Help with judgement in default

[notlob]

Hi, I'm new and would really appreciate some advice. Yesterday I received a judgment in default and was confused as I had not received a claim prior to this. Today I received some correspondence from the court which made sense. Basically I received a claim from capquest for a Next Directory account about 18 months ago and filed an acknowledgement which is recorded at Money claim online (i just checked as still have the old claim number etc) and advised that I intended to.defend the claim. I the heard from cap quest saying they would agree to a monthly payment on £50 and would not proceed with the claim. I agreed and returned a direct debit that they sent me. Evidently they died get it sent me another and I sent that back too. This happened a third time. I kept checking to see if the dd had been set up on my account. It wasn't but I didn't hear from them and eventually forgot all.about it. So anyway today I got a copy of their application to the court dated 15 July 2014 stating that I never acknowledged the claim (untrue) and that despite making an arrangement to.pay, I didn't and they were therefore applying to lift the stay. My questions are

1. Should I have received a copy of this application? It was issued in July and the first I heard was getting the judgement yesterday.
2. Can I apply to have the judgement set aside as they have lied in their statement?? I did acknowledge the claim and it is not my fault that they lost three direct debit mandates...

The debt is for £364 (Inc. Costs)

Many thanks in advance

[Amethyst]

Re: Help with judgement in default

Okay you should apply to set that aside but it will cost you the application fee and with a hearing it's a fair whack compared to the debt at £155. You should have received their application to lift the stay on the claim so you could respond to it so that is a good enough reason to get it set aside. You could apply for without a hearing which would be £50, but really if you can call the claimants and ask them if they agree to set it aside because you only received their application yesterday, and what happened with the DD forms etc, then you can get away without a hearing.

When you agreed the £50 did you sign a Tomlin/Consent Order ??

How important is not having a CCJ on your file to you ? As the debt is a small amount then there is always risk of costs if you get it set-aside then lose the claim. They will argue that you agreed to pay them £50 a month and failed to do so and its not their fault ref the DD forms etc.

Also, did you ever send a CCA request for the Next account ? Next were a little bit rubbish at getting you to sign an agreement pre 2007 so it would be worth doing that as soon as you get it set aside.

[notlob]

Re: Help with judgement in default

Thank you. I am just about getting on my feet after getting into trouble 5/6 years ago so am loathe to reset the clock with a ccj lasting another 6 years.. I do have the money to pay this but it's the principle..however if the Court costs are going to amount to half that anyway I think I may have to just pay it so that it doesn't get registered - is there any merit in ringing them and offering a smaller amount? If they were to accept can they advise the court that it has been paid so.that the judgement isn't registered??