Howard Cohen & Co RE Barclaycard - Hearing to Set Judgement Aside

[scottles38]

I would be grateful for some advice relating to a court hearing I have on 19th March. I recently discovered a CCJ on my file from May 20016. It had been placed there by default because the claim had been submitted to an old address. Howard Cohen had previously written to me at my new address so were fully aware of the change of address. I applied to get the judgment set aside and filled in the N244 form with my defence. I had in the past paid a monthly instalment to this debt for 4 years, until I decided one day to look into it properly. I asked for all the info they had on me and they could only provide a blank photocopy of some old t's and c's. No default notice, CCA etc. I decided to stop paying the instalment on the back of this information. On my credit file, there is no default date and I included this information on the N244 form. I have just received a letter from Howard Cohen saying that they are prepared to set the judgment aside if I agree a monthly payment plan or offer. I would like to know, given the above, should I take it to the hearing on the 19th March, as I feel the debt is not really valid at all, or just settle now and avoid the hearing? How do I get the judgment set aside if I do not attend the court hearing and just settle with Howard Cohen? Some advice would be greatly appreciated. I also asked Barclaycard again for all my info, which is now a free process under the new data laws. I did this 2 months ago and haven't got the required docs, and probably wont get them in time for the court hearing. I do however suspect that Barclaycard never sent any default notices for this debt at the time, and do not have any CCA, does that make it void? Many thanks

[charitynjw]

I would be grateful for some advice relating to a court hearing I have on 19th March

I recently discovered a CCJ on my file from May 20016. It had been placed there by default because the claim had been submitted to an old address.

Howard Cohen had previously written to me at my new address so were fully aware of the change of address.
Did you reply?
If so, do you have proof of sending? (Certificate of posting etc., or that they replied to your response, etc.)

I applied to get the judgment set aside and filled in the N244 form with my defence.

I had in the past paid a monthly instalment to this debt for 4 years, until I decided one day to look into it properly.
When did you stop?

I asked for all the info they had on me and they could only provide a blank photocopy of some old t's and c's. No default notice, CCA etc. I decided to stop paying the instalment on the back of this information
They didn't send copy of your CCA agreement? Or a reconstituted one?

. On my credit file, there is no default date and I included this information on the N244 form.
When was the agreement terminated?

I have just received a letter from Howard Cohen saying that they are prepared to set the judgment aside if I agree a monthly payment plan or offer.
It could be because they know that they're on a sticky wicket.....fingers crossed!
Do not talk to them on the phone!

I would like to know, given the above, should I take it to the hearing on the 19th March, as I feel the debt is not really valid at all, or just settle now and avoid the hearing?
You should always attend the hearing if you haven't reached a out-of-court agreement & notified the court.

How do I get the judgment set aside if I do not attend the court hearing and just settle with Howard Cohen?
You would be best advised to use the free court mediation service for this. Have you already paid the set-aside fee?
I'm guessing 'yes', but just to be sure......

Some advice would be greatly appreciated.

I also asked Barclaycard again for all my info, which is now a free process under the new data laws.

I did this 2 months ago and haven't got the required docs, and probably wont get them in time for the court hearing.
Have you contacted Barclays?
They should have responded within 30 days.
How did you send the SAR....if land mail. did you get proof of posting?
"You can contact our data protection officer at: The Data Protection Officer, Barclays Bank UK PLC, Leicester, LE87 2BB or email: DPO@Barclays.com."


I do however suspect that Barclaycard never sent any default notices for this debt at the time, and do not have any CCA, does that make it void? <<<(See above)
Which is why it is important to get that info from Barclays.

Many thanks

You don't have much time before the set-aside hearing to find out better info.
Contacting Barclays is a must-do!

