Hello everyone, In 2009, I got a job in another country and moved away from the UK. I informed my bank of my relocation, but allowed them continue to send my post to my old address because I visited the address whenever I returned to London from time to time. In 2012, I requested that the bank begin sending all correspondence to a new UK address where my wife's family resided and where I would have more regular access to post. In late September this year, a resident at my former apartment (who happens to be a friend of mine) informed me that I had numerous letters there. Upon retrieving them, I found that Mortimer Clarke Solicitors had filed a CCJ application against me. MCS is acting on behalf of Cabot Financial (UK) Limited. CF had issued me a credit card through my bank Citibank (who was also my employer at the time). There was an outstanding debt on this card that I had neglected to pay whilst away. MCS had been attempting to reach me at my old address and had taken action since I had not responded. I took a few days to read through the various letters they had sent me and research the implications of a CCJ. I then contacted them by email to explain the circumstances above, but they informed me a default judgment had already been obtained on 15/09/2016 ordering me to pay £50 a month. I would like to pay this debt and have my record clean again. The total debt is £3308, so at this rate it would take 67 months to clear it. As £3308 is a rather large sum and I cannot afford to pay it all right away, I would like to offer them a lump sum payment of £2000 or maybe £2500 (if I can stretch that far), on the condition that they will consent to having the CCJ set aside. I have not made any proposal or payment to them yet and I realise that the one-month window for payment to clear the CCJ has already passed. I understand that I may be able to have the CCJ set aside whether or not they consent if I can prove my circumstances, but I do not want to have to deal with the court proceedings. From what I have read, if both parties consent to having the CCJ set aside and both parties are represented by legal counsel, the set-aside would be routinely carried out through an administrative procedure, not requiring the discretion of a judge. This sounds to me like the set-aside would more or less be automatic in such cases, so this is my preferred route. So, my question is how do I make this happen. More specifically: 1. If I make this proposal to MCS and they agree, they might ask me to pay the agreed sum before beginning the process. Could this affect the set-aside in any way? 2. Is it out of the ordinary to propose to pay after the set aside has been obtained? 3. If they consent to my proposal what legal paperwork needs to be filed? 4. Who is expected to file this paperwork — defendant or claimant? Can I request that they file the paperwork as part of our settlement agreement? 5. Is my understanding correct — that a set-aside by consent where both parties are represented by legal counsel is carried out routinely without the requirement of approval by a judge and therefore is automatically approved? I just want to get this matter resolved and have my file clean. I am still working and living abroad, so I will be unable to attend court appointments, hence my preference for an automatic route and for not filing paperwork myself. If you kind folks can answer the questions above and possibly provide any additional insight on the matter and process, I would be very grateful. I need to decide and act quickly — I would like to have this resolved by the end of the month. Thanks in advance.

A 'default judgement' was made against me after I had disputed a supplier's invoice at work. The supplier took his anger out on me when I would not authorise payment and wrongly named me as a 2nd Defendant in his online Money Claim. This became a huge problem for me because he had used a 4 year old address of mine in his claim. I received no papers and had no opportunity to defend the claim. Judgement was made 'in default'. I became aware of the judgement through 'checkmyfile.com' 3 weeks after the CCJ was ordered on 4 April 2014. I applied to have the judgement 'set aside' and sent a cheque for £80 to pay the fee. One month later and after numerous calls to the Salford court admin centre, I finally found out why nothing had happened. The fee had risen from £80 to £155 whilst my application was waiting to be dealt with. I paid the new fee by card and the hearing took place at Chester County Court on 8 July 2014. The Judge was great and not only had the judgement 'set aside' but made the Claimant state 'on the record' that no claim existed and, accordingly, he ordered that the judgement be 'struck out'. I asked when this would be updated on my credit report. The Judge answered that he had no idea as his Order would remove the judgement from the registry and they did not deal directly with the reference agencies. I immediately contacted the 3 main agencies with a letter