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Hi Legal Beagles/Members.
Hope you can help.
I am planning to defend myself at a County Court hearing arranged for 2 weeks’ time. The Claimant has bought the Loan debt from a well know lender. The loan was taken out in 2018. Their solicitors have recently submitted their Witness Statement (with exhibits) to support their case ahead of the hearing.
When they first submitted their Claim (about a year ago) I originally made requests for copies of documents ie. Contract, Default Notice, Notice of Assignment & Demand for Payment etc; and based on the docs received I submitted a DEFENCE along the lines of:
Credit Agreement: Unsigned by the Defendant and undated.
Default Notice: They provided a re-constituted copy, UNSIGNED, without any letter heading. I argued that the Claimant had not served me with a compliant Default Notice.
Notice of Assignment: The Claimant stated that the Loan was assigned to them from the lender in September 2020. But their solicitors could only provide an UNDATED re-constituted UNSIGNED document, without any letter heading, purporting to be a letter to me from the lender. But no such letter was actually received by me.
Statement of Account: NOT received.
Demand of Repayment (and evidence of its receipt by the Defendant): NOT received
I have since then received a few more documents from them, and these have been included in the solicitors Witness Statement submitted recently.
HOPE TO GET YOUR COMMENTS/ ADVICE in me making the following arguments. I am hoping that I will be able to win my case especially given a number of errors made by their solicitors:
1) The Loan Agreement/Contract is not signed by me, though signed by the lender. I know the court will accept e-signed contracts, but this is no mention at all in their Witness Statement, or even within any correspondence, how such a contract would have been agreed. I will be making the case that this wasn’t properly executed. They have failed to prove that I have ever signed or agreed to the agreement. The Loan Agreement is also NOT dated at all.
2) Default Notice: Same argument as per original DEFENCE. I will point out that the Claimant is required to prove that a compliant Default Notice (pursuant to s87 Consumer Credit Act 1974) was served upon the Defendant. In the solicitors statement that state that “the claimant avers that the Default Notices, on the balance of probabilities, were served to the Defendant”. I think they are making a big assumption - and this is not in line with the CCA requirements. In looking at the other following errors, and especially their major errors with the Notices of Assignment (see below >) I hope the Judge will question this claim.
3) Notices of Assignment: the solicitors state in their Statement that a “legal assignment from the Assignor to the Claimants was on xx/01/2020”. The copy letters attached as Exhibits (as well as their original Claim) states that the assignment/transfer of ownership was on xx/07/2020 - 6 months later. Also, one of the assignment letters (from the lender to me) is UNDATED - so it is uncertain when or even if such a letter was ever posted. And how can we trust any dates mentioned ?
They advise in their Statement to the Court that they have “no record of any mail being returned by Royal Mail”. This doesn’t prove it was actually posted in the first place, and they have no delivery receipt. I have personally been using Recorded Delivery with all of my own response letters.
4) They mention “making numerous attempts to contact me” over the last year - but only providing 2 copy letters (both dated the same day).
5) It is clear from my name that I am a MAN. In their Statement they refer to “Her” and “She” on 2 occasions when saying that they were “attempting to communicate with the Defendant”. This gives me the strong impression that they were simply trying to contact the wrong person in referring to a FEMALE.
6) Statement of Account: they have provided an Exhibit - copy of a letter dated and signed by the lender. BUT their Witness Statement states that this letter “was not sent to the Defendant, but simply used to generate the statement”. As it was shown as a signed document, I attest that other of the Exhibits are also likely not to have been posted - and in my view, on the balance of probabilities, never received by me.
I have little confidence in their assertions, question their procedural competency, and would appreciate any comments from anyone better positioned to assist with my case. Are there any examples of specific Cases, or any other points I need to raise with the Judge, that could help me at the trial ?
Hope you can help.
I am planning to defend myself at a County Court hearing arranged for 2 weeks’ time. The Claimant has bought the Loan debt from a well know lender. The loan was taken out in 2018. Their solicitors have recently submitted their Witness Statement (with exhibits) to support their case ahead of the hearing.
When they first submitted their Claim (about a year ago) I originally made requests for copies of documents ie. Contract, Default Notice, Notice of Assignment & Demand for Payment etc; and based on the docs received I submitted a DEFENCE along the lines of:
Credit Agreement: Unsigned by the Defendant and undated.
Default Notice: They provided a re-constituted copy, UNSIGNED, without any letter heading. I argued that the Claimant had not served me with a compliant Default Notice.
Notice of Assignment: The Claimant stated that the Loan was assigned to them from the lender in September 2020. But their solicitors could only provide an UNDATED re-constituted UNSIGNED document, without any letter heading, purporting to be a letter to me from the lender. But no such letter was actually received by me.
Statement of Account: NOT received.
Demand of Repayment (and evidence of its receipt by the Defendant): NOT received
I have since then received a few more documents from them, and these have been included in the solicitors Witness Statement submitted recently.
HOPE TO GET YOUR COMMENTS/ ADVICE in me making the following arguments. I am hoping that I will be able to win my case especially given a number of errors made by their solicitors:
1) The Loan Agreement/Contract is not signed by me, though signed by the lender. I know the court will accept e-signed contracts, but this is no mention at all in their Witness Statement, or even within any correspondence, how such a contract would have been agreed. I will be making the case that this wasn’t properly executed. They have failed to prove that I have ever signed or agreed to the agreement. The Loan Agreement is also NOT dated at all.
2) Default Notice: Same argument as per original DEFENCE. I will point out that the Claimant is required to prove that a compliant Default Notice (pursuant to s87 Consumer Credit Act 1974) was served upon the Defendant. In the solicitors statement that state that “the claimant avers that the Default Notices, on the balance of probabilities, were served to the Defendant”. I think they are making a big assumption - and this is not in line with the CCA requirements. In looking at the other following errors, and especially their major errors with the Notices of Assignment (see below >) I hope the Judge will question this claim.
3) Notices of Assignment: the solicitors state in their Statement that a “legal assignment from the Assignor to the Claimants was on xx/01/2020”. The copy letters attached as Exhibits (as well as their original Claim) states that the assignment/transfer of ownership was on xx/07/2020 - 6 months later. Also, one of the assignment letters (from the lender to me) is UNDATED - so it is uncertain when or even if such a letter was ever posted. And how can we trust any dates mentioned ?
They advise in their Statement to the Court that they have “no record of any mail being returned by Royal Mail”. This doesn’t prove it was actually posted in the first place, and they have no delivery receipt. I have personally been using Recorded Delivery with all of my own response letters.
4) They mention “making numerous attempts to contact me” over the last year - but only providing 2 copy letters (both dated the same day).
5) It is clear from my name that I am a MAN. In their Statement they refer to “Her” and “She” on 2 occasions when saying that they were “attempting to communicate with the Defendant”. This gives me the strong impression that they were simply trying to contact the wrong person in referring to a FEMALE.
6) Statement of Account: they have provided an Exhibit - copy of a letter dated and signed by the lender. BUT their Witness Statement states that this letter “was not sent to the Defendant, but simply used to generate the statement”. As it was shown as a signed document, I attest that other of the Exhibits are also likely not to have been posted - and in my view, on the balance of probabilities, never received by me.
I have little confidence in their assertions, question their procedural competency, and would appreciate any comments from anyone better positioned to assist with my case. Are there any examples of specific Cases, or any other points I need to raise with the Judge, that could help me at the trial ?
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