Restons CCJ - My defense?

[thindes78]

15th June 2021, 18:06:PM
Received a claim? Yes/No: Yes

Issue Date: 10th June 2021
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?: Yes
Total Amount Claimed : £900
Claimant’s Name: Debt Managers (Services) Ltd
Solicitors Firm: Restons
Original Creditor: Jacamo
Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) : Catalogue
Particulars of Claim: ( Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers/exact amounts ):

The Claimant claims payment of the overdue
balance due from the Defendant(s) and
Jd Williams
dated on or about Nov 07 2015 and assigned
to the Claimant on Jan12 2019
Notice of the assignment has been given to
the Defendant

PARTICULARS a/c no - O9912144

DATE ITEM VALUE
22/03/2021 Default Blanace 766.67
Post Refrl Cr NIL

Total 766.67

Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?): No
List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ): CCA and CPR sent today

Any Other Information or Background Details:


I sent Restons the CPR request on the 15th - still not received a reply.
I sent Debt Managers Services the CCA request on the 15th, today they returned my Postal Order and explained that they sent my request to the client (JD Williams), and that I should contact Restons for any further queries.

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DEFENCE:

1.The Defendant received the claim XXXXXXX from the Northampton County Court on 15^th June 2021

2.Each and every allegation in the Claimants statement of case is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.

3.This claim is for a Catalogue Account agreement regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

4.It is admitted that the Defendant has previously entered into an agreement with Original Creditor for provision of credit.

5.The Claimants statement of case fails to give adequate information to enable me to properly assess my position with regards the claim.

6.The Claimant’s Particulars of Claim states the agreement was entered into on or about Nov 07 2015

7.The Claimants statement of case states that the account was assigned from JD Williams to Debt Managers (Services) LTD on Jan 12 2019. The Defendant does not recall receiving notice of this assignment.

8.It is denied that JD Williams served any Default notice on the Defendant pursuant to s87 Consumer Credit Act 1974. The Claimant is required to prove that a compliant Default Notice was served upon the Defendant. The Claimant is required to prove that the any Default notice relied upon complied with the requirements of s88(4A) Consumer Credit Act 1974 and that the notice was in the prescribed form as required by The Consumer Credit Enforcement Default and Termination Notice Regulations 1983.

9.On the 15^th June 2021 The Defendant sent a request for inspection of documents mentioned in the claimant’s statement of case under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 to Restons Solicitors Limited. I requested the Claimant provide copies of the [Contract, and Notice of Assignment].

10. Restons Solicitors Limited has not sent any of these documents to the Defendant.

11.On the 15^th June 2021 The Defendant sent a formal request for a copy of the original agreement to Debt Managers (Services) Ltd pursuant to section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 along with the statutory £1 fee.

12.The Claimant has failed to comply with 78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 and by virtue of s 78 (6) Consumer Credit Act 1974 cannot enforce the agreement.

13.Under Civil Procedure Rule 16.5 (4) Where the claim includes a money claim, a defendant shall be taken to require that any allegation relating to the amount of money claimed be proved unless he expressly admits the allegation. Therefore, it is expected that the Claimant be required to prove the allegation that the money is owed as claimed.

14.The Defendant respectfully requests the court orders the Claimants to provide the necessary documentation in order for The Defendant to fully plead her case else the Claim should stand struck out.

15.In the event that the relevant documents are received from the Claimant, the Defendant will then be in a position to amend her defence, and would ask that the Claimants bear the costs of the amendment.

16.It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief as claimed or at all.

Statement of Truth

The Defendant believes that the facts stated in this Defence are true.

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Can you please confirm my defence looks all okay? Especially Point 4 - I admit it I entered an agreement, right?

[R0b]

Hello

In the template information you said this:

Particulars of Claim: ( Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers/exact amounts ): Contract and Notice of Assignment

Your response suggests that the Particulars of Claim on the claim form contains four words: "Contract and Notice of Assignment".

Are you absolutely certain that is what it says on the claim form? I'm pretty certain that is not the case but I wanted to double check. The reason why we need the Particulars of Claim word for word as the template suggests is because without that information, how can we know what your defence should or at least contain?

[thindes78]

Hello

In the template information you said this:



Your response suggests that the Particulars of Claim on the claim form contains four words: "Contract and Notice of Assignment".

Are you absolutely certain that is what it says on the claim form? I'm pretty certain that is not the case but I wanted to double check. The reason why we need the Particulars of Claim word for word as the template suggests is because without that information, how can we know what your defence should or at least contain?

Hello.

