Notice of Pending Legal Action for Howard Cohen & Co

[masck]

Hi I am new to this site and am seeking help regarding a letter we recieved today from Howard Cohen & Co Solicitors which is a a Notice of Pending Legal Action saying they have been instructed to prepare Court Papers for issue against my husband for non-payment of £18163 debt to Black Hourse Finance.
This is a long story but basically my husband set up business with a partner and took out a personal loan to buy a lorry after a year my husband tranfered the debt to the company he owed (or so he thought) another year later my husbands partner took over the business completely and my husbund was no longer a director. a few months after this (Nov 2005) we recieved default payment letters from Black Hourse my husband contacted blackhorse and explained that he had filled in all the paperwork transferring the debt they said they had no record of this, my husband then told them were they could find the lorry and to take possession of it as he obviously did not have the money to pay and did not have possession of the van. This went back and forth and then went quite for about a year and then periodically since we have recieved debt collector letters which we have ignored and then this morning we recieve this letter from Howard Cohen.

I am totally unsure as to what to do should my husband phone Howard and Cohen and explain the situation? Should we write a letter? Will we be able to attend any court judgements etc? If anyone out there can offer me any advice I would be so grateful.

[Amethyst]

Re: Notice of Pending Legal Action for Howard Cohen & Co

Did you husband keep copies of the paperwork transferring the debt ? What was that paperwork ? Did he personally guarantee the debt when the loan was originally taken out ? Was the loan in both your husbands and his partners names or just his ?

[masck]

Re: Notice of Pending Legal Action for Howard Cohen & Co

The orginal debt was in my husbands name but then the companies financial advisor helped put all the paperwork, accounts and this debt into the company name. Unfortunatly all the business paperwork was stolen by my husbands business partner at the time on my husband leaving the company. Being a bit green we have absolutley no paperwork regarding any of this aside from the Debt Collectors letter that started ariving a year after my husbands discussions with Blackhorse.

[Kafka]

Re: Notice of Pending Legal Action for Howard Cohen & Co

An immediate action is to send a CPR request to the solicitors for full disclosure of all documentation that they would seek to rely on in court. They need to prove that the debt really exists, and that your husband if liable for payment. If you have no paperwork then you need to see exactly what evidence they hold. This is your right under the Pre-Action Protocols of the CPR and they must comply with this request within 14 days.

[masck]

Re: Notice of Pending Legal Action for Howard Cohen & Co

Thanks can you tell me waht the difference is between a CPR and a CCA request and which is correct for my/my husbands situation? your assistance is much appreciated.

[Kafka]

Re: Notice of Pending Legal Action for Howard Cohen & Co

A CCA request is a right under the Consumer Credit Act to receive a copy of the credit agreement. You usually do this if you want to check the enforceability of an account through the courts or put the account into dispute.

A request under the Pre-Action Protocols of the Civil Procedure Rules can only be issued to someone that directly threatens or begins legal action against you. This requires them to disclose all relevant documentation on the account that they might rely on in court, and flushes out exactly what they do hold. This is important because banks and DCAs regularly do this without the correct data in the hope that you won't defend. If they don't respond (very common) then this looks really bad for them if the court finds out later.

In this case its the CPR letter immediately by recorded delivery to track delivery.

[masck]

Re: Notice of Pending Legal Action for Howard Cohen & Co

Many Thanks for your assistance.