University vs me

[Zaha007]

Hi all, I'm seeking advice regarding my next steps following the Judgement recieved whilst away. Any help would be greatly appreciated!



Received a claim? Yes.

Issue Date: There is a sticker which states County Court Money Claims Centre 26/09/2019. There is also a stamp stating that the date of service is on the 1st of Oct 2019.

Have you Acknowledged the Claim?: No

Total Amount Claimed : £3500.

Claimant’s Name: University of Birmingham.

Solicitors Firm: States University of Birmingham’s Senior Legal Counsel.

Original Creditor: University of Birmingham. Passed onto ACT credit.

Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) : Tuition fee Loans.



Particulars of Claim: ( Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers/exact amounts ):

University tuition fees are billed at 9k a year. I had an agreed tuition fee waiver where I was to pay a sum of 7k per year.

The problem arose in the 16/17 year, where I was to fill out on the Student loans company letter for a tuition fee loan. There is a box to be ticked stating “I want to apply for a loan to pay the full tuition fees charged by my university or college?”. Or that I don’t want to apply for the full tuition fee only X amount.

Knowing that I am to pay 7k, I instead filled out the due amount in the box below which led to the university doing some deduction leading me receiving £3.9k instead of the standard £7k. This led to a debt of 2.8k

Acknowledging this, the following academic year I was luckily allowed back but had to promptly make arrangements for a loan for the previous year which I was told would be fine. Having sent this form off and not hearing back after months , I was told that it was never received.

Frustrated and having to resend the form off again I did once again and was told after several months of waiting that the student loans would not be received at this point in the year for past loans



Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?): No.

List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ): None so far.




Any Other Information or Background Details:

This letter was delivered to my house whilst I was away to visit sick grandparents. I arrived back on the 14th. Having spoken to the National Debt Service, I was told that the best way to do this would be have a redetermination hearing and to fill out a N244 form in person at the local county court.

Whilst drafting the letter and sending off my late defence an actual judgement letter arrived today. I am confused at what to do now as my initial thought was to send this letter off despite being late with proof of being away. This was to buy more time for a defence and then seek legal help.

P.s: Attached below are the forms which I requested from the students loan company at the time.

[Zaha007]

Bump! I really need to make a decision soon, so any help would be appreciated!

[Amethyst]

Hi, Sorry we missed your previous post.

On court procedure.... is it right that the date of service on the claim form is the 1st October? Did you call NDS on the 14th ? or try log in to Moneyclaim to acknowledge the claim?

If acknowledged that would have given you to the 28th Oct to file your defence. I'm not sure why NDS were talking about redetermination BEFORE there was a judgment.

So there is definitely now a judgment against you and you need to apply to set aside the judgment so you can defend it, or do you actually want to apply for redetermination ( so if the judgment is for forthwith payment to change it to pay by instalments ?)

Have you got the number you called to speak to National Debt Service ( thinking you called them instead of NationalDebtline ?)

Knowing that I am to pay 7k, I instead filled out the due amount in the box below which led to the university doing some deduction leading me receiving £3.9k instead of the standard £7k. This led to a debt of 2.8k

The form you attached has nothing in either box? What amount did you actually put in that box?

And actually if you can do a pic of the judgment letter and claim form it might make more sense xxx

[Zaha007]

Ok, I attached all three letters regarding claim, judgement and how they billed the invoice.

I understand that setting aside a judgement requires paying a fee and this would allow the judge to decide whether or not to give more time to prepare a defence. The judge accepting this requires these three conditions:

1. You weren’t previously aware of the CCJ, for example, the claim form was sent to an old address
2. You have a genuine argument against the CCJ, for example, you’d already paid it off,
3. You act quickly as soon as you find out about the CCJ.

Regarding the judgement, as I only had one day after arriving from holiday to make an informed decision. In any case, I would like to buy more time to gather some funds and avoid this. At that time I was receiving mental health help & was in a financial crisis towards the end of university as I was receiving no student loans for my last terms and was on a university hardship fund.

I have the following questions regarding this:

1) Do you think it's plausible that the judge will accept my short time duration to respond to the original CCJ as grounds to set this aside?
2) If this isn't possible, does a successful redetermination result in a CCJ judgment merely being satisfied upon completion or is there any possible way for a redetermination to result in a CCJ being taken off my credit record?
3) I have roughly 1 week left for me to file my redetermination from now. I know I have to make quick moves from now so it's looking like I might have to go for the N244 form...

Thanks for getting back to me I appreciate it! Amethyst

[Zaha007]

MIKE770 GBExile rob Any suggestions?

[lgfa92]

1) Do you think it's plausible that the judge will accept my short time duration to respond to the original CCJ as grounds to set this aside?

Part 13 of the CPR allows a default judgement to be set aside, some grounds are mandatory and some are discretionary. Discretionary grounds would require the judge to believe you have a real prospect of defending the case or be convinced that there's a good reason why they should set-aside (in short, it's their decision to make).
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...l/rules/part13

[Zaha007]

Part 13 of the CPR allows a default judgement to be set aside, some grounds are mandatory and some are discretionary. Discretionary grounds would require the judge to believe you have a real prospect of defending the case or be convinced that there's a good reason why they should set-aside (in short, it's their decision to make).
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...l/rules/part13

Thank you, It's understood that it's their decision to make. However, with regards to my situation I would like to know the following:

1) Do you think it's plausible that the judge will accept my short time duration to respond to the original CCJ as grounds to set this aside?
2) If this isn't possible, does a successful redetermination result in a CCJ judgment merely being satisfied upon completion or is there any possible way for a redetermination to result in a CCJ being taken off my credit record?
3) I have roughly 1 week left for me to file my redetermination from now. I know I have to make quick moves from now so it's looking like I might have to go for the N244 form...

[Zaha007]

Amethyst I updated it with the details

[Zaha007]

They’ve taken the matter to high court enforcement services they now want £4400 from me...

They are saying that they will add the following:
first enforcement stage it’s an additional £228 + 7.5%(+VAT@20%) of the amount above £1000. An additional £594 for a second visit & if they finally come to sell items they will charge an additional £630+7.5%+VAT.

That would amount to something like £6500 from the original sum of £2800 which is ludicrous.I can’t pay this and the university will withhold my degree until I pay my tuition fee, my plan was to wait to see if the courts would allow me to have a hearing - if I won then so be it.

If I lost, to make an out of court settlement. Whilst we were having correspondence the claimant escalated the judgement with a high court writ which acted swiftly dispute me telling them the situation and what was going on.

Any advice would be much appreciated it’s come to having to bite my tongue and offer consolation payments.



*

[Zaha007]

Actually if this could be moved to the baliffs and enforcement thread section by admins this would be much appreciated thanks

[R0b]

Have you made an application to set aside the default judgment and if so do you have a date for the hearing?*

I'm not sure what you mean by losing you'll make an out of court settlement because if you lose then you are deemed to owe the money and the judgment stands.