MCOL claim from Cabot/Mortimer Clarke

[foobar]

Received a claim? Yes
Issue Date: 15/04/2024 @ CNBC Northampton
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?: Yes (29/04/2024)
Total Amount Claimed : £1200-1300
Claimant’s Name: Cabot Financial (UK) Limited
Solicitors Firm: Mortimer Clarke Solicitors Ltd
Original Creditor: New Day/Fluid
Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) : Credit card
Particulars of Claim:

By an agreement between New Day RE Fluid & the Defendant on or around 22/10/2019 ('the Agreement') New Day RE Fluid agreed to issue the Defendant with a credit card. The Defendant failed to make the minimum payments due. The Agreement was terminated following the service of a default notice. The Agreement was assigned to the named Claimant. Cabot Credit Management Group Limited, acting as servicing agent of the named Claimant through its Appointed Representative (Cabot Financial (Europe) Limited), has arranged for these proceedings to be issued in the name of the Claimant. THE NAMED CLAIMANT THEREFORE CLAIMS 1. £12xx 2. Costs

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 ):
Any Other Information or Background Details:

This was received while in the middle of trying to sort out a home move, which had already been arranged and the date set in stone. I am moving tomorrow, and then we have the long weekend, which looks like the CCA deadline runs up against the deadline for the defence, so that will be going off (to Cabot, cc MCS) today. Otherwise, I've not really had time to do more on this, and won't have time to do anything more today or tomorrow. I assume I should head that with the new address and include a sentence in the letter telling them to note the new address.

I take it I should then send a CPR 31.14 request (to MCS) for at the minimum, "Agreement", "default notice", "deed of assignment" and "notice of assignment", right?

Edit: On second thoughts, I don't see an account number listed in the PoC. Would it be the reference they've provided in the claim?

[R0b]

Hi,

If the date of the claim is 15/04 and you have already acknowledged the claim, you have a total of 33 days from the date of the claim form to file a defence. By my calculations, that means that you have to submit by 4pm on Saturday 18 May but there is a rule that says any filing dates that fall on a weekend should be carried over to the next working day. So you effectively have until 4pm on Monday 20 May to file a defence.

With that all said, I would suggest you do not file a defence today because the deadline does not expire today. Claims issued via CNBC are deemed served 5 days after the date of the claim form, you then have 14 days to file a defence but if you acknowledge the claim you get a further 14 days allowance.

If, however, you want to rush out a defence today, then I certainly cannot help because there isn't enough information to go off.

[foobar]

With that all said, I would suggest you do not file a defence today because the deadline does not expire today. Claims issued via CNBC are deemed served 5 days after the date of the claim form, you then have 14 days to file a defence but if you acknowledge the claim you get a further 14 days allowance.

Hi, sorry if I didn't make this clearer: the thing that was being sent off today was the CCA request, not the defence itself.

My concern was that the 12 working day response window would run too far past the deadline for a defence if I left that until next week, leaving me in a position where Cabot haven't yet responded but also haven't yet failed to comply.

[foobar]

As well as the CCA mentioned above, I sent the CPR31.14 last week, and I haven't received responses to either yet. If my defence is nominally due on Monday, I assume I would need to file the application for an "unless" order for compliance now, right? Can I send that to CNBC by email, or would they have to go by post? I will need to include an EX160, will this delay the application?

Also: Since this is at CNBC rather than a local court, do I want this determined "at a hearing" or "at a remote hearing"?

Thanks

[foobar]

Sorry for the ping echat11 but could you (or someone else) please clear this up? Don't want to accidentally sign myself up for an in-person hearing in Northampton.

Also: Since this is at CNBC rather than a local court, do I want this determined "at a hearing" or "at a remote hearing"?

[echat11]

As well as the CCA mentioned above, I sent the CPR31.14 last week, and I haven't received responses to either yet. If my defence is nominally due on Monday, I assume I would need to file the application for an "unless" order for compliance now, right? Can I send that to CNBC by email, or would they have to go by post? I will need to include an EX160, will this delay the application?

Also: Since this is at CNBC rather than a local court, do I want this determined "at a hearing" or "at a remote hearing"?

Thanks

a) As well as the CCA mentioned above, I sent the CPR31.14 last week, and I haven't received responses to either yet. If my defence is nominally due on Monday.

I wouldn't wait to file your Defence, the important thing is that you've requested the information. The Creditor / Solicitor should comply in due course.

You are responding to the Particulars of Claim with the facts you have at hand, this can be lodged with the Court via MCOL -

Here is an example Defence - https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...-court-claims/

b) Can I send that to CNBC by email, or would they have to go by post? I will need to include an EX160, will this delay the application?

