CCJ's on credit file discovered - set aside assistance

[Saba2777]

hey guys, so today i checked my credit file for the 1st time in years and was shocked to see i have 3x ccj's on their, i have moved house many times over the years so i guess their claim forms where sent to previous addresses i intend to get the CCJ's set-aside. I've never done anything like this before so hoping anyone could assist me through this process, i had a quick google and seen a paralegal company that offers a service to get the ccjs removed but at £300 per ccj is quite expensive, hoping i can do this myself with some guidance. annoyingly the ccjs are not even for a large sum of money.

Also i just want to clarify if i get the ccj set aside what happens then? can i make a repayment plan with the claimant to avoid the ccj returning? or must i pay the full balance to avoid the return of the ccj?

thanks for reading.

[Saba2777]

in addition to the above im not currently aware of whom the claimants are for the CCJ's i have emailed the court with each of the case ref numbers to hopefully get the claimants details.

[PallasAthena]

Set aside doesn't cancel the debt. If granted (it is by no means automatic that a court will agree to set aside) the creditors are put back to the start of the process, the proceedings go back to the claim stage. You have a new opportunity to fill in the reply to the claim form, make an offer of payment or put in any defence or counterclaim etc

So you would only want to get a set aside if you would have a reasonable prospect of success in defending the claim. Otherwise you could go through the whole process and end up with new CCJs against you anyway..

Another point to consider is how old these CCJs are. After 6 years from the date of the CCJ they will disappear off your your credit record and the creditor can no longer enforce it without going back to court and get a judge's permission. If the ones you have got are small amounts the creditors may have "forgotten" about them and aren't trying to enforce.. Starting a set aside will alert them to this! And if the creditors restart proceedings and win and get new CCJs the 6-year period on your credit record restarts.

And bear in mind that a set aside application isn't cheap - I believe it has now gone up to around £300 per application unless you are entitled to a reduction for low income/certain benefits.

So first step is to find out from the court what the claims were all about then you decide whether you have any reasonable prospect of defending them if the creditor started again after a set aside.

If they are small amounts, not being enforced, and close to their 6 year date you might decide to do nothing and just wait for them to disappear from your credit record

[Saba2777]

Set aside doesn't cancel the debt. If granted (it is by no means automatic that a court will agree to set aside) the creditors are put back to the start of the process, the proceedings go back to the claim stage. You have a new opportunity to fill in the reply to the claim form, make an offer of payment or put in any defence or counterclaim etc

So you would only want to get a set aside if you would have a reasonable prospect of success in defending the claim. Otherwise you could go through the whole process and end up with new CCJs against you anyway..

Another point to consider is how old these CCJs are. After 6 years from the date of the CCJ they will disappear off your your credit record and the creditor can no longer enforce it without going back to court and get a judge's permission. If the ones you have got are small amounts the creditors may have "forgotten" about them and aren't trying to enforce.. Starting a set aside will alert them to this! And if the creditors restart proceedings and win and get new CCJs the 6-year period on your credit record restarts.

And bear in mind that a set aside application isn't cheap - I believe it has now gone up to around £300 per application unless you are entitled to a reduction for low income/certain benefits.

So first step is to find out from the court what the claims were all about then you decide whether you have any reasonable prospect of defending them if the creditor started again after a set aside.

If they are small amounts, not being enforced, and close to their 6 year date you might decide to do nothing and just wait for them to disappear from your credit record

thanks for your reply. after looking over my credit file it appears these ccjs are from 2 different debt collection agencies i will await the courts getting back to me, unfortunately these are not very old ccjs.

ccj1 is for £600 and was added august 2021 to an address ive not lived at since 2017 so no idea why it was sent their
ccj2 is for £1466 and was added december 2022 again a different address that ive not lived at for over 4 years now
ccj3 is for £1323 and was added january 2023 again address id not been at in over 4 years

i don't know how true this is but a friend told me today that collection agencies must posses a deed of assignment to legally collect the debt and states if i defend the case and ask the magistrate to make the claimant produce the deed of assignment it'll get thrown out as they wont be able to produce it.

Im just annoyed to be honest that i was never made aware of these claims made against me and was never given the opportunity to defend my case or even offer a settlement and now i have to live with these poor markers on my file for the next 5 years. i presume this will make it very difficult to get a new rental property too as we where looking to move soon & that was the whole reason i checked. id of thought they'd of at the very least checked with the credit reference agencies to see my current address! ugh.

i can also confirm none of these are being enforced I've not heard off of any debt collections in years now (i had a rough patch many years ago but thought it was all done with, seems a few slipped through the cracks)

[PallasAthena]

Your friend is correct about who can bring a claim against you. Only the original creditor can do this (or a solicitor acting on their behalf), or a debt collector if the creditor has formally assigned the debt to them. In the latter case the original creditor is required to formally notify you of the assignment. Of course they may have done that and sent it to the same old address as the other documents.

Some debt collecting companies also have a subsidiary or department staffed by legal professionals who can act as solicitors and can file court documents on behalf of the original creditor and don't need the debt assigned to them to do that.

Get copies of the original claims forms from the court (usually the Civil National Business Centre in Northampton) and those should give the status of the party bringing the claim. If you got set aside you could then request a copy of any deed of assignment. They might not have it, as your friend says, but I wouldn't rely on them not being able to find it.

BTW it has nothing to do with magistrates. These are civil claims in the County Courts system.

Once you know what the claims are about you first need to consider if you have a realistic chance of defending them before you do anything else.