Recieved CCJ Claim form

[rez1988]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum and have browsed it a little in the past. Today I received a ccj claim form and was hoping I could get advise on how to proceed.

Issue Date: 24th September 2018

Have you Acknowledged the Claim? I have not yet been on www.moneyclaim.gov.uk and registered an account as I wanted to come on here for advice on how to proceed first.

Amount approx: £190.77 (£265.77 with court and representative fees)

Claimant: Lowell Portfolio I LTD

Solicitor: Cohen Cramer Solicitors

Original Creditor: EE Limited

Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft): Mobile phone contract

Particulars of Claim:
The claim is for the sum of £176.82
due by the Defendant under a
EE Limited
account with an account reference of
11*******
The defendant failed to maintain contractual
payments required under the terms of the
account agreement.
The debt was legally assigned to the
claimant on 26/Sep/2017, notice of
which has been given to the defendant.
The claim includes statutory interest under
S.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at a rate
of 8% per annum from the date of assignment
to the date of issue of these proceedings in
the sum of £13.95
The Claimant claims the sum of £190.77

Is the debt Statute Barred? I would assume not, as the account was opened roughly around 2013/14

List any letters you have sent: none

Any Other Info: This letter had been sent to a previous property that I had rented. I have since moved out of the country, so have not been receiving them.
Fortunately a new tenant know my parent and dropped this letter around to them today (i received the document via a whatsapp message).
Currently I am out of work an have no means of paying this amount.
I believe it is for a phone contract that was opened in 2013/14

I have also uploaded a copy of the letter, but with the personal info blurred out.


I would really appreciate any advise of help that could be offered on this matter as I really don't know where to start and it really is not possible for me to travel back to the UK, with my current financial situation. I know it probably pales in comparison to other peoples problems, but it really stressing me out.

Kind regards

[Amethyst]

If you sign up on the moneyclaim website and get the claim acknowledged ( tick intend to defend in full ) you are safe for a while and will have 28 days to get sorted what you want to do with the debt. You can update your contact address for court communications there too - likely your parents address if they'd be okay with that.

It doesn't sound like you have a particular dispute about the debt and it isn't that old, and it isn't a huge amount ( not worth ending up with a CCJ over) so....

Lowell might be happy to accept a monthly installment plan without your making an admission and offer through the court, just put the claim on hold whilst you make the payments. It would likely have to be £25-£50 a month to get that agreed.

Otherwise you could defend the case through the court ( request the relevant documents/breakdown of the debt etc) and try to settle with an instalment offer when it comes to mediation.

[rez1988]

Thank you very much for your reply, I really appreciate it.

I was looking to hopefully set up some kind of small monthly repayment. What would you advise in regard to trying to set up a repayment with Lowell? Should I try to phone them directly?
I'm kind of panicking now as I am living out of the country and cannot go to court if they don't accept a payment plan. Might sound like a silly question, but are the likely to settle for a payment play out of court?

Also, i have no idea where i would even start trying to settle with them as I don't have any reference numbers or anything like that, just the court letter. Should I call the solicitors?

[Amethyst]

You can deal with it in writing if that's easier for you, although the court claim form has an account reference on ( that you've sensibly blanked out on the uploaded copy ) - and Lowell would be able to find it quite easily from there. The don't really want a CCJ, they want the money - just if you do call them ask if you can discuss a court claim you've received from them on a without prejudice basis before talking about paying anything.

Tell them you are abroad and it will be a pain to deal with so you'd rather sort out getting it paid by installments than having to go through defending the case in court., however you're only happy to do that if the claim is put on hold and no judgment is obtained... otherwise you'll have to send them requests for further information on the alleged debt to see where it has come from as you don't recognise it and will file a defence to the claim.

Basically, I'm not sure what this is and would defend it but I'm abroad and it'd be a pain in the bum, so how about you accept £10 a month as a goodwill gesture and put the claim on hold.... along those lines.

[rez1988]

Thank you so so so much. I'm not in the best of situations at the moment and upon receiving that message this morning it really sent me into a panic. Your advice is really helping me calm down and gather my thoughts.

I think i will call them straight away as i'd like to try to get this sorted out as soon as possible.

On the letter it states the Cohen Cramer address for sending any documents or payments. Should I be calling them directly, or should I be calling Lowell directly? Last silly question, i promise!

Thank you again

[ostell]

If the OP is actually living abroad can the court not be persuaded that it is out their jurisdiction?

[rez1988]

I have permanently moved to Germany, but my parents still live in the area in which I was previously renting
Although I think it would be much easier to organise a way to pay them, it will certainly be less stressful

[ostell]

So you are no longer a resident of the UK and can therefore be considered out of the courts jurisdiction and therefore the small claims court might decide they cannot proceed

Wait for others to comment.

[Amethyst]

Personally I'd try Lowell first, they instruct Cohens, and if you speak with Cohens first they'll have to go back to ''their client'' with any proposal, but Lowell might tell you to call COhen... it might be a bit of a roundabout, but if you just want to get it sorted without having to go through dealing with the court and requests for documents etc, you'll need to try one or the other first - not very helpful sorry.

See what they say, you will need to get signed up and logged on to moneyclaim website in any event to acknowledge the claim just to protect yourself against them getting a default judgment ( you have to do that within 14 days) - and then follow the court process until you have it all in writing that things are on hold/stayed pending payment and will then be withdrawn/discontinued.

[rez1988]

Personally I'd try Lowell first, they instruct Cohens, and if you speak with Cohens first they'll have to go back to ''their client'' with any proposal, but Lowell might tell you to call COhen... it might be a bit of a roundabout, but if you just want to get it sorted without having to go through dealing with the court and requests for documents etc, you'll need to try one or the other first - not very helpful sorry.

See what they say, you will need to get signed up and logged on to moneyclaim website in any event to acknowledge the claim just to protect yourself against them getting a default judgment ( you have to do that within 14 days) - and then follow the court process until you have it all in writing that things are on hold/stayed pending payment and will then be withdrawn/discontinued.

Thank you, i will proceed and update as and when I know more.

So you are no longer a resident of the UK and can therefore be considered out of the courts jurisdiction and therefore the small claims court might decide they cannot proceed

Wait for others to comment.

I had already put through the AoS as Intend to defend in full. I don't see any way to amend it for the jurisdiction change.