County court papers received out of blue from lowell

[FlamingParrot]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

CCA request letter below. It should be sent recorded delivery with a PO for £1 and signed using a computer font rather than your real signature. They have 14 days to respond. :thumb:

Dear Sirs,

Account or Reference No.:

I hereby formally request a copy of my Consumer Credit Agreement, pursuant to s.77-79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA1974).I require you to provide me with a true copy, or reconstituted copy of the credit agreement relating to any account you deem to be mine, together with any other documentation the Act requires you to provide. I expect you to comply fully and properly with this request, within the statutory time limit (12 + 2 days).

If it is your view that you are not the creditor, s.175 of the CCA1974 applies in the case of a simple assignment, and places a duty upon you to pass this request to the creditor. In the case of an absolute assignment, you are a creditor as defined by s.189. If you contend that you purchased the rights but not the duties of any agreement, you are reminded that s.189 of the Act is clear that an assignment is of both rights and duties. Your attention is drawn to ss.5(2), 3(b), 6 and 7 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR).

In line with recent OFT Guidance (issued Oct 2010) surrounding Unenforceability, I presume you're aware that the OFT has stipulated that 'sections 77-79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 outline the information creditors must provide to debtors under fixed-term, running account & Hire Agreements'. This simply means that under these sections a debtor can pay £1 to get:

• a copy of their agreement
• copies of some of the other documents mentioned in their agreement
• a statement of account

If this information is not provided within 12 working days the debt becomes unenforceable. This means a creditor cannot:

• make the debtor pay the debt before they're supposed to
• get a court judgment against the debtor

So, in line with the OFT Guidance, and the Consumer Credit Act, please find attached my £1 payment, which is the statutory fee - note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose.

Yours faithfully,

[FlamingParrot]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

Once you've acknowledged, you'll need to send a CPR 31.14 request for documents mentioned on the PoC, below is such a letter, which you will have to amend to suit. They'll usually refer to an agreement of some sort, a default and, when a debt purchaser issues a claim, assignment of the debt to them, which are the documents mentioned below.

The letter should be sent recorded delivery and signed digitally using a computer font rather than your actual signature.

Dear Sirs,

Re: XXXX v YYYYY
Case No: xxxx

CPR 31.14 Request

On [DATE] I received the Claim Form in this case issued by you out of the Northampton County Court.

I confirm having returned my acknowledgement of service to the court in which I indicate my intention to contest your entire claim.

Please treat this letter as my request made under CPR 31.14 for the disclosure and the production of a verified and legible copy of each of the following documents mentioned in your Particulars of Claim:

1. The Agreement. Together with the relevant terms associated with that account, you will appreciate that in an ordinary case and by reason of the provisions of CPR PD 16 para 7.3, where a claim is based upon a written agreement, a copy of the contract or documents constituting the agreement should be attached to or served with the particulars of claim and the original(s) should be available at the hearing. Further, that any general conditions incorporated in the contract should also be attached.
2. The notice of assignment.
3. The default notice, compliant with 87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Although your claim is for a sum which does not exceed £10,000.00 and thus in all likelihood it will be allocated to the small claims track once I deliver my defence, however as I am unable to lodge my defence at this moment, the case has not been allocated to a track for determination upon delivering a defence, as a consequence the provisions of CPR 27(2) have no effect and you should not seek to avoid compliance with your CPR 31 duties by claiming otherwise.

You should ensure compliance with your CPR 31 duties and ensure that the documents I have requested are copied to and received by me within 7 days of receiving this letter. Your CPR 31 duties extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for the originals of the documents I have requested, the better for you to be able to verify the document's authenticity and to provide me with a legible copy. Further, where I have requested a copy of a document, the original of which is now in the possession of another person, you will have a right to possession of that document if you have mentioned it in your case. You must take immediate steps to recover and preserve it for the purpose of this case.

Where I have mentioned a document and there is in your possession more than one version of that same document owing as a result to a modification, obliteration or othermarking, or feature, each version thus will be a separate document and you must provide a copy of each version of it to me. Your obligations extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for any, and all version(s) and include an obligation to recover and preserve such version(s) that are now in the possession of a third party.

