Help with assignment

[antiqued]

Hi all
Great forum and appreciate all the good advice that's available.
I'm in the middle of proceedings and would like to keep this 'unbranded' just for the moment but really need some guidence.
It does raise some interesting issues re assignment and solicitors.
Details are:
credit card debt (pre 2006).
NoD and account terminated 2007 (all in order).
account sold to DCA (2007).
the 'goodbye' letter said ...your account has been sold to ...
the 'hello' letter said ...your account has been assigned to ...
last year I made a s78 for agreement and recived application form and 2 sets of T&Cs.
I refuted these were the agreement.
claim issued against me last year by DCAs in house solicitors <£5k with s69 interest added.
the POC only refers to 'an agreement' but no docs were served with claim.
I issued a CPR31.14 for the agreement and a CPR part18 for a declaration as to the nature of the assignment - both were ignored.
(realise I made a mistake here) I returned a defence on inability to plead due no supporting documents.
I then made a N244 application for disclosure or strike out - HEARING scheduled for June.
I also wrote to oc for details of assignment.
DCA re-sent me the application form and the same T&Cs in support of the claim upon receiving notice of the hearing.
I have been attempting to settle with the DCA but we're miles apart.

Now, the oc after much hassling, has answered my query on the assignment by stating that the rights, title and benefit were assigned by way of an equitable assignment!!!

Questions. Does anybody believe that any solicitor, however disreputable, would issue court proceedings in the knowledge they only have an equitable assignment? Or does anyone think the use of the word 'title' on the OCs letter makes it ambiguous at all? There is no reference to the assignment of duties or obligations or the word legal.
If they have done this just to pressurise me into settling with no intention to go through with it do I have any recourse through CPUTR for eg.

How should I use this info now to bring this to a swift conclusion, and how do I cancel the hearing in June as the docs (which they claim to be the agreement) are now received?

It is intersting to note that if it went ahead I can irrefutably prove that the T&Cs they claim were those at inception are definitely not, both in terms of interest rates and charges (phoenix), as I have all of my statements from the start.
Would really appreciate any guidance.

ps: in terms of NoA, if an assignment is absolute and the creditor only states that the account has been sold, would that be deemed to be a valid notice? It seems to me that if it's been absolutely assigned then the NoA needs to say so or it's invalid. Is there any precedent for this as I think LOP is silent as to the wording?

Thank you.

[antiqued]

Re: Help with assignment

Also, on the general subject of assignment, if a debt purchaser with an equitable assignment cannot sue in his own name, what remedies are open to him to collect a legitimate debt if the debtor just refuses to pay when faced with a valid agreement?
Do we know if it often happen that an OC will join a DCA to take a debtor to court?

[antiqued]

Re: Help with assignment

Hi. I have realised I may not be understanding exactly who is actually suing me and could do with some opinion, which would make some of my first post redundant. I've just read the notes N1A regarding claimants details.

If the claimant is described on the N1 claim form as xxxx(DCA)xxxx (assignees of xxxx(bank)xxxx) does that mean that the dca and the bank are joint claimants or at least that the dca is acting as the representatve of the bank? Only gives the DCA's address. This really isn't clear and I would have thought it would have to be.
I initially attached no importance to the reference to being assignees but now wonder if it's significant.
Thanks.

[antiqued]

Re: Help with assignment

Can I bump this please!
I have read the notes on filling in a claim form N1A but it doesn't really help me with what I need to know. As per my post #3 the claimant is described as xxxx-DCA-xxxx (assignees of xxxx-bank-xxxx) but the dca only has an equitable assignment.
Is this telling me the claim is issued in the name of the dca and the bank jointly? I would have thought if this was the case it would have to be more specific. Stating that they are assignees of the oc doesn't seem to say explicitly that the claim is issued jointly with the oc. Any help please!

[Angry Cat]

Re: Help with assignment

http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room...%20Article.htm

[antiqued]

Re: Help with assignment

Hi Angry Cat, thanks for responding and the link.
The oc issued a NoA, although they used the word 'sold' which I guess constitutes a valid NoA so I've no quible there.
The oc has recently confirmed the assignment was equitable so I realise the dca needs the oc to bring a joint action, but the dca has entered his details on the claim as xxx-DCA-xxx (assignees of xxx-bank-xxx) andI'm trying to establish whether this is sufficient or a valid way to notify me that this is a joint action by the dca and the oc. I had been under the belief, or illusion, that the claimant is the dca on his own, legitimately or not.
It's a technical point regarding how the claimant must be described if it's brought jointly. I don't think it was clear enough for me to know exactly who was suing me and would have thought they would have to used specific wording. Do you have an opinion on this.

[Angry Cat]

Re: Help with assignment

Well, I will throw this into the pot for what it is worth:

The claimant(s) are un-likely to show their card(s) on a simple monetary claim form...smoke and mirrors.

Have you made a cpr 31.14 request for full disclosure?
http://www.justice.gov.uk/civil/proc...rts/part31.htm

[antiqued]

Re: Help with assignment

I made a cpr31.14 for disclosure of the agreement referred to in the poc as they didn't attach it. They ignored this within the statutary time so I made an application for a hearing to force disclosure or strike out. The hearing hasn't happenend yet but they have now supplied what they claim to be the agreement but I believe it's completely defendable.
Because they did not supply the agreement in time I was forced to put in a holding defence so now I have the agreement I need to put in a proper defence.
Do I need to make an application for permission to submit a revised defence or can I just send it in??
It's already been moved to my local court because of the hearing for disclosure, which I now need to cancel.

[Angry Cat]

Re: Help with assignment

You will have to make an application to the court, in order to amend: N244 form.

Have you requested disclosure of the Deed of Assignment and Deed of Sale?

[Quo Vadis]

Re: Help with assignment

You will have to make an application to the court, in order to amend: N244 form.

Have you requested disclosure of the Deed of Assignment and Deed of Sale?

I have a similar issue going on and can't remember which is the form that shows the amount paid in the purchase of the debt. I know I have seen it here somewhere but I have been looking through the site for 2 days now with no luck!

Even if I find it does anyone know if this is useful in mitigating the debt?

[antiqued]

Re: Help with assignment

Thanks Angry Cat, I thought I would have to make an application. Do I send the ammended defence with the N244 and do I request no hearing?? That's usually for when both parties agree the notice isn't it?
I received the usual goodbye/hello letters which I haven't really got a problem with. I made a Part 18 request to the claimant for information on whether they had an eqitable or absolute assignment which they ignored. I then pressed the oc who have told me they have an equitable assignment!
In their hello letter they claim to be the data controller. Is that possible with an equitable assignment??
It also brings me back to my original thread. I don't feel the solicitor would issue a claim in his clients sole name if if he didn't have the right, but on the other hand I don't see that putting "(assignees of [the oc])" after the dca's name on the claim form really tells me exactly who the claimant(s) are and I'm sure I'm entitled to know!
I really appreciate our support Angry Cat.
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BTW I requested the Deed of Ass from the dca before the claim was issued when I made a s78 for the agreement. They never sent the deed.
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Quo Vadis, If you're talking about finding out how much a dca paid the oc to purchase your debt I'd say you have no chance! But I'm no expert.