Hello everyone!! Need help with Country Court Claim - Link Financial

[Dizzywhizzy]

Thanks for allowing me to share my nightmare. I have received a county court claim for £6965.00 including £190.00 court fee.

The Particulars of claim:
The Defendant(s) entered into an agreement with GE Money dated and open on or around 26/03/2005 with reference number xxxxxxx in which credit was extended to the Defendant. The agreement is regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Default occurred in payment, with a notice of default being served 15/07/2009 subsequent to which the loan loan was called in under under Section 8.7 of that Act. By way of an assignment between GE and the claimant the benefit of the debt has been legally assigned from the effective date of 23/07/2009 and made regular upon the Claimant serving a Notice of Assignment upon the Defendant(s) shortly thereafter. The Credit agreement provided that interest would be payable before and after a judgement. The right to proceed for subsequent interest is therefore reserved. Date 11/04/2014.

I have filled in and sent the acknowledgement of service to the court and sent request for Disclosure of Documents under CPR 31.14. Claimant has responded and will provide documents upon receipt of my reply. Need help on how to respond. Can I upload response to CPR 31 received?

[Dizzywhizzy]

Re: Hello everyone!! Need help with Country Court Claim - Link Financial

Re: Link Financial Ltd –v- xxxxxxxxx Case No: xxxxxxxxx
CPR 31.14 Request for full disclosure of documents

On 16^th April, 2014 I received the Claim form in this case issued by you out of the Northampton County Court (CCBC).

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

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

1. The Agreement
You will appreciate that in an ordinary case and by reasons of the provisions of CPR PD 17 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 Assignment, including the Deeds of Assignment, the Deed of Sale and the inception Terms & Conditions that relate to the account at the point of opening same.
3. The Default Notice
4. The Notice of Assignment

Although your claim is for a sum which is not more than £10,000.00 and will in all likelihood be allocated to the small claims track for determination upon my delivering a defence, at this moment in time I have not delivered my defence and the case has not been allocated to a track. In consequence the provisions of CPR 27(2) are of 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 to a modification, obliteration or other marking or feature, each version 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 version(s) to include an obligation to recover and preserve such version(s) which 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 requests.

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 pursuant to CPR15.5. 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 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 cost order.

[Dizzywhizzy]

Re: Hello everyone!! Need help with Country Court Claim - Link Financial

This is the response I received from Link:

Thank you for your correspondence of 22nd April 2014, which we note is the first correspondence that you have seen fit to hold with our offices since ceasing payment of your indebtedness in July 2013.

It is disappointing that you have chosen to ignore our pre-action correspondence in this matter or to continue to address your outstanding indebtedness by way of the negotiated repayment plan previously in place and maintained for some considerable time.

It is further disappointing to note that having ignored your pre-action obligations you have now attempt to make a request under CPR 31.14 for disclosure of documents, some of which are not disclosed within a statement of case.

You will no doubt appreciate that the above will be conveyed to the court on account of costs and conduct in respect of what has clearly been at all material time an admitted debt.

Moreover, considering that you have not yet filed a defence we do feel that your request for copy documents at this juncture is entirely inappropriate and an abuse of court process. The purpose of CPR 31.14 is not to facilitate a fishing expedition and the lack of any details of an alleged dispute or defence suggests your request is exactly that.

Accordingly, your request for an extension of time for filing a defence is refused, the particulars of claim provide a perfectly adequate statement of case and you should respond to the same within the appropriate period in accordance with CPR 16.5.

Regarding your request for documents,

The Assignment - We presume that this is a request for a copy of the credit agreement number xxxxxxx but please confirm the agreement to which you refer.

The Assignment - Assignment is an act, it is not a document. We have not disclosed "Deeds of Assignment, the Deed of Sale and the inception terms and conditions that relate to the account at the point of opening the same" by which we might be obliged to provide the same at this stage.

Further, all that is relevant to the case is to show that the Assignment complies with S136 of the Law of Property Act 1925 accordingly solely the assigning document, in this case a Deed of Assignment, need be produced with a copy of the appropriate notice. Furthermore the Deed of Assignment will be redacted to protect sensitive information that is not relevant to the claim.

The Default Notice - Will be provided upon receipt of your reply to this correspondence confirming your agreement to our specific charges.

The Notice of Assignment - Will be provided upon receipt of your reply to this correspondence confirming your agreement to our specific charges.

Regarding the disclosure documents, our charges in relation thereto are £1.00 for the first sheet and £0.20 for each sheet thereafter and we would request your specific undertaking to pay the same.