Responded in (a).

c) Also: Since this is at CNBC rather than a local court, do I want this determined "at a hearing" or "at a remote hearing"?

A personal Hearing, the case / Hearing will be transferred to a local Court, it won't be Northampton. The allocation will happen after you fill in a Directions Questionnaire.

[foobar]

Thanks for the help. Sent in a defence earlier. I probably should have prepared this over the weekend rather than rushing it this afternoon, but in retrospect I figure that at some point if the claim doesn't get tossed I'm going to need to file an amendment anyway.

Also spoke to CNBC to see whether or not they'd received the change of address I'd notified (sent week before last), got my answer when during security checks they asked "do you have another postcode". But at least managed to get that changed on the record, so anything from the court should now come to the right place. Whether the other side paid attention to me putting the new address at the top of the letters and explicit statements in the letters saying "send everything to the new address effective immediately" will be another thing.

The defence:

[heading skipped]
1. The Defendant received the Claim Form, reference xxxxxxxx, from the Civil National Business Centre at Northampton County Court on 20 April 2024.
2. Each and every allegation in the Claimant’s Statement of Case is denied unless specifically admitted in this Defence.
3. This claim appears to be for a Credit Card Agreement regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (c.39) – hereafter CCA.
4. It is admitted that the Defendant has previously entered into an agreement with New Day for provision of credit.
5. The Claimant’s Statement of Case fails to give adequate information to enable the Defendant to properly assess his position with regards the claim.
6. The Claimant’s Particulars of Claim state an Agreement was entered into on or around 22/10/2019, but otherwise provide no identifying information about said Agreement.
7. The Claimant’s Statement of Case states that the account was assigned from New Day to the Claimant, but do not state when this happened. The Defendant does not recall receiving notice of this assignment.
8. It is not admitted that New Day served any Default Notice on the Defendant pursuant to s.87 CCA. 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 s.88(4A) CCA, and that the notice was in the prescribed form as required by The Consumer Credit (Enforcement, Default and Termination Notices) Regulations 1983 (No. 1561).
9. On 1 May 2024 the Defendant sent a formal request for a copy of the original Agreement to Claimant pursuant to s.78 CCA, along with the statutory £1 fee.
10. The Claimant has so far failed to comply with s.78(1) CCA, and, should that failure persist, by virtue of s.78(6) will be unable to enforce the Agreement.
11. On 9 May 2024, Defendant sent a request for inspection of documents mentioned in the Claimant’s Statement of Case under CPR 31.14 to the Claimant’s solicitor. The Defendant requested the Claimant provide copies of the Agreement, Default Notice, and Deed and Notice of Assignment.
12. Neither Claimant nor their solicitor have so far sent any of these documents to the Defendant.
13. In the same request, the Defendant has asked the Claimant if the parties may agree to extend the time period allowed for filing of the Defence pending receipt of documents (as allowed under CPR 15.5), but they have not responded to this request.
14. CPR 16.5(4) provides that
"Where the claim includes a money claim, the claimant must prove any allegation relating to the amount of money claimed, unless the defendant expressly admits the allegation."
Therefore, it is expected that the Claimant be required to prove the allegation that the money is owed as claimed.
15. The Defendant respectfully requests the Court order the Claimants to provide the necessary documentation in order for the Defendant to fully plead his case else the Claim should stand struck out. An Application to this effect with a draft order was submitted on 17 May 2024.
16. In the event that the relevant documents are received from the Claimant, the Defendant will then be in a position to amend his Defence, and would ask that the Claimants bear the costs of the amendment.
17. It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief as claimed or at all.

Statement of Truth
I believe the facts to be stated in this Defence to be true.

/s/
20 May 2024

[foobar]

Update:
After several days of trying, I finally got someone at HMCTS to answer the phone today. They told me that my application had been referred to a DJ on 18th June, that the EX160 that I'd put in with it expecting to have to pay around half was granted in full, and that the case was stayed pending the application - none of which had been notified to me. I would have expected at a minimum to have been told the claim was stayed. It doesn't exactly give me reassurance that I'll get notified if and when it ever gets listed for a hearing, or if they'll allocate it to the right court. (I'm roughly equidistant from two, and have explicitly requested the one that's much easier for me to get to and use, so fully expect them to allocate to the other one anyway.)

I also still haven't received anything from the other side in response to any of the requests that were sent (CCA/CPR31). I am half-expecting to discover that the CCA fee was taken as payment towards the debt.

