Formal Notification - Order for Questioning

[manequin]

Hi,

 

I have received a letter from Wescot Credit Services back on 16th February 2012, this relates to a credit card that I ran late with a couple of payments and the company increased dramatically. I did dispute at the time but was persuaded to make payments unitl a resolution was found.

 

The history is I made payments to clear the debt at £10.00 monthly, the last payment I made was on 7th August 2008, according to thier records. The main reason I stopped paying at the time was the balance was continually increasing and has now gone up to £2673.13 which to my recolection is about £700 to £800 increase.

 

Anyway, they advised me a CCJ had been recorded against me, my credit file only showed a default and nothing more, so I received a letter mentioned above which came from a solicitor called Nelson Guest and partners dated 16th February 2012, I asume they took a while to get hold of me because I moved but that was 3.5 years ago.

 

The letter details quote

 

" We refer to the above claim and note you have failed to mae payment in accordance with the county court judgement obtained against you.

 

You are now put on notice that unless payment is received within 7 days of the date of this letter, an application for an Order for Questioning will be made. This will result in court documentation being personally served on you ordering your attendance at your local county court. You wil then be ordered to provide to the court details of your current financial position together with supporting documentation."

 

The options are then for payments to be made and how.

 

As I ignored the letter I thought after almost 4 years of payment you can jog on and a claimed CCJ registered.

 

Today, I received a basic letter titled "Notice of Transfer of proceeding" which details Northampton County Court with a very faint circle stamp on of my home town county court. The letter si dated 28th March 2012.

 

With the above in mind my questions are.

 

1) Do I ignore this and hope for the best?

2) Do I write to Westcot Credit Services and ask them if they legally own the debt and can they provide satisfactory evidence that I have signed etc?

3) Can Wescot request to register a CCJ again even though they have not and firmly they have already done so

4) Does anyone have any ideas if the court can enforce payment given this is a secondary debt and the balance has been increased?

 

Oh, one final thing, I checked my credit files and the default went some time ago.

 

Any adivce would be greatly apreciated.

 

many thanks and best wishes to all

[Bazooka Boo]

Utter fools, it's a shame you didn't find CAG sooner as you would have put this trivial matter to bed earlier.

Frst off is to find out if you really do have a CCJ registered against you, check on here, http://www.trustonline.org.uk/

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

If you ignore the order a judge can order the CC bailiff to arrest

you and bring you before the court to purge your contempt of court.

Also if you ignore the papers if they arrive thet will get a CCJ by default.

You have left to late really for attempting to prove you don't owe the debt,

as you would now have to make an application to have the judgement set

aside but at this stage you will need concrete evidence for asking for this.

Check Tustonline for the record of the CCJ there is a fee for this.

[manequin]

Thanks for the replies, with the comments in mind, would I have any defence so to speak given Wescot Credit Services never contacted me in almost 4 years? The only correspondence I recieved was form thier solicitiors.

 

I am not shirting away the responsibility but having checked my credit files I found there is no longer any entry on but it was definately a default registered.

 

I have no firm knowledge of the last payment I made but the records have come from Westcot Solicitors.

 

Any other ideas folks?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

IF you have made payments in the last 6 years the debt is not statute barred,

the default entry is automatically removed paid or not.

The CCJ takes precedent over all.

[cerberusalert]

Have you checked the Trust site to see if there is a CCJ against you?

 

See post #2

[manequin]

Hi,

 

Checked the Trust Site and response came back saying nothing registered!

 

This kind of explains how long ago the default was registered which they claim is a CCJ - credit files are clear.

 

Any suggestions of where I stand with this one folks?

 

Thanks

[cerberusalert]

Any judgment would have dropped off after six years so even if they had of obtained one it would be out of time now and they can't pursue it. See sec 24; http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/58

 

If a creditor tried to enforce it your defence would be section 24 of the limitations Act 1980....

 

(1) An action shall not be brought upon any judgment after the expiration of six years from the date on which the judgment became enforceable.

 

(2) No arrears of interest in respect of any judgment debt shall be recovered after the expiration of six years from the date on which the interest became due.

 

For this reason alone, cc judges would not normally allow enforcement.

[manequin]

Thats great, thank you!

