Unoaid Nursery Fees....Help Please

[ploddertom]

If the original Judgment was 30 August then I still make it you would be in time to have it removed if paid by the end of this week.

[Lighthouse]

If you have the money to pay the judgment, just call and get it paid. They must only just have applied for the writ so there should just be the £66 fee to pay, don't wait for the first letter to arrive as that will add £75.

YOu could also ring the court and tell them you are trying to pay the judgment but the claimant won't allow you to and ask them what to do.

I only have enough for the amount stated by the court, up to £75 in additional costs would be just about doable but anymore would make it very difficult.

I would like to know though if after all this she will still have a ccj, it's just that I could use that money to pay off other things for her to avoid court action from them and if it would be possible to still pay the ccj debt through an arrangement like the one stepmchange are helping her with?

[ploddertom]

No, just the letter of judgement, it said payment must be made to the above which was the solicitor, I called them this morning, they wouldn't discuss with me, I got my daughter to email consent, when they spoke to me she said it's no longer with them as the claimant has a high court writ to get enforcement and now I need to speak to enforcement (Marston group). She said there will be additional fees.

Unfortunately as soon as a Writ is sealed and sent to the HCEO the goods of the debtor become bound - they cannot sell or otherwise dispose of anything and the Compliance Fee is payable - with High Court Fees need to add 20% VAT on top.

[Amethyst]

No, if it is paid before the end of the month the CCJ will come off the register.

If it is most important that she does not have a CCJ then you need to get it paid off. Otherwise, if a CCJ isn't the most important issue, she can do a N245 application to the court to suspend the warrant and make an offer to pay by installments.

If you want to get it paid up then give Marstons a ring. If you just leave it there will be a letter fee and then a visit fee to add to the debt.

[Amethyst]

And if there ever is a next time, and you just intend to pay the whole claim, but need a bit of time to get the funds sorted - put a defence in rather than letting it just go to a default judgment.

[ploddertom]

If you decide you don't want to pay it all off for now then it is only fair you are made aware of the following and the costs of each stage:

You may apply for a Variation Order whereby you would pay a set amount per month - cost of application is £50 and Income & Expenditure must be included. If you are so much a day late in paying then the Order becomes redundant and enforcement can recommence. Best way is to pay perhaps a week in advance to make sure payment is received in clear funds prior to the agreed date.

Applying for a Stay of Execution which if granted halts any further enforcement or charges. Cost of application is £255. Break any of the terms and enforcement carries on.

Agreeing a payment instalment with the HCEO - the Writ commands him to visit to see if their are any goods that may be seized/removed to guarantee the debt - this will add minimum Enforcement Fee Stage 1 - fee is £190 + VAT. Broken arrangement will incur further fees and possible removal of any identifiable goods.

Do nothing - you can ignore all what goes on and let them rack the fees up. As long as you adopt a siege mentality and have nothing of value outside then you could gamble on the HCEO returning the Writ as not able to make contact or seize/remove goods. The Claimant could of course instruct another HCEO to enforce the debt or choose another method of enforcement - attachment of earnings, 3rd party debt order, Order for Questioning etc

[Lighthouse]

If you decide you don't want to pay it all off for now then it is only fair you are made aware of the following and the costs of each stage:

You may apply for a Variation Order whereby you would pay a set amount per month - cost of application is £50 and Income & Expenditure must be included. If you are so much a day late in paying then the Order becomes redundant and enforcement can recommence. Best way is to pay perhaps a week in advance to make sure payment is received in clear funds prior to the agreed date.

Applying for a Stay of Execution which if granted halts any further enforcement or charges. Cost of application is £255. Break any of the terms and enforcement carries on.

Agreeing a payment instalment with the HCEO - the Writ commands him to visit to see if their are any goods that may be seized/removed to guarantee the debt - this will add minimum Enforcement Fee Stage 1 - fee is £190 + VAT. Broken arrangement will incur further fees and possible removal of any identifiable goods.

Do nothing - you can ignore all what goes on and let them rack the fees up. As long as you adopt a siege mentality and have nothing of value outside then you could gamble on the HCEO returning the Writ as not able to make contact or seize/remove goods. The Claimant could of course instruct another HCEO to enforce the debt or choose another method of enforcement - attachment of earnings, 3rd party debt order, Order for Questioning etc

Thank you. I still intend to pay, she owes the money for a service she had, it's just she got ill and couldn't cope. I'm trying to avoid the ccj as I hope she will get on her feet sooner than 6 years.

I was was just concerned about calling to pay to find out extra costs have been added when I was working under the assumption I had the 30 days. You have helped me to understand that I'm still in time to avoid the ccj but it's likely to cost more at this stage.

I wanted to avoid the ccj but I thought if she ends up with it anyway I may as well pay in instalments and spread the £1000 I have to reduce other debts but I think it's best to clear this one, and make sure others don't get to the court stage.

[Lighthouse]

No, if it is paid before the end of the month the CCJ will come off the register.

