County Court Claim from Lowell Received

[Cheerios84]

Hi all
Been a fan of the site and the great wealth of information you have provided. After sending links to friends and family, I find myself in the need of some help.
I received a County Court Claim Form on the 20th September and started to panic before coming back to your site. After reading some of the information, I have:

• Acknowledged the claim on the 29th September 2020 as per advice on this site
• Sent a CCA Claimant letter to Lowell Portfolio
• Sent a CPR Request letter to Lowell Solicitors
• Received a reply acknowledging request from Lowell Solicitors today on the 7th October

As per the information on the claim form, please see below:

• Date of Issue: 17 Sep 2020
• Date of Service: 20 Sep 2020
• Particulars of Claim: The claim comprises the following agreements the defendant entered into:
  • a. Capital One (Europe) plc with reference XXXX and current balance of £478.59
  • b. Vanquis Bank with reference XXXX and current balance of £620.27.
  • The agreements were terminated as payments were not maintained and subsequently assigned to the claimant. And the claimant claims:
    • a. The total of the said sums being £1098.86
    • 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, but limited to one year, being £86.96
    • c. Costs

Background - I had a very well-paying job and started to look into boosting my credit with these two cards. Unfortunately, within a year I was unemployed but tried to continue paying them at least the minimum payments. At the end with all the debts starting to pile up and with the situation not getting much better, I resorted to paying the bills that screamed the loudest and ignored/buried in the sand, the rest resulting in this claim form. As these are quite old, I do not remember the last time I was in contact with or paid the client, and I have not acknowledged the debt in writing.
According to http://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html, I would have to provide my defence by the 20th October so any help will be greatly appreciated and if any more information is required please let me know.

I am at the situation where I assume I would need to get my defence ready while waiting for responses so any help at this stage would be appreciated.

Thank you