Unlawful CCJ?

[logibear]

Hi all,

My first post here, I'll try and be brief.

I recently found out through Experian that I have a CCJ against my name that i was completely unaware of. I have never taken any loans, had any credit or store cards etc. I have always been good with money and have saved up for everything I own, so this came as quite a shock.

After a calling Experian and him giving me the CCJ case number, I then called North Hampton court at which they told me it was given to me by BW legal Law portfolio, I have never heard of them but the debt was originally sold to them by LLOYDS TSB.

After thinking what it could be the only conclusion i can come to is it must be the 'returned direct debit fees' that i had problems with a long time ago.
Basically it was a mobile phone monthly debit bill that came out before my wages went in, no internet banking back then meant i couldn't sort it out quickly and within a few days I'd racked up a stupid debt even though no money was even taken from my account by the phone company (I had no overdraft). after much arguing with the bank they said it would be sorted after paying a smaller sum back, all sorted so i thought until now. I moved house within the next few months after, and i never used that bank again (out of principle) and never received any more letters from them or any debt collectors.

So the point I am getting to is this debt was from as far back as 2006 if i remember right and yet the CCJ had been given to me in January 2015, I don't really much about the law but something doesn't seem right there.
I'm a bit stuck what to do now, I'd never even been aware of the CCJ otherwise i would of tried to sort it there and then. Right now i can't even upgrade my bank account let alone think about getting my first house mortgage, which is terrible as I'm only 30 years old with an otherwise clean record with never having any debt or bad credit of any kind.

I will be very grateful if anyone can help me with this matter as i really want to move on with my life and start getting my credit up for buying my first house which seems almost impossible with the CCJ looming over my head.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my problem and thanks in advance for anyone able to help me it will be most appreciated.

Logan

[charitynjw]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

Hi Logan, welcombe to LB.

BW legal Law portfolio

Do you mean BWL/Lowell Portfolio?

[logibear]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

Hi, Only just seen this message needed to refresh the page.
Yes that is probably right i may of misheard the courts office when i spoke to them on the phone.
As i say I've never heard of them before nor have i had any dealings with them or any contact including having received any letters from them.

Thanks
Logan

[warwick65]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

Hi
You first need to find out what this was about so maybe a call to various people to find out the details- did the court give you any clue?

Things you may want to know are
the exact name the CCJ is in
The address the CCJ was served
What it was for

It may be that there is a mistake in reporting a ccj to the credit agencies based on a similar name or similar address or it may be a Claim was served on you by mistake at an old address or it maybe that something else happened

Find out the details and come back but time is not on your side, if a set aside is applied for there a time scales [MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION]

BTW how much is the CCJ for ?

If it is as you seem to think based on bank charges then it may be perfectly legal but you may have a defence to get it set aside . Banks sometimes take months or years to 'call in' overdrafts

[logibear]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

Hi,

Northampton court confirmed it was lowell portfolio/bw legal, with the debt being sold to them by Lloyds TSB.

The ccj is in my name, to my old address that i lived at. As the only problem i have ever had with them was at that time i lived there and about overdraft charges so it must be that.

Im sure those charges would now be considered unlawful after the banks being taken to the courts a few years back.

Although i doubt that would be in my favour as it was before the laws were changed.

My main concern is this incident happened back around 2006 so how can they give me a ccj on 2015, and without even contacting me or ever even knowing about it. It seems unfair I'm being punished for something i was unaware of stopping me from getting mortgage etc.

Had i of known i would of sorted it asap but how could i?

Also the original problem with the bank this derived from was supposed to be sorted and with no more charges insued, clearly this wasn't the case. I'm guessing this was when they used to keep charging for overdrafts on top of overdrafts even if no money at all was ever taken from the account.

Anyways i hope that has cleared some things up about my situation and why I'm feeling rather lost with it all. I just don't know what to do next.

Thank you for your time.

[warwick65]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

Hi

You could probably apply for a set aside based on the claim form being sent to the wrong address but there may be costs involved if you do not qualify for fee remission.

It would also help if you could file a draft defence at the same time

The only bank case I know of was not won and banks can continue to charge what they like more or less for OD fees although there are ways i hear to challenge this, having said that a poster on here ended up with a costs order of £6000 after trying to reclaim bank charges


How much is the CCJ for ?

[Amethyst]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

Promptly... really a setaside should be filed within around 14 days of finding out about the judgment - soon as you find out you should get on to the claimant / court to find out more and ask them to consent to the set aside applicaton, but don't delay waiting for responses... promptly isn't defined so it's a bit subjective, if you spend a week finding stuff out then give 7 days to the claimant to consent before filing you should be fine.

So first step is to write to claimant and ask for consent and more detail putting them on notice you will be filing for set aside - at the moment you are just guessing on what the claim is relating to.

Have a read of the set aside app notes Set Aside Application

On the other point [MENTION=98117]warwick65[/MENTION] - that failed charges claim was a bit of a cock up, it was very very poorly pleaded, so I wouldn't take it as any evidence whatsoever that charges claims are doomed, just that people need to step back and do stuff properly rather than leap in half cock.

