Ministers to block companies from sending court claims to old addresses

[Michael Browne]

A major crackdown on the abuse of county court judgments is announced today following a Daily Mail investigation.

 

Ministers are pledging to block banks, debt firms and parking companies from sending court claims to old addresses.

 

The move would halt the scandal that leaves thousands of families financially crippled because of debt judgements passed against them without them knowing, or having a chance to defend themselves.

 

The pledge is made today by the Ministry of Justice as it launches a public consultation on the judgments, known as CCJs. It follows an investigation by the Mail, which found firms are obtaining hundreds of thousands of CCJs every year over alleged debts of as little as a penny.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4060508/Victory-Mail-debt-rulings-cripple-families-Ministers-block-companies-fro-sending-court-claims-old-addresses.html#ixzz4Te39AKtE

[renegadeimp]

Awesome. But they need to drop the fees such as a set aside fee. The current amount is astronomically high for people in debt and dcas know this and exploit it.

[ThedaBara]

That's amazing news! Everyone should be entitled to defend a claim made against them... TB

[dx100uk]

a pledge though in words only..

if would it ever become law is a totally different thing..........??????

 

 

dx

[Mr.P]

Over the past three years, the number of CCJs has risen by more than a third, with almost 900,000 issued last year. In more than 80 per cent of cases – 2,000 a day – judgments are issued with no defence heard in court.

 

A nice little earner for the MoJ. Can't see them wanting to give up a significant revenue stream without raising the fees elsewhere.

[Ford]

a pledge though in words only..

if would it ever become law is a totally different thing..........??????

 

 

dx

yep. another 'promising' consultation, that ends up with a bending over?

[citizenB]

So how would this work. The company will need to make more effort to track down the person they think owes them money. If that person has gone off grid - eg, moves doesn't advise anyone - doesn't take out any credit or go on the electoral roll - the company has only the last known address. If no response from that or the claim form is returned to sender - are they then forced to not continue with the claim ?

[unclebulgaria67]

So how would this work. The company will need to make more effort to track down the person they think owes them money. If that person has gone off grid - eg, moves doesn't advise anyone - doesn't take out any credit or go on the electoral roll - the company has only the last known address. If no response from that or the claim form is returned to sender - are they then forced to not continue with the claim ?

 

That is the crux of the matter. Whilst we might have a problem with DCA's obtaining default CCJ's, we need to think about ordinary members of the public chasing debts. I don't think Parliament would legislate different standards, as to whether it was a company or individual private citizen chasing a debt. Companies have the resources to conduct tracing of debtors and might take the financial risk of using Solicitors to issue court claims. But a private citizen not belng able to easily trace a debtor to issue a court claim against, might not want to incur tracing fees, as well as Solicitors/court fees etc.

 

I can't see the current legislation being changed that much, but there could be standards applied through the FCA or other regulatory bodies, to require minimum standards for tracing debtors. It might say that they need to take steps, a,b.c,d etc, before they can issue a court claim.

[Ford]

here's the formal MoJ note

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-measures-to-protect-consumers-from-debt-claims

[dx100uk]

assess the role of parking companies and examine how drivers are informed of fines

 

 

oh dear even they get it wrong............

[andydd]

Awesome. But they need to drop the fees such as a set aside fee. The current amount is astronomically high for people in debt and dcas know this and exploit it.

 

Indeed..£255 is ridiculous, esp as the actual set aside doesnt involve much, just a Judge to have a quick look and see whether it has any merit. 5-10 mins work, I recently contemplated a set aside (this was due to errors on my part) but if youve never received the paperwork what can you do ?