Intrum/Marks and Spencer Financial Services

[kornishkat]

My mother received a court claim form regarding an amount outstanding to Marks and Spencer. The Particulars of Claim are:

The Claimant is the assignee of a Marks and Spencer Financial Services plc debt in the sum of £2324.00 assigned on 25/08/2016. Statutory notices of assignment were sent to the Defendant. On 01/03/18 the Claimant changed its name from 1st Credit (Finance) Ltd to Intrum UK Finance Ltd. The debt is a Credit Card account first opened by the original creditor on or about 12/08/2008 under reference XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
The Defendant used the credit facilities. On 12/03/2008 the account defaulted with an outstanding balance of £3,xxx.xx. The Claimant and its predecessors in title demanded repayment of the sum due. In breach of contract the Defendant failed to repay the sums due.
The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from 29/09/2016 to 10/.04/2018 on £2,xxx.xx and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment at a daily rate of £0.51.

No supporting paperwork was received with the claim form so my mother filed an acknowledgement of service online and sent a formal request for a copy of the credit agreement to Intrum plus a copy to their solicitors along with a request under CPR 31.14 using the templates on this site. She requested copies of the contract, default notice, assignment, formal demand and statutory notices of assignment.

She has received a letter back from the Legal Department at Intrum enclosing a signed copy of the credit agreement along with terms and conditions; varied copy of the terms of agreement at the point the account was terminated; statements from the period 18/05/2006 to 25/04/2016.

They have requested she contact them within 7 days to arrange payment in full. I'm not sure if it is relevant but there appears to be entries on the statement for PPI protection but there is also an adjustment on the statement on 19/09/2012 of about £450, could this be the PPI being refunded to the outstanding amount perhaps?

What is the best way for her to negotiate a payment plan now or does she need to wait for a judgment to be entered? She doesn't have the means to pay full amount, the reason she fell behind with payments in the first place was due to my father losing his job and not being able to find further work (they are both in their late 60s and rely on state pension for their income)

Thank you in advance of any advice you can offer.

[thedirtyhound]

Whatever you do, don't wait for a judgment to be entered because your parents will cop it for all the fixed costs and interest. If you are going to negotiate a settlement, you need to do it before a court hearing. I would also point out that unless your parents have moved, the claim form would not have appeared out of the blue. There must have been a lot of correspondence prior to that. I'm not advocating responding to these firms, but that's the best time to ask for legal advice. If I were you I would speak with one of the law firms who comment on this site. If they have the full knowledge of the facts, they can help you. It may be that there are grounds for defending the claim.

[Amethyst]

What kind of product was this original - credit card? store card? loan ? Was it originally a store card which became a credit card (ie you could use it in other stores than M&S )

If you have the full statements can you see how much was paid in PPI vs the refund to the balance ? Some firms had to make refunds/adjustments due to not having sent notice of arrears and had to refund interest for a certain period - letters should have been sent out but if it was back in 2012 it may have been forgotten about.

You say the statements run up to April 2016 - can you see when last payment was made and when the account defaulted ? The POC states

On 12/03/2008 the account defaulted with an outstanding balance of £3,xxx.xx. The Claimant and its predecessors in title demanded repayment of the sum due.

so have your parents made payments since that date or is the difference solely that £450 refund part ? If they haven't paid anything since 2008 it could well be statute barred ( over 6 years since last payment or acknowledgment - and in CCA cases normally date of default if no further payments made)

Also guessing this is a typo and should be 2006 ?

The debt is a Credit Card account first opened by the original creditor on or about 12/08/2008 under reference XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

as per

statements from the period 18/05/2006 to 25/04/2016.

else it defaulted before it was opened lol.

Did your mother enter a defence ? or just the acknowlegement, send off the letters and then wait?


As per DirtyHounds post firms possibly able to help, possibly on a CFA ( claim costs from other side ) basis but shouldn't cost anything to have a quick chat and see what options you have - https://www.justbeagle.com/solicitor/visit/623139 and https://www.justbeagle.com/solicitor/visit/547210

[kornishkat]

Thank you for the replies. Yes, my parents had moved house, they think the first thing that came to the address they are at now was a letter saying they intended court proceedings but my mother thought it was in connection with an M &; S loan or store card, both of which she had paid off a few years ago and thought it was a rogue debt company who had made a mistake as she had always dealt with M & S directly in the past. It looks like the last payment she made was 25/04/2016 so the debt won't be statute barred.

The adjustment amount is about £20 more than the total of PPI payments so it probably is related to that but she says she never received a letter telling her she was being refunded any PPI.

It was originally a credit card according to the agreement and yes, apologies, the date it was opened was 'on or about 12/08/2004'

She entered the acknowledgement of service but no defence as she was waiting to see what documentation came back, although she only received the contract and statement but not the other documents she requested. I think the defence needs to be entered within the next few days so I'm guessing judgment will probably be entered automatically before she has chance to attempt to negotiate a payment plan with Intrum. I only wish she had told me she had received the original letter from Intrum so I could have helped her sort it out before it got to a court claim. I will get her to write a letter to Intrum with her financial statement and an offer to pay as much as she can afford monthly. Thank you again for the help and advice.