[warwick65]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

On the other point @warwick65 - that failed charges claim was a bit of a cock up, it was very very poorly pleaded, so I wouldn't take it as any evidence whatsoever that charges claims are doomed, just that people need to step back and do stuff properly rather than leap in half cock.

Thank you for agreeing with me that people need to be aware of the risks and make sure any case is started with full information and no false expectations.

My point was that the OP seemed to be under the impression that 'the law' had changed 'a few years back'. We all know the test case under UTCCR in 2009 failed and it could not be automatically argued that bank charges were unlawful.

As I also said, I only know of one case where someone tried to challenge the banks about fees. they were spanked with costs of 6K so it would be remiss of anyone to sit here, behind a keyboard and not warn of the perils of taking on the financial institutions.

Maybe you know of cases that were won which may be of help to the OP - I am sure it would help lots of people, particularly when they get claims regarding overdrafts

On a side note
There is another very large forum that regularly used to encourage members to launch cases against the banks because they wanted all the glory but non of the risk- something I personally thought reprehensible

[Amethyst]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

Nope it is ridiculously risky and I wouldn't suggest either suing the bank yourself or defending solely on unfair relationship / terms/ charges etc - but it helps where a defence also has other elements, as an in the alternative even, particularly where a defendant to overdraft debt actually thought they'd closed the account but suddenly charges took it over, then more charges piled up resulting in the claim eventually. Anyhooo I'm sure you haven't been out of the loop all that long > https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...rdraft-charges but that £6k costs case was a very poor example - refer to Rutherford/HSBC on the negative side if you like though that was hardship.

[warwick65]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

It is a shame there seems to be no case law on the matter , the case you highlighted was for the one person only and I can not find the appeal hearing results although lots of info reporting there would be an appeal http://www.qualitysolicitors.com/how...foster-burnell

With regard to the OP

Do you have any letters saying the account was settled ? These could be used in your draft defence

If not , it may be worth sending a SAR to Lloyds to get what info they still have on the account - there might be something in there that says you had agreed a full and final settlement

[Amethyst]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

It is a shame there seems to be no case law on the matter

Working on it....as ever. The FB appeal failed

Lloyds didn't appeal but the claimant sought leave to appeal the part of the judgment that confined the effect of the unfair term to just the claimant but it was dismissed at the application hearing on jurisdictional grounds ie a County Court cannot make rulings that bind other courts.

[EXC]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

It is a shame there seems to be no case law on the matter , the case you highlighted was for the one person only and I can not find the appeal hearing results although lots of info reporting there would be an appeal http://www.qualitysolicitors.com/how...foster-burnell

I attended that appeal, it was a bit of a car crash TBH.

[logibear]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

Hi all,

I have no evidence of anything as it was around 9 years ago i think. Again i am not very clear on the law but i think it may have already been statute barred by the time the ccj had been given.
Also i have no intentions of taking the bank to court i only want to get rid of the ccj weighing my credit rating down.

So from your advice my next move will be to contact llyods to see if they have any old details of my account, i will call them this week to set that ball rolling.
When you say write to the claimant is that Lloyd's or lowell portfolio?

I will read the link on the set aside app now.

What is an "sar"?

Would i be right i thinking a ccj cannot be retracted and that i cannot try and contact lowell portfolio to explain whats happened and try to reach an agreement.
All i really want is to have the ability to get a mortgage/loan to get on with my lifeas this ccj is stopping me from even upgrading my bank account.

If I'd of known the correct legal procedure after getting a ccj i would glady and promptly sorted it but i didn't even know till a few weeks back and then it isn't very clear where to go from there. I i thought i owed the money i would also pay it back but as I'd never actually borrowed anything of them,not a penny, this was all just supposed admin fees. Back at a time when banks could stack fees onto of fees at which it became impossible to pay anything back hence my position after a week of this mess.
I'm certain it is this overdraft situation that caused this ccj as i have literally never had a credit card/loan, store card/ catalogue loan or debt or any kind so it has to be it.

Anyways thanks for your comments i only hope this link will provide some insight and instruction to my mext step.

Thanks for your help

[charitynjw]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

SAR
http://legalbeagles.info/library/gui...ccess-request/

[warwick65]

Re: Unlawful CCJ?

Hi

TBH much will depend oh just how much the CCJ is for and just how badly you want rid of it

You could apply for a set aside , the starting point would be to write to Lowell solicitors requesting their consent for a setaside and stating if they refuse you will be applying to the court , It is also worth stating just what your defence would be , so iy could be SB or something else

The key to this is getting the application in as soon as possible after you discovered the ccj

I think [MENTION=6]Amethyst[/MENTION] knows more about this

maybe [MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION] or [MENTION=551]pt2537[/MENTION] could help

I am guessing it is not a massive amount if you believe it is only bank charges but if you tell us how much it is for (roughly) more detailed advice can be given - for example would you want to pay £255 and maybe the amount of the ccj to get rid of a £100 claim? See what I mean?