Lowell- court tomorrow

[Lilu]

I'm after some advice please.
I am in court tomorrow against Lowell solicitors.....
Issue date from the court 18/01/17
Amount approx £2300
Lowell solicitors for Lowell portfolio as the claimant
original creditor is HBOS
particulars of claim.... old bank statements, copies of letters apparently sent to defendant, witness statement (their "solicitor")

I am hoping that someone can advise me.

I found out in September 2016 that I had a ccj against me, issued in 2014. I contacted the courts to find out what it was in relation to. It went back to Lowell who I then contacted. They were unable to give me any information as they said they had no open cases against me. I applied to the court to have the ccj set aside as I didn't know what the alleged debt was for and it was sent to an address I had never live at. It was set aside in November 2016. Then a new date was set for 9th march. In the mean time I have been contacting Lowell to try to get information still as to what the debt was in relation to. They have continued to say that they have no open cases relating to me and that it would not go any further and they still could not give me any info as they did not have any.
The court paperwork states that any documents and evidence had to be served by 4pm on the 24/02/17. I did not receive the witness statement/evidence until 25/02/17. It contains bank statements. I contacted Lowell solicitors as they had served it late and this was the first time I had known what the debt was for. It turns out it is an overdraft and the agreement was formally terminated on or shortly before 23/09/2010.

So, my question is......Lowell solicitors are telling me that it's up to the judge to decide if It is statute barred, regardless of the date because of the original ccj, which was set aside as they had used an address I had never lived at, is he correct?

Does the ccj reset the clock, even though the ccj should never have been issued and I never knew about it?

Please, any advice will be highly appreciated as court is tomorrow and I'm not too sure on what to say and wording to use.

Ive not been able to serve a defence as I didn't know what the debt was for even though I asked many many times and only found out what it was on the 25/02/17.

Will statute barred be enough of a defence?

Thank you so much for your time.

[Kati]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

tagging [MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION] ... help please xx

[Lilu]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

Looking through the "witness statement" they are saying the agreement is excluded from the provisions of part V of the cca1974 but they then state that the agreement was formally terminated by the assignor. I've never received any notices of assignment either. I was on the electoral register before all of this happened yet they state that the address the ccj was issued to was given to them " by a neighbour".
how credible is their evidence that an alleged neighbour supplied info (no one obviously did) but how can they state there was an agreement yet also state that no agreement was needed on the same page of their evidence? I'm really not up on all the legal stuff and it's had me really confused ! I've gone over this all again and I'm now aware that Lowell are asking for the original ccj to be reinstated on the basis they made enough effort to find me! Can I stand in court this afternoon and argue they didn't and it shouldn't be reinstated? I can google my name and show I was on the electoral register the year before the ccj and in my opinion they made no effort whatsoever and their witness statement clearly states they didn't have any paperwork or evidence whilst obtaining the ccj ! Someone please help me here as I'm a total nervous wreck

[Lilu]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

Can anyone give a bit of advice please ?

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

Morning xx Just having a read back through your thread see where you are at

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

Looking through the "witness statement" they are saying the agreement is excluded from the provisions of part V of the cca1974 but they then state that the agreement was formally terminated by the assignor. I've never received any notices of assignment either. I was on the electoral register before all of this happened yet they state that the address the ccj was issued to was given to them " by a neighbour".
how credible is their evidence that an alleged neighbour supplied info (no one obviously did) but how can they state there was an agreement yet also state that no agreement was needed on the same page of their evidence? I'm really not up on all the legal stuff and it's had me really confused ! I've gone over this all again and I'm now aware that Lowell are asking for the original ccj to be reinstated on the basis they made enough effort to find me! Can I stand in court this afternoon and argue they didn't and it shouldn't be reinstated? I can google my name and show I was on the electoral register the year before the ccj and in my opinion they made no effort whatsoever and their witness statement clearly states they didn't have any paperwork or evidence whilst obtaining the ccj ! Someone please help me here as I'm a total nervous wreck

Good morning,

Is this a bank/overdraft account if so it is exempt from part 5 of CCA 1974.
Have they provided a terminations notice and or a "Final Demand For Immediate Repayment In Full"

Normally with an OD a " letter of acceptance of the facility" in writing is sent out when an agreed OD is set up.

You say " in court tomorrow " 10/03/2017?

When did you receive the claimants WS? Have you already submitted your WS and filed it + all documents on which you intend to rely to the court and the claimants solicitors?