If it is most important that she does not have a CCJ then you need to get it paid off. Otherwise, if a CCJ isn't the most important issue, she can do a N245 application to the court to suspend the warrant and make an offer to pay by installments.

If you want to get it paid up then give Marstons a ring. If you just leave it there will be a letter fee and then a visit fee to add to the debt.

Thank you. I'd still like to avoid the ccj as I hope to get her on her feet before 6 years.

[Lighthouse]

And if there ever is a next time, and you just intend to pay the whole claim, but need a bit of time to get the funds sorted - put a defence in rather than letting it just go to a default judgment.

I just didn't know what to put as a defence, she had used the service and owed the money but because she became homeless in the meantime we found out too late and I thought it would give me time to save the money.

There is another large debt (£7k) and I've offered £250 per month which is going to be hard to manage, my fear is if this one goes to court and gets a ccj as well I'd have done all this for nothing!

Someone before mentioned a DRO but I honestly don't know what to do for the best.

[Amethyst]

Let us know what Marstons say ( if you're just paying it you shouldn't have to get her permission first but see what they say)

Then, going forwards, if any others are lurking in the woodwork then make sure your daughter is opening her post and will get any letters of claim ( or earlier ) over to you ( or get her to come on here ) before it gets to a claim so things can get sorted to avoid ending up in a similar situation.

Make sure she is keeping her priority bills paid up over and above any credit cards/catalogues/loans etc. Rent, Utilities, Council Tax has to come first. I'm sure Stepchange have been through all that anyway, and have things sorted with a debt management plan. At the moment it sounds like she needs things to stay on a level,without getting constant threats and a DMP with stepchange is good for that. Then as things improve she can tackle each of the debts in turn.

[Amethyst]

I just didn't know what to put as a defence, she had used the service and owed the money but because she became homeless in the meantime we found out too late and I thought it would give me time to save the money.

There is another large debt (£7k) and I've offered £250 per month which is going to be hard to manage, my fear is if this one goes to court and gets a ccj as well I'd have done all this for nothing!

Someone before mentioned a DRO but I honestly don't know what to do for the best.

If she's talking to stepchange that should help get things under control.

Do you know what the £7k debt is ? credit card?loan etc? and what the status is ? If £250 is going to be hard to manage and they won't consider anything else then you might want to take a deeper look into it to prevent that failing and it ending up at court - see how old it is, if there's any PPI unclaimed, excessive charges, lack of credit agreement and the like. If stepchange are doing a DMP with her then it should really be included within that and the offer be on a pro-rata basis with everything else taken into account.

Really you need to get the full picture of the overall situation and talk it through with her and CAB or stepchange etc - and if a DRO is a viable option, with the accompanying credit file issues for 6 years, they'll go through it with her.

[Lighthouse]

Let us know what Marstons say ( if you're just paying it you shouldn't have to get her permission first but see what they say)

Then, going forwards, if any others are lurking in the woodwork then make sure your daughter is opening her post and will get any letters of claim ( or earlier ) over to you ( or get her to come on here ) before it gets to a claim so things can get sorted to avoid ending up in a similar situation.

Make sure she is keeping her priority bills paid up over and above any credit cards/catalogues/loans etc. Rent, Utilities, Council Tax has to come first. I'm sure Stepchange have been through all that anyway, and have things sorted with a debt management plan. At the moment it sounds like she needs things to stay on a level,without getting constant threats and a DMP with stepchange is good for that. Then as things improve she can tackle each of the debts in turn.

The call with marstons wasn't good. They have added extra nearly £500 in fees,
There were fees added because the claimant escalated the matter to them, then a letter sent and also apparently they have visited the address where she lived previously and it's the costs of stage 1 enforcement.

Because I don't have the extra £500 and cant pay today there was no choice but to leave the matter unresolved. He said he will inform the client that for now they are withdrawing their interests in the matter until further notice but also said he will contact me in 7 days to collect the full amount which will rise by another £594 if it goes to stage 2 enforcement.

I need to contact the solicitor tomorrow and explain my daughter is ill, moved from that address and we have no letters since the judgement, is there anything else I can do?

[Amethyst]

The Judgment was only on 30th August. They've moved very fast to have already obtained the writ, sent the notification letter and attended. The claimant must have escalated it the moment the judgment came through.
ploddertom

[ploddertom]

Did you ask about dates all this happened? You need to know the date the Writ was issued, the date the Notice of Enforcement was issued & the date the visit was made.

[Lighthouse]

The Judgment was only on 30th August. They've moved very fast to have already obtained the writ, sent the notification letter and attended. The claimant must have escalated it the moment the judgment came through.
ploddertom

Yes...I don't know why. Will it help if I can prove she wasn't living at the address where the letters went and the visit was made? We have a doctors letter about her illness, they didn't ask for her new address but I take it they can trace her. I've told then she's in a manic state and feeling suicidal is this enough for them to back off and deal with me?