Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

[mauvemazvita]

Hi,

I need advice on what may be acceptable compensation from the court for an administrative error which meant I had a CCJ on my credit file for 5 years without me being aware until I requested my credit file. A company had applied for a CCJ for a debt I had, however this was paid within the 30 day period and I had also responded to the court that it had been paid. The company I owe also informed them and I thought it had been corrected. The court has admitted the error which obviously caused me to have a bad credit file over the years. I asked for compensation but did not state how much and I'm wondering how much seems reasonable. The court is offering £50 which I think is too little. I honestly don't have an amount in mind.
Thanks in advance.

[R0b]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

Hello,

Difficult to quantify but certainly a compensation amount of more than £50 would be expected and there have been a few cases popping up recently but don't expect a huge payout.

Halliday v Creation Consumer Finance 2013 was a case where a lender reported a default on the consumer's credit file by mistake which appeared for around 5 months before being removed. The court awarded the consumer damages of £750 since the inaccurate information was not on there for a long period of time.

In Foster-Burnell v Lloyds TSB (a county court case not binding), the court awarded a sum of £1,000 where it concluded there was a breach of the DPA.

Do you know if the court has removed the CCJ?
Do you have any other evidence i.e. that both you and the company informed the court that the CCJ was satisfied within 30 days?
Also, did you apply for credit within the lat 5 years and have been rejected?

[mauvemazvita]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

Many thanks for the insight. It is very useful. The court is yet to remove or update the record as satisfied if I can prove that I paid within 30 days. As this was more than 5 years ago and I was not aware of the record, I very much doubt tat I will able to obtain tat evidence to which they have said if that is the case then it will be updated as satisfied. The court has said that they no longer hold the records in full as it is an old case.

Yes, I have tried applying for credit in terms of increasing overdraft which I was not successful. The main reason I looked at my credit file was because I have a secured loan which I could not negotiate a better rate for because they said my credit report was poor then I looked into.

Thanks once again.

[R0b]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

Have you considered sending a Subject Access Request to the company in question and seeing what they still hold on you? Perhaps they still retain information about being paid immediately after. Alternatively if you paid by bank transfer or cheque, you may be able to send a Subject Access Request asking for a statement which confirms the amount being taken from your account.

Alternatively, a statement from the company to confirm that they received a payment for the debt on X date will assist in proving you paid within 30 days.

You said the court admitted their error so why are they changing to satisfied? The CCJ should only show on your credit file for a period of 6 years so if it is still there, then I am assuming its been over 5 years but less than 6?

[mauvemazvita]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

Hi Rob,

I have requested information from the company I owed and I am yet to get a response. I'll make a follow on call tomorrow. I am of the thought that they are admitting not updating the record correctly to which it should a) have not been put on my credit file if I paid within 30 days which I think is the case as the letter I have from the company I owed was asking them to not go ahead with hearing as I had paid. If I had paid after 30 days ten the record would have been updated to satisfied. As it is my record shows a CCJ which was never paid.

Thanks

[R0b]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

'Asking' for information rather than a Subject Access Request are two separate things. A SAR is a legal right to which the company has to respond and provide you with all information they hold on you and must be supplied within 40 days, after which you can seek a court order to get them to hand the information over to you. A SAR costs a maximum of £10 but it would be worth it to obtain the relevant information you need to prove to the court that it was paid. If the company no longer holds any information about you then it must also state that.

If you want to take action then I would suggest you try as many options as possible within your means to obtain the information because simply relying on your knowledge is unlikely to be enough. Ideally a letter from the company to verify your account would be the most useful way or providing a bank statement showing when the payment was made is another option.

Your other option is to simply leave it and wait for the CCJ to drop off your report once the 6 years pass.

[mauvemazvita]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

Thank you. I intend to find out the date I made payment as I think having the record off would be a good idea. I appreciate your advice regarding the Subject Access Request as I had never heard of it before and your review regarding compensation value.

Happy bank holiday.

[mauvemazvita]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

UPDATE: I managed to obtain all relevant documents and sent off as well as informing them that in view of past cases I would expect an amount in the region of xxx. I received a response stating that they would still offer £50 because I did not provide evidence of being rejected credit (I can submit that as there is record of credit searches on my file but I did not keep letters/emails at the time for obvious reasons) but the main reason they state for not offering more is that it happened over 5 years ago and it was up to me to check my credit file as I would have been advised to so after being denied credit. I totally understand that view point and due to my own ignorance, I never imagined I'd have incorrect records and simply thought I had bad credit because at some point, I had a lot of debt.
My thought is just to accept the £50 and move on but really feel more around £500 would be acceptable but I need valid/acceptable reasons to explain why I never checked my file. Any thoughts are welcome.

