Asset Collections County Court Claim

[Angie D]

Hi All

I wonder if someone could offer some advice here.

I have received the attached email today stating that a Court Claim has been initiated.

I have rung Asset collections to try and find out what this relates to but because they cannot verify me through Data protection they will not discuss it with me.

I have given them my last 3 previous addresses and they say they do not correlate to what they have.

I rang the Court number they gave me but the clerk advised that they had not yet received a claim.

How else can I find out details other than to keep on calling the court everyday?

Should I write to Asset with a CCA request or a SAR?

Or just hold my breath and wait?

Any help would be appreciated.

[Amethyst]

I have rung Asset collections to try and find out what this relates to but because they cannot verify me through Data protection they will not discuss it with me.

I have given them my last 3 previous addresses and they say they do not correlate to what they have.

Okay, and the court have nothing on record as yet either - does anything show on your credit file at all ?

Do you recognise the original creditor ( Avant ) at all ? They seem to be a company offering fixed sum/term loans ( 12-60 months )

Yes, send a CCA request now to Asset.

If you recognise Avant as a lender you have used then a SAR would come in useful later. Avant only seem to have come into existence in 2015 so I doubt it would be statute barred, or very old, so it should show on your credit file if there is anything.

[Angie D]

Hi I wonder if I could get some more help on this. Back in March I decided to bite the bullet and against my own better judgement I entered into a payment arrangement and started to pay these clowns.

I have since received further emails from them saying I have not made payments when I have. They have now confirmed payments as received. I thought everything was going ok.

so, today I received yet another email to say they have sold the debt to TM Legal services who will manage the CCJ..... now what CCJ do they mean because there is nothing on my credit file....

then i got an email from TM Legal saying they will manage the CCJ. So, i searched the Trust Online and i cant find a CCJ. Ithink they are the same company.

i was going to write to TM Legal and ask for claim number, copy paperwork, etc.

any help what to do would be appreciated.

[Amethyst]

Certainly put a complaint in to TM Legal, copy it to Asset Collections and the FCA. You need to do that to stop them contacting you or they may continue and make false claims - such as that you have a CCJ against you, that they are looking at enforcement by bailiffs, attachment of earnings and so on. You should also tell them you withdraw your permission for them to communicate with you by email or telephone and they should only write to you.

Do you have this payment arrangement you agreed with Asset in writing at all ?
Did they ever send you a copy of the agreement you had with Avant ?

[Angie D]

Hi again and Thank you for taking the time to reply.

In answer to your questions

1) There was no agreement in writing. I never even spoke to them I merely logged on to their website and submitted an amount i would pay. I did this because I felt pressurised and was concerned that I would get a CCJ.

2) No agreement was ever received.

I am now completely bemused with TM Legal. Yesterdays email said they would hold the account for 14 days for me to get in touch with them. Today I have another email saying i must make contact before close of play today.

i am now going to ring the FCA and ask advice on making a complaint.

[Amethyst]

Good idea

They are likely to tell you to complain to TM Legal & Asset and then to Financial Ombudsman, but they should take note of the complaint and note they have similar complaints on file already.

You are likely to get multiple emails and letters from TM Legal - just so you are aware.

As you are aware we are now managing the above County Court Judgement which has been legally assigned to TM Legal Services. We will shortly request that this is transferred to your local court for enforcement action against you. We intend to enforce this Judgement against you by way of an Attachment of Earnings Order which means your employer could be ordered to deduct money from your earnings to pay off the outstanding County Court Judgement.

and various other complete rubbish.

You can also complain to the Legal Ombudsman, although they don't actualy regulate TM Legal, they are aware of them and that TM Legal state on their website you can complain to the Legal Ombudsman ( https://www.tm-legalservices.co.uk/complaints ).

They are not a law firm, or a solicitor, or even FCA authorised. The FCA complaint would be in essence about Asset using TM Legal as a third party and TM legal's behaviour is Assets responsibility. Asset ARE authorised - https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_Fir...000000rJJtPAAW The 'get around' seems to be that TM Legal do not need to be authorised to collect on judgment debt (which is mainly what they do, however, in this case, and many others, there is no judgment and therefore they are collecting on consumer credit debt and thus are in breach of CONC eg


CONC 7.11.6R01/04/2014RP
A firm must not suggest or state that action can or will be taken when legally it cannot be taken.

CONC 7.11.8R01/04/2014RP
A firm must not suggest or state that it will commence proceedings for a warrant of execution or an attachment of earnings order when a court judgment has not been obtained, or that it will take any other enforcement action before it is possible to know whether such action will be permissible.