[scottles38]

In response to the above. I have probably made a few mistakes here but this is the current situation. The info request was via Barclay website. They wrote to me yesterday to say that the info will be delivered to a local branch within 7 days. (only 6 days to court case). I also answered a call from Howard Cohen. They said that although they have agreed to consent to setting this judgement aside, they will be continuing this one directly after 19th March unless we agree a payment plan or settlement. I offered 500 as a low ball offer just to hopefully close this case out and forget about it (balance 4k). I am a contractor and will lose money by going to court etc, so it is worth 500 for me just to settle this with no further problems. They e-mailed me to reject this offer. Now I would like some advice about how to proceed please. They are saying that I will have 14 days to defend this following the hearing on 19th March is the hearing to set aside is a separate issue from a defence to this claim? They are stating that they will not have to submit a new claim or will it just continue from this one? If I defend and lose, will I still get chance to settle this debt without it going on my file for 6 years? If Barclaycard never sent default notices, is this a good defence to this debt, or not really? Many thanks for your help. It seems a strange case, because there has been no effort to try and enforce/get payment for this CCJ despite it being on my file for 2 years. I only noticed it when a background check for a new job found it. Robinson Way the DCA were not even aware a CCJ existed and have been chasing me as if this was not the case.

I made payments on this from July 11 to April 2015 before stopping due to them having no apparent paperwork.
They sent no CCA, a copy of old T and C, no signature or anything.
I have only access to Equifax, this debt is no longer on the current one. I have an archived one from 04/04/2017 and on this one, the Barclaycard entry has no default date, it has date satisfied 13/04/2011. This does seem a bit strange. Presumably this would be a good defence, although I was paying a DCS for this debt after this date.
I have already paid the £255 court fee.

[scottles38]

I’d be really grateful if you could just advise if by makin g any offer I have lost my right to defend this? Also does a lack of default notice and a settlement date over 6 years ago on my credit file make this defensible. Many thanks

[scottles38]

I don't know if anyone is following this or interested at all, but I attended the hearing today, and have had the judgment set aside and for a brief moment I thought the judge was going to strike it off altogether as the claimants paperwork was not in good order and there was an issue with a change of name of the claimant. Unfortunately this did not happen and I now have 14 days to submit a defence. The judge did elude to the fact that the lack of default notice is a substantive defence, but please could anyone advise if a lack of default notice and a settlement date on my credit file (8 years ago) is enough to defend this claim completely. Many thanks

[charitynjw]

What is the Claimant saying about the *missing* DN?

& are you saying that this is now statute-barred?

[Amethyst]

Doesn't look like it

I made payments on this from July 11 to April 2015 before stopping due to them having no apparent paperwork.

although Barclaycard seem to have marked it as satisfied in 2011... which does suggest it defaulted back then and was sold on.... presumably then paid to the purchaser company between July 11 and April 2015.

Sorry I haven't come across your posts before Scottles ... well done for getting it set aside. The CCJ should be removed within the next month so that will clear up the credit file a bit.

Now the CCJ is set aside you can send a CCA request to the claimant ( should JUST be enough time before you have to get your defence filed) and also chase up barclaycard for that SAR if you still haven't had anything. I'd also ask the claimant for the default notice, notice of assignment and full breakdown of the debt. You can put SB in your defence, although if the payments were to the same company it is likely they will bring them up.

[scottles38]

Thanks for your response. I have the results from a previous SAR, and now also a massive wedge of paperwork from Barclaycard form the latest request. This latest wedge is very confusing and seems a load of internal systems outputs. Although it does actually contain a signed CCA, where as the original request a few years ago didn’t. Neither one has the default notices there or any note about selling debt on. Unfortunately it’s not statute barred as I made payments a few years ago. I don’t want to wast time trying to defend if not possible and would rather settle, but this lack of default notices means I can’t be sure that the final balance is correct and not that keen on blindly paying any amount stated. I say this because I have in the past received quite a large refund from MBNA because they did not default properly. The claimant has made no mention of any of the paperwork and has produced nothing of note. You think I should ask them
for default notices? The judge did say tthatblack of default notice was a substantive defence and one of the reasons that it was being set aside.