In accordance with CPR 31.15(c) I undertake to be responsible for your reasonable copying costs incurred in complying with this CPR 31.14 request.

If you require more time in which to comply with this request you must tell me in writing. You must tell me before the time for compliance with this request has expired. In telling me you require more time you must tell me what steps you have taken and propose to take in order to comply with this request and also state a date by when you will comply with this request. In addition your statement must be accompanied with a statement that you agree to an extension of the time for me to file my defence. Your extension of time must be not less than 14 days from the date when you say you will have complied with my request and you must state the new date for filing my defence.

If you are unable to comply with this request and believe that you will never be able to comply with this request you must tell me in writing.

Please note that if you should fail to comply with this request, fail to request more time or fail to agree to an extension of time for the filing of my defence, I will make an application to the court for an order that the proceedings be struck out or stayed for non-compliance and a summary costs order.

I do hope this will not be necessary and look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

[FlamingParrot]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

I logged into mcol to see if it was a genuine claim, had no joy on the phone. I don't even understand the questions on the first page

Contest Jurisdiction
You can choose to contest jurisdiction of the claim made against you.
I intend to contest jurisdiction

i would be be clicking buttons and not know what I am doing. I don't see anywhere that explains anything. I'm a medic not a lawyer, I have no idea what any of the jargon means

Have you acknowledged and ticked the box stating your intention to defend in full? Contesting jurisdiction is not applicable.

Once you acknowledge and state your intention to defend, you have a total of 28 days from the date of service to submit a defence. As you say the claim was served on the 8th, it should take you to the 6th of December

If not yours or statute barred then should be easy to sort. Hold on as Lowells are a favourite of Celestine. I'm sure she'll be along to help kick Lowells backside, but if not give her a PM.

Have you done this?

Anyone have any ideas what I should do now? Thanks

You'd normally send a CCA request and a CPR 31.14 request. The CCA request goes to Lowell with a PO for £1 and they have 14 days to respond. The CPR 31.14 request would normally go to the solicitors who issue the claim on behalf of Lowell. As you haven't posted the PoC, I can't tell who they were but they often use BW Legal. I will post the letters shortly. :typing:

[Scigal]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

Anyone have any ideas what I should do now? Thanks

[Scigal]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

then i sent this:

Dear Sirs,

Account No:

I refer to my letter dated 8th April 2010 in which I made a formal request under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA1974) s.77-s.79 for a true copy of the regulated agreement referred to in the above account number. You are reminded that you are obliged to supply this under s.189 whether you are the original creditor or not. I also enclosed the statutory fee of £1.00.

To date you have failed to comply with my statutory request and have defaulted in respect of this account. Additionally this alleged agreement is unenforceable until such time as you come out of default or enforced by a court of law. It is a further offence to attempt to enforce this alleged agreement until such time as your default is revoked.

It is also my intention to report this matter to the appropriate enforcement authorities.

I await your prompt response.

Yours faithfully

[Scigal]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

Hello, nope I haven't had one of those at all. I never would have left it.

My son has put my pc back together and I have the letter that I sent to them. I received a letter saying it would look into it, then heard nothing more.

