Warrant of arrest.

[fibrtqiggom]

Help! I stupidly ignored court letters about a very old debt (6+years?) with MBNA and have moved out of the area recently.
I went back to my old house last week and found a hand delivered letter from the Courts Service signed by their bailiff stating a warrant for my arrest has been issued but may not be executed if I attend court on 18/10.
I emailed them to state I've moved so cannot attend and am currently unemployed. I stated, tho, that I do want to pay what/when I can to clear the debt.

I received a reply stating only that I will be arrested if I don't attend and that I need to clear the debt with Optima Legal Services.

I want to know if this is correct, and whether Optima can have this stopped, and also any advice on what to say to them? What to offer in terms of payments, etc?

I thought only court/bailiff fees could be dealt with in this way??
Thanks all.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

Can you photograph or (better) scan the letter you received that claimed to be from the Courts Service?

[ploddertom]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

Is the letter for an Order to attend for an oral Hearing? If so then you must attend otherwise you may be held in contempt.
Is it possible you can scan & upload the letter or otherwise type it up verbatim.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

Help! I stupidly ignored court letters about a very old debt (6+years?) with MBNA and have moved out of the area recently.
I went back to my old house last week and found a hand delivered letter from the Courts Service signed by their bailiff stating a warrant for my arrest has been issued but may not be executed if I attend court on 18/10.
I emailed them to state I've moved so cannot attend and am currently unemployed. I stated, tho, that I do want to pay what/when I can to clear the debt.

I received a reply stating only that I will be arrested if I don't attend and that I need to clear the debt with Optima Legal Services.

I want to know if this is correct, and whether Optima can have this stopped, and also any advice on what to say to them? What to offer in terms of payments, etc?

I thought only court/bailiff fees could be dealt with in this way??
Thanks all.

Sounds like they obtained default judgment and may be trying to enforce it. Debt is not a criminal offence so you wouldn't be arrested for not paying, without seeing the documents it's hard to tell, but it may well be you are required to appear in court to provide a statement of means, answer questions or something similar, and if you don't, they'll force you to appear. If they have already got a CCJ and reached this stage, you will have to attend and agree payments through the court, providing the court with an Income and Expenditure form showing how much you can afford to pay. Even a court can't order you to pay what you can't afford, and many people on benefits (you say you are unemployed) pay just £1/pcm into their CCJs.

Ignoring court letters is never a good idea, how long ago did you receive these court letters? Are you sure it's for your MBNA debt? When you say it was older than 6 years, did you mean you didn't pay anything for more than six years? Have you got any record of this CCJ and when it was obtained? You can search for CCJs here: http://www.trustonline.org.uk/search-yourself

In this case, bailiffs would be used just to ensure you appear in court to answer questions, rather than to levy on goods.

[Nibbler]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

As said, sounds like one of these: http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/...he_court_order

[Milo]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

I would not ignore this as I suspect that in the absence of a response to the Judgment that the creditor has obtained and Application for an Oral Examination.

[bluebottle]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

The only circumstances I know of where a civil court will issue an "arrest warrant" in respect of a CCJ is where a defendant fails to appear before an adjourned Oral Examination.

After a Payment Order has been made, the Claimant can ask the court to order an Oral Examination to ascertain whether the Defendant has sufficient means to satisfy the judgement. If the Defendant fails to attend an Oral Examination, the hearing will be adjourned and a warning given to the Defendant that failure to attend the adjourned hearing will constitute Contempt of Court.

From what has been said, it sounds very much that a Committal Order has been issued by the court. This empowers the court bailiffs to arrest you and bring you before the court to purge your contempt. You MUST take this seriously and attend the court as required. Conduct the checks other posters have advised. If the Claimant in your case has obtained judgement and did not have a right in law to do so, you must take evidence of this to the court and allow the court to see it, as if a judgement has been obtained in an irregular manner, this, too, is serious.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

It would appear that the claimant obtained judgement by default as they do not need to tell the court that the alleged debt was last acknowledged over six years ago.