I have updated the Particulars with exact wording.

Thank you

[R0b]

I will have a look at some point today get back to you.

[thindes78]

Thank you for taking a look for me.

Ideally I need to submit my defence today.

[R0b]

Couple of quick points.

In para. 4 you should ideally state that you admit entering into the agreement but deny that the claimant is entitled to the alleged debt for the reasons stated in your defence.

Otherwise it looks ok but if they can provide evidence of compliance, then your defence likely falls away - your only hope is likely to be non-compliance with the statutory request so bear that in mind.

[thindes78]

Thank you very much

[thindes78]

Hello.

Reston's have sent me two letters, please see below - they are requesting I send them a financial statement by the 30th, do I have to do this? What happens now? do I wait until they send the documents I requested or do I have to do something, as they are saying the CPR31.1 does not apply?:

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Original Creditor and Product Type: Jd Williams - Retail Account

We note you have recently filed a Defence to the Court proceedings issued against you, whereby you raise

a multitude of issues.

By way of explanation, Debt Managers (Services) Limited is a debt purchaser. We would advise that this is

a simple debt recovery action and the relevant facts are as follows:-

1 . The outstanding balance referred to in the Particulars of Claim relates to a Jd Williams Retail Account

with account number 0991 21 44. Our Client's records indicate that the original Credit Agreement was

dated on 7th November, 201 5;

2. Statements of Account would have been sent to you on a monthly basis during the lifetime of the

account. Such statements will have identified any items of expenditure, payments made towards the

account, the application of any interest/charges and the outstanding balance;

3. You failed to maintain the minimum monthly payments as required by the Statements of Account and

accordingly, Jd Williams terminated the Credit Agreement;

4. Jd Williams was entitled to transfer their rights and benefits under the Credit Agreement to a third party

and that right has been exercised. Around the time of the assignment you should have received a letter

from the Original Creditor advising you that the account had been assigned to a third party and you

should also have received a Notice of Assignment from Debt Managers (Services) Limited.

According to the information we have received from our Client, the last payment received towards your

account was on 15th May, 201 8 for the sum of £7.00 and a balance of £766.67 remained outstanding

at the time this firm was instructed.

Furthermore, this firm was instructed on 22nd March, 2021 and a Letter of Claim was sent to you in

compliance with Pre-Action Protocol. As no response was received within the specified 30 day period,

legal proceedings were issued against you on 10th June, 2021 for the outstanding balance plus fees and

costs. As such, the outstanding balance is now £906.67.
We note your request under Section 77-79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and this will be dealt with in

due course. We wish to point out that non-compliance with such a request only renders the account

unenforceable until such time that the request has been complied with. It does not mean that the

Claimant is unable to recover the debt indefinitely. We also wish to note that your request under CPR

3 1 .14 has been responded to under separate cover.

It is our position that the Particulars of Claim contain sufficient information for you to understand what the

Claim relates to, namely: the date the account was opened, the account number, the outstanding

balance, the name of the Original Creditor; and the fact the account has been assigned to the Claimant

and when it was assigned.

It is our understanding that a Default Notice was served prior to the account being assigned to the

Claimant. In any event, the Claimant has a contractual right to terminate the Credit Agreement by serving

a termination notice. Therefore, any argument about non-service of a valid Default Notice will not assist

you in defending these proceedings.

We wish for you to know that our Client would be agreeable to coming to an arrangement to put an end

to these proceedings. Our Client would only ever expect you to make payments in line with your

affordability and as such, in order to assess any payment proposals you may wish to put forward we kindly

ask that you complete a financial statement online at our website: www.restons.co.uk or complete and

return the enclosed paper copy to our office by a date no later than 30th July, 2021.

Once we have received sight of your financial statement we can review your circumstances with our Client

and we will be back in touch in due course.

Alternatively, our Client is prepared to consider any reasonable settlement proposals you may wish to put

forward in order to resolve this matter amicably and avoid continuation of this litigation. Please contact

this office by the above date should this option be of interest to you.

We await your response.

Yours faithfully,
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Original Creditor and Product Tvpe: Jd Williams - Retail Account

We acknowledge receipt of your recent request made pursuant to CPR 31.1 4.

We would point out that the claim was issued via the County Court Business Centre which is a procedure specifically

provided for in the CPR. This procedure only allows a Claimant to insert brief details of the Claim and does not

allow for the attachment of any enclosures. Paragraph 5.2A of Practice Direction 7E specifically states "The

requirement in paragraph 7.3 of Practice Direction 16 for documents to be attached to the particulars of contract

claims does not apply to claims started using an online claim form, unless the particulars of claim are served

separately in accordance with paragraph 5.2 of this practice direction."

