FFS. CCJ I knew nothing about.

[TryingNotToFreak]

Letter from solicitor in the post this morning.

Apparently I was served a CCJ in January and they are commencing enforcement proceedings.

This is the very first letter I have had regarding the matter, and of course now it's too late!

A reference copy of the County Court claim form was enclosed, my old address is on it (moved in 2021). Frustrating that they clearly have my correct address NOW (solicitor letter) yet clearly every other communication on this has gone to my old address, so I've had no idea!!!

It's for a vet bill totalling £300 originally. We had Royal Mail redirection for a year after we moved so no idea why we didn't get the original invoice. We also saw the same vet last year, and no mention was made when we paid that invoice!

Thankfully we have healthy savings so can pay whatever costs (£1k on court claim papers but guessing more now solicitors commencing enforcement proceedings) but I'm so frustrated that they have only just sent to the correct address!

I am meticulous about updating new addresses too- this vet is different to our usual one (which I updated!) but shares out of hours vet cover. Obviously a mistake on my part not to let them know our new address but a) we had Mail redirection and b) assumed invoicing/records were shared between the two anyway... clearly not 😓

Ready to pay whatever but rang the solicitors as soon as I opened the letter and no one has been available to talk to me, despite calling and chasing via email today like a madwoman.

Any advice? Google seems to say I need to settle the debt and then have a terrifying and embarrassing day in court to try and get it set aside on the basis that the court paperwork went to the wrong address?

The vet practice have looked into it today and acknowledged that when we visited in January they created a new client file rather than updating the existing one, so they had our current address on one file (where we paid immediately) but not the other one (which led to the CCJ).

They attached the original invoice and said once paid they'll inform their solicitors of the 'confusion'

So I've immediately paid it, because we owed it, and if it comes to it my defense would be that we'd always have paid it the second they asked (which we would have done!).

DH now panicking that I've shot us in the foot re CCJ re paying it, but surely if they have admitted to making an error I can go to court to have it set aside regardless, as they HAD our new address but didn't use it for the court papers? It's not our fault their receptionist set up a new file?

From what I've read I don't think the claimant can 'change their mind', they can't say 'whoops we fucked up' and it all goes away, so still looking at a court appearance, but feeling much more confident about my case for setting the CCJ aside, even if I have paid the original invoice.

Then there is the question of the fees added on top, I don't think I should be liable for those?

Do I need a solicitor, or do I just do it all myself now?

watching with interest, please keep us updated

Will do, simply because someone else will stumble on this thread in a similar panic one day, and want to know how it turned out.

It's awful that people can get CCJs without even knowing it, and having googled the shit out of it over the weekend I have particular sympathy for parking fine CCJ victims. Seems parking fine CCJs are an industry in themselves, and it's sickening.

I think it was just a clerical error that caused mine, rather than intent to get money out of me. Still a very stressful situation, but at least I have a claimant willing to admit they made a mistake.

Have you got it in writing re the vets situation?

I would a) ask them to confirm how the error occurred and b) ask them when they realised the error why you weren't notified of the debt at that point and instead went to solicitor given they had your correct details the whole time.

Get this in an email and use it when you contact the CC office.

Also, noticed that on the claim form I'm down as Miss rather than Mrs, and the town is spelt incorrectly- would this affect Royal Mail redirection services? I'm CERTAIN we didn't get any invoices (as they would have been paid immediately) but we SHOULD have got them given RM redirect was in place!

This would definitely make a difference to the redirection service.

The 'Miss' might of been staying at the property, but 'Mrs' was moving and wanted her mail redirected.

Royal Mail would have been slaughtered if they had redirected someone's mail that didn't want it redirecting.

We had similar about 8 years ago with a school fees situation- billed for the term after our son had left- we had moved and only had the redirect on for 6 months. By the time they billed (and it wasn't a bill we were expecting) our redirect had run out- was only aware of CCj (on both our names) when we went to rent a new house about 18 months later. I went down the set aside route too- not pleasant, you have to go and sit with a judge and their solicitor- sadly we couldn't set aside as I would have had to pay £4K 'on the day' - I could have paid 3 weeks later but they wouldn't accept that!! So I paid it off 3 weeks later and it had to stay on file for a good few years but satisfied and I added a note to our credit file.

What an awful situation, I really feel for you having to deal with all that. The system seems so ruthless- would think you had a strong defence for it to be set aside (and I thought once set aside you were basically back to square one re the claim being submitted to court!).

