CCJ Recorded by Hegarty/IND Ltd - No Claim Form Received

[Clipper80]

DCA Claim Sent to Old Address - Judgement by Default

Hi,

Can anyone help with this please: I'm being chased for debts incurred by my ex - credit card agreements taken out in my name where he ran up amounts on the cards. This was a while ago, when I was a lot more naive and didn't know what was going on... and has recently come back to bite in the form of DCA's hassling me.

IND filed a claim using an old address - I didn't live there and didn't receive the claim papers. I ended up with a CCJ being entered against me by default. I only found out about the CCJ from Experian. I requested set aside and after 6months of wrangling to get that done, the court has lost the paperwork and we're starting again with a new judge. They've been asked to prove service and if service is prooved then I have to outline my defence.

IND said that they used a tracing company and the company say that I sent them a postcard confirming I lived at this address. Is this proof of service? I absolutely didn't reply to any postcard - even if I had been living at that address, I wouldn't have as I'd have thought it was phishing or something. I have proof that I wasn't at the address (council tax, tenancy agreements). The judge said that if service cannot be proved, then the judgement will be set aside. How do I contest this nonsense about a postcard and a tracing company?

Any and all help welcome!

[bluebottle]

Re: DCA Claim Sent to Old Address - Judgement by Default

As you have found, like bailiffs, DCAs lie. It is something they have in common.

Put IND to strict proof as to the postcard and tracing company and give them seven days. Try something along the lines of -

The defendant puts the claimant to strict proof as to the defendant's home address as on [date] within seven days of this notice being served on the claimant and unless the claimant can prove to the satisfaction of the defendant and the court as to the defendant's home address at [date], the defendant shall apply to the court to set aside the judgement granted to the claimant on [date] and seek costs against the claimant.

Let other LB members check this, but putting a DCA to strict proof is something that needs to be done when there is a question as to the truthfulness of what a creditor or DCA is or has claimed in order to obtain a CCJ. Misleading a court is taken very seriously. If a legal professional is found to have been involved, in addition to prosecution, they can also face being struck-off. If it transpires that IND mislead the court in order to obtain a CCJ, in your case, I would be inclined to notify the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Trading Standards.

[Clipper80]

Re: DCA Claim Sent to Old Address - Judgement by Default

Thanks for your reply bluebottle - really quick too. Writing to the DCA and to the court now, going to request strict proof and write my outline defence as instructed by the judge - already requested set aside and had a couple of hearings but hasn't really moved anywhere.

It's tough to know what to write as the "outline defence" - apart from the non-service and strict proof, it's been suggested that I refer to privity of contract. But the main thing here is that the credit has been run up fraudulently. As this might have been pre 2006 (I'm doing some digging), I have been looking at Remission of a Debt part of the Theft Act 1978 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_A...sion_of_a_debt

Any tips you can offer would be really appreciated

[bluebottle]

Re: DCA Claim Sent to Old Address - Judgement by Default

Thanks for your reply bluebottle - really quick too. Writing to the DCA and to the court now, going to request strict proof and write my outline defence as instructed by the judge - already requested set aside and had a couple of hearings but hasn't really moved anywhere.

It's tough to know what to write as the "outline defence" - apart from the non-service and strict proof, it's been suggested that I refer to privity of contract. But the main thing here is that the credit has been run up fraudulently. As this might have been pre 2006 (I'm doing some digging), I have been looking at Remission of a Debt part of the Theft Act 1978 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_A...sion_of_a_debt

Any tips you can offer would be really appreciated

Although the Strict Proof notice is served on the other side as a separate document from the defence, in practice, it is served with the defence documents.

A few questions -

1. Were you and your ex married or co-habiting when he opened the credit card accounts?
2. Did you know he had opened the accounts in your name at the time or have you discovered this since the break-up of the relationship?
3. Did you find out about the existence of the debts only when DCAs began harassing you?

As regards the application of the Theft Act 1978, speaking as a retired policeman, my personal view is that you will struggle to prove Obtaining Remission of a Liability by Deception. The bar is set high - beyond all reasonable doubt - and you will need to be able to satisfy both parts of the Ghosh Test, a two-part test prescribed by the Court of Appeal in the case of R v Ghosh 1982 to establish dishonesty, an essential element in proving fraud and theft. What your ex has done is obtain a credit facility, by falsely misrepresenting who they were.