We would also remind you that CPR 31.1 4 states: -

"A party may inspect a document mentioned in -

(a) a statement of case;

(b) a witness statement;

(c) a witness summary; or

(d) an affidavit"

You would have been provided with a copy of the contract / Terms and Conditions at the time the account was

opened and hence we see no reason why you now require an additional copy.

Furthermore, the other documents you have requested are not "mentioned" in the Particulars of Claim and therefore

CPR 31.1 4(1) does not apply.

We wish to point out that the Particulars of Claim contains sufficient information in order for you to understand what

the Claim relates to, namely:

a) the date the account was opened;

b) the account number;

c) the outstanding balance;

d) the name of the Original Creditor; and

e) the fact that the account has been assigned to the Claimant and when it was assigned.

Furthermore, throughout the lifetime of the account, you will have received various statutory Notices and collectionstyle

letters relating to the account and as such, we do not believe there can be any sensible basis for you to allege

that you do not understand the basis of the claim issued against you.

A response to your Defence has been issued under separate cover.

We trust this clarifies matters.

[thindes78]

Sorry to follow up, but they have given me until tomorrow to send my details..

[MIKE770]

rob should be able to help?

[thindes78]

Hello,

Restons emailed me this today - but they haven't sent any of their evidence I requested so I am at a complete lost. I am not sure what to. do? do I just re-request their evidence?:

Dear Madam,

Re: Debt Managers (Services] Ltd v. Yourself

Account Number: 09****44 - Current Balance: £906.67

Oriainal Creditor and Product Type: Jd Williams - Retail Account

We write in reference to the above matter and further to previous correspondence.

May we respectfully remind you that parties are encouraged to co-operate with each other in the conduct

of the proceedings pursuant to 1.4 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998.

If we fail to hear from you, we may revert back to our Client for further instruction in regards to lifting the

stay on proceedings, striking out your Defence and entering Judgment against you for the outstanding

balance, including any further legal fees and costs. If you wish to withdraw your Defence and admit the full

outstanding amount, please complete and return the enclosed Form N9A by 25th August, 2021.

We await your response.

Yours faithfully,

Restons Solicitors Limited

pp Restons Solicitors Limited

[MIKE770]

well if you feel they have failed to supply etc then see what they do next, seems that they are hoping you panic Celestine see what she has to say! do not do anything at moment

[R0b]

I'll have a look at this later today at some point and respond.

[R0b]

thindes78 It looks like they're trying to scare you into coughing up and admitting liability. Obviously, it is the court who will decide whether they have sufficient evidence to prove their case, and their first response seems to be a typical response by them.

I'm not sure what they're trying to suggest in their second letter. Of course you should co-operate with one another but that doesn't extend to admitting liability and sending the income/expenditure form back to them. You should consider settlement options but if you believe that you have a sufficient defence to argue, then you can press ahead and let it go to court and throw the ball back at them. If they don't have the necessary evidence to prove their case before court then most often than not they will fold and discontinue the claim.

At this stage, I think it is still worthwhile pursuing the defence until they have supplied concrete evidence - their letter explaining the circumstances in my view isn't sufficient enough as they need to evidence it.

You need to decide what you'd like to do and depending on your response, we can help formulate a reply to Restons.

[thindes78]

thindes78 It looks like they're trying to scare you into coughing up and admitting liability. Obviously, it is the court who will decide whether they have sufficient evidence to prove their case, and their first response seems to be a typical response by them.

I'm not sure what they're trying to suggest in their second letter. Of course you should co-operate with one another but that doesn't extend to admitting liability and sending the income/expenditure form back to them. You should consider settlement options but if you believe that you have a sufficient defence to argue, then you can press ahead and let it go to court and throw the ball back at them. If they don't have the necessary evidence to prove their case before court then most often than not they will fold and discontinue the claim.

At this stage, I think it is still worthwhile pursuing the defence until they have supplied concrete evidence - their letter explaining the circumstances in my view isn't sufficient enough as they need to evidence it.

You need to decide what you'd like to do and depending on your response, we can help formulate a reply to Restons.

Hello.

They sent me a settle figure with the deadline of the 10th September. They keep ringing me too, but I am not answering their calls.

It would be extremely appreciated if you could formulate a reply for me please? I feel a bit lost on what to do at this point.

Also, if they do send me the evidence, is it this point I approach them about settlement?

Thank you