Court Claim from Lowell Portfolio

[Celestine]

Yep hold tight and await those documents. Looks like the court system is not exactly running smoothly but hopefully things should be ok from now on. Now the DQ is done you should hear from your local court in regard to what happens next with hearing dates, witness statements and disclosure.

[RUKI]

As others have been warned on here, don't panic or make offers of payment, no proof no case, just sit back and wait.

Thanks, not really wanting to panic but... could they not send me proof now but still present it on the day of hearing leaving me with no margin to manoeuvre?

[RUKI]

An update on my case,

I have been sent a letter by HM Courts & Tribunals Service with a date and time for a mediation call.

Do you have any recommendation/suggestion for this call? The letter mentions 5 stages to go through on the mediation call and advices putting together a brief summary of my opening position.
They have not yet provided any of the documentation I requested, should I just refer them to that point and avoid any negotiation until they can provide the documentation? or should I use this time to offer a final settlement? as I mentioned before I could only offer a maximum of 15% of the debt.

My doubt again is whether I should wait until the court hearing or try to negotiate at this point, and if I will have the option to negotiate after the hearing date is set, during the hearing or after the hearing to avoid a CJJ...

[RUKI]

Any help or suggestion on this would be much appreciated, the mediation call is on Monday and I need to prepare a summary of opening position before then...

[RUKI]

Another update I received two letters the day before the mediation call date, one from HM Courts telling me that the appointment had been cancelled and that the case would be transferred to a local county court to proceed.
Separately I received a letter from Lovells informing me that the claim was being discontinued and includes a Notice of Discontinuance.

I thought that was great news but I'm now thinking that this might be a tactic from Lowells to buy more time and try to obtain the documentation. Without that documentation, they would have very little chances of succeeding and, correct me if I'm wrong, if the case proceeded to a Hearing without the documentation, the case would be struck out and they would not be able to pursue me for the remaining balance.

By discontinuing the claim, they can still pursue me for the balance and go to the County Court again in the future, is this right?

Any opinion would be really appreciated.

[Celestine]

A Notice of Discontinuance is a good thing because it means they were unable to provide the documents in time for the mediation call. How old is the account, who was the original creditor?
You are correct that by discontinuing, they could theoretically reissue a claim in the future. But that does not mean this is a tactic and in any case, you cannot stop them discontinuing the claim. As the claimant, that is their prerogative and with the claim being in small claims track, there is little you can do on wasted time and costs incurred. However, despite this, you should view this as a battle won, the war won't be over until the debt becomes time barred under the Limitation Act. At least by discontinuing they have spared you the anguish of a 'stayed' claim which never becomes time barred and can come back to life at any point. Hopefully, this will be the end of legal action on this account.

[RUKI]

A Notice of Discontinuance is a good thing because it means they were unable to provide the documents in time for the mediation call. How old is the account, who was the original creditor?
You are correct that by discontinuing, they could theoretically reissue a claim in the future. But that does not mean this is a tactic and in any case, you cannot stop them discontinuing the claim. As the claimant, that is their prerogative and with the claim being in small claims track, there is little you can do on wasted time and costs incurred. However, despite this, you should view this as a battle won, the war won't be over until the debt becomes time barred under the Limitation Act. At least by discontinuing they have spared you the anguish of a 'stayed' claim which never becomes time barred and can come back to life at any point. Hopefully, this will be the end of legal action on this account.

Thanks Celestine, that is very useful to know.

I'm definitely relieved that the matter is not progressing further for now.
As you said, this is not something I can control but I'm thinking it places me in a strong negotiating position if I ever wanted to offer a low final settlement?

The original creditor was Tesco Bank and it has been passed to at least a couple of debt-recovery agencies.
Regarding when the account becomes time-barred, when do the 6 years start to count? is it from account opening ( it was early 2014) or from default date?

[Celestine]

Limitation starts from expiry of the s.87 default notice you are sent after you stop paying. The default on your credit file is separate and comes a little later.

[RUKI]

Hi, refloating this for a question.

