of, unless of course they have found something with the CRA,s to make them think they can get more, but again can only be through the court.

 

It is a fact that only a judge can change this. Both parties have to keep to the judgement.

 

I found it interesting though that if the CCJ is set aside then you can apply for the CCA. It may be worth trying to force them to take this action.

 

dencha

[dontletthemgrindyoudown]

Thanks for (all) your help. im grateful.

 

How, exactly, would I go about attampting to set the original judgment aside.

 

..do i need to ask CL Finance to provide copues of statements in order to establish whether there are any "excessive" charges,

for im not sure I have all my credit card statements going back that far!

 

Thanks again

 

PS..im more than happy to go to Court and argue my case as to why im not in aposition to make increased payments.

[PriorityOne]

Getting a CCJ set aside is not an easy process.... and it may be worth posting a question on Legalities in order to find out how to go about it, what's involved, how long it would take and so on.

 

In order to find out about unlawful charges, you would need to send a SAR to the original creditor in order to find out what charges were added before it was passed/sold to the DCA. There are a number of CAG members who know how to go about this.... but, if no-one is able to advise on this thread, I would PM one of the mods. for advice.

 

If the debt wasn't sold to the DCA by absolute assignment, then I don't believe that they could take you to court in their own right anyway.... only the original creditor would have those rights.

[rory32]

Some interesting reading Removal of CCJ's - Step by step guide to the process

[spurious]

I know this is a few days later, but I wanted to add my $0.02, because I've just done a load of research thanks to a situation I found myself involved with today.

 

From what I understand... once a CCJ has been made against you, it is usually passed to an agency (which could be a DCA) to enforce and uphold. If you can't pay it in full, the agency will negotiate with you about what you can afford. You have a choice about whether you negotiate with them, or whether you submit the N245 to court and have the monthly payments included as part of the judgement itself.

 

Although it costs £35 to do, from what I can see, it's much better to do it through the courts. If it's an arrangement with the DCA directly, then it's on their terms and at any point they can pull the rug out from underneath you and ask you to increase payments or demonstrate why you can't. If it's a court ordered monthly payment, the DCA is powerless to do anything so long as you're keeping up with your payments. For the sake of thirty five quid, you're getting court protection and peace of mind that they can't do anything.

 

I have a company right now trying to intimidate me into arranging a monthly plan with them, but the National Debtline advised me to go for the N245 instead. I hope that helps.