Thanks in advance.

[ostell]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

Show how much extra it cost you for a loan because you could not get a better rate because of that recorded CCJ. There was no reason for you to check your credit files as you assumed that they would have followed the correct procedure. It was only a failing on a credit check that caused you to check.

[R0b]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

Just because you chose not to look at your credit file does not absolve them of their liabilities. If it wasn't for their wrongdoing you would have possibly had a better chance of obtaining credit.

In a civil court, the court has to decide on a balance of probabilities, that is to say that is it more likely than not that the default has affected your credit score and denied you the opportunity to obtain credit either at all or at a favourable rate. You only need to tip the scales 51% in your favour and it is not like criminal cases where you have to prove beyond reasonable doubt - just enough to show that it did would be sufficient.

That threshold in my opinion is not so high because all three credit reference agencies accept and acknowledge that a persons credit score is likely to be affected by a CCJ or a default against those who don't have one. Yes, all lenders have their own scoring criteria but as part of that criteria, having any defaults or CCJs is more likely than not going to affect you negatively.

In addition to the data breach, it is also negligence on their part. If you paid the amount within the 30 days which was confirmed by both yourself and the claimant, and the Court failed to update that information, it is their fault. They would be further aggrevating the matter by refusing to remove the CCJ completely and instead apply a satisfied marker. If they insist on not removing it and you issue a claim against them, you may be able to claim aggravated damages if you plead it for their unreasonable conduct.

If you had reason to believe that there was no CCJ on your credit file then there would be no need to check it and you put it down to the lender not accepting you on this occasion.

It is up to you as to whether you accept the £50 or pursue it further but I think what's more important is ensuring that they agree to remove the CCJ altogether.

[mauvemazvita]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

Many thanks on your insight. If I were to pursue it further would it be through me making a claim via the courts and do you know what type of claim/forms might be the appropriate ones this is in regards to compensation.

Just to clarify, the payment was made within 2 months because I responded to the court papers saying I wanted to negotiate with the company I owed so the judgement could be set aside whilst negotiating. My offer was not accepted and by that time it was over the 30 days but I then made the payment straight away. The mitigating circumstances regarding payment being made after 30 days has not been accepted but I won't lose sleep over that one as it comes off my file in 2 months because it would have been 6 years.

I appreciate your views and thank you.

[R0b]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

Ah well if it was between 30 and 60 days, then I think that changes things. Perhaps you'd be wiser to take the £50 in this case and accept it. As you say, if the CCJ will come off your file in two months it isn't that far away and it's certainly not worth the hassle taking any potential claim to court as by the time they've submitted their defence, the CCJ it will be just about time for the CCJ to be removed!

[mauvemazvita]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

Ah, thank you regarding the period I made the payment. I am clearer now on this case. I do have two cases. All similar. Two different courts, two different CCJs recorded as per my first post. It sounds unbelievable that one person would have the misfortune of two courts wrongly recording CCJs.
Second Case update: The payment was made within 30 days and have submitted the evidence. This same company took me to court the following year for falling behind service charge arrears (aggressive they were but let me not digress). I made the payment and only found out about the 2 CCJs after checking my credit file. This particular court on their first response refused liabilty on the grounds of that although i sent them the evidence (copies of letters sent to them by the property management company informing them I had paid) they claim to not receiving it therefore not their fault. I sent a response along the lines that there was a breach and someone (them in my view) were resposible for breach of the data protection act. I have no doubt the settled marker will be changed and the record be removed which will be good news as there is still a year before it is automatically removed.
I stated in my response that if they were refusing liability I would have no reason but to report it to the ICO or relevant board. I am awaiting their response.

Thanks R0b and ostell for your time.

[mauvemazvita]

Re: Need Advice regarding Compensation from Court for wrong CCJ on m ycredit report

UPDATE: Quick question

I have resolved the CCJ records on both cases one being marked settled with £50 goodwill and the other removed with £0 compensation or goodwill because they state they never received the original letter informing them of me paying the debt off. Is that a valid reason for refusing to pay something? They now have the letter as I forwarded copies hence updating correctly. This was over 5 years ago and there is no proof of postage. I received my copy from the company I owed which was sent to the court and they state they never received it.

Thanks in advance.