Existing/Active CCJ

[RobCost80]

Hi everyone, hope all is well.

Just a brief description of my issue. I have an active CCJ that was set by Northampton County Court in December 2014. It was by Lowells who had bought a debt of mine from Welcome Finance. I was asked to pay Brain Carter ( an agent or third party of Lowells ) £50 per month. I can't really remember filling any forms in but that isn't the issue. I was paying this £50 sum by direct debit, however, on the set day one time it did not go out. Then a few weeks later a payment of the same £50 was raised by a different company, Lowell Finance. I had no letter or communication regarding a different company would be collecting the £50 each month, so recalled the £50 and did not pay the sum again. This was in March 2017. I have not had any correspondence since then and have not paid any further monies. Whilst checking my credit rating last week, I noticed that the CCJ was till active and affecting my credit rating. So I decided to call Lowell and see what the latest was. They had all the correct contact details but no reason why any correspondence? There was no reason given to changing the third party of who collected the £50 either? I still owe £1800, but in just over 2 years it will be wiped off as will be 6 years? I offered to pay a one-off payment to close and the account but was told it had to be 1800. Surely that is better than being cleared off in just over 2 years? Where do I stand as Lowells have not contacted me for nearly 18 months, nor have they had any payments, and have changed companies without communictaion of who previously collected the monthly £50? Thanks in advance for any help or guidance.

Kind Regards

Rob

[MIKE770]

lowells will be the owners - Brian Carter (Solicitors) just an agent, ,lowells in house collecting by the sound of it?

if I remember correctly Lowell dropped carter ages ago, and it all went in house i.e. Lowell Finance, lowell will have owned the CCJ from the start/Carter just commision hopeful!

what was the case and did you defend? sure other will reply also?

[Amethyst]

Brian Carter acted on Lowell Portfolop's behalf, as do Lowell Solicitors. I'm not suprised you cancelled the DD and recalled the payment. You should have a look ( ask Bank for a copy of the DD authorisation ) who the DD was authorised to - was it BC or Lowell? And no they shouldn't have changed it without informing you the debt had been moved back to Lowell from BC - I think they left informing clients to BC - a bad move by the sound of it. If you do want to continue paying try and get them to allow you to do it by standing order rather than DD then you have control.

You do need to continue paying the £50 though, as it was a judgment order, if it isn't paid then Lowell could look at enforcement methods to collect the money from you. You have 36 months remaining, but yes the CCJ will stop showing on your credit file once 6 years from the judgment is up. They would still be able to ask court to enforce the judgment after those 6 years though as you have been making the payments. They could ask the court to look again at the amount to see if they can get it increased ( affordability wise ), or consider bailiff, attachment of earnings etc.

Sometimes they will accept a settlement on the remaining judgment debt, but tbh they like having the regular monthly income so there's no real impetus for them to settle lower.

[RobCost80]

Thanks for replies guys. They haven't had any regular payments (£50 or anything) from March 2017. So I was hoping to get it all sorted and sort my credit score out by paying a one off final payment? It is at present 1800, so was hoping they would take 900 or so and get it settled. Bit bloke I spoke to said it would have to be full 1800...

[Amethyst]

You might be able to settle at more like 70% of the outstanding, but it won't enable the CCJ to be marked as satisfied on the register or your credit file. That would only happen once the CCJ is paid in full, then you could obtain a certificate of satisfaction - the CCJ would still be on the register and show on your credit file, but marked as satisfied, it would have slightly less impact than an outstanding CCJ.... it then improves slightly the longer it is marked as satisfied, so maybe 2 years it'd show a decent improvement on the file ( but as it's due to fall off the register in Dec 2020 anyway you don't really benefit paying it off early)

If you're looking at applying for a mortgage etc then getting the CCJ paid off might help with the process and affordability checks - but it's unlikley you'd get the best rate or get accepted by one of the big banks, so would really need to go through a broker to find out what's available with the CCJ in place vs it being marked as satisfied, vs waiting until it drops off in 2020 - to work out what the best thing to do is. I'm sure you don't want to be paying it off in full if it'd make no difference to getting a mortgage etc. ( I'm only waffling on about mortgages as it's quite often that's when people start investigating cleaning up the credit file )

[RobCost80]

Thanks again for quick reply. Yeah I was looking to apply for a position within the police which do credit checks. Also I would be looking to apply for mortgages next year. But if paying the 1800 in full now won't make any difference to my credit rating , I don't see much value in it? So after almost 2 years when the 6 year limit occurs, am I right in thinking it's off my credit report anyway? And can they still pursue the 1800 afyer the 2 years remaining? It's confusing they haven't chased up any payments since March 2017. And in truth can't really remember being told they bought the debt off welcome finance, but think I missed that boat. Cheers

[Amethyst]

Ahhh, arses - you could check with the Police authoirty you're considering applying to about the effect of this old CCJ - I'd get your payments back up and running - as then you are complying with the court order which looks far better in disclosure than if you have to say you're not paying it... if you see what I mean - the Police, I believe, look at credit file to see if you are vulnerable / susceptible ... this is 4 years old and you've been paying it - so if that's all you have going against your application - still give it a go, but I would get payments started back up.

The time to argue about Welcome maybe not having informed you of the assignment, and any other issues you had with the original debt, has well since passed, you could have defended the original claim and dealt with it then, or even come to a payment arrangement out side of court back then.... but these things happen, you just need to get it back on a level so nothing further can bite you on the bum.

The CCJ will be off your credit report and the register in Dec 2020. The CCJ will still exist ( and you'll still need to get it paid) but it won't affect you further credit file wise.

[RobCost80]

Yeah I guessed it had passed by hey ho. So I think getting a plan sorted is the next steps, unless they accept a first final settlement payment of around 70% which I might try, even though it won't make much difference to my credit file ? It just confuses me they haven't pursued me since March 2017? Thanks again

[Amethyst]

If they haven't pursued you you could just leave it and see what happens, but tbh then if they did start chasing you'll be in a position where you HAVE to settle to avoid enforcement action, so better to do things on your own terms. If you can settle at 70%, and get in writing that is full and final etc, then although it won't make much difference to your credit file score wise, it should help your application credit checks as you'd be able to explain.

[RobCost80]

Yeah I am abit worried about the enforcement to be honest, that's why I contacted them, and not other way around ? I want it all sorted and forgotten and to try and build my credit rating back up. Cheers guys.