How badly did the CCJs affect you during the 6 years, may I ask?

That's interesting. We genuinely received no invoices whatsoever so that might explain that then.

We only had redirection for a year so wouldn't have got the court documentation either way.

Have you checked your credit file to see if it’s actually on there?

Bit of an update.

Spoke to the solicitor @StPaulandTheBrokenBones recommended today, and they recommended trying to get the claimant solicitors to sort it out now that they've acknowledged there was a mistake with the new address.

FINALLY got hold of claimant solicitors today. Only taken a week of phone calls and left messages 🙄 Poor receptionist who has spoken to me each time put me through to a senior partner in the end (WHY send such a threatening letter re commencing enforcement action if I don't respond in 7 days if you are going to ignore me for a week?!).

Anyway, sounds as though the vets have already been in touch with them to ask how they can get my CCJ removed, which I'm grateful for. I've forwarded the solicitor I spoke to the email the vets sent me re the error setting up a new file rather than updating our existing file with the new address (so yes @YoBeaches I have it in writing, or at least an email) so now he's looking into it, and confirming with them that I did indeed pay the invoice straight away after their email earlier this week.

So now I wait to hear back from them.

Feeling positive, it's obviously all a genuine mistake and the vets are clearly an honest organisation keen to put it right.

Apparently time is of the essence when applying for CCJs to be set aside. I asked their solicitor if I should be cracking on with applying for it to be set aside myself and he said no. Kind of trusting them to deal with it for now but obviously noting every conversation just in case, and will be anxiously awaiting further communication!

Yes, it is 😓

@TryingNotToFreak it was a pain as we rent , but luckily we stayed somewhere 5 years so by the time we needed to move, it was off- couldn't get credit though for a few years - what made it worse was it was in both names .

The solicitors are correct, there's a time limit on stat decs so you do need to keep on top of it!

Exactly the same thing happened to me years ago, paperwork went to an old address, and I didn't get my stat dec in until much later as I had no idea about these things at the time, so I ended up with that CCJ staying on my file for 6 years even though I paid the debt as soon as I found out about it. Very annoying.

Double whammy. It makes me so cross!

It's annoying and upsetting.

I'm so careful with our finances and this whole debacle has really made me worry about 'unknown bills'.

I think you have 28 days from knowledge of a CCJ to act (ie you can't know about it and decide to address it 6 months later when you need a mortgage).

I'd like to think I don't need to worry too much about the clock ticking as I've been ON IT since I got the letter 🤷‍♀️

Hmmm. There is invalid service if they've served proceedings at the wrong address and you could apply to the court to have the judgment set aside.

I'd be asking what checks the solicitors took to establish your correct address. And then tell them you will apply to set aside.

Sorry ignore me. Didn't read the thread in full.

Calculate when the 28 days ends. And mark the application yourself after 21 days. Don't trust the solicitor to treat this as urgent or their priority (speaking as a solicitor who is always busy).

Make the app not mark.

Are the solicitors yours, or do they act for the vet?

Will do that 👍

I have been talking to solicitors who are advising on my behalf, and also the vet solicitors. My solicitors advised it was better to let vet solicitors sort it.

As has been pointed out though, I need to make sure they actually do sort it! If it's not sorted in a fortnight I'll apply for the set aside myself (or get my solicitors to do it).

They can definitely get it removed from your credit file.
The company I work for sometimes fucks up
and customers get CCJs which we get removed when it's our or another firms error.
Hopefully it will be done soon

That's reassuring.

Presumably it's much cheaper to sort themselves if a mistake has been made?

Had an email yesterday from the claimant solicitors saying they are awaiting a reply from the vets re how to proceed with the judgement. Replied saying to let me know asap as I have taken my own legal advice and we will apply for set aside ourselves if they aren't going to do it. Given a mistake has been admitted to I'm assuming it's in their interests to sort it, rather than potentially be liable for my legal costs too 🤷‍♀️

Have you spoken directly to the Court asking how you would go about it, and the time frame needed?

It might be as simple as you presenting the vet email, rather than waiting for very slow solicitors to get their act together. I would assume the Courts would know more about the how to rather than solicitors.

CCJ was issued incorrectly.

I had one similar, they sent everything to the wrong address including court summons despite my current address being public record.

I went to the Company that filed the CCJ and they actually went to court to get the order removed.

Happy days.