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Hi there - in serious need of advice on a CCJ which has been filed against me. Apologies for the long post!
This relates to a debt from an energy company whom I had an account with during my second year of university. I closed the account at the end of our tenancy and received a large refund and heard no more about it until a year later. I started getting texts from a debt collection agency for the sum of ~£300 on behalf of Nabuh Energy. As I had heard nothing from the energy company since the refund, I ignored them at first as I thought it was spam. I contacted the agency after a while and they said the debt related to my account with Nabuh Energy from Nov 18 to Oct 19. As I moved out and closed the account in June 19, my assumption was that the debt must relate to the time from Jun-Oct when we had moved out and was therefore an error. I emailed evidence of the tenancy agreement and the refund from the energy company and my account was put on hold while it was looked in to. I did also contact the energy company but they never got back to me. After a month the texts started again and I had to repeat the whole process of asking the agency to establish if I actually owed the money. This time I was told that the account would be put on permanent hold until they had a response from the energy company and would let me know. I said at the time I'd be happy to pay if I owed the money, I just wasn't sure I actually did.
After a long period of hearing nothing, I started getting texts from the agency's solicitor warning of legal proceedings. Admittedly this is where I should have taken things far more seriously but naively I thought these were empty legal threats and so I ignored them for a long time. I did get in touch with the solicitors after a while, explaining the situation and requesting they find out from the energy company what exactly the debt was for. They did put the account on hold again, but what I didn't realise was that they has already started proceedings with the county court at this point. I had no idea what a CCJ was and so didn't take the threat of one seriously. After the texts started again recently I called and discovered that a CCJ had been filed and approved and unfortunately I have just missed the 30 day window to pay. I was not aware of the CCJ hearing as the letter had been sent to my old address, but I had fair warning that it was coming which I ignored. I also finally found out at this time that after crediting me, the energy company found I was actually in debit, hence the debt. I never received any communication of this from the energy company.
I did contact the solicitors today to ask if the client if they would agree for consent to set aside if I paid the debt in full. I'm really not sure they will agree and even if they did I'm not sure I would have a strong enough defence to get it set aside. My only very weak defence is that I didn't receive the actual CCJ notice as it was sent to my old address, although I failed to notify my change of address. I'm bang to rights for this really, I just wish I hadn't buried my head in the sand. I am acting immediately after discovering the CCJ and I genuinely would have paid it had I known it had got to this point.
My only last hope is that I never received a final bill or any communication of the money owed from the energy company. If I could prove this - do I have a chance of getting it set aside? Does the fact I ignored the threats completely void this? I don't want to spend £255 if I have no hope of success.
I am having to come to terms with the fact I may have to suck this up and just pay off the debt to at least have it marked as satisfied. I did pay to check the Registry Trust today and the CCJ is not currently showing which is a bit odd, even when I put in the ref number from Northampton CC. It's really scary facing the fact that this will be on my record for the next six years. I am 22 and just about to finish university, I feel like this could genuinely ruin my life.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
This relates to a debt from an energy company whom I had an account with during my second year of university. I closed the account at the end of our tenancy and received a large refund and heard no more about it until a year later. I started getting texts from a debt collection agency for the sum of ~£300 on behalf of Nabuh Energy. As I had heard nothing from the energy company since the refund, I ignored them at first as I thought it was spam. I contacted the agency after a while and they said the debt related to my account with Nabuh Energy from Nov 18 to Oct 19. As I moved out and closed the account in June 19, my assumption was that the debt must relate to the time from Jun-Oct when we had moved out and was therefore an error. I emailed evidence of the tenancy agreement and the refund from the energy company and my account was put on hold while it was looked in to. I did also contact the energy company but they never got back to me. After a month the texts started again and I had to repeat the whole process of asking the agency to establish if I actually owed the money. This time I was told that the account would be put on permanent hold until they had a response from the energy company and would let me know. I said at the time I'd be happy to pay if I owed the money, I just wasn't sure I actually did.
After a long period of hearing nothing, I started getting texts from the agency's solicitor warning of legal proceedings. Admittedly this is where I should have taken things far more seriously but naively I thought these were empty legal threats and so I ignored them for a long time. I did get in touch with the solicitors after a while, explaining the situation and requesting they find out from the energy company what exactly the debt was for. They did put the account on hold again, but what I didn't realise was that they has already started proceedings with the county court at this point. I had no idea what a CCJ was and so didn't take the threat of one seriously. After the texts started again recently I called and discovered that a CCJ had been filed and approved and unfortunately I have just missed the 30 day window to pay. I was not aware of the CCJ hearing as the letter had been sent to my old address, but I had fair warning that it was coming which I ignored. I also finally found out at this time that after crediting me, the energy company found I was actually in debit, hence the debt. I never received any communication of this from the energy company.
I did contact the solicitors today to ask if the client if they would agree for consent to set aside if I paid the debt in full. I'm really not sure they will agree and even if they did I'm not sure I would have a strong enough defence to get it set aside. My only very weak defence is that I didn't receive the actual CCJ notice as it was sent to my old address, although I failed to notify my change of address. I'm bang to rights for this really, I just wish I hadn't buried my head in the sand. I am acting immediately after discovering the CCJ and I genuinely would have paid it had I known it had got to this point.
My only last hope is that I never received a final bill or any communication of the money owed from the energy company. If I could prove this - do I have a chance of getting it set aside? Does the fact I ignored the threats completely void this? I don't want to spend £255 if I have no hope of success.
I am having to come to terms with the fact I may have to suck this up and just pay off the debt to at least have it marked as satisfied. I did pay to check the Registry Trust today and the CCJ is not currently showing which is a bit odd, even when I put in the ref number from Northampton CC. It's really scary facing the fact that this will be on my record for the next six years. I am 22 and just about to finish university, I feel like this could genuinely ruin my life.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
