Mediation

[elwoodblu]

Hi, I would appreciate some advice. A few years back I got into some serious debt when a business we ran collapsed. We came to an arrangement with our creditors, mostly banks, and have been paying ever since. One of the creditors, not business related was a catalogue named JD Williams, we owed a small amount in comparison to some of the other debts and came to an arrangement to pay £5 a month. This was in 2008. I recently received a county court summons from a solicitors in regard to this debt. The initial money owed was £180 and over the course of 5 years I paid £250 but because of charges for late payment the debt has now grown to £450 including court fees. I have seen the printout from JD Williams, showing the payments we made which amount to just over £250, but they are unable to provide me with evidence of what the £180 was for, apparently their records don't go that far back, or any credit agreement. I have recently received a letter from the court asking if I prefer to take this to mediation, apparently over the phone, and its specifically asks if I am prepared to compromise. What I need to know is would a CC judge be sympathetic to the fact that we have paid over £250 off a £180 debt and that the charges were unfair or would i do better to accept mediation and make an offer, Which I have to say I am loathe to do. Sorry for the long post but I am pretty pee'd off with JD Williams and Lowells solicitors. Neither Lowells or JD Williams seem able to provide me with any credit agreement or what the actual debt was in relation too.

[charitynjw]

Re: Mediation

Hi elwoodblue & welcome to LB

Please refer to this & complete the following

If you received a court claim and want to start a new thread in this forum please post the following information as your first post.

Received a claim?
Issue Date:
Amount approx:
Claimant:
Solicitor:
Original Creditor:
Particulars of Claim: Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers
Is the debt Statute Barred?
List any letters you have sent:
Any Other Info:


Thank you.

IF YOU HAVE SENT OFF THE LETTERS DO NOT JUST WAIT FOR REPLIES, SOME TIMES THE CLAIMANT DOESN'T RESPOND - YOU MUST PUT IN A DEFENCE (or admission) WITH 28 DAYSOF RECEIVING THE CLAIM - PLEASE ASK ON THE FORUM


And people here will help guide you through the next steps.

NOTE: The defence date is 28 days from service (ie when you received the claim) or 33 days (which allows 5 days for service) from the issue date printed on the front of the claim form. You can work out the date HERE >>> http://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html

Last edited by Amethyst; 2nd March 2016 at 14:21:PM.

[elwoodblu]

Re: Mediation

Thanks for that I have already sent our defence to the claim and we have been referred to mediation

The claim was issued on the 21/01/2016
the amount was for £419.66
Claimant JD Williams
Solicitors Lowells
It was a catalogue debt which has actually been paid in full but the excess is due to punitive charges by JD Williams
I requested details of the credit agreement but not in a formal letter. They sent me details of the account which included the opening balance, of £189 and a list of payments and charges over the next four years. We paid a total of £250 in SO payments. I have sent another formal request this morning and have paid the fee directly into their bank account

[elwoodblu]

Re: Mediation

Can no one give me some advice on this?

[Kati]

Re: Mediation

tagging [MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION] xx

[nemesis45]

Re: Mediation

Can no one give me some advice on this?

Apologies for the delay in responding, it's a bank holiday weekend and the contributors here are volunteers.

Things to do:

1. Send a report to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA ) the FCA does not take individual complaints but the information is logged and used during consumer credit licensing if reviewed,

2. Find the name of the MD/CEO of Shop Direct and make a Formal Complaint in both cases send copies of correspondence.

3. You say the amount outstanding is made up of charges? If the case is that the "default some was made up of charges without which (charges) the account would not have been defaulted no default should have been placed." If you can clearly show that the amount claim Is solely charges you have the possibility that the account was wrongly defaulted in the first instance.

4. Mediation have you read the " 4 Questions" asked by HMCTS Small Claims Mediation Service the important one being " Do you have all the documents to enable you to enter in to mediation"?

[elwoodblu]

Re: Mediation

Thank you for taking the time to post on bank holiday monday.