 

A quick thought, I know this is almost 4 years since I paid, this is because I was duped into making monthly payments to Wescot while the discrepancy was resolved (Balance). Nothing ever came to fruition with a resolution.

 

Does this mean that Wescot cannot enforce the matter any further, or am I reading into this the wrong way? Apologies for novice information, new to this and seething that the amount has increased.

 

many thanks

[cerberusalert]

You could make things difficult for Wescott by writing to them and telling them that you have no knowledge of any CCJ and demand that they prove its existence as it is not recorded on the Trust site & see what they come up with.

 

Depending on what their response is, if they mention any payments you've made then you can tell them to provide proof of it, how much and by what method.

 

Technically if they have stated there is a CCJ against you when there isn't they will be in breach of OFT guidelines and you should make a complaint.

[gezwee]

Today, I received a basic letter titled "Notice of Transfer of proceeding" which details Northampton County Court with a very faint circle stamp on of my home town county court. The letter si dated 28th March 2012.

 

 

I don't believe anybody in their right mind would forge the courts seal........

 

Assuming this is genuine;

 

1. Is there a case/claim number on the letter?

2. Who was the original creditor?

3. Did you make payments to the OC or Wescot back in 2008?

4. Could you possibly have been served with a claim a few years ago and entered into a consent?

 

Gez

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

If an order for questioning (oral examination of means) has been

made details of the CCJ would have been given when the order was

applied for I think.

[impecunious]

I was subject to an Order to Obtain Information! I still have nightmares about it! i would liken it to the Spanish Inquisition - quite literally a 3 HOUR financial interrogation with a barrister, a solicitor and his trainee!! Total overkill!

 

They wouldn't believe that I'd spent 8 years financially supporting my adult son who has severe mental illness and my three other grown-up children. that's what mums do! They accused me of channelling all my money into secret off-shore accounts!! (I'm a single parent who works for a small charity - and I was unemployed and on benefits before I managed to get that job!) Unbelievable.

 

I have an enormous CCJ against me -- by default - my set-aside was denied - even though the claim form was never received by me - it was delivered to an old address. I couldn't afford legal representation and had to appear as a litigant in person. The whole thing was a complete nightmare!!! (I still have the set-aside costs outstanding too - another CCJ!!!)

 

I ended up offering £1/month to the Judgement Creditor as a gesture of goodwill (a firm of solicitors) because my basic outgoings greatly exceeded my incomings - this was categorically refused! I paid it anyway for a few months then didn't bother anymore .... that was nearly three years ago now .... Nothing's ever happened. The sky hasn't fallen on my head and no further enforcement has been attempted. I think they finally realised that there was no point spending any more money on enforcement when I don't have a penny to my name! Can you just imagine how much a HCEO would charge per visit?

 

If you are ordered to attend - make sure that you do and that you're extremely well-prepared. I took lots of paperwork with me but I still had to ask for another month after the hearing to gather together everything they requested.

 

Sorry, this has turned into a rant - forgive me!! If you are ordered to attend, I sincerely hope that your experience doesn't mirror mine!

 

 

 

Impecunious!

[manequin]

This is all sound advice folks, thank you to all.

 

I will start by doing the following and report back:

 

1) Write to Wescot to gqain evidence form them of a CCJ in existence given there are no records on the Trust site.

2) Ask Wescot for a break down of all payments recieved and also by what means (This will be if they fire back payments etc)

 

In terms of the letter that came through, it had a claim number on with a defendant number being beside Wescot.

Historic payments were made to Wescot, they had harsh bullying tactics I recall asking me to pay whilst the dispute was settled, at the time I thought I had no option.

 

The origional creditor was MBNA - the card was a Sony Card for MBNA

 

I guess its time to write to wescot and try to halt thier actions, I may be a little late given the case has transferred to my local County Court.

 

Fingers crossed I can get some amunition to prove they had not contacted me since 2008 and also utilise the below:

 

If a creditor tried to enforce it your defence would be section 24 of the limitations Act 1980....

 

(1) An action shall not be brought upon any judgment after the expiration of six years from the date on which the judgment became enforceable.

 

(2) No arrears of interest in respect of any judgment debt shall be recovered after the expiration of six years from the date on which the interest became due.

 

For this reason alone, cc judges would not normally allow enforcement.

