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County Court Judgement Advice

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Hi .. I know a number of people with legal experience read these pages and was hoping for some useful advice !

 

Basic facts :-

 

1. Whilst living with  my daughter, a former partner obtained a credit card without her knowledge or consent (in her name) and ran up debt to about £5000.......  we believe to create the illusion it was legitimate, used it, and made monthly payments (presumably in cash) so he was able to increase the credit limit to the level he did. .. this only came to light when the relationship ended 

 

2. To cut along story short, the credit card company were not remotely interested in this fraud + just wanted their money. Anyway eventually they sold this "bad debt" on to PRA group ltd  ( if not familiar with this company they make money trying to collect bad debt buying these debts for a fraction what is owed typically 10% of there value) 

 

3. Anyway, eventually they (PRA) realise she's not paying , so put it into county court via the online  method so it ends up  I think Northampton County court ? We ask for it to moved to Sheffield , they object but we get our way ..I presume this is done to wear people down so they just pay up 

 

4.By now Covid 19 has kicked off so told transferred to Sheffield County Court but it could be some time before it's listed so wait to hear from them...

 

5. Hear from Sheffield county court  April 27th 2021 , two letter in fact, one dated Jan 2021  saying  is going to be have to be done by telephone and will be held  Feb 2021 ...and secondly a Judgement against us saying because we did not participate /make contact the judgement has been made allowing their claim to succeed in full... As part of the judgement it says that we failed to lodge any defence documents but as part of their claim on the initial  court paper work (forget the form no) you are asked  why you do not believe you owe this money which was all filled in and sent back within the stated time limits.. 

 

6. I know that the judgement can be "set aside"  but the fee of  £255 seems excessive for something that's happened without you being at fault..... it been suggested that a  "Statutory  Declaration "  could be submitted to the county court  but I'm not sure how it should be worded to cover what's happened 

 

Anyway thanks for reading!  Any helpful comments welcome

 

 

 

 

 

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When a claim is raised in the county court, a claim form is sent to the defendant. This gives you details of how to log onto MCOL and acknowledge service and optionally submit a defence at the same time (or you can email the defence  separately). So, was a defence submitted using the form, or was it emailed, or what? And what was the exact text of the submitted defence? Or was it a placeholder defence (e.g. "full defence to follow").

 

Is there any particular reason the letters from the court took 3 months to arrive?

 

The set-aside fee can sometimes be waived if you're on a low income; otherwise it may be refunded if you win (or at least demonstrate that the set-aside was needed due to someone else's fault).

 

However, a set-aside application is not guaranteed to be successful; if the court thinks it's your fault (e.g. you failed to submit a defence within the deadline or you failed to keep the court and claimant up to date with your current address(es) then you lose the set-aside application, loose your £255, and still owe the claimant whatever was ruled in default.

 

I strongly suggest that your daughter (who I assume is the defendant) seeks legal advice soon, maybe with Citizens Advice being the first stop. This sounds like a mess, but it might be salvageable. Conversely your daughter may well be looking at coughing up £5K or being hounded by enforcement officers, and have a 6 year ruined credit score.

 

PS - Northamption is just the central clearing house for new online claims; the claim is always later transferred to your local court unless you're a business.

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Thanks for your comments Dave ..sorry for late reply been a little busy trying to sort this!

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Hi  I agree with the above poster totally.  Ensure your daughter  replies to all court correspondence as you need to keep a paper trail to refer back to.  I really hope you get to the bottom of it and your daughter does not have to pay anything back but don't hold your breath where the court is concerned as they can only act in a legal manner whether you think it is right or wrong.  Best of luck and keep posting to let everyone know how you get on.

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