Court claim, Lowell & Vanquis

[bambibunny]

Received a claim form from NCC for a credit card debt owed to Vanquis with Lowell Portfolio/Solicitors as the claimant.

Issue date; 11 Nov 2019
Amount; 881.81 inc fees etc
Claimant; Lowell Portfolio/Solicitors
Original creditor; Vanquis
Particulars of claim;

1) The defendant entered into a Consumer Credit Act 1974 regulated agreement with ******* under Account ref **************** ('the agreement')
2) The defendant failed to maintain the required payments and arrears began to accrue
3) The Agreement was later assigned to the Claimant on 08/12/2017 and notice given to the Defendant
4) Despite repeaed requests for payment the sum of 696.14 remains due and outstanding
And the Claimant claims
a) The said sum of 696.14
b) Interest pursuant to s69 County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue, accruing at a daily rate of 0.153, but limitd to one year, being 55.69
c) Costs

First I knew of this was when my ex handed me a Letter Before Claim recently to which I did reply stating I did not recognise the debt & to provide any and all documentation regarding this account and subsequent actions/procedures as well as filling out a form about income etc.* To date the only reply I have had is the claim form & letter from Lowell Solicitors dated 18/11/19 saying a claim form has been issued.* These were only received on the 20th of this month 9 & 2 days after issue so I'm already on the backfoot.

I have acknowledged the claim online today (26/11/19) stating I will be defending it.

I have no knowledge of this debt whatsoever, I have never been a customer of Vanquis & would never want to be.* When I replied to the LBC I did fill out the income/expenditure form which clearly stated I had no income & other debts to pay.* I am not in receipt of income or any benefits etc I have no way of paying as I have been out of work for a number of years & do not expect this to change due to ill health. I have been in & out of hospital because of my health & sofa surfing/staying with family and friends as my ex & I split hence delays in receiving paperwork etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Amethyst]

Does it state in the letter before claim that this was a credit card ? Could it be a Provident Loan at all ?Â*

They've ignored your preaction protocol response so you can include that in your defence, did you ask for specific documents in that or just 'all documents' ?

You should send a formal cca request to Lowell as well as a cpr 31.14 request to Lowell Solicitors ( agreement and notice of assignment) Â*... also a SAR to vanquis. Â*

They haven't plead that the agreement defaulted so that can be brought up in the defence too.Â*

If you can get the letters off this week you will legitimately be able to plead non compliance in the defence ( due around 22nd Dec)

[bambibunny]

Does it state in the letter before claim that this was a credit card ? Could it be a Provident Loan at all ?Â*

They've ignored your preaction protocol response so you can include that in your defence, did you ask for specific documents in that or just 'all documents' ?

You should send a formal cca request to Lowell as well as a cpr 31.14 request to Lowell Solicitors ( agreement and notice of assignment) Â*... also a SAR to vanquis. Â*

They haven't plead that the agreement defaulted so that can be brought up in the defence too.Â*

If you can get the letters off this week you will legitimately be able to plead non compliance in the defence ( due around 22nd Dec)

1) Don't have the letter to hand atm I've assuming it's a credit card, never done any business with Vanquis before let alone Provident.Â* If I remember rightly I asked them for any & all documents including the original agreement & signature, any payments made to the account & dates.
2) Will do asap

Thanks

[Amethyst]

Strange, presumably nothing shows on your credit file either.

Well get the letters off and see what comes back to shed any light on it - keep an eye on dates and get defence ready to go ( whether you get replies or not) before around 18th Dec - filing online through Moneyclaim online is safer this time of year.

[bambibunny]

Thank you for your help, will keep you updated

[bambibunny]

Quick update, I sent off the documents to the relevant parties that week but haven't heard anything back as of yet.* Where do I go from here?

[bambibunny]

Hiya, over the weekend I received numerous missed calls from Lowell & received a letter stating that I had not put in a defence against the pending CCJ hearing & that I needed to contact the court or Lowell before 21/12/19 or the matter will go to court & I will have a CCJ filed against me. I sent off the relevant letters when I originally posted around 26/11/19 but have not heard back from either them or Vanquis.. I checked Clearscore over the weekend & there is now an entry for Lowell under closed accounts dated 18 November 2018. Am sick with worrying over this & I have to get a defence in place ASAP.

[Amethyst]

Had you filed your acknowledgement of service ?

I have acknowledged the claim online today (26/11/19) stating I will be defending it.

yes you did ...so the defence isn't due until 33 days from date of issue so you should still be okay to get it in. Any documents or replies to your requests for information at all ?

[Amethyst]

Example Defence - Example Defence

Paragraph 4 - It is denied that the Defendant has ever entered into any agreement with Vanquis Bank Plc. The Defendant has never held any credit or store card, or taken any loan with Vanquis Bank Plc or associated companies. The Claimant is put to strict proof.

[bambibunny]

Thanks Amethyst, no nothing in regards to information requests just the one from the weekend re failure to defend. Quick question if there is now an entry in Clearscore for Lowell but under closed accounts & last updated November 2018 is this actually regarded as closed or can they still pursue?

[Amethyst]

I'd ignore the credit file for now and deal with that, if necessary, after the court claim is all sorted. An account is better on the file as closed than open Usually they change to closed once settled. Obviously if it works out there was no debt in the first place because you never had the account it should be removed completely, but that's a battle for another day.

[bambibunny]

Morning, still nothing from Lowell or Vanquis so will be putting defence in. Is just putting that letter with paragraph 4 sufficient or do I need more detail? I.e inability to pay, income & expenditure form ignored, multiple requests for information nonforthcoming, letters previously sent etc

[Amethyst]

Most of that will go in a later witness statement so for now just the defence as per the example amended to suit - you can add in previous info requests inc responding to the preaction letter asking for info/ documents but no need to say anything re IE sheet or ability to pay etc

[bambibunny]

Ok will do that example letter edited to suit & using para 4 thanks amethyst

[bambibunny]

Defence filed