When I say the balance is outstanding charges, this is because the original debt was £189. Over the four years we paid over £250 by standing order. We struggled financially at the time, and sometimes there was insufficient funds in the account to pay the SO, and so that accounts for some of the charges. The others are because after I worked out how much we had paid I cancelled the SO believing the account to be finished. Unfortunately they continued to impose charges every month. We had moved address and had not informed them, so we received no correspondence.

[elwoodblu]

Re: Mediation

Hi, received a letter today as the mediation date has passed saying it has been transferred to the County Court hearing centre for allocation. I still haven't received any response to my request for details such as the credit agreement. Can this proceed without it? Is there anything else I can do. Any help on this would be appreciated, it is causing us a lot of stress.

[nemesis45]

Re: Mediation

Hi, received a letter today as the mediation date has passed saying it has been transferred to the County Court hearing centre for allocation. I still haven't received any response to my request for details such as the credit agreement. Can this proceed without it? Is there anything else I can do. Any help on this would be appreciated, it icas causing us a lot of stress.

The claimant can take it right to the wire, if they don't have the agreement they will probably leave the claim to be stayed by the court in the hope that at some point they can pay the fee to lift the stay and continue the claim.

You will hear from your local CC hearing centre fairly soon.

nem

[elwoodblu]

Re: Mediation

The claimant can take it right to the wire, if they don't have the agreement they will probably leave the claim to be stayed by the court in the hope that at some point they can pay the fee to lift the stay and continue the claim.

You will hear from your local CC hearing centre fairly soon.

nem

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this, i didn't get an email confirmation of your reply.

You say 'stayed by the court" what exactly does that mean. Will they do it on the day of the hearing. Surely thats a waste of the courts time, if they know that the agreement isn't forthcoming? JD Williams tell me that they are unable to provide me with the credit agreement because their records do not go back that far.

Again thanks for your help with this, its very much appreciated.

[nemesis45]

Re: Mediation

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this, i didn't get an email confirmation of your reply.

You say 'stayed by the court" what exactly does that mean. Will they do it on the day of the hearing. Surely thats a waste of the courts time, if they know that the agreement isn't forthcoming? JD Williams tell me that they are unable to provide me with the credit agreement because their records do not go back that far.

Again thanks for your help with this, its very much appreciated.

If the claimant does not respond to a defence within 28 days the claim will be stayed i.e. suspended by the court the claimant will then have to pay a fee to lift the stay if they which to continue with the claim.
The claimants may just not bother to respond and/or not bother to turn up at the hearing.

As to the agreement: When a debt is sold it will be part of a large portfolio of debts, the absolute minimum of information is included and certainly not the agreement which is why the debt purchasers have to ask the original creditor to provide the document which may or may not be available, due to age /loss etc.

nem

[MIKE770]

Re: Mediation

Stayed means it is parked up until/if the claimant pays to have it re-instated, i.e. they decide that they have enough evidence to continue, in most cases that is the last of it! if after a period of time you could suggest that the solicitors contact claimant to discontinue the claim notifying the court and save as to cost to them , or you seek the case be struck out at the claimants expense!,,, sure Nem will be along soon to advise/comment also!

[elwoodblu]

Re: Mediation

Good Morning, I have received a letter from the County Court, and it seems the judge involved in this case believes it should be resolved by mediation and has referred it to them again. Lowell's have not provided the agreement, neither have JD Williams, without it can they proceed and if not then should I refuse the mediation?

[MIKE770]

Re: Mediation

never refuse mediation, it shows you are willing, no documents then mediation cannot take place, if lowells do not send documents then bad score against them with the judge, or better they eventually discontinue when they realise you are no walk over? others will comment also!

[nemesis45]

Re: Mediation

Good Morning, I have received a letter from the County Court, and it seems the judge involved in this case believes it should be resolved by mediation and has referred it to them again. Lowell's have not provided the agreement, neither have JD Williams, without it can they proceed and if not then should I refuse the mediation?

Good morning,

If by the time the mediation service call you at that point you will be asked to confirm that you have all the documents you need to mediate, not having the docs will lead to the claim being referred to you local court for directions as to how the claim will proceed.

The referral to HMCTS Small Claims Mediation Service is standard procedure in most cases, it is expected that the parties to a claim will at least try to resolve the claim with out recourse to a court hearing.

nem