CCJ from lowells

[goodtogreat]

Hi, first time posting, hoping for some help.

back in 2007 when I was 18 years I took out a loan with HSBC.. I was silly enough to get myself into arrears and I stopped paying the loan.

In june 2009 my account defaulted with HSBC, and I spent a long 6 years regretting my mistake... but ill be honest I didnt pay them anything the last payment may of been 2009 possibly 2010? Although I cant be sure on the exact date as no longer have bank statments.. I ignored letters and then moved house (a few times) fast forward 8 years, ive recently found a CCJ from lowell on my credit file for the debt they bought from HSBC.. this CCJ was registered in Aug 2016! Over 7 years from the date HSBC defaulted me? Am confused, angry and annoyed with myself.. ill be honest I thought after the default from HSBC in 2009 and no payments for 6 years or acknowledgment of the debt this then became statue barred?

am not sure where to go now?? Do i contact lowell and ask them for the last payment i made? In the hope it was over 6 years ago?? Which i am pretty confident it was! But then if it wasnt am i owning up to agreeing to pay this debt? Or do i contact my bank for statements going back to 2009/2010?

do i contact the court and look into the n244 form to try and have the CCJ set aside? As I never recieved court paperwork and wasnt aware of the judgement.

Do i even have a leg to stand on? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[R0b]

Hello

I've made a fairly length post on setting aside default judgments so I would suggest you read that first to give you an understanding of the legal process and afford you the best opportunity of getting the CCJ set aside rather than making a hasty and perhaps unprepared application [click here].

It would seem that you may have a defence in that the debt may be statute barred but also if the notice of assignment was not served on you, then you may be able to rely on that as an argument too.

Equally, you could argue non-receipt of the claim form but usually this requires you to have made sure that you updated your information (e.g. DVLA, credit reference agencies, electoral roll etc.) to reflect the change of address and then shift the onus on Lowell to provide evidence that they took reasonable steps to ascertain your last known address.

Applications setting aside default judgments have to be made promptly so you can't sit around and wait for weeks or months and do nothing, rather you have to be proactive.

Once you have got yourself up to speed from the link above, let us know and then we can take it from there.

[Amethyst]

It is likely the claim was issued just before it would have become statute barred... and the claim made to your address you were at when the last payment was made.

How did you find out about the judgment - just by checking your credit file ? Have you contacted the court to request a copy of the claim and judgment ? You could look at applying to have the judgment set aside as you have said ( have a read here Set Aside Application)
How much approx. is the judgment for ?

I would first of all send a SAR to HSBC - that should give you a good idea where you stand before you contact Lowell at all -> Subject Access Request Letter

[goodtogreat]

Thanks for your help, the link you have provided is really helpful, also abit overwhelming.

ao it seems my first point of contact is lowell to ask for the CCJ to be set aside? Do you have any draft letters asking for a CCJ to be aside based on statue barred or not receiving the court order?

I understand i should of acted promptly, ill be honest the CCJ first came to light in January first year... I contacted Northampton county court for info on what the CCJ related too - they emailed me with the info. I didnt act upon it then as being honest there wasnt a need too. If I did go to a hearing would my local court be aware i contacted Northampton county court in january?

Does the fee of £255 need to be paid unfront?

If Lowell decided they wanted to go ahead with proceeding to a hearing will they start to contact me again to try and recover the original debt?

Thanks again

[goodtogreat]

January *this year

[goodtogreat]

The amount is £3000.00 yes through experian I found about about the judgment.

i will look to contact hsbc for a subject access request.

other than contacting the court to find out who the CCJ was from i havent asked for anything else.

thanks for your help

[Amethyst]

As you have found out about it yourself and Lowell haven't approached you about the debt, I would firstly do the SAR to HSBC so you have a better idea of your position. You may need to deal with identity and addresses with HSBC as you have moved since the account closed.

As you have waited 7 months before doing anything already, I don't think another month is going to hurt - you'll already have an argument over lack of promptness in the application ( as you called the court for details they may have a record when you found out about it from that ) so I'd find out more details and decide whether you are likely to have a defence against the claim.

