CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

[Headsup]

Hi Everyone, been reading the forum with great interest

This is my first post and I've been trying to resolve this myself but I'm running out of time and I hope one of you guys are up for the challenge?

I received a CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter acting on behalf of Lowell on 8th May 2014 following the purchase of a Halifax current account by Lowell in July 2013 and now I need some advice. I have acknowledged the claim on-line and within 14 days and I am aware of the old Halifax account.

In 2008 I had an agreed £1000 Overdraft with the Halifax and always got close, but when I lost my job, I was unable to pay money in and with interest charges etc, I ended up owing nearly £1700 with charges. I wrote to the Halifax twice to ask them to review the charges to bring the account back within the agreed limit but I only ever got a standard "Subject to the outcome of the supreme court etc" response. ie this was before the final outcome of the supreme courts bank charges case.

A default notice was served on 19th March 2008, I have a copy but on my credit File the default date is 04/10/08. The debt was pursued by various agents; Wescot, Moorcroft, Igor, Nelson then Wescot again. My response was to ignore them because I couldn't afford to pay. However, with so many debt chasers and many threats, I made some token payments to the collection companies totalling £107 in 9 payments between June 2008 and May 2010 (3 Different companies I believe) but heard nothing since.

Then I received a letter of assignment issued in July 2013 from Lowell with a BOS letterhead, followed by 6 preformatted letters form Lowell and two from a company named Hamptons. I then got a letter from Fredrickson in Nov 2013, then Bryan Carter acting for Lowell Nov 2013. I responded to BC and stated I had no knowledge of the debt and then in March 2014 I got copies of bank statements between 2007 - 2011 sent from Fredrickson.

Question now is: 1) Have I any real defence based on the fact that there was a total of £1080 worth of charges at the time of the original default? 2) It took BC/Fredrickson 60 + days to respond to my letter asking for them to prove the debt? 3) Should I request the orginal overdraft agreement from the Halifax?

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated.

PS. I have copies of most of the correspondence between 2008 and present but totals over 20 letters. Please let me know if you would like to view any.

Many thanks in anticipation

[FlamingParrot]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Hi and welcome

Apologies for late reply.

Your first step should be to acknowledge service of the claim, which you can do online. You should do this within 14 days. If you tick the box stating your intention to defend in full, you'll get a further 14 days to file your defence. :ranger:

You can't send a CCA request for an overdraft as there wouldn't have been a credit agreement as such, since the overdraft is attached to a current account, however, you should still send a request for documents under CPR 31.14 as follows. Send it recorded delivery, they should respond in 7 days. You'll find the letter here: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...682#post409682

[Headsup]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Thank you Flaming Parrot,

I will draft a CPR 31.14 and post it Tuesday.

Any thoughts on trying to claim back the bank charges on the account?

Many thanks

[FlamingParrot]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Thank you Flaming Parrot,

I will draft a CPR 31.14 and post it Tuesday.

Any thoughts on trying to claim back the bank charges on the account?

Many thanks

As they have issued proceedings, it wouldn't be a question of claiming back the charges at this point, however, if you can show the amount claimed is made up mostly of charges, you could use this in your defence. :thumb:

[Headsup]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Yes, I can illustrate the amount of charges as I have all bank statements for the period, so that will form part of the defence. I'd like to find another angle to defend the claim too, but I think Lowell have followed the precedure correctly. I shouldn't have let it get this far i know, but I viewed lowell simply as yet another DCA with no clout. Big mistake! :tinysmile_cry_t:

Thank you for your response

[Headsup]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Hello FP and /or others

My CPR 31.14 has been sent RD to Bryan Carter 27/05, but my defence needs to filed by the 10th June I believe! Can someone clarify this please:

Time line: Court Claim form issue date 08/05 - I filed my admission, defending all on-line 20/05 - defence to be filed by the 10th???

Secondly, I don't think I will receive a BC CPR 31.14 response prior to my defence being submitted. Can I apply to extend, or should I defend without the CPR?

Many thanks, (back online this evening)

[FlamingParrot]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Hello FP and /or others

My CPR 31.14 has been sent RD to Bryan Carter 27/05, but my defence needs to filed by the 10th June I believe! Can someone clarify this please:

Time line: Court Claim form issue date 08/05 - I filed my admission, defending all on-line 20/05 -

Presumably it was an ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SERVICE rather than an admission. I don't mean to sound pedantic but it does make a huge difference, if you filed an admission you wouldn't be able to defend.

defence to be filed by the 10th???

Yes, a total of 33 days from date on claim. :thumb:

Secondly, I don't think I will receive a BC CPR 31.14 response prior to my defence being submitted. Can I apply to extend, or should I defend without the CPR?

Many thanks, (back online this evening)

I don't think you will either, and that's not down to my being able to see the future but going by what everyone else has been experiencing from the Dynamic Duo Lowell/BC.

