Protocol after CCJ

[julian]

For a debt to remain active before SB, there is a requirement to send annual statements etc.

Is there any requirement for statements or anything else after a CCJ has been awarded?

Where a forthwith judgement is awarded without any form of payment being enforced, how is the debt kept alive? Can it lie dormant for years and then just spring back into life?
Of course the "debtor" will be on tenterhooks the whole time waiting for the knock.

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

It's always hard to answer a hypothetical question since the facts are paramount in order to take an accurate view.

In general terms the Judgment Creditor (the Claimant) has no obligation to enforce a debt and no timescale for doing that. However the longer they take the harder it may be to get the court to agree to any enforcement action they decide to take (especially after six years) such as an application for Attachment of Earnings, Bailiffs Warrant of Control, Charging Order an so on.

As far as I'm aware there is no statutory requirement for anything to be sent to the debtor post Judgment except in the case of the debt being sold on where a Notice of Assignment is necessary.

Do you have a forthwith CCJ which is haunting you? If so post up the details for a more bespoke response

Di

[julian]

Interested in the hole, and if there is any experience to complete the full life-cycle. Nice to be prepared.

I was following a few cases that appear to terminate at the eve of the court process. There also appears to be a shake in the offing to counter in the increased use of CCJs particularly to chase up parking fines for small amounts which have been pushed through the bulk centre unknown to the "debtor" until mortgages are refused or bailiffs are sent in to collect the "debt" inflated with interest and fees.

There is so much about ways of approaching the CCA requirements to avoid CCAs and the protocols on Court procedure. Then there are procedures for arranging the £1 per month eternal repayment.

In contrast, the procedures that must be followed to enforce appear to be either 1) ask for the money 2) make an application to court for a warrant of execution/CO/attachment of earnings/?. No process, no limits, no constraints. A Warrant of Execution requires advance notice of the application to allow the defendant to counter the writ, which must be renewed annually, whereas the other methods automatically require a hearing to deliberate the case of which the defendant is notified and can, in theory, avoid or influence the action to enforce.

Leaving aside the requirement for court's permission to enforce after 12 years for mortgage and 6 years for other debts, there does not appear to be - as you state above- any other requirement. In this way, the CCJ is almost like a bearer bond that can be held and/or sold on and cashed at any time.

There does seem to be an additional requirement when selling on, for the acquiring company to make an application to the court to change the name of the creditor in order to proceed to enforcement. However, no clear indication of the urgency or time limits allowed, although there have been a few unsupported claims that it should be within 6 months of acquisition, no references or precedence provided. Some DCAs undermine the system by failing to follow the process and use the bulk centre to change the name on the CCJ rather than applying to the issuing court, and lying on the age of the CCJ for an easier passage. It also appears that this step is often missed, to avoid the expense of the application, and not picked up by the court staff who just change the name and proceed to the enforcement stage.

[Warwick65]

Don't know if this helps. I had two ccjs awarded against me in the mid 1990s. I was paying these at a very low rate until 2012. I then called the collection section of one of them who told me it was now too late for them to do anything. I also wrote to the main part of the bank who had no records of me. The balance on that was over 1500.

The other was about 250 and I just stopped paying. A couple of letters from Moorcroft and then nothing.

I have heard nothing from either since

[Warwick65]

To answer some of your other points, it seems sometimes ccjs are sold in a portfolio and the new owner is unaware maybe because of non disclosure, maybe because they have not actually read the file. This seems to be the case when they then threaten ccjs

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

Leaving aside the requirement for court's permission to enforce after 12 years for mortgage

Perhaps I should add that lenders who belong to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (e.g. almost all High Street lenders) are expected to start recovery of any repossession shortfall within six years.

Shelter > https://england.shelter.org.uk/housi...r_repossession

CML (last paragraph) > https://www.cml.org.uk/consumers/pay...session-occur/

Di

[julian]

There seems to be a lack of detail regarding the selling on of debt in those examples. Whereas the CML expects of its members adherence to a code of conduct, the bottom feeders buying debt are not bound by any code of conduct or, it appears, by any legislation. So, if a debt is sold on after 6,12 or 50 years is there an argument if the original mortgage lender has not written asking for the shortfall in the first 6 years? Regardless of the current ownership?

Nightmare/quagmire, isn't it?

[Joanna Connolly Solicitors]

I can see you've started two other threads on this topic so I'll post their links here for reference to other suggestions made.

Thread 1 > https://all-about-debt.co.uk/forum/f...d-when-sold-on

Thread 2 > https://all-about-debt.co.uk/forum/d...debts-with-ccj

Di