Notwithstanding that the Deed of Assignment is not formally disclosed, if it assists in the resolution of this matter in early course it will be provided and we would request that you conform within your reply.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Hello everyone!! Need help with Country Court Claim - Link Financial

Hi and welcome!

The cheek of them! :mad2: :mad2: :mad2:



The only documents that were not, strictly speaking, mentioned on the PoC would be the deeds of assignment, assignment IS mentioned but a NoA is usually supplied. They do mention a regulated agreement and default, so it follows that they should supply you with a copy of said agreement and the default notice. The idea is to provide you with the documents so you can prepare a defence, not ask to see them once you have prepared it!

You may want to look at this excellent blog post by our very own PT2537 :yo:: http://consumercreditlitigationandde...re-the-basics/

So, what if the Claimant issues a claim and doesn’t provide you with documents pre action, doesn’t give you documents mentioned in the Claim form and just tells you to lodge a Defence.??????

Well you could lodge a Defence pleading you’re embarrassed by the claim, couldn’t you? Well some people may say yes, some will say no. There probably is no right or wrong answer to this, but it is difficult to see how you can plead to a claim based on a written document, especially a Consumer Credit Agreement Regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974, without having a copy of the contract from the Claimant.

They mention pre-action, did you ever receive a letter before action saying a claim would be issued if you didn't respond in 14 days or something like that? With regards to costs, this is under £10k so likely to go to small claims where costs are not usually awarded (there are exceptions, of course).

Did you ever send a CCA request for this account? Did you apply online for the loan?

As quoted above, you *could* attempt to submit a defence, however, it's hard to see how if you are not in possession of the documents. The alternative is an unless order, which will co$t you £155 (unless you qualify for court fee remission). Given that your claim is over £6k, I'd say it may be wise, take a look here for more info about making an application: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...424#post410424

[Dizzywhizzy]

Re: Hello everyone!! Need help with Country Court Claim - Link Financial

Thanks for the info FlamingParrot. Don't think I've received any pre-action letter as I cannot remember seeing any such letter. When I sent off CPR 31.14 request, I didn't realise that I needed to send CCA request too, but did send it recorded last week.
Will go for an unless order. I need to prepare a response to their letter. Is the deadline to submit application for unless order a total of 33 days from the date of the County Court claim? The claim is dated 11th April 2014

[ncf355]

Re: Hello everyone!! Need help with Country Court Claim - Link Financial

DW

Be wary here

I attempted the way you are going and the court deferred my application stating I needed to submit a basic Defence first

I'd be interested to get PT's comment on the best approach here, and it's a sticky one, they are playing games

[Dizzywhizzy]

Re: Hello everyone!! Need help with Country Court Claim - Link Financial

Hi,
I have received some documents from Link but not sure if that is what I am suppose to be receiving e.g. Statement of Account looks like this:

A statement of account is as follows:
Statement:

Dizzywhizzy

Reference Number: xxxxxxxxxxx

Original Discharge Obligation: £15,531.00
1 instalment of £203.80
119 instalments of £128.80

Total sum paid: £9,420.81
Current Balance: £6,775.00

The "current balance" is the principal claim amount. It is the total sum that has become payable to date under those discharge obligations together with default charges as per the notices served upon you and simple interest thereon. You did not maintain those discharge obligations, and you became liable for accelerated recovery of outstanding sums 4th June 2009.

The "current balance" is comprised of the initial advance plus interest (which was variable in rate) together with default charges as per the notices served upon you and simple interest thereon minus those sums you have paid to date.

No further contractual interest will be applied to the account.

The "current balance" does not allow for legal costs that may later be allowed by the court.

The outstanding balance is due and payable immediately. Payment can be sent direct to this office in the form of a cheque. Alternatively, you can contact us to discuss an alternative method of payment.

Yours faithfully

For & on behalf of:
Link Financial

Firstly, the issue with this is I cannot say whether the total sum paid is correct as I did not receive a full breakdown of the statement which I can compare to my bank statements. I have been paying £140.00 monthly for quite some time. Secondly, Checked my paperwork and cannot see default notice nor I cannot remember receiving a default notice from GE Money. I need to check the terms and conditions in detail. Is there anyone who has dealt with Link, I need some advice how to proceed.

Other documents received from Link are:
Copy of terms and conditions, electronic copy of default notice, calling in notice, notice of assignment, redacted copy of the Deeds of Assignment.