Once the 7 days are up, you should start chasing them, saying that, since they've not been able to supply the docs in 7 days as required, would they be so kind as to agree to a 28 day extension to file your defence as allowed by CPR 15.5. You can do this by phone and/or email to save time. Keep a log of every communication in case they refuse (they often do) and you opt to go for an unless order to force disclosure. :typing:

They may argue that the claim(s) will be allocated to small claims track due to their value, therefore Part 31 of the CPR (which you're using to request the docs), does not apply. You can say the case hasn't been allocated yet so that principle doesn't apply either.

[Headsup]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Hello FP,
No your not being pedantic, me rushing I think. I filed an acknowledgement only and defend all. Thanks for the timeline confirmation.
I shall keep a track of time for the BC response and in the meantime, I'll research the points you have raised above.

Many thanks, I'll update once I get (or dont get) a response

[FlamingParrot]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Hello FP,
No your not being pedantic, me rushing I think. I filed an acknowledgement only and defend all. Thanks for the timeline confirmation.

I shall keep a track of time for the BC response and in the meantime, I'll research the points you have raised above.

Many thanks, I'll update once I get (or dont get) a response

Do take a look at similar threads so you get an idea what to expect. :thumb:

[Headsup]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Hello FP/anyone else also very welcome to comment

Just recieved this from Baryan Carter today. What are your thoughts?

Many thanks in advance

Headsup

[bigbigproblems]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Hello FP/anyone else also very welcome to comment

Just recieved this from Baryan Carter today. What are your thoughts?

Many thanks in advance

Headsup

Standard letter - it's NOT been assigned to the small claims track. It might be... But who know's that. They are throwing official sounding words around to intimidate you. Send a letter back pointing out their errors.

Someone will be along to give you a template letter.

[Headsup]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Thanks BBP for your response and support

If I knew the errors I sure would, I'm hoping someone will but I'm running out of time for a defence! :beagle:

[bigbigproblems]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Okay - as no one has seen this, I'll give it a shot.

Reply saying:

- The claim has not been assigned to the small claims track.
- It is for the court to decide which track, not the claimant.
- That they are therefore obliged to comply with the CPR's.
- Failure to do this will be brought before the court.
- That you believe that their blatent disregard for the CPR is an example of their unethical practises.

Again - they are just trying it on. They are a big company, and they only survive because people give into them. If everyone fully defended themselves they would go out of business. You are only asking for what you are legally entitles too! They chose to take court action, so they have to play by those rules (even if they don't like too).

[FlamingParrot]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Standard letter - it's NOT been assigned to the small claims track. It might be... But who know's that. They are throwing official sounding words around to intimidate you. Send a letter back pointing out their errors.

Someone will be along to give you a template letter.

Thanks BBP for your response and support If I knew the errors I sure would, I'm hoping someone will but I'm running out of time for a defence! :beagle:

Okay - as no one has seen this, I'll give it a shot.

Reply saying:

- The claim has not been assigned to the small claims track.
- It is for the court to decide which track, not the claimant.
- That they are therefore obliged to comply with the CPR's.

I'm sorry I was out all day yesterday and didn't see this.

That's a standard templated response to a CPR request. As it's so often received, Ame has put together a template for responding: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...385#post410385

- Failure to do this will be brought before the court.
- That you believe that their blatent disregard for the CPR is an example of their unethical practises.
Again - they are just trying it on. They are a big company, and they only survive because people give into them. If everyone fully defended themselves they would go out of business. You are only asking for what you are legally entitles too! They chose to take court action, so they have to play by those rules (even if they don't like too).

I wouldn't go as far as that, since it would be hard to prove their practices are unethical. Best to stick to the facts. The letter linked to above should do the trick.

If you are running short on time (if claim was issued May 7th, I make it June 8th as the absolute deadline), it can be sent by email as well as by post and I may be a good idea to give them a ring and discuss both issues, you may get someone more clued up than the clerk who printed the template letter. :cell:

1. The claim hasn't yet been allocated.
2. As you are a litigant in person (LIP), you'll need more time to file your defence and, under CPR 15.5, the parties can agree to up to 28 days extension, so you are kindly requesting their agreement.

Get them to send you an email with the agreement so you can forward it to the court. :thumb:

[Headsup]

Re: CCJ Claim from Bryan Carter/Lowell for Halifax current account

Thank you BBP for your response, it's nice to know I have your empathy and your support.

I think they can only allocate the claim to small claims once I file a defence, but dont take that as gospel I've been reading Parts 26 and 27 of the CPR and I'm yet to file a defence! I have to this week as FP pointed out.

Thank you FP, you have my gratitude. You are forever giving wise information and the link is very good I must say! I will take a good look and absorb the information tonight and update again in the morning.

Many thanks both, now I am encouraged with new vigor:tea: Cheers!