and a copy of the 'set aside' order. Within 48 hours, both Experian and Callcredit replied and confirmed that they had already removed the judgement after receiving an updated register. However, Equifax continued to report the CCJ as 'live'. Checkmyfile.com promised that they would speak to Equifax on my behalf. I had to pay their subscription first. It's only £7.99 but I paid only for this purpose. I have received 6 replies over the last week from checkmyfile.com. The replies are all from different 'credit analysts' and all have different information and advice. None have helped in the slightest. I find it hard to believe that these are REAL, EXPERIENCED credit analysts as their understanding is very limited and, in most cases, their advice plain wrong. I have been told that 'Equifax need a 'Certificate of Satisfaction' from Northampton' and 'Equifax won't accept the 'General Form or Judgement or Order' and need a stamped 'certificate''. I have explained that the Order that Chester Court sent to me IS stamped and sets out exactly what the Judge said in court on 8 July 2014. The judgement is set aside and the claim itself is struck out. The claim NO LONGER EXISTS as it has been struck out and deleted. Therefore, how can I 'satisfy' something that does not exist? And why would I want to acknowledge that there IS a claim by asking for a Certificate of Satisfaction? I need to know why Equifax have not removed the judgement from my file just as the other credit reference agencies did when they received notification of the court Order to 'set aside'? I need to get this judgement removed quickly as I will not pass a landlord's reference check otherwise. Please can anybody advise me as to the best way to approach this problem? I should be most grateful for your direction on this matter. Finally, am I alone in thinking that 'default judgement's' are ordered far too quickly. Anybody can make a claim and if they knowingly use an old address, it is 99% likely that a judgement will be made 'in default'. The Judge at my hearing was angry with the Claimant and actually said that his actions were 'reckless' but nothing else happened. I have had to spend £155 for the application fee and I have wasted days and it's STILL not sorted out. Surely the system needs amending here?

Hi All Bit of a long one but I will keep it as brief as possible. I recently started employment within the financial services industry. Their policy is to check new employees for CCJs. Turns out that I had one dated Feb 2008 from HMRC (tax debt) to the value of £5648. Because of this, my offer of employment was withdrawn three days after my official start date - 19th August. I contacted HMRC regarding this CCJ as I had no knowledge of it. While speaking to someone, he instantly told me this CCJ is incorrect due to a mistake on their part and in 2012 they deleted the debt and amended my tax records. He then said, that this CCJ should have been removed from my name as it was issued in error. He forwarded me to their debt management department, and they said they had no record of the 'debt' being deleted at the time but see new amendments on my tax history as of today. When asked about removing the CCJ their response was "I don't know". The first person I spoke to at HMRC is going to send me a statement detailing my tax records and that I have NO DEBT with HMRC and also a separate letter explaining the situation of what happened in regard to the CCJ. I had contacted Experian as well as Trust Online regarding this matter. After research I appears that I had to contact the courts that issued the CCJ with a N244 form and pay £80.00 to have this removed. Then after sending HMRC a letter of complaint, they replied after a long time, saying their records were incomplete but in November 2011 they updated their records (after contact with myself) and removed the debt. At that time they did not mention the CCJ. As I have said I had no idea about the CCJ. Why should I check my credit file when I know I have no debts? I have a CCJ set aside hearing on the 21st of this month. Surely if HMRC removed the debt in 2011 due to records being incomplete then should they have done something about the mysterious CCJ? Or even told me? They issued it to wrong address yet used the excuse "I was not in", yet people are easy to trace, PAYE records is a good place to start. Also I had claimed JSA and working tax credits before, during and after the whole CCJ process, so they knew EXACTLY where I lived at the time. Also, I have lost my job over this. I do not appreciate losing a 40k a year job (including benefits) through someone else's inability to keep records correct. Especially considering I have HMRC correspondence dating to the time with my correct address on it for unrelated matters. Since my name has been brought into disrepute, does this not form libel? If so, I want the salary that I have lost plus extra. I dont suffer fools lightly, especially when their mistake cost me. What do you all think?