Court claim . Lowell .

[Podkin92]

PODKIN92
Junior Member

• Joined: Sep 2020
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#1 Court claim Lowell


Hello . Great to have found this site . I hope that you can help me .

I have received a County Court Claim issued on the 28th August .
I have been away and so only just opened the letter .
I haven’t yet acknowledged the claim but can do today on your advice .

The amount including costs is for £1192
The Claimant is Lowell
The solicitor is Lowell
The original Creditor was JD Williams
The original debt was for a bookcase costing around £60 in February 2004 .
I failed to make payments on time and the amount escalated quickly with crazy interest and I fell more behind due to illness .
The agreement was passed to Lowell in December 2012.

As I have moved since that time , I don’t have the original documents !
At the time I had several other debts ,and with most offered a gradual payment option .
i had had no contact with Lowell in regards to this debt although in fact have a couple more debts I am paying off with them with payment plans .

I think at the time this debt escalated to such a ridiculous amount so quickly that it was no dealt with as it should have been .

Obviously I would be happy to pay the original payment but do not feel it fair to be forced to pay over £1000 for an item of under £100 although I appreciate I should have dealt with this properly in the first place .

I have read the court form quickly and will of course complete acknowledgement, and I think would want to admit only part of the claim ?

I have also received a letter from Lowell solicitor . It says I can register with them and respond to the court via their site ?
I would be prepared to offer a set payment , but not for the amount they are requesting .

At present I am caring for my dying mum and have given up work to do so . For that reason I don’t want a lot of stress with this ,and want to deal with as quickly and simply as possible but can’t pay the impossible !

So in a nutshell
What is the quickest And most stress less way to deal with this please .?I have so much on with my mum and just can’t really fight this atm .

Any advice greatly appreciated
many thanks

[MIKE770]

Celestine

[MIKE770]

take your time lowells will have difficulty with this one time elements can come into play,, i

[Podkin92]

Please could you advise on my first steps ?
I want to admit part of the claim ,ie the amount for the item ( which I can’t remember exactly ) .
Therefore should I at this point log in to the money claim . gov and fill out the admissions form and or should I contact Lowell Solicitors ?
Obviously time is moving on from the issue date of 28th August and so with the five days date of service , I am looking at around 16th Sept in which to act .
I feel so confused as to how to deal with this .
Many thanks for reading .

[MIKE770]

have asked another to pop in? lowells are trying it on to my mind, they do that then run later as out of time? why pay when you may not owe them they buy alledged debt for peannuts and hope to make big profit! jJ>D Williams & Very shop direct are their easy targets as people get scarred to make them prove all lergal requirements, book keeping of the stores leaves a lot to be desired as many of us who fault them found out = lowells lost cases.

[Celestine]

Please could you advise on my first steps ?
I want to admit part of the claim ,ie the amount for the item ( which I can’t remember exactly ) .
Therefore should I at this point log in to the money claim . gov and fill out the admissions form and or should I contact Lowell Solicitors ?
Obviously time is moving on from the issue date of 28th August and so with the five days date of service , I am looking at around 16th Sept in which to act .
I feel so confused as to how to deal with this .
Many thanks for reading .

No - if the account is unenforceable then you admit nothing. tick that you intend to defend all the claim. Then follow our guide to request CPR31.14 disclosure as well as sending a CCA request.

I suspect you may have lots of unfair charges built into this debt.

[Podkin92]

Thanks so much .
I sent the request letters off last week .
Had another letter from Lowell overlapping to say I had ignored their request .
I just hope that they reply quickly .

The achknowlegement of service was sent on 15th( claim issued on 28th) .
Worried about running out of time !
I cant see anywhere on the moneyclaim gov site to request more time ?
Advice and next steps very greatly appreciatted .

[Podkin92]

Can anyone advise please ? Many thanks

[Podkin92]

Please could you explain what makes the claim unenforcable ?
I have received the reply from the Lowell solicitors today .
It states that I entered into an agreement with JD Williams in 2004 and it looks like I was making token montly payments of £1 until December 2012 .
By this time that debt had risen to almost a £1000 in charges and interest .

I need to enter my defence asap but Im not what I should write but feel Im running out of time !

If I decide I cant cope with this stress , can I just go back fo token payments ? ,despite this situation being totally unfair . But with mum being so ill , its hard to get my head around this .

Any advice greatly appreciatted !
Thank you .

[ostell]

Having acknowledged the claim you have 33 days from date of issue to get your defence to the court.

Looks like Lowell have confirmed your debt is statute barred by giving those dates. A debt becomes statute barred if their has been no payment or acknowledgement for 6 years (5 in Scotland). That will be your defence.

Those with more knowledge will expand on this.

[MIKE770]

lowells are doing no doubt their usual trick go to near the end of a case and hope you cave in and give them dues which they are not entitle to and discontinue last minute before they loose their court fees? might be wrong but as it is they have no reasonable case??

[Podkin92]

Thanks for your helpful replies .
So in the defence I just pick out the parts ( numbers )that apply to my case ?

7.[The Defendant contends the alleged debt is statute barred by virtue of Section 5 of the Limitations Act 1980 in that no payment or acknowledgment has been made for over 6 years].

Can you please advise what other parts I should add . Sorry to seem so stupid with this !

Does the massive amount of charges and interest taking it to almost £1000 on top of the £80 paid out ( rougly the cost of the item , but atm cant find a record of this ) not need mentioning ?

Your help and advice much appreciated !

[Celestine]

Please could you explain what makes the claim unenforcable ? If the creditor cannot supply a copy of the original agreement (if opened before 2007) or a reconstituted version for later accounts, then the account becomes unenforceable and the creditor cannot seek a judgment against you through the courts.
I have received the reply from the Lowell solicitors today .
It states that I entered into an agreement with JD Williams in 2004 and it looks like I was making token montly payments of £1 until December 2012 .
By this time that debt had risen to almost a £1000 in charges and interest . The original debt was £80?? Do you recall when it defaulted? I suspect you may have had early unfair credit card charges added which were deemed unlawful by the OFT report in 2006.
I need to enter my defence asap but Im not what I should write but feel Im running out of time !
If I decide I cant cope with this stress , can I just go back fo token payments ? ,despite this situation being totally unfair . But with mum being so ill , its hard to get my head around this .
Any advice greatly appreciatted !
Thank you .

Comments in red

[Celestine]

Thanks for your helpful replies .
So in the defence I just pick out the parts ( numbers )that apply to my case ?

7.[The Defendant contends the alleged debt is statute barred by virtue of Section 5 of the Limitations Act 1980 in that no payment or acknowledgment has been made for over 6 years]. Correct

Can you please advise what other parts I should add . Sorry to seem so stupid with this !

Does the massive amount of charges and interest taking it to almost £1000 on top of the £80 paid out ( rougly the cost of the item , but atm cant find a record of this ) not need mentioning ? Yes, this needs addressing. Possibly s.140A CCA Unfair Relationship??

Your help and advice much appreciated !

Further thoughts in red

[pt2537]

The charges also would mean that the relationship is unfair. see Jones v Link Financial which confirms the creditor is the assignee as well as the person giving credit at the outset. The position is that the creditor is also the assignee of the account thus lowells would also be considered the creditor and thus could be caught by the unfair relationship

you could challenge the relationship under s140A Consumer Credit Act in your defence