Can I substantiate a claim even after CCJ?

[basil_brush]

Hi everyone. I had bwlegal make a court claim against me and I didn't have time to get the necessary documents and prepare a defence, and I've never dealt with this before so I was a bit dazzled by it all. Anyway, bwlegal have sent me a letter stating that a CCJ has been entered against me, even though I've had no further contact from the court since I received the (rather unhelpful and uninformative) Particulars of Claim form. They say I have 10 days from the date of the letter to pay the sum of £2389.

I still don't know if the debt is valid or not. Can I still make enquiries about the credit agreement and documents of assignment (it is not the original creditor claiming)? Can a CCJ be challenged if they can't produce those documents?

Thank you.

[basil_brush]

Re: Can I substantiate a claim even after CCJ?

Is it a case that I have to start paying while I'm investigating it and, if it proves to be unsubstantiated, I then have to make a counterclaim to get my money back? Thanks.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Can I substantiate a claim even after CCJ?

Hi everyone. I had bwlegal make a court claim against me and I didn't have time to get the necessary documents and prepare a defence, and I've never dealt with this before so I was a bit dazzled by it all. Anyway, bwlegal have sent me a letter stating that a CCJ has been entered against me, even though I've had no further contact from the court since I received the (rather unhelpful and uninformative) Particulars of Claim form. They say I have 10 days from the date of the letter to pay the sum of £2389.

Did you ever acknowledge service of the claim and state your intention to defend it? If not, the claimant would have obtained default judgment against you. Who was he claimant? Lowell? They often use BW Legal.

What was this debt for?

I still don't know if the debt is valid or not. Can I still make enquiries about the credit agreement and documents of assignment (it is not the original creditor claiming)? Can a CCJ be challenged if they can't produce those documents?

Thank you.

Once judgment has been obtained, the creditor no longer has a duty to respond to a CCA request for a copy of your agreement. It is possible in some cases, to get a CCJ set aside, but you'll have to show you had a very good reason for not submitting a defence within the allowed timescales, as well as being able to show you'd be able to defend the claim successfully. If so, you can apply for set aside by filling in an N244 and paying an £80 fee, which can be waived in certain circumstances. Form ex160a provides full details about court fee remission.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Can I substantiate a claim even after CCJ?

Hi everyone. I had bwlegal make a court claim against me and I didn't have time to get the necessary documents and prepare a defence, and I've never dealt with this before so I was a bit dazzled by it all. Anyway, bwlegal have sent me a letter stating that a CCJ has been entered against me, even though I've had no further contact from the court since I received the (rather unhelpful and uninformative) Particulars of Claim form. They say I have 10 days from the date of the letter to pay the sum of £2389.

Is it a case that I have to start paying while I'm investigating it and, if it proves to be unsubstantiated, I then have to make a counterclaim to get my money back? Thanks.

There isn't much to investigate, you have the following options:

1. Apply for set aside as noted above, if you think you can justify not having responded to the claim, for example, due to ill health or being away for an extended period of time;
2. Pay the full amount of the judgment within 28 days if you can afford to do so, in which case the CCJ would be removed from the record; or
3. Accept that you will have a CCJ and apply to pay it in monthly installments. You have 16 days from the date the CCJ was obtained to apply for a redetermination. You'd need to write a letter to the court and attach a budget sheet to back up your installment offer. The advantage of doing this within 16 days is that no fee is payable. After 16 days you can no longer apply for a redetermination, you'd have to apply for a variation using form N245. A fee will be payable.

[basil_brush]

Re: Can I substantiate a claim even after CCJ?

I had filled in the form indicating I intended to defend the full amount.

The claimant is Lowell and it was for an old Capital One credit card.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Can I substantiate a claim even after CCJ?

I had filled in the form indicating I intended to defend the full amount.

The claimant is Lowell and it was for an old Capital One credit card.

What happened after that? Did you submit a defence? If not, why not? :noidea:

[basil_brush]

Re: Can I substantiate a claim even after CCJ?

No, I didn't manage to get my defence in on time. There was not much time after receiving the court claim and this was over the Christmas period so it was difficult to get things done in a prompt manner. At first I tried finding free sources of legal advice offline. It wasn't until later that I discovered these forums.

Anyway, there's not much I can do about it now - too little too late really. But thank you for taking the time to let know where it can go from here.

[Amethyst]

Re: Can I substantiate a claim even after CCJ?

If you can't pay the full amount and don't think a set aside is viable then you should at least ask for the judgment to be redetermined as per point 3 in Flaming Parrot's post. This will enable you to make monthly instalments on the Ccj amount and not have to deal with other enforcement, such as bailiffs, further down the line. If you are past the 16 days from judgment then apply for variation.