Advice please - court claim received

[flinko]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

An expected reply....

We write further to the above matter and acknowledge receipt of your email dated 22 January in which you have attached a Part 18 Request for Further Information. By way of response we will not be complying with your request as a Request for Further Information must relate to a matter in dispute. The questions raised by you do not relate to matters in dispute and to date you have only filed a Defence stating that our client has not provided you with all documentation, which as you are aware we now have.

In addition we note that you have asked us to confirm when the notice of assignment and default notices were sent. We would again refer you to our letter dated 9 January in which we confirm that the default notice was sent on 27 November 2009. In addition if you consider the notice of assignment you will see that a copy was sent to you on 25 June 2011. In respect of your query as to when the notice of assignment and/or default notice was received by you clearly is not a question that our client can answer but is a matter for you to confirm.

As the amended defence would be based around the fact that they have not followed their legal obligation in regards to serving the NoA, should I now go back stating this? Any other thoughts?

[mystery1]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

Well they have confirmed that they did not send the NOA by registered post. If you are saying you didn't get it and can get the court to believe this then you have a great defence to this claim.

You need to decide if you wish to enter a defence and decide on the above point and any others you have after viewing the agreement, default notice etc.

Alternatively you can apply for a time order or reach an agreement with the creditor.

M1

[flinko]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

Well they have confirmed that they did not send the NOA by registered post. If you are saying you didn't get it and can get the court to believe this then you have a great defence to this claim.

You need to decide if you wish to enter a defence and decide on the above point and any others you have after viewing the agreement, default notice etc.

Alternatively you can apply for a time order or reach an agreement with the creditor.

M1

I have to win this or face going bankrupt really (no point in any agreement as I wont be able to honour it anyway) - So defence is the only option, just a case of seeing if the court would believe the lack of evidence (presumably since they do not wish to entertain my part18) of postage as contravening that particular law?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

I have to win this or face going bankrupt really (no point in any agreement as I wont be able to honour it anyway) - So defence is the only option, just a case of seeing if the court would believe the lack of evidence (presumably since they do not wish to entertain my part18) of postage as contravening that particular law?

Why would you have to go bankrupt? In the unfortunate event that you ended up with a CCJ, you would be ordered to pay an amount you can afford, after providing the court with an I&E form. There are many people with CCJs who pay just £1/month because they are on benefits or on a low income. You wouldn't have to enter into an agreement you can't afford! Of course I hope your defence is successful and it never comes to that, but it's always good to have a plan B!

[flinko]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

Why would you have to go bankrupt? In the unfortunate event that you ended up with a CCJ, you would be ordered to pay an amount you can afford, after providing the court with an I&E form. There are many people with CCJs who pay just £1/month because they are on benefits or on a low income. You wouldn't have to enter into an agreement you can't afford! Of course I hope your defence is successful and it never comes to that, but it's always good to have a plan B!

Because of other debts - all are probably circa 5 years since any correspondence and hence not far from statute barred but if I ended up with a CCJ for one it would be a waste of money in paying it off when id more than likely end up in the same predicament with another creditor 6 months down the line. So faced with 5 or 6 CCJs for years upon years or a clean slate with bankruptcy I would have to choose the latter I think?

[flinko]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

Well they have confirmed that they did not send the NOA by registered post. If you are saying you didn't get it and can get the court to believe this then you have a great defence to this claim.

You need to decide if you wish to enter a defence and decide on the above point and any others you have after viewing the agreement, default notice etc.

Alternatively you can apply for a time order or reach an agreement with the creditor.

M1

So, is the lack of registered post/hand delivery evidence sufficient as a defence by itself do you all think?
I can see both sides really - a) why should someone pay a company who haven't proven that they had been assigned the debt in full, otherwise any scammer could try this on and b) it's just another debtor trying various obscure bits of law to avoid paying a debt.

Not sure where to go with this now

[SpringerSpaniel]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

The burden of proof is the claimant's, so they have to prove that they have a genuine assignment, otherwwise there is no proof you owe anything to this claimant.

[flinko]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

The burden of proof is the claimant's, so they have to prove that they have a genuine assignment, otherwwise there is no proof you owe anything to this claimant.

It does appear that they were assigned the debt etc, the point is that they didn't serve notice of the assignment as per s196.
I don't understand that if i'm claiming they never served notice of the assignment then why don't they just serve the notice by registered post now thus nullifying my claim?

[Guest]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

I've never been able to afford bankruptcy, personally... :elch:

[flinko]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

I've never been able to afford bankruptcy, personally... :elch:

What do you mean CP? In what sense?

[alham]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

It does appear that they were assigned the debt etc, the point is that they didn't serve notice of the assignment as per s196.
I don't understand that if i'm claiming they never served notice of the assignment then why don't they just serve the notice by registered post now thus nullifying my claim?

Because they are suing you on the basis that the notice of assignment has been served!!!

[flinko]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

Because they are suing you on the basis that the notice of assignment has been served!!!

But my defence is based on the fact it wasn't served and so if they had proof it was (and correctly) then surely they would provide it to speed up the process and blow my defence out of the water?

[mystery1]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

Have you actually pleaded this in your defence ?

When is your amended defence due ?

M1

[Kafka]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

But my defence is based on the fact it wasn't served and so if they had proof it was (and correctly) then surely they would provide it to speed up the process and blow my defence out of the water?

The issue here is about the Assignment and whether they have a right to sue you for it. By filing a claim they have declared that they own the account and that it was properly assigned to them. If you challenge them they can't do it now because they are required to prove that they did it properly in the first place.

Assignment is important because otherwise any DCA could claim to own an account and take action. I had 3 chasing me last year for a small debt that I settled in 2011 with one of them. DCAs are notoriously bad at paperwork and many deceitfully claim to own debts that they don't. When they do file they work on the principle that most people won't fight them and they will win, so they can afford to lose most of the claims. Bear in mind that they only pay around 5% of the face value for each one, so if they get the full payment for a few they can forget the others that are harder to collect. These people look for easy money and their attitude to you changes when they see you can and will fight back.

[flinko]

Re: Advice please - court claim received

Have you actually pleaded this in your defence ?

When is your amended defence due ?

M1

Not yet, the next hearing is 22nd Feb, they (claimant) requested the amended defence by the 14th