Mortimer Clarke County Court Business Centre Claim, debt dating back to 2004

[Flopf]

I have received a Claim form from County Court Business Centre for a debt dating back to 2004, this debt did have a ccj which has now dropped off my credit file. The claimant is Merlin Europe Limited, the original debt Yorkshire Bank Plc, from 2004. The debt is now over 14 years old and has not been acknowledged for over 10 years, can anyone please help me with response and defence please. Many Thanks

[Matty B]

I think you need to find details of the previous claim, I bet they are unaware of its existence. I have heard if a CCJ is not enforced within 6 years they may have trouble doing anything

Amethyst might be able to help

[MIKE770]

have any correspondence been received in any of that time? as no effort on their part could??? affect any possible case of going back to court to enforce this is why we need up to date info of history?

[Amethyst]

Any evidence at all that their was a CCJ for this debt ? Print out of credit file ? Do you recall what happened with it - any payments made or enforcement attempted ?

Definately the same debt ?

[Flopf]

Hi Amethyst, thank you for your reply. The CCJ has now dropped off my file, so I do not have any documentation for it, as over 14 years ago. It was passed to various debt collection companies, but no enforcement other than letters which I did not reply to have been received. Could you please advise how I should respond to defend on claim form please. Many thanks for your help.

[Amethyst]

Okay.

Firstly acknowledge the claim with intent to defend in full - don't put a defence in at the moment.

Can you type out the particulars of claim pls?

Was the original judgment obtained by Yorkshire Bank themselves?

Was there only ever the one debt owed to YB? ( ie. is it definitely the same debt?)

Was the Judgment in 2004 or was that when the debt was incurred ? Need to know the year of the actual Judgment.

It would be very useful of course to get some kind of detail of the original Judgment - so likely first step is to make a call to the court to see if they have a record of the original claim ( the number is what you need ) then get a SAR sent off to Yorkshire Bank ( will take up to 40 days but get it in ) - if you can call YB as well and see if they can check their own records that far back it may help too.

Then once you've got info from court you can write to the claimant with something likethe below, it will need amending with more accurate details though...so it is just as an idea for now...


Dear Claimant,

Ref: Claim No. xxxxxx

I am in receipt of the above issued Claim from Northampton County Court Business Centre for a xxxxxxxxxxxxx alleged debt owed to Yorkshire Bank Plc. I am somewhat surprised to have received this considering that Yorkshire Bank Plc obtained a County Court Judgment for the same issue in 2004. As this was over 14 years ago it has now been removed from the Register of Judgments however you may wish to check with Yorkshire Bank Plc and discontinue your claim before I am forced to make an application to strike your claim out as an abuse of process. This will of course incur costs which I will ask the court to award against you.

... then something about what happens when you call court / YB and any info they give you on the claim....

I have acknowledged receipt of your claim and am due to file my defence before xxxxxxxx. My application will need to be made before that date and I intend to do this on xxxxxx

( dated 5 days before the defence due date)

. Therefore please file and serve the notice of discontinuance before 4pm xx/xx/2018. If I do not hear from you I shall submit my application to the court.

Kind regards

xyz

[Flopf]

Thank you Amethyst, I will get on to this and let you know how I get on. Your advice is very much appreciated.

[Flopf]

Hi Amethyst, the final day for Mortimer Clarke to reply to me is today, which they have not. Can you please advise how I should now complete defence on court claim please, thank you for your kind assistance.

[Flopf]

Hi Amethyst just wondering if you had time to help me with this please/ Many Thanks for your kind assistance.

[Amethyst]

Hiya, just having a read back - apologies for delay xxx

[Amethyst]

Did you get more info on the original judgment out of the court?