[bizzybob]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

It would appear that the claimant obtained judgement by default as they do not need to tell the court that the alleged debt was last acknowledged over six years ago.

In which case the Op needs to attend the court and provide evidence that the creditor, or the bottom feeder that bought it has gained a default judgment on a Statute Barred debt. I'm sure the court will be happy about that (NOT)

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

In which case the Op needs to attend the court and provide evidence that the cresitor, or the bottom feeder that bought it has gained a default judgmewnt on a Statute Barred debt. I'm sure the court will be happy about that (NOT)

If it was default judgment, it would never have been established the debt was Statute Barred in the first place. Debt purchasers buy accounts in bulk, without any paperwork. They fill in a claim form online, papers are automatically issued at the debtor's last known address. He fails to respond, default judgment is obtained. There is no opportunity to establish that it was SBd at any point, that's why it's not wise to ignore letters, most certainly not from the court!

If it was, indeed, SBd at the time of judgment, the OP could have the CCJ set aside, but he'll have to offer some proof and fill in an N244 form. See this for reference: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/en...e_county_court

There's a £80 fee payable, although the fee can be waived if the individual is on means-tested benefits.

Regardless of course of action, the OP will have to attend court next week or risk being arrested!

Help! I stupidly ignored court letters about a very old debt (6+years?) with MBNA and have moved out of the area recently.
I went back to my old house last week and found a hand delivered letter from the Courts Service signed by their bailiff stating a warrant for my arrest has been issued but may not be executed if I attend court on 18/10.
I emailed them to state I've moved so cannot attend and am currently unemployed. I stated, tho, that I do want to pay what/when I can to clear the debt.

I received a reply stating only that I will be arrested if I don't attend and that I need to clear the debt with Optima Legal Services.

[bluebottle]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

I have to agree with BB and FP.

If the Claimant obtained judgement by default and knew the debt was Statute Barred at the time of lodging the claim with the court and did not disclose this, then the OP should apply for Set Aside on the grounds the debt was SB. If the Claimant failed to take reasonable steps to establish the status of the debt, i.e. whether it was SB or not, it could be argued the Claimant acted recklessly.

Either way, a judge is not going to be a very happy bunny.

[fibrtqiggom]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

Thanks for the advice so far.

The letter reads:
TAKE NOTICE: A warrant for arrest has been issued against you in the above action (MFS Portfolio) committing you to prison for 14 days.
Further take notice that this warrant may not be executed if you attend at the baliffs office on 18/10.
If you do not attend you will be arrested and bought before a judge without further notice and with the help of police if necessary and in a police van.

Nice, huh? As I said, I now live about two hours away and can't make the date. Would I still be able to settle with the original claimant - possibly with a payment plan before that date?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

Thanks for the advice so far.

The letter reads:
TAKE NOTICE: A warrant for arrest has been issued against you in the above action (MFS Portfolio) committing you to prison for 14 days.
Further take notice that this warrant may not be executed if you attend at the baliffs office on 18/10.
If you do not attend you will be arrested and bought before a judge without further notice and with the help of police if necessary and in a police van.

Nice, huh? As I said, I now live about two hours away and can't make the date. Would I still be able to settle with the original claimant - possibly with a payment plan before that date?

Have you read the text highlighted in red above? :scared: :scared: :scared: If you do not attend, you will be arrested and brought before a judge in a police van , and you could end up spending TWO WEEKS IN JAIL!

This has gone much further than the stage where you could arrange an informal payment plan with the claimant, anything you arrange will have to be done through the court.

[Guest]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

http://www.compactlaw.co.uk/free-leg...forcement.html

If your opponent does not attend court then the court has to fix a new date to give him or her the opportunity to attend. If your opponent asks that you pay their travel expenses for attending court you must pay these not less than 7 days before the Hearing. You must then file a Certificate at court to say either that your opponent has not requested any money or that you have paid it. This Certificate must be filed with the court 4 days before the Hearing.

[MIKE770]

Re: Warrant of arrest.

Wonder if the pretty pictures will get the point thru to them now??????????????

:juge::juge::juge: or :flypig: a serious matter and should be taken as so!