[Note: paragraph 3.5c of DCG]


CONC 7.11.9R01/04/2014RP
A firm must not suggest or state that an action has been taken when no such action has been taken.

[Note: paragraph 3.5d (box) of DCG]


)



On Asset being responsible for TM Legal
CONC 7.13.13 A firm must ensure that a third party engaged by it, where required, has the appropriate Part 4A permission to engage in the regulated activities undertaken in the course of the third party’s business.

[Amethyst]

On this

1) There was no agreement in writing. I never even spoke to them I merely logged on to their website and submitted an amount i would pay. I did this because I felt pressurised and was concerned that I would get a CCJ.

I would chase up the CCA request and also ask them to confirm the payment arrangement to you in writing. Probably at the same time you make the written complaint to them about TM.

[Angie D]

Update ..... i have now written my letters to both Asset & TM. In the meantime i emailed TM for the claim number. They have given me what looks like a real number so i tried to get online MCOL but because i do not have a defence pack password i can't get anywhere.

i have searched myself again for a CCJ with a different address but still no CCJ showing....

[Angie D]

Hi again. Need a little more help. I have ascertained that Asset have filed a claim against me but they have not followed it through to judgement. (Presumably because i entered into the payment arrangement.) I now can identify that the court claim went to an address i have not lived at since 2014 but the court lady said no forms have been returned. She said i should still return the forms to the court. So should i continue with the payment plan or start a defence. Could someone help me please.

[Amethyst]

Hi Angie,

That's a tricky situation. Asset seem to have a history of this kind of thing, they throw a court claim in on Moneyclaimonline, assume they'll get a default judgment and pass it over to TM Legal regardless of the facts or circumstances of the case.

Did the court give you the date the claim was issued ? Was this before or after you entered the payment arrangement with them?

To have an idea of defending the claim rather than just continuing the payments you'll need to look at the original debt a bit - do you recall having a high cost short term loan with Avant ? Do you recall what happened with it?

Did you send the CCA request to Asset at all ?

If you enter a formal admission and offer to pay then you will have the CCJ registered against you for 6 years, so I'm guessing you'd rather try avoid that?

[Angie D]

Hi and Thank you for the quick response.

The claim was issued on 25/02/18 and I entered into an agreement with them in Mid march. I agreed to pay monthly and paid on 23/03 then 23/04.
So, I assume they have not followed the claim through because of this. And yes, I absolutely do not want a CCJ recorded against me.

I do recall the debt, yes. I stopped paying it when I got into a pickle. Like most people I suppose, hoped it would go away.

I did send the CCA letter to Asset but they did not respond.

I was going to make an affordability claim to Avant for the original loan as the interest was sky high..

So I am thinking that I should just continue with the payment arrangement to prevent a CCJ being registered but I would still make a complaint to both Asset & TM because they have both bombarded me with emails that clearly state a judgement has already been granted. This is obviously a lie.... It will potentially create a problem for me at work if I get one now.

And can I complain that I started a payment arrangement with Asset but they still passed it on to TM Legal who added another fee so the debt value has gone up again.

[Amethyst]

How much is the debt ? ( okay just over £1k )

Yes get the affordability complaint in to Avant asap. I would also send a SAR to them directly ( tomorrow though as it will be free tomorrow due to GDPR )

Ring court again and ask for a copy of the claim form so you can get the address amended and acknowledge the claim to prevent any default judgment.

Personally protecting yourself from the CCJ ( particularly if it affects your job) is the main priority - so if that means ignoring emails and sticking letters in a file for a while - so be it ( TM legal are likely to ramp up the threats about enforcement of the non-existent(currently) CCJ )

[Angie D]

If I acknowledge the claim do I select the option of 28 days to prepare my defence? I can submit the Sar and chase the CCA but what happens then. How would I defend?

[Amethyst]

If you acknowledge the claim it extends the time to 28 days from service ( 33 from date of issue ) so really you'd need your defence ready to go in immediately as once they are notified of the acknowledgment they may well request judgment. You have already sent the CCA request and had no response, so that's a start. Send a CPR 31.14 request for the assignment, default notice and credit agreement, and statement of account too. I'd try gather the information ( copy of claim from the court, send the CPR request etc) before touching the court claim.

[Angie D]

Thank you. I am concerned that if i acknowledge then i will get a CCJ regardless. And if i agree a payment plan then again will i get a CCJ.

does it make any difference to my defence that i have emails from Avant notifying of late payment that prove they had my new address and the claim docs were sent to the old address. Although i dont live there now either.

if i set up a payment plan with TM will they go for judgement