8^th April 2010
To Whom It May Concern:
Your Reference:
I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY
With reference to the above account, I request that you send me a true copy of this credit agreement before I will correspond further on this matter.
This is my right under the legislation contained within section 77 (1) and section 78 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, and I am entitled to receive a copy of my credit agreement on request.
Your obligation also extends to providing me with a statement of account. I enclose a £1
postal order, which represents payment of the statutory fee payable under the Consumer Credit Act.
I understand that a copy of my credit agreement should be supplied within 12 working days from the date of this letter.
I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act, creditors are unable to enforce an agreement if they fail to comply with a request for a copy of the agreement under these sections of the Act.
Also, since you are a Debt Collection Agency, I would also ask that you supply a signed true copy of the executed deed of assignment for the above referenced agreement.
This is an obligation, whether you are the original creditor or not, under section 189 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.
In summary,
I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THIS DEBT AND THEREFORE REQUIRE YOU TO SUBSTANTIATE THIS BY PROVIDING THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTATION BEFORE I CORRESPOND FURTHER:
1. True copy of original credit agreement
2.Statement of account
3.Copy of the executed deed of assignment from Capital One.
4.Fair Processing Notice.
As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the CCA and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.
Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.
Further to the above, please ensure that any contact by yourselves is made in writing only to the above address. Telephone calls and personal visits will not be accepted and viewed as harassment.
As this account is now in dispute, I would also draw your attention to The Banking Code section 13.6:-
We may give information to the Credit Reference Agencies about personal debts you owe us if:
·The Amount Owed is Not in Dispute.
·The Office of Fair Trading provided a Code of Guidance that is in relation to Debt Collection: OFT 664 Response to consultation paper and final guidance on unfair business practices dated July 2003
Deceptive and/or Unfair Methods-
2.8 Examples of unfair practices are as follows:-
k. Not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt.
If you continue in your pursuance of this account I will have no other alternative than to report you to both, The Information Commissioner and The Office of Fair Trading.
Furthermore, I shall submit a Consumer Credit Act 1974 complaint to the OFT upon the basis that you have failed to comply with the OFT’s direction of 5 April 2006 and are therefore not a ‘fit and proper person’ to hold a consumer credit license under the 1974 Act.
If you do not understand what this means then seek advice from your legal department.
I look forward to hearing from you within the statutory time limit.
Yours faithfully

[littlebert8]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

You should get a Letter Before Action or Letter of Claim before they issue proceedings against you. This needs to be compliant with the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pro...tion_conduct#A

Note that your are also obliged to respond if you receive one.

[Scigal]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

Hello thank you.

yes I'm certainly sat here in a tiz!

Im so surprised to receive court papers, am I not supposed to have other letters first?

[Scigal]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

Hi littlebert, thank you. I have acknowledged now.

um yes I think theres a good chance i didn't inform them id moved or changed my name. But the default on my credit report is in my married name.

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

Hiya and a belated to LegalBeagles

First things first......grab yourself a cuppa,,sit down and breathe.........the help you need is readily available (as you can see from the above posters) and your situation isn't nearly as bad as it seems.
Lowell are being very 'productive' recently and conveniently seem to send their crap out on a Friday and Saturday (age old trick,,makes you sweat all weekend).

[littlebert8]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

First thing to do is to acknowledge service - you can do this online via MCOL using the password on the claim form. Tick the box saying you intend to defend all of the claim. This gives you more time to file a defence to the claim.

You probably don't have any grounds to contest jurisdiction, unless perhaps you live outside England & Wales or something like that.

Next step is to get onto Lowell to provide more details of the debt they are claiming against. Usual route is to send a request under CPR 31.14 for copies of documents mentioned in the particulars of claim. Can you post a the verbatim text of the PoC (remove full account numbers, names etc)?

You mentioned the only CC you had was taken out in or around 2000 in your maiden name. Is it possible that you moved and/or changed your name without informing the CC company of your new details? I only ask because that could explain why you ended up getting default on your credit file without receiving any paperwork i.e. they will have sent it to your last known address. Lowell seem to like buying debts on 'gone aways' and trying to trace the debtors. Of course, this means it could easily be a case of mistaken identity.

[Scigal]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

Oh i do hope so thank you! A rough calculation shows they are claiming 5 years of interest too. Bloody hell

[Nibbler]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

If not yours or statute barred then should be easy to sort. Hold on as Lowells are a favourite of Celestine. I'm sure she'll be along to help kick Lowells backside, but if not give her a PM.

[Scigal]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

I logged into mcol to see if it was a genuine claim, had no joy on the phone. I don't even understand the questions on the first page

Contest Jurisdiction
You can choose to contest jurisdiction of the claim made against you.
I intend to contest jurisdiction

i would be be clicking buttons and not know what I am doing. I don't see anywhere that explains anything. I'm a medic not a lawyer, I have no idea what any of the jargon means

[Scigal]

Re: County court papers received out of blue from lowell

Yes the letter is still on my pc, and i did receive a letter saying it would be looked into.but i can't remember who the company was.

my pc is i pieces as we move in a week, and I can't fathom how to put it together to look at the desktop (this is an ipad mini I'm using now)