Lowell/Bryan Carter/Additions Direct

[Lucy0]

:help:

I've received a County Court Claim from Bryan Carter on behalf of Lowell. The particulars of claim are as follows:

This claim is for 1542.75 the amount due under and agreement between the original creditor and and defendant to provide goods finance and /or services and or goods.

This debt was assigned to/purchased by Lowell Portfolio I Ltd on 17/05/2013 and noticed served pursuant to the law of property act 1925.

Particulars
Re: Shop Direct - Very - Additions Direct A/C No. 62229443

And the claimant claims 1542.75

The claimant also claims interest pursuant to S69 Count Court Act 1984 from 17/05/2013 to date at 8% per annum amounting to 69.65.

Now, I do owe 1542.75 to Additions Direct, I was made redundant in August 2012 and was temping from Oct 2013 so fell behind with payments, buried my head in the sand as I'm sure a lot of people in that situation do and then I start getting calls, texts and emails from Lowell, which I stupidly ignored because I had no idea who they were and as I said, my head was very firmly stuck in the sand. I was earning stupid money temping so every penny I was getting was going towards paying back mortgage arrears and keeping up to date with current mortgage/utility payments.

Anyway, BC has now sent this claim on behalf of Lowell, the only letter I have received from BC is one to say that as I have failed to make repayments, they have issued litigation proceedings in the count court and I will receive the form in the next 48 hours. Which I did.

I have acknowledged the form online saying I wish to defend it but I do owe the money so I can't really say that I don't it's just that I owe it to Additions Direct not Lowell. If I have never borrowed/bought anything from Lowell then can they legally claim the money? Will they have paid Additions? I have never agreed to get involved with Lowell at all.

I see on various threads people have been advised to ask for a copy of the Credit Agreement, does this mean the original agreement between myself and Additions Direct or between me and Lowell? and should I just ask for it anyway just to delay things a bit?

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Lowell/Bryan Carter/Additions Direct

Hi and welcome

Can you tell us when you opened the account with Additions Direct?

The usualy procedure would be to send a CCA request, that's the copy of your agreement, and would refer to an agreement between you and Additions Direct, Lowell are just a debt purchaser. Once you have a claim, you shouldn't really try to delay things, as you have a total of 28 days from date of service to submit your defence.

CCA request letter below. It should be sent to Lowell by recorded delivery with a PO for £1 and signed using a computer font rather than your real signature. They have 14 days to respond. Send a copy to Brian Carter for reference, without the £1 fee.: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: Lowell/Bryan Carter/Additions Direct

You should also send the following CPR 31.14 letter to Brian Carter, they should respond in 7 days (send it recorded delivery). If they don't provide the documents, they should agree to an extension of up to 28 days.

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

[Lucy0]

Re: Lowell/Bryan Carter/Additions Direct

I'm not sure, I reckon I had the account 7-8 years, maybe more.

I think I've left things too late. I got the form on the 12th, it's dated the 10th, I filed the acknowledgement on the 18th, I've only got a couple of days left haven't I? Should I just admit it and try to work out a payment plan. I really don't want a CCJ.

[Lucy0]

Re: Lowell/Bryan Carter/Additions Direct

Do you think I'm too late to defend this? Or can I say I don't believe that I owe Lowell anything as I didn't get any goods from them?

Or is it best to just admit defeat?

[Lucy0]

Re: Lowell/Bryan Carter/Additions Direct

Can someone please help me. I think I have to get my defense in today.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Lowell/Bryan Carter/Additions Direct

Any updates? Did you submit your defence in the end?