How much is it for? ( okay crossed posts £3k )

[Amethyst]

If you got the CCJ set aside and then found you had no defence to it ( and really you need a decent prospect of success at defending for the court to allow the set aside) you'd likely have to settle it or arrange quite hefty instalments on it to avoid it just going back to being a CCJ ( and resetting the six years it's on your credit file and register )

Have you updated your credit file when you've changed addresses or were you checking your file in January for the first time since it defaulted ? Kept on the electoral roll ? etc. ( You'll want to show the court theres no reason they should have sent the claim to your old address when you were easily traceable at your new address etc )

[goodtogreat]

Thank you, I am already drafting an email to HSBC. Can this be sent by email?

also what is this going to show? Will it show my last payment made to them?

thanks

[goodtogreat]

Can i ask the courts where the claim was sent too? Will they know this?

yes i hadnt checked my credit file for a number of years after the original default was removed. The reason i checked in january was because i was looking to go onto the mortgage with my husband... fat chance of that at the moment

[goodtogreat]

This is part of the email from the courts.. ive had to crop it because of the size. It completley confuses me that they talk about the year 2013 and then 2014 but the registered the CCJ in 2016?? Experian told me they had the account since 2009. Why late so long?

[Amethyst]

They don't seem to have much of a clue what it is ' loans, overdrafts, financial service credit agreement'... HSBC are known for bundling overdrafts and a loan, and even credit cards held with them into one place, calling it an overdraft before selling it on.

Experian are likely wrong, and the debt defaulted in 2009 which will be the default date marked on your credit file originally ( only the CCJ should be on the file now btw not the original debt default ) and then it was sold to Lowell in 2013, who took over reporting - but they have to keep the original date of 2009 for the default. ( that is a terribly worded sentence but hopefully you have some idea what I'm on about lol )

That part the court have sent you you've cropped, does it not contain the original address the claim was issued to ?

The SAR should show you what the debt is made up of, all the products you had, any agreements, default notices, assignment, screen notes, transactions and so on. It might of course show nothing before 2012, but should at least show balance and sale over to Lowell.

Was this all in just your name ? and are you and your husband financially linked on your credit files or have you managed to keep everything separate?

[goodtogreat]

Thanks again for your reply its really helpful.

i did have a bank account with an overdraft on, and a loan so i think it is both of them together.

experian told me that hsbc defaulted me in june 09, and lowell defaulted me in april 09?? So before hsbc? Which is confusing..

no the email from the court had no mention of an address.

yes it was all before i met my now husband, we met in 2011, he got a morgage in his name only in 2014 as the default was still on my credit file. Married in 2015. Weve never applied for credit in joint names, the only thing that links us is the council tax as were both obviously on there.

[R0b]

Thanks for your help, the link you have provided is really helpful, also abit overwhelming.

ao it seems my first point of contact is lowell to ask for the CCJ to be set aside? Do you have any draft letters asking for a CCJ to be aside based on statue barred or not receiving the court order?

I appreciate that the guide is extensive, but a lot of times I see or hear applications prepared by litigants in person because they either don't understand the criteria or the application itself is just poor. This is your one shot at getting it set aside so careful (but swift) preparation is key. It might be hard to believe but presentation also plays a part in terms of setting things out correctly and clearly explaining what you want the court to do.

I've attached a template letter as an example of what you might ask in your email to Lowell's on getting it set aside. The contents are generalised but you just need to adapt it to suit your situation and point out that you consider the debt to be statute barred and/or you received no notice of assignment.

I don't think your local court will have knowledge of you contacting Northampton County Court but you may be asked when you first became aware of the CCJ and why it has taken so long to make your application. Promptness is not fatal to your application being refused but where there have been delays without good reason, it is the discretion of the judge as to whether it should be set aside. This is why you need a strong and robust defence to attach as part of your application so the judge can see you are not trying to wing it.