Howard Cohen/CL Finance

[petetheflyer]

Hi I received a claim form on Christmas Eve from the above for a debt relating to Sainsbury's bank for approx £8,000,

They told me the week before that they had bought the debt from Sainsbury's in March 2008, but provided no further paperwork. This surprised me as I have been paying a company called Blair Oliver and Scott since 2004, as Sainsbury's bank told me and the CCCS that they had assigned the debt to them. I have paid the CCCS every month with no arrears for 5 years. Cohen & Co say they can't accept the payment I am making as they have issued a claim through Northampton Bulk Court.

I have done the following

1. Acknowledged the claim to Northampton Court
2. Sent a notice of Defence to Northampton Court but not sent a defence as I have till 23 Jan
3. Written to Cohen's and CL Finance stating that I have an arrangement via the CCCS and enclosing a statement showing payments made, so will they withdraw the claim

I don't have any problem admitting the debt. I just don't want a CCJ against my name as I am a Driving Instructor and if a CCJ is registered against a Driving Instructor the instructor is removed from the DSA approved driving instructor list which would then prevent me earning any money, which would benefit no one.

Any ideas what to do next?

All help gratefully received

[Curlyben]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

CL finance strike again.

Could you please post the Particulars of Claim (POC) up for us.
It's highly unlikely that Cohen's will withdraw the claim if they have already refused your previous payments.
CL and Cohen's are well known for acting in this manner.

Now, as a matter of urgancy, you need to send them and official request for information under the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR)

This will do the trick, just edit as needed:

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION UNDER THE CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have received the Court claim filed by your Company. To enable me to file a defence and counter-claim, I require specific information regarding the account to be provided forthwith. Given that this matter is now the subject of legal proceedings, you are obliged to disclose under the Civil Procedure Rules, the information and documents detailed below. This letter supersedes the Data Protection request made to on the **DATE**. The information must be furnished by the **DATE**, which gives you ten days to provide what has been requested. If you fail to comply, this will be reported to the Court, a copy of this letter will be provided as evidence to the same and an Order enforcing your compliance will be sought.

1. A true copy of the executed credit agreement and any terms and conditions that applied to the account at the time of default and at the time the account was opened.
2. All records you hold on me relevant to this case, including but not limited to:
a. A transcript of all transactions, including charges, fees, interest, repayments and payments and both the original amount of the loan and any repayments made to it the account.
b. Transcriptions of all telephone conversations recorded and any notes made in relation to telephone conversations
c. Where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my account formerly held with **CREDITOR**.
d. True copies of any notice of assignment and/or default notice or enforcement notice that you or the original creditor sent me, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold.
e. Documents relating to any insurance added to the account, including the insurance contract and terms and conditions, date it was added and deleted (if applicable).
f. Details of any collection charge added to the account; specifically, the date it was levied, the amount of the charge, a detailed financial breakdown of how the charge was calculated, and what the charge covers.
g. Specific details of the fees/charges levied by any other agency in respect of this account and a detailed breakdown of said fees/charges and what each charge relates to and on what date said fees/charges were levied.
h. A genuine copy of any deed of assignment, or proof that you have a legal right to this money.
i. A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of my data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998
j. A list of third party agencies to whom you have disclosed my personal data and a summary of the nature of the information you have disclosed.

3. Any other documents you seek to rely on in court.
4. A copy of your complaints procedure, as required by the Consumer Credit Act 2006.
5. Clarification of the date you acquired the debt, what organisation you acquired it from, their registered office, their company number (if any) and what legal title they had to this debt, and what credit license number they had at the time that the debt was purchased or entered into.

I will require this information within the next ten days. I must advise you that if the information is not forthcoming, it will be reported to the Court that you are trying to frustrate proceedings and denying me the opportunity to file a defence and counter claim.

I would appreciate your due diligence in this matter.

I await your rapid response.

Yours Faithfully,

As time if short send it guaranteed next day delivery.
They will most likely ignore this request, but don't panic.

[petetheflyer]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Thanks for the reply. Will scan the particulars of claim tomorrow if that is OK.

Just so that i can keep ahead of the game from now on, what will be the next step if they ignore the request, and can I ask for an extension for filing the defence from the court?

[Curlyben]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

No need for an extension.
We'll file a defence based on their, no doubt, woeful POC and bring to the court attention their non-compliance with your legal request.
We will also include draft directions for disclosure or strike out.

Don't worry, we're seen many of this type of claim before.

[petetheflyer]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Hi

As promised please find POC attached.

Needless to say i have had no default notice, all I have had is a Notice of assignment which i also attach

Thanks for your help

[Amy]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

There have been an awful lot of court claims filed recently by CL Finance - I've had two.

I think everyone they have done this to should file a complaint about them.

[Curlyben]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Well certainly complain to the LCS for Cohen as abuse of process and also OFT for CL for the same.

The number of times I have seen a claim filed the SAME day as a debt has been assigned is just plain WRONG.

Well the good news is their POC are as woeful as ever and shouldn't prove too much problems with defence.

When does your defence need to be submitted by ?
Also who is the claimant ?

I assume this is a Northampton jobbie as normal.

[petetheflyer]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Defence due next week. Claimant is CL Finance who say they bought the debt from Sainsbury's Bank. However this has been administered for 5 years by a company called Blair Oliver and Scott, so I was not even aware the debt still belonged to Sainsbury's

cheers

Petetheflyer

[Curlyben]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Even better then.
In that case they must supply the assignment documentation as well as the normla credit agreements, etc.

What DATE is the defence for.

[petetheflyer]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

The defence needs to be in the post next Wednesday as far as i can work out to arrive at Northampton Court in time

[Amy]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

You can file your defence online and do it the day it's due.

[Curlyben]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Not sure it will fit Amy as there's a character limit

[Tools]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Even better then.
In that case they must supply the assignment documentation as well as the normla credit agreements, etc.

What DATE is the defence for.

Assignment notice is in post#5 Curly

[Curlyben]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Yep and as ever the NoA is complete meaningless twaddle.
Just like so many goodbye/hello letters.

Where's the letter from Sainsburys ??

Also in this case a simple NoA doesn't cut the mustard as this would of been assigned under LoP s137 so they are suing in their own name, hence and absolute assignment

Added: That isn't even an NoA as it would be between Sainsbury's and CL as CL are lewis's client, even though they are all part of the same group..
Nice try CL, but NO where near good enough !!!

[Amy]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Not sure it will fit Amy as there's a character limit

pmsl even you can do it in less than 8000 characters!