[gezwee]

I think it would be wise to ring the court and ask if they can send you a copy of the particulars. Assuming it wasn't served to your address you could look to set-aside

 

Gez

[impecunious]

I think it would advisable to state that having a judgement set aside purely on grounds that it wasn't served to your current address isn't always automatically given. Mine wasn't allowed and I ended up being presented with costs in the sum of £800+ from the other side. The judge, however, reduced that figure by over £250 as he felt it was OTT.

 

Please just be aware that there may be a cost implication.

 

 

 

Impecunious!

[manequin]

Hi folks,

 

I followed the sound advice, so far I have written to Wescot asking them to prove existence of the CCJ and when it was enforced etc, rang the court to be told verbally I have an order to attend on 13th June for questioning.

 

With that in mind I asked for copies of any paperwork they hold. The lady said there is not a great deal they will hold as it was transferred from Northampton County Court but sending it anyway.

 

Looks like this is really happening, got the limitations act to work with, could there be any other suggestions please?

 

Best wishes all.

[manequin]

Hi folks,

 

I just identified that a notice was sent to me at my mother in laws home to which I have never resided, this was in may 2004 which is now 8 years ago since notice was served.

 

In terms of the notice, I cannot recall whether this was a default or CCJ but it was only ever registered on my credit files as a default which naturally disapeared over time after 6 years.

 

Could anyone provide more help and also any information I need to provide when attending the court on 13th June?

 

Only a thought, or am I clutching at straws here but it certainly seems as though the limitation act sect 24 would certainly be to my favour, any clarification on that point please?

 

Also, when I attend, do I need to request things like a copy of the origional credit agreement, proof that wescot actually own the debt etc...I am thinking I need to get a lot of preparation into place prior to attending.

 

Cheers folks

[cerberusalert]

Even if it were a CCJ it would have dropped off your credit file as well as the Trust site. The CCJ will be 'out of time' now so you can invoke sec 24 of the limitations Act 1980.

[manequin]

Great job, thank you.

 

Looks like I should print off the Limitations document and take with me.

 

Thanks

[cerberusalert]

You could 'phone the court manager's office tomorrow & explain that you've received a formal notification for questioning but the CCJ is 8 years old has never been enforced and you have been made aware that it would be subject to Sec 24 Limitations Act 1980 & see what they say.

[manequin]

Hi folks,

 

I received a letter from Wescot today, from reading it the response is very evasive.

 

Hpwever the main body is the following:

 

We can confirm a CCJ was granted on 8th November 2011 at XXXXXXX County court and have advised I contact the court to gain a copy of the judgement for my records. This was issued under CPR6.5(4) at my last known/previous address. (I have been at my present home 4 years now and appear on electoral role).

 

The origional default date on the account was 26/11/2004, this 8 years ago so CCJ registered 7 years after default date.

 

I have again checked my own experian credit files and trust site, nothing is showing at all, so not sure wehere to go to find existence of CCJ - any ideas?

 

I am also amazed that the claimed CCJ wen to my previous address in November 2011 but then they mysteriously write to me at my present address 4 months later.

 

Does anyone have any guidance or advice on how to proceed please???

 

Do I write to Wescot and demand they provide evidence of actual evidence inclusive of a copy

 

Has wescot made an error by issuing a claimed CCJ 7+ years after a default?

 

Any assistance greatly apreciated.

 

Best wishes all

[cerberusalert]

You will have to apply to the court to get the CCJ set-aside. You have two defences the first is it was sent to the incorrect address & the second is that they applied for a CCJ on a Statute Barred debt.

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=12_how_to_set_aside_a_judgment_in_the_county_court

[manequin]

Hi,

 

This is not statute barred because they say my last payment was in November 2008. I do not think any payment was made to this date. Perhaps I may go back to Wescot and request the banking source of where the funds came from because I do know in 2007 I changed bank accounts.

 

Would I have any impact with sect 24 of limitations act given a default November 04 then nothing until November 2011 (Claimed CCJ) as previous my credit files or trust site do not show any CCJ registered. I am, just thinking about a seven year gap.

[cerberusalert]

As long as there is any clear period of six years (five in Scotland) where no payment or written acknowledgement from you was made then it would have been SB, any payment after that period is deemed as a gift from you and does not reset the clock.