You need to find out who the original creditors were and how IND became involved. If your ex used a junk mail leaflet that comes through the door, forged your signature and obtained the credit cards that way, then it is a matter of one or more offences under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981. If this does prove to be the case, then it needs to be reported to Action Fraud (Click on the link on the right-hand side of the page.). It may also be the case that IND mislead the court in order to obtain a CCJ, in which case, they could be in very serious trouble indeed. If you write to IND, use a script font on your computer to sign the letter. DO NOT use your usual signature. DCAs are known to scan and then "cut and paste" signatures onto documents and claim people have signed it. Totally illegal.

[Clipper80]

Please Help - Court Process on Claim

Next hearing coming up in a couple days - they were told to provide evidence of service and they've filed that with the court but not (as ordered) sent me a copy.

Q: I have been told that I can file a statement of position to say I've not received this and therefore cannot make a defence and further that it is in contravention of a prior Order. Is this useful/a good idea?
Q: They have used a "we sent you a postcard and you replied to it" trick to say I was living at the service address - I didn't reply and wasn't there. Have put them to strict proof and they have said that they cannot get this postcard. What do I do next?
Q: The court granted them extra time (no reason given) to comply with the initial Order

I sent a witness statement to them (which they claim not to have received until after the deadline I was given, but I have proof otherwise) and they've waited until just before the hearing before sending their response.
Q: Can they do this?
Q: Can I request extra time to respond, or request that it be thrown out?

They were ordered to show that I had interaction with the account within the last 6 years and have been unable to, as such I had put to the court that their action was statute barrde. They weren't able to show this and so did not comply with the Court's Order.

Q: How do I best put that to the Court?

In all of this the biggest problem is that each time there is a new hearing, there is a new judge who asks for something totally different or just takes a different tack in dealing with the case.

Q. How can I best deal with that? Will it annoy the current judge if I refer to his/her previous colleagues statements?

Thank you all for any help!!

[Amethyst]

Re: Please Help - Court Process on Claim

Is is the Hegarty/IND claim ? May I merge your threads together give a bit of background to assist those reading your post and offering help.

[Clipper80]

Re: Please Help - Court Process on Claim

Yes, thank you!

[Clipper80]

Re: DCA Claim Sent to Old Address - Judgement by Default

Firstly, huge apologies to bluebottle for not replying to you - I think the notification email about your post must have been swallowed by my email.:tinysmile_cry_t:

A bit of a win to report - got the original judgement set aside now preparing my defence.

Although the Strict Proof notice is served on the other side as a separate document from the defence, in practice, it is served with the defence documents.

I put them to strict proof and they weren't able to comply, the postcard they say I replied to has never materialised. That's OKish tho as the CCJ was set aside.

1. Were you and your ex married or co-habiting when he opened the credit card accounts?

No not married, we'd broken up so not co-habiting - separate rooms at the same address

2. Did you know he had opened the accounts in your name at the time or have you discovered this since the break-up of the relationship?

Some accts we opened together, others he did there are 5 in total

3. Did you find out about the existence of the debts only when DCAs began harassing you?

He had made some suggestion about money he owed me and said he'd pay things off - I thought that was for something else

As regards the application of the Theft Act 1978, speaking as a retired policeman, my personal view is that you will struggle to prove Obtaining Remission of a Liability by Deception. The bar is set high - beyond all reasonable doubt - and you will need to be able to satisfy both parts of the Ghosh Test, a two-part test prescribed by the Court of Appeal in the case of R v Ghosh 1982 to establish dishonesty, an essential element in proving fraud and theft. What your ex has done is obtain a credit facility, by falsely misrepresenting who they were.

You need to find out who the original creditors were and how IND became involved. If your ex used a junk mail leaflet that comes through the door, forged your signature and obtained the credit cards that way, then it is a matter of one or more offences under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981. If this does prove to be the case, then it needs to be reported to Action Fraud (Click on the link on the right-hand side of the page.). It may also be the case that IND mislead the court in order to obtain a CCJ, in which case, they could be in very serious trouble indeed. If you write to IND, use a script font on your computer to sign the letter. DO NOT use your usual signature. DCAs are known to scan and then "cut and paste" signatures onto documents and claim people have signed it. Totally illegal.

I reported this to Action Fraud last year, not heard anything back. Original credit was Halifax. I've followed your advice about signatures.

[bluebottle]

Re: CCJ Recorded by Hegarty/IND Ltd - No Claim Form Received

If you were co-habiting, you are both liable for debts incurred as a result of a joint loan, but individually-liable for loans taken out in your own names.

Fraud is often a complex animal and can take a while to investigate as the modus operandi (method of offence) has to be worked out and then traced back to the beginning.