WS and evidence is usually required at Least 14 Days Prior To a Hearing.

nem

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

do you have the docs you filed for the set aside - did you include a draft defence in that ? Did you file a witness statement by the 24th Feb too?

When you say Issue date from the court 18/01/17, is that the date of the letter regarding the new hearing or was the original claim struck out on set aside and a new claim made?

[Lilu]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

Hi it's an hbos overdraft,
I'm in court this afternoon at 2.00 pm,
I've had no paperwork whatsoever apart from a bank statement in the witness statement from lowell, the claimants WS was received 12 days ago ! Thanks [MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION]

[Lilu]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

do you have the docs you filed for the set aside - did you include a draft defence in that ? Did you file a witness statement by the 24th Feb too?

my only defence at the time was that it was issued to an address I've never lived at, I was still in the dark as to what it was actually for ! As were Lowell it seems ?

When you say Issue date from the court 18/01/17, is that the date of the letter regarding the new hearing or was the original claim struck out on set aside and a new claim made?

yes I received the information from the court regarding the new hearing, as far as I'm aware it's a new hearing on the same claim, otherwise I'd assume it would be statute barred.

thanks @Amethyst

[Amethyst]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

Okay, so after having the judgment set aside you only found out what the claim was for when you received the claimants witness statement. Take with you your letters asking Lowell what it was / notes of telephone conversations etc and tell the judge you believe the claim to be statute barred under the Limitations Act 1980 as the documents that have been sent by the claimant demonstrate, that you haven't had an opportunity to enter a defence to the claim and believe you have a good chance of success in your defence of statute barred. Also point out that the claimant hasn't provided the original agreement or terms and conditions of the account... so you're unable to check the account debt was incurred properly under the terms.... could also mention you wish to check the terms for fairness ( how the charges behave etc). Are there any issues with the actual amount claimed? Was the overdraft legitimate or made up of charges ? What issues were there at the time you ditched the bank account with the overdraft debt ?

There may be questions as to why the claim was sent to the wrong address originally - although that should already have been dealt with at the set aside, it may come up regards the statute barred - did the original creditor have your updated address when the account closed ? Were other records kept updated ? Were you aware of any debt outstanding on the overdraft at the time of closing. Things like that - you want to show that the claimant could have issued at the right address at the time of the original claim.

[MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION] for any tips on getting the Judge to allow the claim to proceed and Lilu to enter a full defence ( even if it buys time to sort out negotiating a settlement if there isn't actually a defence once it's looked into )

My slight concern is that you didn't submit a Witness Statement after you received the court date hearing letter - so I wouldn't bring up that theirs arrived the morning after the deadline at this point. Check through that hearing letter to see what was ordered.

[Lilu]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

The hearing letter ordered any documents and witness statements be served no later than 4.00 pm on the 24/2/17. The original amount is a fair bit lower than that as hbos were adding £ 150 at a time as charges. At the time I was having personal problems and had to move to help my sister look after my mum who was having cancer treatment. I told hbos that I would start having problems at the time and I ended up arguing with my branch manager and gave them the card back and told them I wanted to close the account. They let direct debits go after this and then it snowballed a bit with charges etc. I honestly didn't know what it was for and my original witness statement was basically that ! I only got any information on the 25/2/17 from lowells WS
thankyou

[nemesis45]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

Hi it's an hbos overdraft,
I'm in court this afternoon at 2.00 pm,
I've had no paperwork whatsoever apart from a bank statement in the witness statement from lowell, the claimants WS was received 12 days ago ! Thanks @nemesis45

Ok Lilu,

I think you will have to rely on the judge to allow you to go on or ask for an adjournment to allow you to submit a WS at least.

You could meanwhile make a list of what you want to say/ask in court bullet points on not receiving any proof of the debt, make 3 copies 1 for the judge 1 for the claimants rep and one for you.

If you can ask the court usher to pass it to the judge before the hearing starts. State you as a litigant in person did not understand what had to be submitted, and as you had no " paperwork" regarding the debt did not file a WS.

Do you have to travel far to the court? If you can get the above sorted it may help you.

Good Luck and Best Wishes.

nem

[Lilu]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

I have about 30 minutes before I need to leave, wish me luck ! I will report back later

[MIKE770]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

good luck

[Celestine]

Re: Lowell- court tomorrow

Good luck! xx