And thank you Celestine for all your previous answers.

As an update, after the Notice of Discontinuance, I received several letters from Imtru with offers to write off part of the debt raging from 40% to 80% . Separately they also sent me similar offers for another account were I owe around £11k (strangely they didn't take this one down the CCJ route...).

As I'm unable to pay even the 20% offered (that would be around £2,200 for this account alone), I decided to let the time run, default notice is about 3 years old.
The problem though is that this is a catch 22 situation where the credit score has stopped me from getting a couple of good jobs which would have allowed me to ease my financial situation.

And my question is, since Imtrum seems keen to negotiate and are already offering an 80% write off, how much lower are they likely to accept? My thinking is that if they go low enough I could be able to borrow from someone in my family with a view to repay them when I get a decently paid job.
The other side of the equation is, how much would my credit score improve with a F&F settlement, as I understand the account will show as 'partially paid' for another 3 years which will be better than just having a default, but is it worth?

[Celestine]

The credit file will not improve substantially with a partial payment OR ironically even a full repayment!
Lets not forget that they still have not supplied anything(?) under your CCA request, if they can comply with that then perhaps consider negotiating, but until then don't be in any hurry to hand over any cash, especially as it will make little improvement to your credit file.

[RUKI]

Hi, refloating this for a question.

And thank you Celestine for all your previous answers.

As an update, after the Notice of Discontinuance, I received several letters from Imtru with offers to write off part of the debt raging from 40% to 80% . Separately they also sent me similar offers for another account were I owe around £11k (strangely they didn't take this one down the CCJ route...).

As I'm unable to pay even the 20% offered (that would be around £2,200 for this account alone), I decided to let the time run, default notice is about 3 years old.
The problem though is that this is a catch 22 situation where the credit score has stopped me from getting a couple of good jobs which would have allowed me to ease my financial situation.

And my question is, since Imtrum seems keen to negotiate and are already offering an 80% write off, how much lower are they likely to accept? My thinking is that if they go low enough I could be able to borrow from someone in my family with a view to repay them when I get a decently paid job.
The other side of the equation is, how much would my credit score improve with a F&F settlement, as I understand the account will show as 'partially paid' for another 3 years which will be better than just having a default, but is it worth?

Thank you Celestine,

Then, the only advantage of settling is that it will stop them from chasing you ever again for this debt and going through the CCJ route again?
Do you have any experience in how these slightly different marks in credit scores are perceived by employers in the Financial Services sector? As per my previous message I had two job offers withdrawn due to my credit score after the screening company asked why I had not settled a 3 years-old debts (this is not the only debt showing on my credit score)...

[Celestine]

In your situation where roles in the financial sector require detailed credit screening, there may be an advantage in having a different 'narrative'. For most people, the low credit score will impact lending and have little bearing on employability, but for finance sector roles, having an account settled would help navigate these more probing questions. If you have several accounts then settling this one alone will make little difference. x

[RUKI]

Thank you Celestine,

Then, the only advantage of settling is that it will stop them from chasing you ever again for this debt and going through the CCJ route again?
Do you have any experience in how these slightly different marks in credit scores are perceived by employers in the Financial Services sector? As per my previous message I had two job offers withdrawn due to my credit score after the screening company asked why I had not settled a 3 years-old debts (this is not the only debt showing on my credit score)...

Thank you Celestine, I really appreciate your help in understanding all the considerations.

Would you be able to point me to a Full and Final settlement letter template?

Thank you very much again.

[Celestine]

I will dig one out for you, it needs to be VERY carefully worded. I've got some time free this evening to tailor one for you. Can you bump the thread later for me if i havent replied please - the kids are stealing all my brain cells currently!

[RUKI]

Thank you Celestine, I really appreciate your help in understanding all the considerations.

Would you be able to point me to a Full and Final settlement letter template?

Thank you very much again.

Hi Celestine,

Just bumping this up as you mentioned.

One more question, does the date the account is settled show in the credit score? or just the default date?