[echat11]

Update:
After several days of trying, I finally got someone at HMCTS to answer the phone today. They told me that my application had been referred to a DJ on 18th June, that the EX160 that I'd put in with it expecting to have to pay around half was granted in full, and that the case was stayed pending the application - none of which had been notified to me. I would have expected at a minimum to have been told the claim was stayed. It doesn't exactly give me reassurance that I'll get notified if and when it ever gets listed for a hearing, or if they'll allocate it to the right court. (I'm roughly equidistant from two, and have explicitly requested the one that's much easier for me to get to and use, so fully expect them to allocate to the other one anyway.)

I also still haven't received anything from the other side in response to any of the requests that were sent (CCA/CPR31). I am half-expecting to discover that the CCA fee was taken as payment towards the debt.

You need some certainity, no point in speculating.
Thanks for the update.

[foobar]

Earlier this month, I got a letter from CNBC saying that the case was being transferred to a local court for the application hearing.

On Friday, I got a letter from the local court listing it for trial in November.

Yes, readers, I'm probably as confused as you are. It's been allocated to SCT based on both parties' DQ, which is funny because I haven't received a DQ, let alone completed one. Also, under the heading "Mediation" it states "Not suitable for mediation". I might have to call the court to figure out what's going on. At least the phone queue will be shorter than CNBC.

I also still haven't had sight of anything resembling an agreement or a default notice, so I'm somewhat concerned that I'm going to be ambushed with them in the trial bundle with 7 days to go, which would leave no opportunity for settlement if they turn out to be kosher.

[echat11]

What you need to do is lodge a Complaint with the Court Manager.

You should of received a DQ from the Court. Sounds like they have gone with the Creditors DQ.
You need to find out what happened.

You stated that there was going to be an Application Hearing?
You need to find out what happened.

The case Hearing will be in November.

[foobar]

Given that AFAICT CNBC didn't send me a DQ I suspect the claimants haven't had a DQ either and someone somewhere has made a mistake or a judge wanted to get a trial out of the way before their holiday.
Spoke to the listings team at the court, advised I email for further information, and I should have a response within 5 working days. The email auto-response includes a link to make a complaint, which is broken.

[echat11]

Given that AFAICT CNBC didn't send me a DQ I suspect the claimants haven't had a DQ either and someone somewhere has made a mistake or a judge wanted to get a trial out of the way before their holiday.
Spoke to the listings team at the court, advised I email for further information, and I should have a response within 5 working days. The email auto-response includes a link to make a complaint, which is broken.

Given that AFAICT CNBC didn't send me a DQ I suspect the claimants haven't had a DQ either and someone somewhere has made a mistake or a judge wanted to get a trial out of the way before their holiday.

Pointless speculating, you could email the Creditors solicitors ask for a copy of their DQ.

Spoke to the listings team at the court, advised I email for further information, and I should have a response within 5 working days. The email auto-response includes a link to make a complaint, which is broken.

You just need to mark the email with Complaint - Court Manager, Ideally the link should work, if it doesn't, the Complaint should get to who it should get to.

[foobar]

I have received a weighty bundle with copies of agreements and statements for the account.

Their cover letter (dated "27/08/2024", but received this weekend) complains about the application relating to the CPR31 request. . They also enclose a statement of costs for £1000, including an "advocate's fee" of £240 for the application hearing, and a £303 application fee (not sure what this refers to - I received a full remission on HWF on my application).

They have included the initial credit card agreement, with my name and address, and a "signature page" that just has "date of signature" for both parties. They then include what appear to be updated copies of the agreement, which do not contain any personal details and do not state an interest rate or credit limit.

Then there are several statements and letters, including what appears to be a default notice (I haven't checked this in detail for compliance, but it does refer to s.87(1) CCA).

Since it looks like they have provided everything that I asked for, albeit over 4 months after I asked for them rather than 7 days, I assume that my application for disclosure is now moot and I should withdraw it. Is there a particular process I have to follow for that, or is it enough to contact the court (copying the claimants) to request this?

[echat11]

O.K. so you have had documents through, with anomalies. So they've complied with your requests.

What happened about the following?

'Spoke to the listings team at the court, advised I email for further information, and I should have a response within 5 working days. The email auto-response includes a link to make a complaint, which is broken.

You just need to mark the email with Complaint - Court Manager, Ideally the link should work, if it doesn't, the Complaint should get to who it should get to.'

You not receiving your DQ should have been challenged by now.

You need to find out exactly where you are with this. If the Hearing is in November, then you need to get your Witness Statement and evidence documents together.