CCJ advice needed

[bigmac5753]

HI, can anyone help with a few questions I have regarding credit card and catalogue debts?

I have several of these debts, some of which have been bought by lowell. I now have a CCJ for one of the lowell debts and they are also threatening to take court action for the other accounts.

What I want to know is:

Can a bailiff force entry on their second / third / fourth visit etc...?
I ask this as there's no clear answer online such as the citizens advice website.

If I simply do not answer the door and ignore them, will they eventually give up?

There are vulnerable people in my household, should I use this or simply ignore them?

[zeke]

What I want to know is:

Can a bailiff force entry on their second / third / fourth visit etc...?
I ask this as there's no clear answer online such as the citizens advice website.

The expression force entry is misleading because bailiff companies and advice centres interpret it differently according to their particular agenda.

In short, no bailiff can break entry to any domestic property to enforce an unpaid county court judgement.

If I simply do not answer the door and ignore them, will they eventually give up?

Yes, eventually, and the judgment dies after 6 years provided you don't acknowledge the debt.

There are vulnerable people in my household, should I use this or simply ignore them?

The vulnerable card only gets you off the fees, its not an exemption from enforcement.

[Michelle]

HI, can anyone help with a few questions I have regarding credit card and catalogue debts?

I have several of these debts, some of which have been bought by lowell. I now have a CCJ for one of the lowell debts and they are also threatening to take court action for the other accounts.

Send a CCA request for each account other than the one subject to a judgment. Debt purchasers wouldn't have the document and they would have to go back to the original creditor to obtain it, in most cases they won't be able to. Accounts regulated by the Consumer Credit Act would be unenforceable for as long they are in default of your CCA request and this can also be used in your defence.

What I want to know is:

Can a bailiff force entry on their second / third / fourth visit etc...?
I ask this as there's no clear answer online such as the citizens advice website.

First of all, only those debts subject to a judgment can be enforced with bailiffs. Don't confuse debt collectors with bailiffs, debt collectors have no powers whatsoever. And bailiffs can only force entry when collecting unpaid court fines, because they are not really a debt as such, they are punishment for a criminal offence.

[Michelle]

If you haven't made any payments nor acknowledged the debts in 6 years, they would be statute barred, however, after a recent judgment, it has been established that the 6 year clock starts to run from when you received the default notice and not earlier. This could be up to 6 months after you defaulted on the account.

Statute barred is an absolute defence if they issue a claim for one of those debts, however, to avoid this, it is better to send them a letter saying the debt is statute barred, but you must make sure it really is before sending the letter, otherwise they may want to beat the clock by issuing a claim.

Once a debt is subject to a court judgment, they do not go statute barred.

[bigmac5753]

I just won't bother answering the door then.

Thanks for the replies.